Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday in Lagos that Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, Africa’s richest woman by Forbes reckoning, was among the 25 billionaires he made during his tenure as President. Obasanjo stated this at the 2016 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum.
The former president was reacting to an allegation by Alakija at the event, that the Obasanjo administration frustrated her effort when she ventured into oil business.Alakija, who spoke before Obasanjo, alleged that his administration illegally took an oil block allocated to her company after her family had invested all its savings to strike oilin commercial quantity.
When Obasanjo spoke, the former president seized the opportunity to reply to the allegation by Alakija. “There is a saying in my part of the world that when a proverb touchesyou and you failed to reply, then you are a coward,” he said.Obasanjo explained that the action of the government then was in line with the Mining Act, which regulates oil prospection and exploration.
“For you to come here and say that, for no cause whatsoever, you were denied what wasrightfully yours, is not fair. “I do not know you from Adam and there is no reason I would have denied you what rightfully belonged to you. “So, you have struggled, and you have struck oil.
God bless your heart.“My delight is to be able to create Nigerian billionaire and I always say it that my aim, when I was in government was to create 50 Nigerian billionaires. “Unfortunately I failed.
I created only 25 and Madam, you are one of them,” he said.Obasanjo hailed the vision of Mr Tony Elumelu for helping to build African young entrepreneurs with his resources.
He also urged the government to create conducive environment for people to move businesses into the country.
-Vanguard
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