Nigeria's Silent Billionaire

Few Nigerian billionaires possess the enigmatic profile of Mike Adenuga.

Few Nigerian billionaires possess the enigmatic profile of Mike Adenuga. While others court the limelight, Adenuga operates in the shadows, a shrewd strategist who devotes as much time to family and friends as he does to business. Globacom, his brainchild, transformed the Telecommunications industry with its pioneering per-second billing system, making him a silent benefactor to millions of Nigerians. Globacom is not all there is to Mike -the man himself remains an enigma, a tinkerer behind the scenes. 

This is the Story of Mike Adenuga, Nigeria's hidden billionaire. A man worth over 7.1 billion dollars but very little is known about it. He wants it that way. In this episode, we crack open this hidden man. 

Michael Adeniyi Ishola Adenuga jr was born on 29th April 1953 in Ibadan, Oyo state. He was so big as a baby that it earned him the nickname he still bears today: The Bull. His father, Agbolade Adenuga, was a school teacher, and his mother, Omoba Oyindamola, was a businesswoman of royal Ijebu descent. He is the last of 5 children. Dr Mike Adenuga has maintained a low profile but still ranks as an amateur at the art compared to his other siblings.

Young Mike and his brother, Damola, the children of a schoolteacher, hated school, and it had nothing to do with academics. They had protruding bellies that made them soft targets for the children of their neighborhood to make jest of. They often left home for school, only to divert to swim at a nearby stream they called River Jordan. Whenever their mother caught them in their mischief, she would go mad. The two brothers gained such notoriety that she once reported them to the police commissioner in Ibadan.