Ewolewoo!!

Emeka Ofor is broke!! That is the news going round as we speak. Would I be surprised if this is true? The answer is in the negative.  That Emeka Ofor is reportedly broke is a definition of how business is done in Nigeria.

Being very successful in Business to the point of being called a Billionaire depends largely on your closeness to the powers in government (most especially Abuja). It defines what I have always said. I have always said that most of our billionaires are government officials’ front men in disguise. They produce nothing but get everything.

As government income skyrocketed, so were their shows . They were promoted beyond any reasonable sense. They were given stupendous contracts without any reasonable basis. In turn, they helped the Government officials in laundering money. I just gave some insights into the world of Nigerian billionaires. If you mention Gates in Uganda everyone knows what he did to become a billionaire. If you call the name of Buffet in Nigeria, people would be quick to tell you how he made his money. Donald Trump is with us on daily basis, and we can all fathom where his money came from.  I can go on…The bottom line is the fact that their money came from their sweats; sweats that had no “government energizer” in the real Nigerian sense.

Emeka Ofor was awarded contract worth billions of Naira by the NNPC to overhaul (Turn around Maintenance) of the Portharcourt Refineries 2007 and 2014 . He did nothing!! Billions were paid and no one was held accountable in any form of shape. The money just disappeared like that. Of course the holes  created by the billions that Emeka Ofor, his NNPC cronies and the Government officials created must be filled.  Who are filling,and still filling, the holes? Me and you!  That is the reason I shudder when Nigerians just want to believe that the hundreds of billions (or more appropriately Trillions) that disappeared in the last 2 decades don’t matter. I don’t get that kind of accounting process.

Once the oil price fell, all bets disappeared. You don’t enter the sinkhole judging whether the fireman would come to your rescue. Emeka Ofor  was never involved in traditional business as we know it. He has always been involved as a government backed deal man. Once that backbone disappears, he became a Lilliputian.

Emeka Ofor typifies what being a billionaire is about here. Could he bounce back? I can’t bet he wouldn’t because the fundamentals of corruption are still embedded in the system. The only problems to the corruption show are two folds: low  Oil price level and Buhari’s unwillingness to understand that sharing money for people is part of the economy.

For now, Emeka Ofor is struggling but he’s in big mess as we speak.  Twale for Sir Ofor! Your boy still remain totally loyal…Ewolewoo!!