The market value of Oando Plc—run by President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, Wale Tinubu, —soared to record highs from N74 billion in 2023 to N1 trillion as of September 2024, indicating more than 1,000 percent increase in valuation as Nigeria battled its worst cost-of-living and fuel crises.
While the nation was recording an exodus of multinational companies like pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, and Diageo (Guinness parent company) due to Nigeria’s harsh economic climate, Oando was leaving the league of companies generating billions of naira in revenue to 12 zeroes.
Oando —an average-performing oil company before Mr. Tinubu’s government— recorded N74 billion in profits after tax in the financial year ended 2023, a stark contrast to the previous year when it recorded a loss after tax.
But just a little over one year after Mr. Tinubu became president, the company’s share price, which sold at six naira as of September 1, 2023, saw its market value rocket to an all-time high of N92.
The latest valuation elevated Oando to the top 10 most-capitalized companies on the Nigerian stock exchange.
The profit surge comes months after a January media report exposed how Mr. Tinubu plotted to transfer Eni’s Nigerian assets to Oando in exchange for Eni’s repossession of Nigeria’s lucrative OPL 245 oil field in partnership with Shell.
The assets transfer was made public last week by the parties, who said the deal was about $785 million and denied any wrongdoing of Oando cornering juicy deals at the expense of Nigeria’s oil field.
Wale Tinubu and Oando have continued to deny any wrongdoing, asserting that some of the discussions that led to their latest successes took place long before his uncle assumed office.
The increase sent netizens into a frenzy with many attributing Oando’s profit surge to its CEO’s blood ties with the president, suggesting the oil company’s increased valuation resulted from Mr. Tinubu’s influence and not necessarily hard work and merit.
The currency devaluation, fuel subsidy removal, and overall economic crisis had sent many companies into dire straits, including billionaire Aliko Dangote, who recently got demoted from Africa’s richest man to the second position, rankings of Bloomberg Billionaire Index released in August showed.
Oando is not the only business with ties to the Tinubu family that is doing well under the current administration. Earlier this year, the president awarded a humongous road contract worth over N15 trillion to a company run by his son Seyi and his friend, Gilbert Chagoury.
The president awarded the multi-trillion-naira Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s company, Hi-tech, in which First Son Seyi Tinubu sits on its board, a move that triggered furious reactions and nepotism accusations.
The collective outrage and criticism from opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar, the presidency denied nepotism or corruption accusations in handling federal contracts under the current administration.
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