GIST ME JOOR

What are the Dantata, Mai Deribe, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ibru and Abiola families famous for? Names associated with stupendous wealth built by famous patriarchs of the families for which their first, second, third or even fourth generations are proud of. Toiling day and night over time, these exceptional businessmen painstakingly built their businesses from the scratch to national, even global prominence. Some of them have since passed on while others, though alive, have handed their colossal business empires to their progenies for various reasons.
While the business gene appears to have been passed to the children of some of these successful people, it seems to have skipped others, leaving the business empires they inherited gasping for breath.
These stories of yesteryears booming businesses now in tatters or thriving beyond the original owners’ vision are instructive for today’s money men and aspiring business moguls.

The Dantata Family
Rag to-riches stories don’t come any better than this. Alhassan Dantata (1877-August 15, 1955) started it all for this rich and famous family in Kano. A product of the age-long Quranic education system, young Alhassan built his stupendous wealth from the scratch selling kolanut, beads, groundnuts, exploring opportunities as they came in these businesses. A frugal man and stickler for savings, Dantata business acumen soon stood out in the commercial city of Kano in the colonial era, prompting the British Niger Company, in 1918, to approach him for help to purchase groundnuts for them.
Already familiar with the manner by which people made fortunes by buying cocoa for Europeans in the Gold Coast, Alhassan responded and participated in the enterprise with enthusiasm, pressing some advantages over other Kano businessmen, notably his English language skill, albeit low, which he picked up through contact with the people on the coast, thus negotiating more directly with the European traders for better prices.
As soon as he entered the groundnut purchasing business, he came to dominate the field and by 1922 he became the wealthiest businessman in Kano.
A notable contributor to the famous groundnut pyramid of Kano who at a time put up 60 of them all ready for export, when the British Bank of West Africa was opened in Kano in 1929, Alhassan Dantata became the first Kano businessman to utilise a bank account when he deposited twenty camel loads of silver coins.
On his death bed, Alhassan reportedly instructed his chief financial controller, Garba Maisikeli and his children and advised them to live together and ensure the continued survival of his business empire operating under the registered name Alhassan Dantata & Sons. At the time of is passage, Alassan Dantata was reputed to be the wealthiest man in the whole of West Africa.
Following the family patriarch’s death, the mantel of leading Alhassan Dantata & Sons forward fell on his sons. That they did step to the plate is evidenced by the fact that the Dantata name remains famous across the country and beyond.
Today, the Dantata family has their hands in many lucrative businesses in the country under the trade name Dantata Group, spanning, trading, aviation, oil and gas, banking, Energy, cement and telecommunications.
Flying the flag of the Dantata Dynasty in the business world today are Dr. Aminu Alhassan Dantata, Alhaji Tajudeen Dantata, and Alhaji Sayyu Dantata.

Mai Deribe Family
Unarguably the best known businessman from the Borno Empire, Alhaji Mai Deribe, is the late oil-mogul and patriarch of this famous family. Although he had been a successful businessman of many years standing, a society magazine’s photo-splash of the Mai Deribe palatial mansion in Maiduguri in the early part of this century thrust the family into the national psyche.
Mai Deribe, who died more than a decade ago, is reputed to be the first car and own palatial property
within and outside the state, including neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon Republics.
Although investigations revealed that the family’s assets and liabilities have been shared within the children and wives in line with tradition, major investments of the late business mogul continued to be run as family business.
The Mai Deribe name continues to ring bells today as his children carry on the torch in the business world. His first son, Alhaji Zanna Mai Deribe, controls most of the investments along with his younger brother, Babagana popularly known as Baana who has constructed a Vegetable Oil company in Maiduguri metropolis worth hundreds of millions of naira but is yet to be commissioned.

MKO Abiola Family
The late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was a businessman of international repute who combined business with philanthropy. While alive, Abiola created a large business and investment portfolio in diverse areas such as media, banking, education, shipping, aviation, farming, sports and telecommunications.
To his credit, he founded and nurtured companies like Abiola Farms, Abiola Bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria (RCN), Wonder Bakeries, Concord Press, Concord Airlines, Summit Oil International Limited, Africa Ocean Lines, Habib Bank, Decca West Africa Ltd, and Abiola Babes Football Club, all of which thrived while he lived.
But a visit by LEADERSHIP WEEKEND to the premises of Concord Press Ltd, the publishers of the now moribund Concord titles revealed the decay Abiola’s business empire had fallen into since his death in 1998.
One of the managers of Abiola Farms Rev. Olumide Oyedeji in an interview with a leading national magazine said that, “one of the mistakes Chief Abiola made was in the sole ownership of his businesses.”
However, Oyediji disclosed that Kola, Abiola’s first son, is “still interested in revamping the farms and is struggling to get facilities and foreign partners.”
Also, Abiola Bookshop in Yaba is a shadow of its former self. The building housing the bookshop located along Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos, Zulikha Wuraola Abiola House, has been confiscated by a bank, over an unpaid loan allegedly obtained by one of Abiola’s sons.
It obvious that the children of the late politician have been unable to manage his empire. But in a recent interview he granted a soft-sell magazine, Kola Abiola said several entities, including the federal government, owed the family business debts in excess of $350 million.
On the possibility of recovery the debts, Kola said, "I think, with time, we would address the issue of our money. Some of my friends are in this government but the President is vital in achieving whatever we want. It's one step at a time."
Kola said Abiola’s businesses suffered immeasurable loss because "my father loved this country and, therefore, almost all his businesses were 100% indigenous; so it was easy to target him because the businesses were based here".
On how the family won back its oil concession, Kola said, "What we did was to go to court and we ensured that we continued to cause a perpetual adjournment of the case until after Obasanjo's two terms lapsed. We then went to the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to explain to him what had happened and he gave us back our concession".

The Odumegwu-Ojukwu family
The late Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, was born in 1909, into the Ojukwu family of Nwakanwa quarters, Obiuno Umudim Nnewi, in present day Anambra state,
One of Africa’s wealthiest men of his time, late Sir Ojukwu, was the first and founding president, Nigerian Stock Exchange, as well as president of the defunct African Continental Bank (ACB).
Beyond that, he was member, board of directors of some of the country’s successful companies such as Shell Oil Nigeria Limited.
His journey to wealth acquisition started when he was sales clerk attached to the tyre department of John Holt. But before he joined John Holt, he had incorporated a textile company in the commercial city of Onitsha, to augment his income.
But there was a snag. The shortage of motor vehicles in Onitsha then made it difficult for traders who thronged Onitsha to buy textile materials from Ojukwu’s textile company to convey to other major cities in the country. And to obviate this difficulty, Sir Ojukwu left John Holt to establish the multi-million Naira Ojukwu Transport Company (OTL).
He diversified his business in the 1950’s – investing substantially in the real estate sector largely in Lagos, as well as bought over several companies. His buildings in Lagos include the legendary Nnewi Building on Creek Road, Apapa, and Villaska Lodge, in the high-brow Lagos Island.
Before he died in 1966 – just a year before the commencement of the bloody Nigeria/Biafra war- Sir Ojukwu, was a director in many companies including the state-owned Nigerian Coal Corporation, (NCC).
His son, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was appointed military governor of the defunct Eastern Nigeria, following the January 15, 1966 military coup.
He later became Head of State of Biafra, following the excision of former Eastern Region from the rest of the country. The former Biafran leader died in a London Hospital in November 2011, following a protracted ill-health.
The late Sir Louis Ojukwu had other sons including Prof. Joseph Ojukwu, a surgeon of international repute.
But how has OTL fared since the demise of its founder? While Nnewi Building, the headquarters of OTL remains, the trucks/vehicles owned by the company literally disappeared following the death of its founder.
And after the death of the former Biafran leader, the ownership of both OTL and other property acquired by Sir Louis became a subject of litigation. A member of Ojukwu family who spoke on condition of anonymity told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that until the case was disposed off in court, it would be improper to talk about the expansion or otherwise of the business empire established by late Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu.
However, it was gathered that OTL plans to build a multi-million dollar Sir Ojukwu Memorial Hospital in Nnewi, with branches in Abuja and Lagos. The company, it was also gathered, plans to establish a scholarship fund for deserving Nigerian university students, as well as join international efforts to fight desertification in the northern part of the country, as well as oil pollution in the Niger Delta region.

The C. C. Onoh Family
Chief Christian Onoh was born on 27 April 1927 in Ngwo in Enugu State. His father died when he was 8 years old and he was brought up by his cousin known as Donald Oji.
He was said to have funded his education in the United Kingdom where he studied law in 1957 from the money he made as a contractor.
Onoh was elected member, House of Representatives for Enugu Constituency in 1958 but he resigned later after he was given an appointment as the first indigenous chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Coal Corporation. He served as the Chairman of the cooperation from 1961 to 1966. He was made administrator of Enugu State Capital Territory during the civil war. Onoh was elected governor of Anambra State in October 1983 on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform.
Although, a lawyer by training, Onoh ventured into many businesses including Agriculture, Real Estate and Brewery. Before he died, he was rated as the highest owner of landed properties in Enugu State. He built estates in different parts of Enugu State.
Companies established by Onoh included Reno Mineral Company, which was later bought by Linka Bottling Company, and Monarch Beer, reportedly purchased later by Nigerian Breweries PLC (NBL), which no longer run the plant.
Although Onoh sold most of his properties before his death in 1999, he probably did not anticipate that the remaining would cause of discord among his family members.
Shortly after the demise of the late politician, his wife, Caroline Onoh, launched a law suit over the properties to save them from her husband’s friends who were allegedly conniving with other family members to corner the properties.
Apart from the suit, it was gathered that some of the children of the late politician are still feuding over the ownership of his buildings at GRA, Enugu.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND findings revealed that most of the buildings at the Onoh quarters are poorly maintained.
But speaking with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, one of the sons of the late politician and business man, Dr Joseph Umunnakwe Onoh, said the business empire of his late father was still going strong.
Umunnakwe-Onoh, however, stated that even when his father was still alive, he (Umunnakwe) toed his own path in businesses.

The Ibru Family
Established in 1956, the Ibru Organisation is a large corporation indigenously owned by Nigerians and by 1990 it had between 9,000 and 11,000 employees in the numerous companies under its portfolio in different parts of the country, cutting across different sectors of the nation’s economy.
It is believed that by 2009 the organisation is estimated to be worth several billions of dollars in investments with interests in areas such as shipping, agriculture, aviation, banking, oil and gas.
Of Urhobo extraction from Agbarha-Otor, near Ughelli in Delta State, the foundation for success was laid by the family’s patriarch, Chief Peter Epete Ibru, who worked for much of with his life in Yorubaland, his wife Janet Omotogor Ibru.
The formal establishment of a business outfit fell on their first son, Michael Ibru who at 24 partnered with an Englishman called Jimmy Large to form the Laibru General Trading Company.
By 1957, the company had become the leading distributor of frozen fish in Nigeria. However, the partnership reportedly collapsed later, prompting Micael Ibru to go it all alone, setting up the Ibru Sea Foods, which imported frozen fish.
Trading at first from the back of a truck, the business quickly expanded, renting its own fishing boat in 1963. By 1965, Ibru added a fishing company to his investment portfolio with three freezer trawlers, after an arrangement with a Japanese firm.
The fishing fleet grew to 25 trawlers in the 1970s, with a complementary 200 transport vehicles. Ibru also expanded into vehicle distribution and fruit farming. The organization continued to grow through acquisitions and joint ventures in diverse businesses including brewing, construction and petroleum distribution, with varying degrees of success.
It also acquired extensive holdings in real estate, agriculture and industrial activity. The recession of the early 1980s caused by falling oil prices, combined with import restrictions, forced contraction and a restructuring at the end of the 1980s. By this time, Michael's eldest son, Olorogun Oskar Ibru had joined the boards of companies in the organisation.
The Ibru family is a closely knitted unit and this may have been a vital ingredient in their success story. Michael Ibru educated his brothers, gave them stakes in the organization and helped them to branch out on their own. For instance, the late Alex Ibru who at a time ran the family’s Rutam Motors, later went on to establish some businesses of his own, including The Guardian newspapers.
Speaking at his father’s 80th birthday celebration in January 2011, Oskar said, "The only thing I can say about my family is that we grew up as team. We were like a bunch of broom sticks".