Lessons Of My NICON Struggle

Q: How has the crisis set back that employment target, especially your march in the energy business?
A: Nothing has really affected our other businesses. You will be talking about our plans for Global Fleet, our energy arm. Global Fleet has a turnover of about N60 billion, a figure that matches the entire gross income of the insurance industry for a year. Oando is doing two times of that. So in other words, the turnover of Oando in one year is the turnover of the insurance industry for two years. Total is doing about N150 billion. What we only did was that we suspended the launching of the Global Energy brand even while its business went on in full swing. We felt it would not be right to be launching Global Fleet when a baby in the group was undergoing a crisis. We decided to sort that baby out before we celebrate the birth of Global Fleet. Now, the brand launch will take place next month and we will be moving to the Global Fleet head office, a 17-storey structure around the Marina on Lagos Island. We used the period of that crisis, about six months, to expand our hotel business. From two hotels, we have moved to nine hotels. Within the period, we were able to pick The Royal Hotel, Okitipupa and complete its turn-around. We were also able to acquire the 185-bed Owena Hotel in Akure and start renovation work on what used to be the Federal Government Guest House on Victoria Island. Already, we have the NICON Luxury in Abuja and another NICON Hotel in VGC, Ajah, Lagos. We now have one in Port Harcourt and are bidding to own the 10th in Calabar. We were also able to expand the number of our filling stations as we have about 187 now. We keep going on and on. We didn’t pursue the NICON Insurance matter because of any monetary gain. We did on grounds of principles. Our rights were being violated and we had to resist that. The entire insurance industry in Nigeria contributes a mere 0.02 per cent to the world insurance output. That is insignificant. There isn’t really nothing worth fighting life and death for in the insurance business.

Q: Wouldn’t you have lost some ground in your turn-around schedule for NICON while the crisis lasted?
A: Not really, although it was unfortunate. The turn-around strategy in NICON is irrevocable. It must continue. It will still be fashioned after the same strategy we adopted earlier. I told the regulator during the period that there is no where in the world where you will do a turn-around without infractions. Turn-arounds are special cases in management and you can’t succeed without stepping on toes. Even when infractions occur, they are resolved through penalties. They are not enough to sack the board, sack the management and seek to hijack ownership, as was exposed by the private placement plot. You can only sack a board when the insurance company is distressed, not even when it is insolvent. Section 40 of the Insurance Act says that if an insurance company is insolvent, the regulator will require it to recapitalise within 60 days. There will be structural reforms in the entire conglomerate. Most likely, I may lose my chairmanship to someone else. We have nine hotels and we need to have a Group Managing Director to run them. We have an energy firm and many filling stations and we need a Group Managing Director to also run them. I can not run all these with the problem of NICON. So, we will divide the conglomerate into three. One GMD will be appointed to handle NICON Group of Companies. The hotel chain may have a change of name with another GMD appointed to run it. Every company will have its Chief Executive Officer. I will personally run the oil and gas business as the Group Managing Director. I will chair the coordinating group and also be on the board on each of the subsidiary groups. I have to delegate authority and responsibilities.