Top 5 business headline makers in 2014
“She is the strongest woman in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, within the year. Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke scaled through several hurdles and escaped cabinet reshufflement despite calls by the legislature and other activists for her sack. Alison-Madueke’s domi-nant power in the oil and gas industry made her hire or fire any officer heading the agencies in the sector.
1. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Former CBN governor and now the emir of the ancient city of Kano Sanusi’s courage to speak against the ruling government and his then boss, President Goodluck Jonathan had made him among the top five headline makers in the business circle of 2014. The outspoken Sanusi had within the first half of 2014 made a lot of story lines for both local and international news media. His insistence on the missing $20 billion from the federation account brought him to the fore within the year.
2. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
She was and is the most prominent woman in the Nigerian economy. As the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Okonjo-Iweala’s ability to defend her policies whether favourable or unfavourable to her audience, made her command a lot of respect in the business cycle in 2014. She almost singlehandedly manned the country’s economy and ran its finances. She was always present at events that affect the economy. Two of such events that made her so popular during the year was the hosting the first World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja and the launch of the rebased GDP for the economy which brought Nigeria on top as biggest economy in Africa for the first time.
3. Aliko Dangote
He is Africa’s richest person and most popular industrialist in Nigeria. President Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, was ranked the richest black person on earth by Forbes magazine. His ability to engage in several ventures such as plans to build a $9 billion private oil refinery in Nigeria and his expansion strategy in cement, sugar and flour industry had earned him popularity within the year. He upgraded, repackaged and cut the price of his cement brands within the country. The cement upgrade has attracted attention in the industry where many small operators accused the process of having monopolist tendencies but Dangote and the regulators insisted that it was a move to reduce building collapse in the industry. At the end of the year his fortune however dropped to about $17.2 billion after reaching a peak of $25 billion earlier due to the crisis in the capital market and the devaluation of the naira.
4. Diezani Alison-Madueke
She is the strongest woman in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, within the year. Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke scaled through several hurdles and escaped cabinet reshufflement despite calls by the legislature and other activists for her sack. Alison-Madueke’s dominant power in the oil and gas industry made her hire or fire any officer heading the agencies in the sector.
The outright sacking of former Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr Andrew Yakubu and Reginald Stanley of the Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency, two top drivers of the petroleum reform in the country. Within the year, the minister was accused of spending about N10 billion in private jet hire and maintenance from the NNPC coffers which prompted investigation by the House of Representatives but the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja aborted hearing on the matter.
Her role in providing smooth flow of petroleum product in the country and intervention in various strike actions by the oil workers union within the year has earned her respect in the international community. She became OPEC and Gas Exporting Countries’ first female president towards the end of the year.
5. Professor Chinedu Nebo
The minister of power under whose leadership the country witnessed privatisation of its electricity sector had within the year pushed harder to ensure the success of the industry under the new ownership.
Chinedu Nebo was within the period reported severally to have given reason why power supply failed to improve despite the privatisation. At least for the first time in Nigeria’s history, power generation hit 4,600 megawatts (MW) of electricity but shortly after, Nebo, said the country was still losing 4,700MW due to the unavailability of gas to fire 7,800MW space capacity.
Nebo’s zeal to sell to Nigerians reform in the electricity sector made him popular within the local and international press.