TUNDE AFOLABI’S SUCCESS SECRETS
If you are seeking authentic information in the oil exploration business in Nigeria, you will be doing yourself a lot of good by consulting Tunde Afolabi, who many regard as an encyclopaedia of sorts in the sector. It is no exaggeration that the CEO of Amni Petroleum Company, one of the most successful indigenous oil production companies in Nigeria, knows his onion, having been in business since 2006.
In spite of the vagaries of the business, his company has remained afloat with a lot of success stories. His company was awarded the Okoro Field and Setu Field located in OML 112 in shallow water offshore Nigeria, as part of the Nigerian government’s indigenous licensing programme. The total gross
production at the Okoro field in 2013 was 6.5 million barrels of oil, representing a gross average daily rate of 18,041 barrels per day.
Interestingly, in a society where many successful men have reportedly allowed fame, success and sometime stardom to turn their heads, Afolabi recognises that only God is the unseen hand behind his success story; and he submits absolutely to His will. Of course, he also recognises that hard work pays, so he loathes laziness. In spite of his very engaging daily schedule, he worships God as would be expected of the grateful soul. A devout Christian, he spends his spare time in total worship of God. According to sources, the man who is said to live a disciplined lifestyle doesn’t make any move or take any step without seeking divine guidance. His armour against failure is ceaseless prayers.
Last Sunday, Afolabi, who has been in the oil sector for over 40 years, held a thanksgiving service at the Anglican Church, Victoria Garden City Estate, Lekki, Lagos, where he shared his testimony of how the Almighty God pulled his firm through what would have been a financial crisis earlier this year. That was when Afren Plc., his foreign partners in the Okoro field, experienced a major crisis in their operations. Desperate not to go under, Afolabi ran to God in prayers; and by divine intervention, his own firm was protected from
the fallout and things ended on an upbeat note for him and Amni.
Prior to that incident, God’s almightiness had manifested in his business when he was awarded all the three oil and gas assets he had bidden for during the last round of bids for oil blocks.
While the thanksgiving service lasted, his guests were amazed at his humility and his total dependence on God in taking the most critical decisions of his life.
Afolabi, a silent billionaire , has lifted a number of less privileged members of the society; his philanthropy beggars description. He is also known as an ardent supporter of churches within the Anglican denomination.
The professional geologist with over 40 years of oil and gas exploration and production started his career with Texaco Inc, New Orleans Louisiana in 1974 after he received his a B.A Geology in 1973 from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster Pennsylvania USA, and an M.Sc. in Geology in 1975 from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, US. He later joined Mobil Inc in Dallas, Texas in 1979.
Afolabi, a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), is a past President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) and a council member of the Nigerian Association of Indigenous Production and Exploration Companies (NAIPEC).