HOW JIMOH IBRAHIM MADE BILLIONS AND WHY HE WANTS YOU TO DO SAME BY BOB EJIKE

HOW JIMOH IBRAHIM MADE BILLIONS
AND WHY HE WANTS YOU TO DO SAME
BY BOB EJIKE
 

Jimoh Ibrahim is one of the wealthiest Nigerians. He has made billions of dollars from numerous investments and is keen to teach you how to do the same. He was born on February 24th 1967 to Alhaji Yakubu and Omofemiwa Jimoh in Igbotako in Okitipupa, Ondo State. His father was an impoverished polygamous bricklayer with 7 wives and 40 children, and his mother was a fish monger. Life for the little village boy was a continuous struggle. Jimoh did household chores and scraped food off a common plate with his siblings with whom he slept on a common mat in their humble home.

Jimoh was educated at St. John’s School, Igbotako and Community Grammar School, Igbotako from which he proceeded to Federal School of Arts and Science, Ondo. Right from secondary school he wanted to be a successful businessman. He gained admission to study Law at Lagos State University but thereafter transferred to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in Osun State, to read International Law and Masters in Public Administration. Jimoh Ibrahim was the Best Student (International Law) at the LL.B Final class, 1991. He was also Best Student at Masters degree level: Analysis & Decision Making, Advanced Public Administration, Local Government Administration & Management, Ethics & Accountability in Administration, Best Masters Project Dissertation, Management of Intergovernmental relations and Urban & Rural Development Administration. He was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He also earned a Master’s degree in Economics and International Tax at Harvard University.

In his youthful years Jimoh got minor contracts and used some of his father’s bricklaying materials to execute them. He started earning millions in his mid-20s, making his first million during his youth service period. He discovered that the Local Governments did not have a law of their own, but the state and the federal government had. So he packaged a local government seminar on law for all the local governments in the country and that fetched him N3.6 million. That same year, he organized about 14 workshops for top public functionaries at all tiers of government and by the time he was finishing youth service, he had about N70 million in his account. He built a home in his village and four houses in Lagos, including a four-storey building in Ikotun-Egbe. By the end of the national youth programme Jimoh Ibrahim had six houses.

It was through one of those seminars that he learnt about the huge amount of revenue Nigeria lost to withholding tax by big oil companies. His further research made him submit his findings in form of a proposal that he could recover the funds as a consultant to the federal government, but with a specific percentage as his commission. His submission was approved and within a short period of time he was remitting billions of Naira to the account of the federal government. He acquired with the money he made from seminars a swampy land at the Victoria Garden City (VGC) gate, which he later transformed into an ultra-modern filling station with two expensive banking halls. Barrister Jimoh who used to sleep four hours a day when he started, was the one who brought the concept of bringing in banking halls into oil marketing. Though the initial budget for the outfit was N21 million, two banks paid a rent of over N40 million which was too much to build the Station. The surplus was invested in real estate. After the VGC outlet, he opened another station at Ilupeju Bypass. His approach was acquisition rather than construction, that way he acquires filling stations, instead of building from the scratch. Thereafter he got licensed as an Independent Oil Marketer.

Jimoh Ibrahim served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on tax reforms in Croatia and Estonia, and was part of the Harvard team that went to Bangladesh to form their tax reforms. He ran a law chamber and practiced Law for six years. He had seven attorneys in his Law and Justice Chambers. He is a prolific writer who has authored three books including Indigenous Governance in Nigeria and two biographical volumes on Mohammed Belo, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria. He became the Special Adviser to the first Military Administrator of Bayelsa State, member of the exclusive Federation Account Allocation Committee and Chairman of FAAC News, the first monthly magazine that published the activities of the Committee. He was also Executive Secretary, African Center for Policy Studies; consultant to several outfits and multilateral institutions; Chairman of Global Fleet Companies and Group Managing Director, NICON Group.

Jimoh Ibrahim has a wealth of experience in Tax Administration, Tax Reform and Financial Management. At one point he was appointed Chief Consultant to the Federal Government of Nigeria on Petroleum Tax Payment, Collection and Monitoring; member, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, and Chairman, Special Committee of the Federation Accounts. Jimoh Ibrahim was also appointed the Commonwealth of Nations Delegate to the United Arab Emirate, to attend the International convention on Governance and Public Administration. He was also the Executive Secretary, African Center for Policy Studies, a policy analysis and capacity building institution which he was also the Coordinator of, and Key Resource person at, the First National Conference of Permanent Secretaries and the first Annual Conference of Directors in Public service.

A hardworking, incisive, futuristic and progressive politician, Barr Ibrahim was a member: National Board of Trustee of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP); National Legal Adviser; Member, Finance Committee; Member Publicity Committee, and Vice-Chairman, Presidential Inner caucus. He contested for the governorship of Ondo State under the platform of ANPP in 2003, but was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the experience brought him Global Fleet Oil and Gas. When he was campaigning in the gubernatorial elections, setting up Ondo Oil was a major item of his manifesto. The idea was to assist in rural development and make essential products like kerosene available to the poor, so they can appreciate the deregulation policy of the Federal Government. So after his unsuccessful bid, he decided to proceed with the idea. On completion, three banks wanted it all at once. In less than a month the VGC and Ilupeju Stations had given birth to the Shomolu Station and a bank picked up the bill. In a few years, Jimoh Ibrahim acquired hundreds of filling stations spread out across the nation, principally, in the rural areas of Kaduna, Abuja, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kogi, Kwara and Edo states of Nigeria. From a workforce of 26 at inception, it now employs over 4,017 Nigerians, and Jimoh Ibrahim has vowed not to stop until he makes the one thousand mark!

Barrister Ibrahim presently imports petroleum and has a big storage depot in Apapa. He has also diversified into many varied businesses including telecommunication, hospitality, industry, banking, real estate, block making, carpentry, roofing tiles, industrial dry cleaning, insurance etc. Jimoh acquired 70 per cent (N46 billion) equity stake at NICON Insurance and staked a claim in the acquisition and control of Executive Airlines Services (EAS), an airline operator that was renamed to NICON Airways. The NICON Group now has eleven subsidiaries: Nicon Properties; Nicon Energy; Nicon Academy; Nicon Trustee; Nicon Insurance; Nicon Investment; Nicon PFA; Nicon Hotels; Nicon Saotome; Nicon Airways and Nicon United Kingdom. His rapid expansion is traced to his rare ability to borrow from banks and PAY ON TIME-indeed faster than they expect. So banks are eager to lend him.

Barr Ibrahim is a celebrated philanthropist. In 1994 he awarded 54 academic scholarships to the people of Ilaje-Odo, Okitipupa Local Government. In 2000 & 2001 he offered 500 scholarships to Ondo State indigenes in higher institutions and in 2002 he gave 500 scholarships to Ondo and Ekiti state indigenes in higher institutions. More recently, he built a N100 million Post-graduate hall in University of Ife, Ile-Ife. Barr Jimoh Ibrahim is a model, an orator and inspirational speaker who encourages the younger generation to aspire for greater heights. He gives free monthly lectures at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, to Nigerians on how to start from nothing to make millions in any business.

The Global Fleet’s Group Managing Director recently acquired some prominent newspapers and magazines, making Jimoh Ibrahim a foremost media mogul. His set mission is to alleviate the national poverty by creating jobs for Nigerians and thus improving the nation’s economy. Currently he has over 21,000 people working in his group in Nigeria and abroad. He attributes his gargantuan success to the grace of God and the intellectual capacity of the individual. He sees the difference between a rich man and a poor man as knowledge and he is a strong advocate of high level literacy.

Interestingly, Dr. Ibrahim sees money as just a figure and nothing special, an instrument to work with and keeps little personal money. He is happily married and blessed with four beautiful children and wants you to get rich.

BOB EJIKE