Now it’s time for hard work,” a close aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan quoted him to have said shortly after the 2011 election was won and lost. That line should be apt for politicians who came out victorious in the nerve-wracking 2023 elections. For them, 2024 should provide the time for hard work.
Unlike the year 2023, which was full of party politics, political gaming, campaigns, and gerrymandering, the New Year 2024 would be rocked by fewer campaigns. It would be a time Nigerians expect those who emerged victorious in the 2023 elections not only put in the hard work but to openly flaunt their readiness to turn around the ebbing fortunes of good governance and reverse what has looked like governments’ everlasting failures to deliver the goods.
In secular and spiritual parlance, time is constant in value. The clock has thus run over the space of time occupied by the year 2023, now, the year 2024 has crept in.
The outgone 2023 was largely dominated by politics, then economic issues, concerns about insecurity, and developments in the entertainment world. There would be a little alteration in the New Year 2024, as the intensity of campaigns would be largely toned down, but the characters and personalities that would shape the face of the New Year would still be interspersed between political faces and forces, business icons, sports personalities, entertainment leads and issues of insecurity.
Politics
Govs Abba Yusuf (Kano) and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau)
Politics will largely define the start of 2024 as the Supreme Court is set to hit the final gavel on the contentious governorship election petitions in Kano and Plateau States. The incumbent governors in Kano and Plateau States have been living at knife’s edge since the Court of Appeal nullified their elections and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue fresh Certificate of Return to their opponents of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). No one can predict the direction of the apex court’s ruling but the unease in the camps of the incumbent governors has been palpable. Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State got his election nullified by the Court of Appeal on account of what the court said was PDP’s lack of structure ahead of the 2023 elections. Whether Mutfwang would have the last smile or whether his opponent Nentawe Goshwe’s picture would pop up as the new helmsman of Plateau State would be decided this month.
A similar scenario is up in Kano where Governor Abba Yusuf will also know his fate as the apex court would adjudicate on him and APC’s Nasiru Gawuna.
President Bola Tinubu and National Assembly
Still, on the political turf, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima would continue to dictate the pace of developments. Early in the year, the president will be presented with the 2024 budget passed in special sessions by both chambers of the National Assembly on December 30, 2023. That was the first time since 1999 that the National Assembly would be bending over backward to pass a national budget in the dying days of the year, especially when the budget was presented to the chamber barely a month earlier. The 2024 budget was presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. No president has enjoyed that luxury from the national lawmakers since the start of the Fourth Republic and that could signal two indications: whether the president has a firm hold on the leadership of the assembly or the lawmakers’ readiness to work with the presidential Villa.
The two henchmen in the National Assembly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas will also play key roles in shaping affairs in the polity in 2024. While Abbas has not ruffled too much feathers with his colleagues in the management of the House, Akpabio has been on the edge as to possible impeachment moves by his colleagues. Though some House members were said to be worried by what they termed the condescending posture of the legislature the two presiding officers were said to have posted so far, the Speaker’s actions and inactions could equally put him on the line of fire in the new year. already, several offences were said to have been raised against Akpabio, who sources said has only continued to break the dice in bits.
INEC chairman and bye-elections
The face of the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, would again pop up on the scene early in the year as his commission conducts elections into senatorial districts, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly constituencies on February 3, 2024. Yakubu would receive the wrong end of the stick if there were notable hitches during the polls, just as he would receive plaudits if the elections go on without unwarranted circumstances. Already, the major political parties have flagged off the process to field candidates in the more than 35 constituencies and nine states affected by the election.
INEC had said that aside from the vacancies that emerged as a result of resignations and deaths, court-ordered elections would also be observed in the constituencies affected by litigations.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State
Ondo State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa would also be in the news as he moves to appoint a deputy governor. As things stand, he is torn between naming a candidate from the camp of his late boss, Arakunrin Rotimi Akaredolu, or a different candidate altogether, which could dictate the nature of opposition he would face in the build-up to the governorship primary in April 2024.
Besides the jostling for the position of deputy governor in the Sunshine State, there is also the battle for who wins the gubernatorial primary in April, ahead of the governorship election on November 16, 2024. Aiyedatiwa, who would be seeking to contest the governorship seat in the election has the onerous duty of rallying the support of Akeredolu’s loyalists, who were said to have endorsed a candidate just before the demise of the late governor.
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim
The Senator representing Ondo South on the platform of the APC is sure to pull some punches ahead of the governorship polls in the state in 2024. He has already thrown his hat into the ring as a contender under the platform of the ruling party in the November 16 election. Though he hails from the same Ondo South as the newly sworn-in Governor Aiyedatiwa, it is clear he has a battle in his hands with the emergence of the former deputy governor as substantive governor. How he wrests control of the party apparatus from the incumbent governor is what would make for classical reading. It would also be interesting to see whether the presidential villa would back him, especially following his refusal to support the candidate of the APC establishment in the race for senate presidency in June 2023.
Governor Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Phillip Shaibu and Dan Orbih
Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki would also be in the news early in the year as he seeks to navigate the political trenches of the state to produce a successor and imitate his predecessor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, in the post-Chief Tony Anenih era in Edo. The governorship election in the state comes up on September 21, 2024, while the primary will be held in February. The trio of Governor Obaseki, his deputy Phillip Shaibu, and PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman (South-South), Chief Dan Orbih would play key roles in who emerges as the standard bearer of the PDP in the state, while former Governor Oshiomhole, now the Senator representing Edo North remains the godfather of the APC. Whether Obaseki, Shaibu and Orbih would work together to undermine Oshiomhole or the tide would turn in favour of the APC would be seen during the year.
Governor Fubara of Rivers State and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike
The ongoing feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his predecessor, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike would keep afloat the public space even in the new year. The interplay of political calculations in the state was yet to lay in an anchor as the light dims on 2023. Though Governor Fubara had promised to implement the Abuja accord handed to him and the former governor, practical steps are yet to be seen in that regard. He is cut between his inner mind and the push by Rivers elders who have rejected the accord as a death sentence for the governor. Early in 2024, a definitive position on the Rivers crisis would emerge. It is however certain that the contenders in that battle, Wike and Fubara would keep afloat the public waters for some months to come. Aside from the crisis in Rivers, Wike’s political machinations, which have seen him hold on to the control of the APC and PDP structures in the state as well as his political and administrative maneuvers of affairs in the FCT would put him in the eye of the public for much of 2024, if not beyond.
Atiku Abubakar and Umar Damagun of PDP
The push by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to take control of the PDP would put him in the eye of the storm in 2024. The camp of the former number two man has been livid with anger against the camp of G5 governors who were believed to have torpedoed his presidential ambition in 2023. Though Atiku’s loyalists are of the view that the likes of former Governor Wike and his G5 loyalists should face punishment, loyalists of the former governor appear to have seized hold of the party’s control. The acting national chairman, Umar Damagun was said to be a nominee of Wike, the same way the former Rivers governor was said to have nominated Senator Sam Anyanwu as National Secretary, aside from other members of the National Working Committee.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, a key member of the G5, was also to have sponsored the Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja to the office.
Though Atiku’s loyalists recently staged a protest at the national secretariat of the PDP, seeking the removal of Damagun, with loyalists of the acting chairman also staging a counter-rally a week later, Atiku’s bid to take control of the PDP would certainly put him in the eye of the storm and keep him in the limelight for most of the year.
Atiku, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwakwanso
The trio of Atiku, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, and Peter Obi, major opponents of President Tinubu in the 2023 election would also remain in the public eye in the New Year. Atiku flew the flag of the PDP, while Peter Obi was the candidate of the Labour Party(LP). Kwakwanso was the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the February 2023 election. The trio have indicated their desire to work together in an alliance that would feature PDP, LP, and NNPP going forward, though the details of that are yet to come into the open. How they will work out the political machinations and intrigues within their respective political structures to fashion the much-talked-about alliance would keep the news pages active throughout the year.
Abdul’aziz Yari and aggrieved APC members
Senator Abdul’aziz Yari was the governor of Zamfara State, who contested the seat of Senate President in June 2023. He squared up to his party’s anointed candidate, Godswill Akpabio, reaping off 46 votes to Akpabio’s 63 at the end of the election on the floor of the Senate. Though, the APC had established a tradition that each time the presidency goes across the Niger, the Senate presidency would also follow suit, Yari and some elements in the APC opposed the bid to install Akpabio, putting up a stiff battle that ensured parties in the contest recorded bruises on either side.
Some insiders are of the view that Yari’s push against Akpabio was a signal of the resentment from a section of the North against perceived southern domination of key national positions and that those so aggrieved in the APC might eventually team up with elements in other political parties to ruffle feathers with the Tinubu structure going forward. The intrigues in Yari’s camp and the political gamesmanship would surely occupy portions of the public space in the following months.
PDP Governors Forum
As the battle for the soul of the opposition PDP intensifies in the New Year, the PDP Governors Forum expectedly will play a key role in determining the fate of the party. Though the current chairman of PDPGF, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State is believed to have sympathy for the G5 governors led by the FCT Minister, Wike, it is believed the Atiku camp would pull some punches in the push for the control of the main opposition party.
Progressives Governors Forum
The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) in year. The governors have never failed to intervene in shaping the direction of national affairs at critical times and in the year 2024, their voices would count given the power they wield as a collective.
Godwin Emefiele
The probe of the erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele by the Special investigator is an ongoing development with the Federal Government yet to release its final position on the matter. Though Emefiele was released from detention in Kuje Correctional Centre in the last days of 2023, the fact that more would unravel about the enormity of his alleged offences at the helm of CBN would keep him in the news in the New Year.
Hajia Sadiya Umar-Farouk
Late in December 2023, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) uncovered a N37 billion fraud allegedly laundered by the immediate past Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Hajia Sadiya Umar-Farouk during her tenure as minister. The alleged fraud was said to have been committed in connection with a contractor, James Okwete, a charge the former Minister has denied. The last has not been heard on this matter as the EFCC is putting the finishing touches to the probe, which might further lead to several other developments during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Finance minister and CBN governor, Cardozo
With the economy tottering on the precipice, the names of the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of Economy, Olawale Edun, and the CBN Governor Olayemi Cardozo would be on the lips across the country. The year 2024 is supposed to showcase to the nation the real magic embedded in the two gentlemen, who have been acclaimed as the brains behind the turnaround of the economy of Lagos State. Should the gloomy prediction by Bloomberg comes to pass, not a few would challenge the advertised financial magic of the Lagos crew.
Diezani Alison-Madueke
One of the faces that would remain in the public eye for months in the New Year is the former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison Madueke. The former minister has been accused of financial crimes by the EFCC and has been holed up in the United Kingdom immediately after she left office after the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan. Though media reports recently quoted her as appealing to President Tinubu for leniency and to allow her to return home, the EFCC would play a big role in whatever fate befalls, especially as reports indicate that she is already a subject of an extradition request from the Nigerian government.
Mele Kyari, CEO, NNPCL
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari is one of the personalities that would shape the New Year. his company has already determined the fate and economic fortunes of millions of Nigeria in the outgone year, 2023. Without clear-cut messages on when the nation would terminate the importation of finished petroleum products, the question of subsidy would keep cropping up. The problem would rear its head once the Naira loses a cent against the United States dollar and with the attendant rise in inflation, following any increase in the price of petrol, Nigerians may have to keep their gaze on Kyari and his NNPCL for some time to come.
Security
Security issues again came to the fore in the last days of 2023 following deadly attacks on communities in Plateau State by bandits. This was after the inadvertent attack on Kaduna by drone from the Army. Banditry, insurgency, and kidnapping have continued to rock communities in the North Central, North East, and North Western parts of the country, just as unknown gunmen had continued their nefarious activities in the Southern parts. There is nothing on the radar that the security agencies have terminated the activities of these criminal elements and it is expected that insecurity issues will still occupy the nation’s attention in the New Year. This will keep the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, Service Chiefs, and security chiefs in the public space.
Ethnic nationality groups
Activities of the pan-Yoruba socio-political Organisation, Afenifere, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan-Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF), the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) will also go a long way in shaping the new year. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo is pushing for the release of the leader of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, Afenifere’s relentless push for restructuring remains in the saddle, while the PANDEF is seeking energy security in the Niger Delta, aside its leaders’ intervention in the crisis rocking Rivers. ACF and MBF are equally seeking measures to ensure security and tackle insurgency across the Middle Belt and the northern parts of the country. It is expected that the voices of the groups will remain vociferous throughout the year.
Sports and entertainment
The African Nations Cup will kick off on January 13, providing some thrills to the football-loving Nigerian populace. Though opinions are divided over the capacity of the Nigerian team to pull through in the competition, many Nigerians will stay glued to their television sets once the competition kicks off in Ivory Coast.
Players in the entertainment sector will equally play their roles in shaping the new year. in 2023, top Nigerian entertainment acts showcased their excellence across the globe with a number putting up good shows at the Grammy and other national and regional awards. The trend is expected to continue this year as there are no signs of slowing down from the entertainment big shots.
Abdulsamad Rabiu
The prices of building materials have hit the roof-top due to the present economic situation in Nigeria. Therefore, when Nigerians think of cement, a vital component in the building industry, the name Abdul Samad Rabiu readily comes to mind partly due to his recent announcement crashing the price of cement to N3,500 per bag ex-depot.
Abdul Samad Rabiu is a billionaire and businessman with a net worth of $6.9 billion in 2022. He is the founder and chairman of the BUA Group which was first established for commodity trading with the importation of rice, cooking oil, flour, iron, and steel. Today, it is a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in sugar refinery, the production of cement, and the real estate sector.
Through the BUA foundation, Abdul Samad Rabiu has set up a paediatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. BUA Group donated N1 billion entrepreneurship centre to UNIMAID, and similar projects in some parts of the country as part of his many philanthropic endeavours.
This year, a notice of insider trading filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited disclosed that the Chairman of Bua Cement, AbdulSamad Rabiu acquired additional 45 million units of the group’s shares. According to the notice, Rabiu bought 45 million shares at the rate of ¦†85 per share worth N3.825 billion, making him the ultimate majority shareholder of the organisation.
According to the 2022 audited report of the company, Rabiu was the majority shareholder of the company holding 19,044,995,225 billion shares, which was a 56.24 percent stake of the issued share capital; and also held indirectly 645,565,918 representing 1.91 percent).
In its first quarter unaudited report, BUA Cement Plc suffered a 19.14 percent drop in profit after tax profit to N26.800 billion from N33.142 billion reported for the same period in 2022. The company’s interim financial report for the first quarter ended March 2023 revealed that rising costs drove the downward trend.
In June, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced its investment of $500 million in BUA Cement Plc, which it described as the “largest-ever investment in northern Nigeria.”
The fund would support BUA in the development of two more cement manufacturing lines in Sokoto state, with a target of 12,000 jobs.
The Corporation said, “IFC today made its largest-ever investment in northern Nigeria, providing a financing package alongside African and European partners to BUA Cement Plc to help the company part-finance and develop two new, energy-efficient cement production lines that will create up to 12,000 direct and indirect jobs.” In July 2023, the price of Bua Cement shares stood at ¦†98.95 at the end of trading.
In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately owned Obu Cement company with the listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled. The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu owns 98.2 percent of the shares.
Rabiu is the son of a businessman who inherited land from his father. He set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel, and chemicals.
The Forbes Billionaires List: Africa’s Richest People 2022 describes Rabiu thus: “Another gainer: Nigerian cement tycoon Abdulsamad Rabiu, who is $1.5 billion richer after taking yet another of his company’s public. In early January 2022, Rabiu listed his sugar and food firm BUA Foods on the Nigerian stock exchange. He and his son retained a 96% stake in the company, which recently had a market capitalization of nearly $2.8 billion. (Forbes discounts the values of stakes when the public float is less than 5%.) BUA Cement, in which he and his son have a 96% stake, listed in January 2020”.
Rabiu is reputed to have a large appetite for huge investments, and this places him among those who will mold the business environment in 2024.
Tony O. Elumelu
Mr Tony O. Elumelu who was only 34 years old in 1997 led a group of young entrepreneurs to rescue a Nigerian bank that was on the verge of collapse. His aim was to reverse its fortunes and create significant value. Their mission, though many people say was capitalist, had an unexpected but important social effect: the democratisation of the banking sector in Nigeria and across Africa.
At present, that bank, now the United Bank for Africa Plc. (UBA), operates in 20 African countries – with a presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France, linking Africa’s economies to each other and the world. UBA serves more than 21 million customers across over 1,000 business offices and customer touchpoints. The bank is also connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.
The man Tony O. Elumelu, who drove the turn-around team, became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – the youngest bank CEO in Nigeria at the time. After 13 years, he retired in that capacity from UBA and turned his attention to Heirs Holdings in 2010.
With the exact passion, vision, and commitment used in nurturing UBA across Africa, Elumelu began another mission. Those in the know said, “Armed with the knowledge, expertise, and understanding of opportunities that existed in Africa he decided to turn what had been a family office into an African proprietary investment company designed to generate a similar impact on other strategic sectors of the economy”.
Again, working with a small, dedicated, and trusted team, he set out to leverage his knowledge and expertise in business management and turnarounds. Together, the team identified attractive economic sectors, based on commercial viability and the impact each would have on the continent’s economic development.
The brainchild of that endeavour today is Heirs Holdings, which operates businesses in Africa’s financial services, oil and gas, power, real estate, hospitality, healthcare, insurance, and agribusiness sectors. The firm has significant interests in numerous companies, a presence in 20 countries across the continent, and its investee companies employ over 30,000 people, while empowering thousands more, although still young.
With this impeccable track record in business, it is obvious that Mr. Elumelu stands out as one of those who will impact positively the business climate in Nigeria in 2024 with its attendant benefit to the people and the entire economy.
Jim Ovia, Chairman, Zenith Bank
Mr. Jim Ovia is a prominent name in Nigeria’s corporate scene, and well-known in the African financial community. His story is one of tenacity, inventiveness, and dedication to influencing the economic future of Africa.
It should not come as a surprise that Mr. Jim Ovia has been described as the Godfather of Banking by Forbes Africa. This is because in a time of tension between military and civilian regimes, periods of incredible economic instability, and a decaying infrastructure, Ovia founded Zenith Bank in Nigeria. Under his leadership, what started with $4 million in shareholders’ funds grew into one of Africa’s largest banks, an internationally recognised institution with more than $16 billion in assets.
The Banker, Top 1000 World Banks in 2016 ranked Zenith Bank 325th in the world with over 300 branches in Nigeria and a strategic international presence in the UK, Dubai, China, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. Ovia has always instilled a high level of corporate governance across the Bank, enabling it to achieve $850 million GDR listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2013. In 2017, the Bank issued a $500 million Eurobond that was four times oversubscribed and priced better than the equivalent FG’s sovereign bond.
Mr Ovia is redefining the narrative and illustrating the real Africa behind the headlines at a time people around the globe think of Africa, visualizing conflicts and war, famine, poverty, and desolation. His goal is to help transform the vision of Africa from “the Hopeless Continent” to a collection of “Rising Nations.”
With a fast-growing middle class, Nigeria is ripe for new business ventures, both from local entrepreneurs and international investors. And as the man who took Zenith Bank from a $4 million investment to a $16 billion global banking institution, Ovia is living proof of exactly this. Through his speaking, writing, leadership, and philanthropy, he is reminding entrepreneurs around the world of this valuable lesson: You must never allow the perceptions of others impact your own vision of what is possible for the future.
Ovia offers his story as a living testament that success is the result of acting with courage and daring to try. His journey with Zenith Bank demonstrates the power of integrity, hard work, perseverance, and dedication to duty. He is driven by his mission to inspire entrepreneurs and investors worldwide cultivate their passion, follow their instincts, and act with courage as they pursue business ventures that reach beyond their wildest dreams.
Around the globe, Jim Ovia is known as a man of integrity, courage, determination, and action. This list of his accomplishments and achievements is testament to precisely that character.
Jim Ovia was conferred with the AAI 2017 Business Leadership Award by The Africa-America Institute, New York. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in December 2017. He was earlier awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Finance by the Lagos State University in October 2005.
An outstanding philanthropist, Jim Ovia is also the Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees of James Hope College, a co-educational boarding school in Agbor, Delta State, Nigeria.
He founded Zenith Bank in June 1990 and was its pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive for 20 years, until he retired in July 2010. Jim Ovia is currently the Group Chairman of the Bank.
Jim Ovia is a member of a number of global organisations including the World Economic Forum (since 2007), the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) – a key voice for U.S.-Africa business relations – among others.
About 50 percent of the students of James Hope College are beneficiaries of the scholarship programme of the Jim Ovia Foundation. The Foundation has to date sponsored over 1,000 people who are now graduates in various disciplines.
In recognition of his contributions to the Nigerian economy, Jim Ovia was conferred with one of the highest national awards of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011.
Jim Ovia holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Louisiana, USA (1979) and a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration from Southern University, Louisiana, USA (1977). He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (OPM)- 2004.
Ovia runs an ICT Entrepreneurship Programme, through which he supports and encourages numerous young people to explore the opportunities in Information and Communication Technologies.
He is a writer and motivational speaker. He has been interviewed by the following global networks: CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg and ARISE TV.
Ovia is the founder and chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest and one of Africa’s largest banks by shareholders’ funds.
Ovia founded Visafone Communications Limited, and chairman of both the Nigerian Software Development Initiative (NSDI) and the National Information Technology Advisory Council (NITAC). He is a member of the Honorary International Investor Council as well as the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI). He is the Chairman of Cyberspace Network Limited.
The Jim Ovia Scholars programme, founded in 1998, provides aid to outstanding students during undergraduate and graduate study. The Jim Ovia ICT Entrepreneurs programme provides funding to the most promising five to 10 ideas a year, through a competitive bid process. The Jim Ovia Foundation has funded 1,500 scholarships totalling N100 million ($200,000) since 2010, and supports IT skills programmes for marginalised young people, working with partners such as IBM and Google.
In addition to Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia owns stakes in real estate, oil and gas, power generation, and media. He earned the title of one of Africa’s wealthiest personalities in 2015.
Ovia’s story is proof of one of those that would help shape events in 2024.
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