₦airaland Forum

Sometimes the price can be very high in the fight against corruption.

I had the privilege of making Nigeria’s first GSM phone call back in 2001 when I called the regulator to say, “We’re live!” Who would’ve believed then that Nigeria today would have more than 167 million mobile phones?!

It all started out as a very exciting new chapter for enterprise in Africa. Shortly after President Obasanjo was elected, the new government announced an incredibly transparent international auction process for three national mobile phone licenses.

To participate in the bid, you not only had to raise money, but there had to be a member of the bidding consortium who was an experienced GSM operator. Econet Wireless met the requirements because of its experience in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Our Nigerian partners, which included state governments, local banks and high net worth individuals, were financial investors. The largest shareholder had only 10%. That was the written agreement.

I managed to assemble a consortium of 22 investors to put up the money needed to bid. Our shareholders were all Nigerian, mostly institutional investors including leading banks and two state governments, Lagos State and Delta State. The license cost us $285m and was the most expensive license ever issued in Africa at the time. This was 2001.

We considered the investment not only about putting together a network, but also about building a nation. We knew it had the potential to transform Nigeria’s entire business and social architecture.

Most of our investors had between 1-10% shareholding. Econet Wireless Nigeria had only 5% of the shares, but that was fine because it was 5% ownership of a very big pie.

As the "technical partner and operator," Econet was the company with the expertise to build and operate such a business. Our financial investors recognised this, and also allowed us to receive 3% of the turnover as our fees. This was standard practice in the industry.

We were one of the winning bidders and they gave us just six months to set up business and get our network operating. We were under a lot of pressure but our network was live two days before the others! Customers were pouring in. We were number one in the market with an estimated 57% market share.

Then came the fateful day when I was told that our company must pay a total of $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in state government) who had facilitated the raising of the money to pay for the license.
I refused to authorise the illegal payments. Meeting after meeting was held to try to get me to agree, but I would not. The money would not be paid as long as Econet was the operator and I had signing authority.

James Ibori, the Governor of Delta State, was demanding $4,5m be paid to him in his personal capacity. He was one of the most powerful men in the country and had a reputation for violence. When he heard that I was refusing to approve payment he issued an ultimatum "Pay or I will chase you and your people out of the country. I refused.

The shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless Nigeria out of management. They cancelled our management contract. James Ibori and his colleagues personally attended the meeting to remove us. After the meeting one of them (a prominent local businessman even today) came up to me and said: "Unfortunately for you, God does not have a vote. I had to withdraw all my staff and their families: 200 people in all. We left Nigeria.

Most of our people had to be retrenched. The loss of the contract almost drove us to bankruptcy as a group. They invited a big international operator to replace us as technical partner and operator. They changed the name of the company from Econet to V-Mobile.

Within days of their arrival, the managers of the new operator signed off the payments demanded as bribes.

Then what happened?
A few noble Nigerians had both the integrity and courage to carefully collect all the documentation on the movement of the money, and pass it all on to me.
There’s a saying worth remembering in uncovering the trail of destruction that is corruption: “Follow the money”…
I bided my time... then I wrote a letter to the United States Department of Justice! It was 2003.

Strive Masiyiwa is the richest man in Zimbabwe exiled because of his hatred for corruption under Robert Mugabe. He's also founder of ECONET
To be continued…
Source: Facebook.com/striveMasiyiwa.

Please Mod. Try and bring this to front page. It is too interesting to be ignored. Nigeria will be great again.

not surprised....

And then what later happened

Nice piece

waiting for Tinubu and Ibori's role in this scandal.

Interesting

Googled but couldn't find the concluding part..

Found the quoted on his blog though...

[b]

Strive Masiyiwa Post author
October 4, 2015 at 9:13 pm
Spiritual Reflection

I could easily have agreed to pay the bribes and I would have remained in the company earning millions every year. My shares could have increased and I would have earned billions. It was all there for me. All I needed to do was to accept that the payments be made. After all, the money was not coming from my own pocket I also knew the price I and my company would have to pay:

-Lucrative contracts would be lost.
-Our reputation and prestige would be affected as these people would tell lies about the reasons we had to leave. They had powerful friends everywhere including some of the press;
-Many people would lose their jobs.
-My company could collapse.
-I faced personal danger.

Knowing all that, I still said NO!
In Matthew chapter 4, Satan says to Jesus, “If you bow down to me, I will give you all the kingdoms on earth and their wealth.”
Those who engage in corruption ( or ignore it) have bowed down to Satan. Whenever I see someone who is corrupt, or chooses to be quiet about it, all I see is someone grovelling at the feet of Satan.
Let’s be the generation that fights corruption… and ends it! Will you join me?

[/b]


Cc; midolian,egift,rawani,beremx,passingshot,beremx,seunmsg,hungerbad,omenka,ibnsultaan, handie,obiagelli,franchizy,abduljabbar4,marv1,989900, theVOice, dabullit,ngeneukwenu, stola, orlandoowoh...

Cc:Agaba123,mizmycoli,francizy, tonyebarcanista,


Lalasticlala, ishilove, pls do justice...thx...

modath:
Googled but couldn't find the concluding part..

The writer says its a four-part series

Bring on part 2 pls

dey should have pursue that useless emptyhen serf

Will follow this story...

Wow. Only those with strong hearts can do this

Modath this eye opener highlights the underhand dealings that go on between our government and multinationals and the impunity therein.

In a seminar a few years ago, my tutor was using Nigeria as an example for corporate fraud and its effect on organizational change and was exaggerating the situation when I calmly reminded him that foreigners are the ones that keep the rot going by continuing to issue bribes and engaging in dubious deals in their greedy quest for profits.

Ibori must have successfully blackmailed similar companies in the past for him to make such audacious threats, a trend which underlines the culture of impunity that characterized the PDP's misadministration of Nigeria.

We must salute the integrity of the author.

All the articles in this thread:

https://www.nairaland.com/2612215/lesson-all-nigerians-corruption-kills

Masiwa Or Musiwa??

back den, when men were boiz

khassy:
dey should have pursue that useless emptyhen serf

You no hate them reach me!!

Mat

Hi modath, this is not surprising at all. I'm trying to guess who the businessman mentioned is....I'll hazard a guess its Oba Otudeko. That's one consummate capitalist.

Thank God for folks like Strive.....I wonder how many Nigerian businessman can be upright enough to walk away from profit tainted by corruption.

Nigeria will rise again

abduljabbar4:
Wow. Only those with strong hearts can do this

& superhuman will to not fold under pressure..

@rawani....

I wish people knew how evil Diezani is apart from being a thief, she requested that one of the ioc insert a LIFETIME (with zero stake) 5% royalty clause FOR HER in one of their oil fields they were planning to divest.

The company refused & she killed the deal which cost more than 200 nigerians (both direct & services) their jobs...

More things will come out later......

modath:
& superhuman will to not fold under pressure..

@rawani....

I wish people knew how evil Diezani is apart from being a thief, she requested that one of the ioc insert a LIFETIME (with zero stake) 5% royalty clause FOR HER in one of their oil fields they were planning to divest.

The company refused & she killed the deal which cost more than 200 nigerians (both direct & services) their jobs...

More things will come out later......

This woman is a devil o

Ibori is in jail, The question is..Who was the lagos state governor then? Thiefn....u.

We know wia James ibori is today..
But hu was the other state governor



Lateef Jakande













Mobolaji Johnson




















































Mayor of Bourdillion

Eye opening I must say

This piece just made it clearer dat Nigeria is d undisputed birthplace of corruption.

May be Visa phone will come up with their story later. for Nigeria to have survived despite this level of corruption, I wonder where we would have b

May be Visa phone will come up with their story later. for Nigeria to have survived despite this level of corruption, I wonder where we would have being if there were no corruption in Nigeria.

Not surprised