Oando Plc, led by Wale Tinubu, nephew of President Bola Tinubu, has witnessed a remarkable surge in its market value, skyrocketing from N74 billion in 2023 to a record high of N1 trillion in September 2024. This represents an extraordinary increase of over 1,000% in valuation, occurring at a time when Nigeria is grappling with its most severe cost-of-living and fuel crises to date.
Amidst a challenging economic environment that has driven multinational corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, and Diageo (the parent company of Guinness) out of Nigeria, Oando has paradoxically transitioned from a billion-naira revenue-generating company to a trillion-naira enterprise, joining an elite league of companies with a market capitalization in the trillions.
Oando, an oil company that was an average performer before Tinubu’s administration, recorded a profit after tax of 74 billion naira in the 2023 financial year, a stark contrast to the previous year when it recorded an after-tax loss.
But just over a year after Tinubu took over as president, the company’s shares, which were trading at 6 naira on Sept. 1, 2023, have soared to an all-time high of 92 naira.
The latest valuation puts Oando among the top 10 companies by capitalization on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The increase in profits comes months after reports in January revealed Tinubu’s plans to transfer Eni’s Nigerian assets to Oando in exchange for Eni partnering with Shell to exit Nigeria’s lucrative OPL245 oil field.
The asset transfer was made public last week by the parties, who said the deal was worth about $785 million and denied any wrongdoing by Oando in striking the lucrative deal at the expense of Nigeria’s oil fields.
Wale Tinubu and Oando continue to deny any wrongdoing, claiming that some of the discussions that led to the recent success took place long before his uncle became president.
The surge has caused a frenzy among Internet users, with many attributing Oando’s profit growth to the CEO’s blood relationship with the president and suggesting the oil major’s valuation is due to Tinubu’s influence and not necessarily his efforts or achievements.
Currency devaluation, the removal of fuel subsidy, and a general economic crisis have left many struggling, including billionaire Aliko Dangote, who was recently demoted from Africa’s richest person to second place, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index rankings released in August. Oando is not the only company with ties to the Tinubu family that is doing well under the current administration. Earlier this year, the president awarded a huge road construction contract worth over 15 trillion naira to a company run by his son Seyi Tinubu and his friend Gilbert Chagoury.
The president awarded a multi-trillion naira contract for the Lagos-Calabar coastal expressway project to Gilbert Chagoury’s company Hitech. The move drew angry reactions and accusations of nepotism as the company’s directors included the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu.
The collective outrage and criticism from opposition figures including President Atiku Abubakar denied allegations of nepotism and corruption in the handling of federal contracts under the current administration.
