By Shola Oshunkeye
The former Group Managing Director, GMD, of the ASCON Oil Company Limited, Barrister Grace Olowofoyeku, has named the factors that compelled the board of directors to approve that the company be sold.
She said the clarification became expedient in order to dispel the rumour roiling in the social media that the family of her late husband, and founder/Chairman of the company, Engineer George Ikemefuna Enenmoh, was at war with her over the decision to sell the company to its investors.
Until it ran into turbulent waters in 2019, ASCON Oil was one of the leading players in the downstream sector of the economy.
Olowofoyeku, who took over the company in 2005 when her husband and founder of ASCON Oil died in a Bellview airlines crash, said any suggestion of discontent over the divestment “is a lie from the pit of hell.”
“The whole family knew about it,” she declared. “The whole process was done in the open. My children, who were directors in ASCON, as well as other stakeholders, reached a consensus that the best option was to divest. And that’s precisely what we did.
“In fact, my children initiated the move to sell the company. My children saw that the boat was sinking and they said we should bail out. And the family of my late husband, Engineer George Enenmoh, was in full support. Everybody agreed that it was the best thing to do in the circumstance. That’s why we did it and everybody is happy.”
Olowofoyeku, a lawyer, named inconsistent government economic policies, brazen corruption in the downstream sector of the economy, erratic power supply, “strangulating” estimated billings by EKO DISCO, as some of the factors that militated against ASCON Oil, and catalysed its sale.
“Apart from unfavourable government policies,” the Sabongida Ora, Edo State former GMD continued, “there were other major problems, like the various toll gates created by people from the regulatory agencies down the line. It was impossible for you to transact any business without settling those people. You need to settle heavily before you can do business. There is also the nagging issue of erratic power supply which keeps you running all your stations on diesel at astronomical costs. This is not to mention the crazy estimated bills that the DISCOs slam on ASCON every month.”
Barrister Olowofoyeku underscored the damage that estimated billing did to the company in the few years leading to its divestment, citing the example of the company’s mega filling station at the Admiralty area of Lekki in Lagos, which guzzled N2 million per month in estimated electricity billing.
“What were we selling?” she asked angrily. “We were paying N600, 000 per month at our head office (in Victoria Island). Is this place (the headquarters) a manufacturing company? What machines do we operate here to attract N600, 000 per month? None.
“As far as I am concerned, that is oppressive. What business were we doing to generate the income that would enable us pay N2 million for power in just one station, in a month? What were we making in our Admiralty station to be paying N2 million every month for electricity? If you do the maths, you can guess how much we were spending on energy alone. This is not talk about other operational costs, overheads, and so on.”
After taking ASCON Oil to unprecedented heights after her husband’s demise, expanding its retail outlets first from 11 to 39, then, to 57, Olowofoyeku said that, paradoxically, by 2019, the business terrain had become so difficult that the company could hardly do any profitable business again.
“Business became so bad that, in the last four years, we had been gradually laying off staff,” she revealed. “I laid off a lot of staff because we couldn’t pay salaries. By 2019, we had asked 80 percent of the staff to go home. With that, coupled with the underlying factors which remained unchanged, we had to divest 80 percent. Later, we were left we no other choice but to divest the remaining 20 percent. ASCON Oil is now completely in the hands of its new owners.”
Olowofoyeku summed up all the traumatic experiences inflicted on the company by EKO DISCO, through estimated billing, describing the ‘evil phenomenon’ as criminal, and a textbook definition of corruption. She justified that position citing the different roadblocks that unscrupulous officials of EKO DISCO reportedly mount on people’s ways while trying to obtain pre-paid meters.
“If you want to get pre-paid meters, they won’t give you,” she said pointedly. “If this is not corruption, what is corruption? Refusal to give pre-paid meters is corruption, and government, through the EFCC, should treat it as such.”
The former ASCON Oil boss posted an advice to President Muhammadu Buhari on the estimated billing phenomenon, declaring that “if this government truly wants businesses to grow, if this government really wants businesses to help take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, as the President promised, then, it must formulate policies that will help businesses grow. It is the business that grows that employs.”
Olowofoyeku also rapped those she said “were making noise” about the sale of ASCON Oil Company Limited. Insisting that most companies divest when their ship hits economic turbulence, she wondered why her traducers singled her out for bashing.
“I don’t know why people singled us out,” Olowofoyeku said. “Most businesses are struggling under this economy, no matter what the government tells you. Total is struggling. Forte Oil has sold. Mobil has sold their downstream. Oando has sold. A lot of people have sold their businesses and gone abroad. A lot more even want to sell but they can’t find buyers. So, why are people talking about ASCON? Why is my own different? Is it because I’m a woman.
“Meanwhile, many people have been phoning to congratulate us on our decision. Those are people with foresight. But we are here re-strategising and re-modelling. And by God’s grace, people will soon see our new business and they will glorify our Father who is in Heaven. They will know that it is not a plague, and certainly not a curse to sell a business.”
As they say, after the storm comes the calm. So, which direction is Olowofoyeku now heading after the sale of ASCON Oil Company Limited? We asked.
Her face brightened as she said that like a Phoenix, a new business will soon rise and would make such astonishing impact on the economy that would shame her antagonists. But don’t ask her to disclose what the new baby is. She won’t tell you.
She would only enthuse: “By God’s grace, people will soon see our new business and they will glorify our Father who is in Heaven. They will know that it is not a plague, and certainly not a curse, to sell a business.”
However, it is not all anger from Barrister Olowofoyeku who disclosed that like the Phoenix, something big is about to rise from the ashes left by ASCON. But she is keeping the new baby to her chest for now. “At the appropriate time, the world would know,” she said.
“Very soon, those saying all those nonsense would discover that selling a business is neither a plague nor a curse. In business, you can reinvent the wheel; you can reinvent your business model as many times as the market dictates. You cannot be paddling a sinking boat. If your boat is sinking and it’s beyond what you can rescue, you bail out. Why should we be paddling a sinking boat when we can invest in other businesses, do profitable business without having hypertension or stroke?”
