Happy birthday to Dr Mike Adenuga Jr, a man with unquenchable thirst for human and national development 

By Cyriacus Nnaji:

What else can one really say about this gargantuan homo sapiens that has not been said before, a pacesetter, a target setter, a goal getter and a rare gem especially from the perspective of his incontestable massive investments and what he has done in the telecommunications subsector.

Of course it is on record that he has planted exceedingly in the Telecoms sector and no Nigerian has done as much what Chief Dr Mike Adenuga Jr has done in the Telecoms in Nigeria, nay, Africa. He remains the primus inter pares in Africa as far as indigenous investment in telecommunications in Africa is concerned. Wholly indigenous company, Globacom has weathered the storm and has competed soundly and favourably with her contemporaries and foreign backed companies in the same sector and still emerges tops.

First let’s say, Happy Birthday to the visionary entrepreneur, Chief Dr. Mike Adenuga. This is wishing you a day filled with joy, love, great and memorable celebration. Your business acumen and philanthropic efforts are an inspiration to many. Yes, your great contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s economy and your commitment to giving back to the community are truly admirable. Here’s to another year of success, prosperity, and making a difference.

For those who do not know, Dr. Mike Adenuga, a Nigerian billionaire businessman and founder of Globacom, was born on April 29, 1953. Therefore he celebrates his birthday annually on this date,  turning 73 on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

If you do not know Dr Adenuga in person, you  must inescapably know him for his so many achievements. In Telecom Revolution, in 2003, he launched Globacom, introducing per-second billing and breaking monopolies to make mobile communication affordable in Nigeria. He did not stop there, his infrastructure investment in telecommunications is massive. He built the Glo-1 submarine cable, connecting West Africa to Europe to boost high-speed internet.

The company has over 60 million subscribers and operates in several West African countries.

In the oil and gas sector, he is the owner of Conoil, one of Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil exploration and production companies, with interests in multiple oil blocks in the Niger Delta. The company has contributed significantly to Nigeria’s energy needs and has created employment opportunities for thousands of Nigerians. He is a renowned Nigerian businessman and entrepreneur who has made significant contributions to the country’s economy.

Adenuga’s entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen have earned him numerous awards and recognition, including the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) and the African Telecoms Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has also been recognized for his philanthropic efforts, particularly in supporting education and healthcare initiative.

Philanthropy, he is a major supporter of Nigerian sports (CAF Awards, football) and arts, including sponsorship of festivals like Ojude Oba and Ofala festival.

Dr. Adenuga is recognized as one of Africa’s most influential and wealthiest business leaders, recognized as “The Spirit of Africa” for his dedication to the continent’s development.

Adenuga’s contributions to the Nigerian economy are multifaceted. His companies have created thousands of jobs, generated significant revenue for the government, and improved access to essential services such as telecommunications and energy. His innovative approach to business has also inspired a new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs.

In addition to his business interests, Adenuga is also known for his philanthropic efforts, particularly through the Mike Adenuga Foundation, which supports initiatives in education, healthcare, and community development.

Overall, Chief Dr. Mike Adenuga is a respected business leader and entrepreneur who has made a lasting impact on the Nigerian economy. His vision, leadership, and commitment to excellence have inspired many and contributed to Nigeria’s growth and development.

Let’s dig deeper into what he has done in Telecommunications, massive, one must say. Dr Mike Adenuga Jr. through Globacom has built some of Nigeria’s most strategic communication infrastructure.

He built the Glo-1 Submarine Cable between 2009-201. What makes it special, it is Nigeria’s first wholly-owned international submarine cable by a single company. This massive infrastructure covers 9,800km long running from Bude, UK to Lagos, Nigeria with Landing points at UK, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal,  Ghana, and then Lagos.

Its capacity started at 640 Gbit/s, upgraded to 2.5 Tbit/s, with Huawei upgrade to 16 Tbit/s Operational.

What is the impact? It is the only international submarine cable in Nigeria managed end-to-end by one company from Lagos to London, it Provides lowest latency in the market with nationwide terrestrial fiber coverage, “Catalyst in propagating broadband penetration” — serves banks, oil & gas, manufacturing, education, ISPs, it made internet affordable: “Anybody who has an internet-enabled phone can afford data”.

Now comes the Glo-2 Submarine Cable in 2018. This is another first by Globacom. This is Nigeria’s first domestic submarine cable and first to land outside Lagos.

It has the Coverage of 850km long along Nigerian coast from Alpha Beach, Lagos to Southern Nigeria terminated in Akwa Ibom.

Its Capacity is 12 Terabit per second, its Design is 3 fiber pairs, Lagos to South-South with terrestrial extension nationwide

Omnibus 1: 8 branching units to offshore oil platforms & communities; Omnibus 2: 2 branching units to Cameroon & Equatorial Guinea and built by latest Technologies. The Purpose was to enhance Last-mile connectivity, addresses high cost of bandwidth in hinterlands vs Lagos

GLO became the “First to provide dedicated submarine optical fiber to oil platforms” And Enables “upload and down heavy data between onshore and remote oil platforms at the speed of light”

It was also Designed for expansion to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola.

The Benefits are multifaceted: Ultra-high speed for oil communities, IoT for platforms, security/surveillance data; Spawn new ISPs and eCommerce in South-South and backup for terrestrial fiber from Port Harcourt to Lagos.

Other features, Terrestrial & Last-Mile Infrastructure; Nationwide terrestrial fiber coverage with presence in all data centers; Multiple fiber routes for redundancy up to any major data center in Nigeria; Glo partnered data centers hosting cloud companies for SMEs; Planned expansion: New rural sites, densification sites for congestion-free network.

Of course with this efforts, the bottom line is that Glo has built infrastructure others avoided — international bandwidth with Glo-1, then solved Nigeria’s “last-mile” problem with Glo-2 by taking fiber underwater to the South-South oil region instead of struggling with terrestrial cuts. As Glo’s Sanjib Roy put it: Glo-2 will “empower data coverage and support Enterprise market growth in this part of Nigeria”.