Glo: Still the charging bull at 22

Nigeria’s own telecoms giant, Globacom, clocked 22 last week. Ancient Greek had more than a name in Eleutheria just as the Romans had Libertas. They were bulwarks against the tyranny in the polis. Freedom walking with a crown is this company that is 22 years old. In its operations, the Nigerian ‘Eleutheria’ is a symbol of national pride. Innovation has remained its torch; its shield is resilience, and its sword fair competition. In its story of life is a lesson on how to stand tall without being bent by the grasping weight of foreign competition.

The yam that will grow will grow, even if weeds overwhelm it. When it was born, Globacom came like a fish thrown into a sea of sharks. Its breath struggled with those who thought they owned the oxygen of life. But the ancestors whispered into its lungs and it lived. Its story is on all fours with that of a child that survived threatened abortion. The seed refused to die before it sprouted. The unborn spirit clung to life and, in the fullness of time, it came bouncing. Is it not said that the chick destined to crow and wake up the village will not die in the egg?

Twenty two years ago when it arrived, Glo met strangers binding the Nigerian people with chains of exploitation in crazy phone costs and bills. The Nigerian company came ready and gave cheap telephony – what the foreigners said was not possible. ‘They’ responded with a plot to deny the audacious newcomer the oxygen of inter-connectivity. But its owner, Dr Mike Adenuga Jr, knew the smell of suffocation, so he fought the stranglers and got fresh air forever for his company and the Nigerian mobile telephone users. Where did the courage come from? You remember that song of Chief Ebenezer Obey: Kò sí’bèrù f’ómo Olórun. True. The child of destiny fears no mortal enemy.

It was just like yesterday when the story started 22 years ago. It has lived its life like àkèré who vows that rather than not being delicious in the stew, it will crush its arms and legs into the soup pot. The child of destiny swam among sharks yet lived; fought local and foreign principalities and prevailed. Its story is a drumbeat that is saying into our ears: a thousand fishes will not overload the river. The creeping weed that insists the elephant will not go up the mountaintop will end up a victim of the elephant’s unstoppable stride. We pray for Globacom a life of immortality lived in self-fulfillment, in service of our country, its pride and its freedom.

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