Why we sold ASCON oil —Ex-GMD

Former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the ASCON Oil Company Limited,  Grace Olowofoyeku, has disclosed the reasons the board decided to divest from the company which, until recently, 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, Engineer George Enenmoh, died in a Bellview Airlines crash, said that contrary to the notion in some quarters that her family was at war with her over the divestment, everybody was happy at the decision.

Olowofoyeku in a statement, dismissed the “warped reports in the social media” as “a lie from the pit of hell,” insisting that: “The whole family knew about it. 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.”

She fingered inconsistent government economic policies, brazen corruption in the downstream sector of the economy, erratic power supply, strangulating estimated billings by the DISCOs, as some of the factors that conspired against the company and eventually led to its sale.

She said after taking ASCON Oil to unprecedented heights after her husband’s demise, expanding its retail outlets first from 11 to 39, then, to 57, she said that by 2019, she said “the terrain became extremely difficult to do profitable business.

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“Business became so bad that, in the last four years, we had been gradually laying-off staff. 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.”

“Apart from unfavourable government policies, “Olowofoyeku 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. Estimated billings have sent countless companies packing. Unless this government does something urgent about estimated billings, more companies will go under.

“What were we selling?” she asked, her voice rising in anger. “And in this place, our head office (in Victoria Island), we were paying N600, 000 per month. 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 are we doing to generate the income that would enable us pay N2 million for power in just one station, in a month? And we had 52 stations to service. What were we making in our Admiralty station to be paying N2 million every month for light?  Now, we had 52 stations nationwide. 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.”

Olowofoyeku then concluded that “if this government truly wants businesses to grow, if this government really wants businesses to help take the declared 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.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE