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Global Fleet at 10: How the journey started –Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim

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Global Fleet is celebrating 10 years today. Indeed, the occasion calls for the rolling out of the drums to celebrate the group that has made impact on Nigerians at the corporate and personal levels. It is also an opportunity for the Group Managing Director (GMD), Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, to speak about the decade-old journey and further project into the future. Excerpts:

The Energy Group is 10 years old today with over 22 firms under this multinational. How did it all start?

It started after I lost the gubernatorial election in Ondo State to Dr. Olusegun Agagu in 2003. There were some programmes I had promised to execute for the people of the state if elected governor. One of them was to establish a mega oil and gas firm to be called Ondo Oil and then get each local government area in the state to establish 10 filling stations in their areas to create jobs. With this, we would have 180 new filling stations in the state and Ondo Oil will be the major marketer. This will also help drive the IGR of the state. So, after I lost the election, I was in London resting. While reviewing the videos of my campaign, I saw the Ondo Oil project again. I then said ‘why don’t I do it for myself if I can’t do it for Ondo State?’ That was how I started with the setting up of an oil and gas company. Then, instead of building stations, we decided to look for those who want to sell their stations. That was how we started. I came back to Lagos after the holiday and told my friends my plans. I went to the Corporate Affairs Commission for a name search and discovered that the name, Standard Oil, which I wanted to use, had been incorporated. So, we incorporated Global Fleet Oil and Gas. The name fell in line because the idea was to have petrol stations all over the place. The whole idea was based on my thesis in Harvard.

So, the first baby of the Energy Group was Global Fleet?

Well, what we did was to start with Global Fleet Oil and Gas, and the strategy was to start looking at the future of oil and gas business. Later, we started to diversify because we realised that the funds we were using were borrowed from the banks, creating many assets and meaning that we were growing many asset balance sheets; we were growing revenue in terms of daily cash from the stations. At the same time, we were building liabilities, because the loans were coming at a high rate. Sometimes, the interest plus the principal loan move faster than the revenue. When you buy existing petrol station, it takes time to clean it up. It takes time to re-brand and align it to our operations and human resources plans. When you draw down on a loan, it does not wait for all these realignments. It starts reading the moment you draw the loan. We realised that we would generate assets fast but at the same time generate liabilities faster. So, we decided to diversify to areas where we would make more income to neutralise the liabilities being generated. The realignment is very fast in hotel businesses. You can buy hotel today, turn it around, improve on quality and you can start having your money immediately. It is not like buying a petrol station and all its challenges. We wanted to see the other areas we could go into so that the interest on our liabilities could be reduced when compared with revenue so that we can net off the loans very fast. That was what we did. In the process, we grew by expansion not by innovation. That was our key strategy. We believed that in the first 10 years, we would grow by expansion. 10 years after, we would grow by innovation. Before this, we acquired to expand. Now, we are very big. We have diversified to hotel, banking, insurance, education and some other areas. All of them cannot be profitable at the same time, but they can help reduce the loans. Whatever income we make can be used to reduce our loan. You will have a relieved balance sheet in terms of having assets of yours.

How many companies do you have under the Energy Group now?

I cannot say categorically (big laughter) because of my oga at the top. Anyway, jokes apart, within and outside Nigeria, we have about 22 companies. Our diversification got to a level where we had to think beyond Nigeria. Look at somebody like Davis Dell retiring at the age of 40, creating businesses in several parts of the world. That is the challenge. We are in six countries now – Nigeria, Sao Tome, Ghana, United States, United Kingdom and UAE.

Looking back, 10 years after, what have been the high and low points for the Energy Group?

The high point is the success of our business strategy. Our strategy has been working. The low point is our corporate strategy moving faster than employees’ knowledge. The low point is the inability of some of our workers to develop the intellectual capacity to match the challenges of our corporate strategy. The strategy is more advanced than what most of them can cope with. So, there is a knowledge gap. This is where we are working on through training and re-training. Here, training has to be modified. The question is ‘what are you training on’? Are you training on the theory or practical aspect of the job or knowledge that they need? A situation whereby you see a general manager without knowledge of the flow of cycle of execution is a big problem. He does not know how to flow an assignment. The alignment of an organisation becomes a critical challenge. That is fundamental to the success of an organisation, i.e. how much you can align the internal and external structures and, of course, the strategic measurement of your balance scorecard. These are areas where we are having problems. What the universities send to us to use as instrument to run the corporation are far below what we require. In fact, it is very difficult for many of them to cope with our demands. These have been the low points for us. When you move abroad, manpower in Ghana is better in terms of the level of understanding. Maybe because the banks in Ghana have a policy of not employing any graduate having below a second-class upper. That is their policy; it is not mine. I take any graduate. I believe that people with a first-class and a second-class degrees are not useful in business. I believe in those with a lower second class, a third class and a pass. These are people with high level of imagination. They are always very useful in terms of moving corporations forward. But our banks in Ghana and Sao Tome differ from my own strategy in this regard. They employ only a second class upper and above. They have moved faster than Nigerians in terms of staff being able to understand corporate strategy and clean them up quickly. But here, it takes a lot of explanations.

The Group is renowned for a number of acquisitions and turnaround. What have been the challenges?

Virtually all the companies in the group were acquired. It has been quite interesting. What we do in the corporate theatre is similar to what surgeons do in the operating theatre. If we buy a company that is bad, we build it up and start the turnaround. We take it to surgery if it requires it. At times, we may shut it down to re-start again. It is like taking a patient to the hospital. The same thing happens with corporations. If they are in a very bad state, sometimes you shut them down to do a good surgery. But some people will start shouting that I have killed the company. If the company is successful in surgery, one will expect that the surgeon will get loads of thanks. But in the Nigerian corporate world, the former owners will start looking at the agreement to see if they could take something back. This is very embarrassing. These are the challenges in corporate surgeries. So, what do we do to avoid situations like this? We tighten the Shares Purchase Agreement very well. If you tell people about the turnaround plan, more often than not, they won’t understand you. When you tell them that you are retrenching, they won’t understand. Sometimes, you don’t get 100 per cent acquisition with some board members not on your side. You have to do proper alignment because you need board support to run the company. After this, you move to human resources alignment. Here, you talk about people. In every organisation, you find many people pursuing individual goals. You have to make them understand the difference between personal and corporate goals. You have to look at the reward system to address their personal needs. There must be strategic awareness because workers need to know where you are going. There must be advanced strategy communication. If you do all these very well, you will get continuous improvement. There are some companies you may make mistakes. For instance, maybe you did not do proper external alignment for a takeover of a government venture like NICON Insurance. You probably realised that it has generated a lot of concern from stakeholders. You need to re-align the stakeholders to realise that it is now a private business and no longer a government business. You also need to work out how you will take care of their interest even though it is now a private business. The next question is: how do I retain existing customers to retain and improve on the existing balance sheet? If you are running a conglomerate like ours, you will find out that some companies are very healthy; some are not too healthy, some are sick. So, you have to do what I call balancing. What are you balancing? When company A needs money from company B, you do inter- company funding. As company B begins to do well, it will pay back company A. Everybody becomes okay and you move on.

Which of the acquisitions gave you the most problem after acquiring?

Honestly, if I look back, all the acquisitions have their own peculiar problems. I have had the situation whereby an acquisition that we thought would not create a single problem, turning out to be problematic. It will even lead to litigations. In fact, nobody expected any problem from those problematic acquisitions. They were direct acquisitions and there should not have been any problem. People sell their shares but interestingly, turn around to create problems. It was good we documented everything; otherwise, they would have embarrassed us. The parties we related with in the problematic ones were people who ordinarily should not create unnecessary problems.

Was that what happened in the case of Newswatch magazine?

Well, something like that and some other few ones. The key thing here is that, just like a medical doctor who prepares for surgeries with scans, our own scan is the diagnose report which our turnaround experts will have to go and do even before we purchase and then start talking about turnaround. If you are told that this magazine sells 15,000 copies weekly when you enter, you will realise that it is doing 4,000. Now, you have to go back to do an emergency plan and then move up from there. Take the case of NICON Insurance, when we bought it, we never knew that there was a pension liability of N26 billion. Meaning that we had a negative N26 billion in our books even before we start operating. When we entered NICON and were seated, we saw the liabilities. Now, there was no warranty for the liabilities. Even, if there were warranty, how would you collect that money from government? We had to battle the liabilities which we did not bargain for. So, when we took over, all our efforts were geared towards reducing these liabilities. It was tough. In a hotel for instance, you are told that the liabilities of the hotel you are buying is N700 million. That, you will think is very light. When you enter, you will probably see about 70 government officials living there permanently. So, you have to find a way to eject them. These are not within the immediate charge. There is no amount of diagnosis that you can do that will reveal all the problems until when you enter the firm and take over. Then, when you enter, the managing director must go. There is no acquisition anywhere in the world where the MD stays except a management buy-out. What we do in our own case is that we don’t allow managing directors to go instantly. We retain all the workers and stabilise the system. We believe that when you sack all the workers, you will lack information when you take over. The old management might go with vital files. When you start having cases, you will have no files to fight them. So, acquisitions and turnaround present interesting challenges. But we like them. The only areas we experience very little or no problem is when we buy from foreigners. Companies acquired from foreigners hardly give us problems. The companies we bought from HFP – the HFP Industries and Hotels gave us no problem. What they tell you they have are the things you will find when you move in. In fact, you will find extra beneficial things they did not disclose. But from Nigerians, when you buy ordinary petrol station; by the time they hand over to you and you send the first trailer load of petrol, you will discover that the under-ground tank is leaking. You will have to exhume the tank and buy new ones. This is something you did not plan for. You will be talking about additional capital here. Our first 10 years are meant to clear all problems associated with acquired companies. It is expected that after 10 years, we would have cleaned all of these. Post-10 years, the company will now grow not by acquisition, but by innovation.

Are you still planning to acquire more companies?

No, no. In the next 10 years, we have no plan of acquiring companies except it is within the system. For example, if it is a newspaper, it must be one that will align with the existing ones. We cannot just wake and say we want to acquire a brewery. There is no brewery within the conglomerate. That will require a new set of management science and we will not go into it.

Was the Virgin Nigeria acquisition a wrong decision? What went wrong?

It was a fantastic idea. I must tell you that it was a good decision. My intention was that post-10 years, we would have surplus in our Group account after paying all the debt. Then, we would now move the surplus to Air Nigeria to create a national carrier for our dear country. But the problem with Air Nigeria has to do with human resources and subsequently, safety. It pays me to close down Air Nigeria than to begin to get condolence messages after air crash. We were not hoping for a crash but from the signal we were getting with the attitude of staff, we needed to take cognisance of the likely consequences. No air crash comes suddenly. Crisis develops gradually. Remember, one air crash can ruin an airline. We had to be sensitive about the Air Nigeria issue. How can workers go on strike in May for that month’s salaries? How do you explain that? In an industry that has to do with safety, you have to shut down the place. If it is a hotel, I will clean out the staff and re-start. You can’t do that with airlines. Regulators too also created problems for us. Today, they will tell you that you can’t fly to Abuja but you can fly to London. Consistent policy is key to aviation safety. If we can’t guarantee safety, we won’t continue with aviation. There were only two aircraft left when Richard Branson ran away. We moved it from two aircraft to 12. We had no solution to the staff alignment problem. Two frauds made me to shut the place. Staff can issue 10 free tickets to themselves annually. We had about 1,200 staff. That translates to 12,000 tickets annually. 12,000 is the total number of passengers we carry in a month. That means that revenue from our operations for one month will go towards staff free tickets. Then, they collect salaries. I said it must be stopped and that if they want an increase in salary, they should make a case for it. I stopped it in April and that led to the May crisis. There were also huge frauds with student rebate. External people will sell our tickets and return more as student tickets. I did a periodic check for two months and 65 per cent of passengers carried by Air Nigeria were students. It was throughout the year. That was what killed Nigeria Airways. If an airline sells mainly students’ ticket, where would it get money to maintain aircraft and fuel them? I now said that a desk should be established at the head office where students can call a particular number for students’ ticket. I directed that no station should sell students’ ticket again. The staff did not like it. Again, when we started the Lagos-London, one afternoon I just drove to the airport and joined the flight. It was full. I asked the pilot why they were using 70,000 litres of aviation fuel to go to London and 120,000 litres back. He said ‘Mr. Ibrahim, we carry more cargo when coming back and burn more fuel.’ So, when I got back, I asked them the amount made from cargo for the flight and they said five thousand pounds while spending extra N6 million on fuel. So, where is the economic sense in this? Where is the money from cargo? They said it would be paid in three months. After three months, nothing came. They were also printing and using manual tickets as a way of perpetrating fraud. So, I had to give two weeks’ notice to shut down the airline. When I went on the last flight to London, I was well received and encouraged by UK Borders. They commended my action. If I wanted to run away, I could have simply stopped flying. What we did was to tell anybody with claims against us to come forward. It was a fantastic experience for me. We paid everybody.

But it ended on a bad note.

Not really. If we sell out investment, we will recover our money.

Any hope of Air Nigeria coming back?

Well, I cannot say categorically. The Group’s Council will meet next week to take a final decision on Air Nigeria. But I can tell you that our position has always been on divestment of our shares from it. I can tell you that the airline will fly again, but under a different ownership not Jimoh Ibrahim. It was sold to me by Richard Branson. I will sell to another person.

The Group recently established a university in Sao Tome. Can you tell us more about this?

Yes, it is called Premier University, Sao Tome. It is taking off this year. Apart from God, what has helped us most is education. If we fail to give back to education, it will be a disaster. Now that the Group knows what we want in terms of knowledge, we should be able to set up a school to give us what we need. That was why we came up with Premier University. We want to produce great future leaders, future corporate leaders who will do it better than Jimoh Ibrahim. We want to develop them in the Premier University. Nigeria already has over 120 universities. Sao Tome has no single one. The request for a university in Sao Tome was made by the country’s Prime Minister at a dinner and I was touched. I told him about the Group’s plan for a university and promised to look into the prospect of setting it up there. That was it. We have been working on that in the last three years. Our university is a peculiar one. We run a six-year programme and you get B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D. We run leadership development courses. We don’t just run regular courses like Sociology, Accounting and the rest of them. Any hope of setting up a university in Nigeria? Yes, there is hope. In the future, we will talk to the National Universities Commission and see if we could bring a faculty of the Sao Tome University to Lagos.

How challenging has it been running all these companies? Do you sleep at all?

Yes, I sleep a lot. I only have two programmes I run – work for the Group and sleep. There is no time for any other programme. My church programme? Maybe on Sundays and not more than one hour. I am not interested in anything more than that. I visit all the companies abroad, at least every three months – Ghana, Sao Tome, London, Dubai and the United States. Two years ago, Bombardier wrote me a letter asking that I should drop my aircraft for special checkup because we did 900 hours in a year. This is very unusual of a private jet that is not on charter. That was like two years combined into one.

When are you planning to retire?

I should be able to appoint a successor by next year; a GMD designate. He will work with me for about six months after which I will pack out and move to Igbotako (my village in Ondo State). I will not just retire from business; I will retire from all my appointments. I won’t be on any board. I will just be a shareholder. Very soon, we would start listing some of our companies on the Stock Exchange so that Nigerians can benefit from them. By next year, hopefully, two of the companies will be listed.

What is the Group balance sheet like, say last year?

Ah, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know that of the Group. I only know of a few of the companies.

Some say that the media arm is not making money. So, what has been the attraction in them for you?

The media arm is not supposed to make money for us now. By the nature of the business, you have to go on for another five years. In fact, the media arm will be expanding next week. We are putting printing machines in Port Harcourt, Owerri and Kano. So, we keep putting money in the media. Our Group will continue to support the media until 2017. This is just 2013.

If you are asked to pick the top three companies you think are the best in your Group, which ones would they be?

I will take the media; then, the industry and the investment company.

Are you in any way affected by criticisms trailing your operations?

People will support us eventually. It takes time. We will just continue the good work. The kind of challenges Bill Gates faced under the anti-trust law in the United States was massive. It was the government and the Congress prosecuting Gates then. Today, Bill Gates is king. Both the government and the Congress invite him for their functions. The Lord Jesus Christ was persecuted too. We all love him now. That period of hatred will be there. You don’t need to be doing adverts to change it. With time, the same people that hate you will be your friends. It is normal. So, if somebody steals my money and I sack him, do you think the person will say anything good about me? I won’t let the person go free. I will collect back the stolen money. Some companies will just send the thief away, but I will collect my money. After this, they will start writing all sorts of petitions against me.

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: National Mirror Newspaper

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Tribune

Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110

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Tribune Online
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 62 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,110. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Friday. “55 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-21, Yobe-19, Ogun-6, Akwa Ibom-3, Kaduna-2, Plateau-2, FCT-1, Rivers-1.” YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE COVID-19: Nigeria Recorded […]

Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Tribune Online

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This Day

Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack

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•Deploy more personnel as army chief vows to wipe out terror group
•Security beefed up at N’Assembly

Deji Elumoye and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power, is under a massive security cordon following threats of attacks by insurgents and the increasing wave of banditry in the contiguous states of Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger States, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

There has been a wave of kidnappings in the outskirts of the federal capital, notably Pegi, Tuganmaje and Kuje among others, which the police have battled in recent times.

The security situation in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was heightened by the pronouncement of the Niger State Governor, Mr. Sani Bello, that Boko Haram fighters who he said sacked 50 villages in the state and hoisted the terror group’s flag, were about two hours drive away from the FCT.

Security has also been beefed up at the National Assembly as operatives, yesterday, thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The deteriorating security situation nationwide prompted the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, to warn that the 2023 general election may not hold, demanding the declaration of a state of emergency as well as the convocation of a national conference.
However, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, yesterday restated the Nigerian Army’s determination to annihilate Boko Haram.

But the Governor of Katsina State, Hon. Bello Masari, cautioned against declaring a state of emergency, saying doing so isn’t the solution to combat the security challenges facing the country.
The security of the nation’s airports was also in focus yesterday as the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) said there was no threat to them.

THISDAY’s investigations showed increased presence of troops, police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel and intelligence operatives at the three strategic entrances to the city notably, Keffi, Zuba and Gwagwalada.

More checkpoints were also mounted around Gwagwalada and Keffi.
THISDAY also observed increased intelligence deployment at the entrance and the borders of FCT with contiguous states.

Beyond the borders, there were more deployments and police patrols inside the city and increased intelligence deployments as well.
Security sources told THISDAY: “There are deployments here and there but they are routine. Alertness is key to a secure environment.”

It was also learnt that security agencies were involved in frenzied meetings throughout yesterday.
The meetings, coordinated by the office of the Chief of Defence Staff under the new joint operational strategy of the armed forces, were aimed at coordinating a joint response to possible threats of attack to the FCT.

“I understand the security teams have been meeting for some days now and if you look around you, you will notice that there are increasing patrols and numbers of security personnel. The threats are not been taken lightly,” a source said.

National Assembly workers, lawmakers and visitors also had a harrowing experience accessing the legislative complex due to heightened security in the area.
Security operatives thoroughly screened every vehicle approaching the National Assembly complex in Abuja, impeding both human and vehicular traffic.

The Sergeant-at-arm of the National Assembly and other security agencies supervised the operations, leading to huge traffic build-up inside the complex.

Legislative staff, visitors and lawmakers were seen patiently waiting for their cars to be searched so that they could go ahead with the business of the day.
Some staff and visitors at some point got tired of waiting and were seen alighting from their cars to trek from the gate to the complex.

Meanwhile, the ONSA has said there is no threat to the nation’s airports.
A statement by the Head of Strategic Communication, Mr. Zachari Usman, said the reports of threats to the airports were an internal correspondence of security threat assessment misconstrued as security threat to the airports.

PDP Demands State of Emergency

In a related development, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday demanded the declaration of a state of emergency, warning that the 2023 general election might not hold if the federal government failed to tackle insecurity.

He called on the federal government to summon a national conference to address the spike in insecurity.
Secondus added that the national caucus of the party will meet today to discuss the state of the nation.

Addressing members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja, Secondus said: “We are worried Abuja is not even safe. It is no longer politics. We got alert of plots to bomb and burn down our airports.

“We urge the federal government to declare a national state of emergency in security. There is the need to call a national conference to discuss the insecurity in the country.

“There may not be any election in 2023 in Nigeria due to insecurity. This government must listen to the people. The Buhari government should call a national confab to discuss security and state of the nation. It is no longer politics. This time we are not playing politics. Let’s keep politics aside and move the nation forward.”
He said the country had been grounded, regretting that there had been no matching response from the federal government.

Secondus said in the past, terrorism in the North was confined to the North-east, but with the report of Boko Haram occupying villages in Niger State, terrorism had spread to the North-central
“Herdsmen are also menacing in the West; gunmen causing havoc in the East; and the militants in the South; all killing, looting, raping, maiming and burning down homes. The situation is bad; Nigerians all over are living in fear,” he said.

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the problem of Nigeria was outside of the PDP headquarters, while pledging the support of the Senate to the declaration of state of emergency in security.

Abaribe said he deliberately decided not to speak on the floor of the Senate but to allow the APC senators to speak so as to avoid being accused of giving a partisan colouration to the issue of insecurity.

He stated that only electoral reforms would give victory to the opposition party in the 2023 general election and ensure a democratic defeat of the APC-led federal government.
Also, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended the NEC and the PDP leadership for their collective efforts at resolving the House leadership crisis.

The NEC meeting adopted the position of Secondus, calling on the federal government to convoke a national conference to discuss the state of insecurity in the country, according to a communiqué read by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.

Army Chief Vows to Wipe Out Boko Haram

The army yesterday reiterated its commitment to wipe out Boko Haram.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, told reporters in Maiduguri, Borno State that Boko Haram had been defeated in many encounters and would continue to be defeated until it’s annihilated from Nigeria.

“We will take on Boko Haram decisively, and we are committed to the focus of the operations, which is the total annihilation of Boko Haram from Nigeria,” he said.

The COAS, who was visiting the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri for the fifth time since his appointment four months ago, said the visit was to boost the morale of the troops, reassure them and listen to any issues affecting them.

Earlier, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Farouq Yahaya, lauded the visit, which he said had continued to boost the morale of the troops.
“We are honoured, we are grateful, we are encouraged by those visits. You provided us guidance, logistics and other things we required. We are most grateful for those visits,” Yahaya said.

State of Emergency Won’t Solve Security Challenges, Says Masari

Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Masari, has, however, said declaration of a state of emergency won’t solve the security challenges facing the nation.
Masari, who spoke yesterday with journalists after meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the State House, Abuja stated that he was against the recent call by the House of Representatives for the declaration of a state of emergency in the security sector as it would not solve the problem.
According to him, declaring a state of emergency will not achieve the desired effect as the security structure and personnel to be used to execute the emergency are already overstretched in a bid to safeguard lives and property.

Sourced From: THISDAYLIVE

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The Nation

UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal

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Kamaru Usman has raked in a mammoth £1.1million, about N584.2 million after his impressive knockout victory over Jorge Masvidal on Saturday night, Sportivation.com.ng reports.

The Nigerian Nightmare has been handsomely rewarded for his stunning performance and he was the best-paid fighter on the card which was witnessed by 15, 000 fans in Florida.

According to Daily Mail, Usman earned £538,000 to show up, £459,000 pay-per-view bonus, a £43,000 sponsorship bonus and a well deserved £35,000 Performance of the Night bonus.

Jorge Masvidal also earned £358,000 to show, £186,000 in pay-per-view money and a £28,000 sponsorship bonus.

This is the biggest payday of Usman’s career so far and the Welterweight champion also benefited from the fact that Masvidal is also a top draw for the fans.

Kamaru Usman is a Nigerian-American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler.

Sourced From: Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics

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Premium Times

Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings

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The government said that no worker should stay back beyond 6:00 p.m. within premises of buildings undergoing construction.

The post Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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