worst day in business so far
Hmmm… how can I ever forget that day, the worst day of my life in business? This was in 1999, when the government of the day decided to back in to our oil block by taking 40 percent of our 60 per cent shareholding which is two thirds of our ownership. Two thirds of our ownership of something that we had suffered over the years when we initially got into making enquiries from January 1991 to 1999, eight years of our life time had passed.All of our life savings had been put into it. We had taken a soul-risk meaning that if we did not strike oil and strike it in commercial quantity, we could have been wiped out. We decided to take that risk and it was after we had discovered oil in commercial quantity that the government decided to back into our block and say ‘ok, now that its looking juicy, we want a part of that.’
It wasn’t fair, we felt cheated, we went calling and knocking on the doors of friends who might be able to help us to salvage the situation. Nobody helped. It seemed that we had suddenly become the plague, nobody wanted to have anything to do with us, to the extent that I had friends in high places who when they bumped into me would look the other way or would hold a newspaper to cover their faces. It was as bad as that.
fighting back
We had nothing to lose by fighting back but we have everything to gain if we won. So, we decided to take the government of the day to court. People thought we were crazy but there was nowhere to go. Every door had been shut in our face. We were depressed, dejected, upset, angry but who do you want to punch? Nobody to punch. It seemed as if it was the end of the world and everything had collapsed in our faces. I mean this had become a family business. we were all working in it.
People were saying, ‘you can never win against the government when you go to court, government always wins.’ But we said, its going to be a fight to finish. We are going to go all the way, whatever it takes. So we started from the lower court, it took 12 years to get to the point of the final judgement at the supreme court. It was bitter-sweet.
There were times we would win some motions, there were times we would lose on some motions in court, and my husband played a fantastic role. He’s a lawyer. Throughout that 12 years period, he was in court all the time and we were paying huge sums to be represented by the lawyers and chambers in various courts and there were sleepless nights. We were fasting, praying and it was like we were on our own. Friends, relatives were abusing us and they were saying things like, “oh, so the government took 40 per cent and another 10 per cent, leaving us 10 percent from our shareholding of the entire partnership. So is 10 per cent not enough for them? what are they looking for?” so abuses everywhere.
So that day in retrospect when we look back, we thank God for taking that bold step to decide to fight back.
advice for young people
What I would say is, there’s no industry or sector that’s an exclusive preserve of any gender. Make sure that you do your homework. Make sure that you look for mentors. Make sure that you acquire prerequisite skills to enable you to succeed in your chosen venture. Never take NO for an answer. I didn’t take NO for an answer. I never will take NO for an answer. And for me, there’s no such words as CAN’T.One of the very first thing that one should do is always to ask God first where he wants you to be. What he has planned for your destiny and I believe that if you do that, against all odds, no matter what may be thrown at you, you will still be standing the way I’m standing today to God’s glory.
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