For OANDO Plc, the last three decades have been quite memorable looking back at various exciting periods. In that period, the oil giant has experienced more roses than thorns. The company, which started out as an oil services company in 1994 has grown in leaps and bounds to become one of sub-Saharan Africa’s leading indigenous energy companies.

With the deep understanding that Ocean and Oil Services Limited was established been to supply diesel and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) to various shipping firms and offshore exploration companies in Nigeria, Jubril Adewale Tinubu, CON has indeed come a long way to establish himself as one of Africa’s successful businessman.

The story of OANDO Plc, which would make an excellent case study for young and aspiring businessmen, is about three young men – Wale Tinubu, Mofe Boyo and Jite Okoloko – who dared to dream and with hard work and dedication, turned the dream into reality.

For the records, it was no doubt a humble beginning, as the budding oil company started out only with a vessel, MT Carolina, anchored in Bonny Island, Rivers State to supply diesel and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) to off-shore companies from the Port-Harcourt, Rivers State refinery.

But with dedication, hard work and a very strong belief, in just six years after its emergence on the nation’s thriving oil market, Ocean and Oil Services Limited started to show flashes of a potentially big player, particularly with the acquisition of six ships, a development that shocked its morbid critics who didn’t give it any chance of survival.

The success story continued in 2000 when Wale Tinubu and his co-travellers made open an ambitious desire to acquire a 30 % controlling interest in the defunct Unipetrol. At the time, the audacious move was a swift response to the government’s decision to sell its controlling 60% stake in Unipetrol Plc, an integrated downstream oil marketing company.

No one believed that Ocean and Oil Services Limited, an upstart company, would acquire an already top-quoted company on the Lagos Stock Exchange. But for Tinubu and his team, nothing is impossible if you believe and go for it.

To the surprise of the naysayers, some renowned seasoned technocrat and other nitpickers, the planned acquisition recorded no hitch, as it was completed in a record time. By 2001, Ocean and Oil Services had increased its shares in Unipetrol to 42%. The company reportedly wrought this magic with an impressive support from its foreign technical partners, Compagnia Espanola De Petroleos (CEPSA), the second largest oil group in Spain.

The fire in the magic wand burnt brightly once again in 2002, when these enterprising and go-getting businessmen fortuitously became the object of global interest. Again, to the disbelief of many, Ocean and Oil Services Limited acquired a 60% stake in Agip Nigeria Plc.

For the benefit of those who do not know the story, it all began when Agip Petroli International BV of Italy decided to divest from the downstream sector. With their eyes fixed on the future, the business partners, after wide consultations and meeting of minds, bought over the foreign company’s shares and added Agip Nigeria Plc, the company’s local subsidiary, to their portfolio, using a N9.2 billion four-year syndicated loan from a consortium of local and international lenders, to finance its purchase.

The magical success story continued about one year after, when in 2003, the newly acquired companies were merged, resulting in the historic birth of Oando Limited. That singular audacious move, in the eyes of many players in the industry, spoke to the sense and rhyme in the saying of Henry Ford, an American industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company that “ Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success.”

In a spate of three decades, Tinubu and his partners have indeed stayed together and worked together. These success stories should, therefore, not be a surprise to anyone who has followed the story in the last 30 years. It is a story that has defied all imaginable hypotheses, as Oando Plc has climbed one ladder after another to become a global brand.

It is an indisputable fact that in those three decades, Tinubu and his partners have been able to maintain their preeminence in the sector owing to the value-added services rendered by the company’s subsidiaries: Oando Marketing Limited, OML, one of the largest downstream petroleum marketing companies in Nigeria with over 500 retail outlets across Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo; Oando Supply and Trading Limited, OST, one of the largest independent traders of crude and refined petroleum products in sub-Saharan Africa incorporated in 2004; Oando Gas & Power Limited, OGP, a pioneer in the development of Nigeria’s foremost gas distribution network, spanning 264km and serving over 150 industrial and commercial customers in Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt incorporated in 2004; Oando Energy Services Limited, OES, Nigeria’s largest indigenous oilfield services provider incorporated in 2005 to enhance indigenous participation with a fleet of 5 rigs; Oando Energy Resources, OER, one of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous upstream oil and gas companies.

Today, history its replete with how Oando Energy Resources, OER, had, in 2014, acquired ConocoPhillips Nigerian assets for $1.8bn (inclusive of working capital), secured a 20% interest in the NAOC-Joint Venture (“the JV”) and augmented its total net 2P reserves to 503 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), with peak net production levels of 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboep/d).

Again, in 2016, industry watchers were astounded when news broke that the Company was divesting from its Naira-earning businesses to focus on its US$-earning portfolio.

So far, Tinubu has proven that he and his team can see tomorrow today. In 2021, the Company added Oando Clean Energy Limited to his portfolio. Though it aims to design and deliver clean energy projects, it is ultimately to fast-track the nigeria’s energy requirements, while also fulfilling the United Nation’s Race to Net Zero.

In May 2023, the Company rolled out two electric mass transit buses in fulfilment of the Proof-of-Concept Phase, with 552 buses to be secured by the end of 2023. In August 2024, OANDO completed the acquisition of 100% of Eni’s interest in NAOC, the operating company of the JV, thereby increasing its stake in the JV from 20% to 40%, and securing operatorship of the JV as well as doubling its 2P reserves to 996.2 mmboe.

More than ever before, Tinubu seems to be unstoppable in the effort to continuously expand the company’s exploratory asset base portfolio, while positioning itself for the energy transition through the development of its renewable energy business.

Expectedly, like every mango trees filled with juicy fruits would attract stones, OANDO Plc and Wale Tinubu have attracted timid attacks from those who are and intimidated by the rising profile of the company and its Group Chief Executive Officer. Their latest efforts came into focus recently with the linking the achievements to President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s Presidency.

The tiny seed sown by the three young men about 30 years ago has today grown into a mighty tree under which countless number of humans from across the globe seek refuge. The did not germinate and grow into the mighty tree overnight, it took 30 years of hard work, dedication and perhaps sleepless nights. It is for reasons like these that it makes no sense hinging the success story of OANDO on President Bola Tinubu, who only emerged as Nigeria’s President a little over one year ago.

And for OANDO Plc, as it celebrates its 30 years anniversary, everyone is waiting with bated breath for the next move from the man whose driving force is to make success of the dream the three young men had three decades ago.