Obasanjo, business leaders celebrate Ibru legacy

 

… as ‘The Ibru Story’ book launched in Lagos

 

Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria, and captains of industry gathered in Lagos to celebrate the legacy of the Ibru family, during the launch of ‘The Ibru Story’, a book chronicling business, achievements, and contributions to national development.

Obasanjo, speaking at the book launch on Wednesday, urged Nigerian business families to protect their legacies through discipline, unity and effective succession, as the Ibru family unveiled a book chronicling its rise as one of the country’s pioneering indigenous business dynasties.

Drawing on his personal relationship with Michael Ibru, Obasanjo recalled lessons he learnt from the businessman’s approach to leadership and delegation.

He said Michael understood that attempting to control every part of an expanding organisation could leave an entrepreneur exhausted.

“If I go after this, I go after that, I will be spent out,” Obasanjo quoted Michael as telling him.

According to the former president, Michael set clear performance expectations for managers, accepted reasonable outcomes and encouraged them to improve, while retaining personal control of the frozen-fish business that financed the group’s expansion.

Besides, Obasanjo said the story offered lessons in ‘determination, discipline and communal unity,’ noting that Michael brought members of the family together around a shared commercial vision.

He also called on the family to continue strengthening its internal bonds and preserving the legacy created by its founders.

“We should never be tired of bringing our family together,” Obasanjo said. “You have a good legacy. We should let that legacy be seen.”

Goodie Ibru, chief host and family patriarch, in his speech on behalf of family, said, “Our wish is that our family book will be more than a record of commercial achievement.

“May it inspire its readers through its lessons of vision, enterprise, courage, hard work, faith, a commitment to family and service to society.”

He described the publication as more than a record of commercial accomplishment, saying it captured the values, sacrifices and cooperation that sustained the family’s enterprises through periods of economic and political uncertainty.

“The publication, The Ibru Story, is not simply the record of a successful business family,” he said. “It is the story of parents who gave their children values before they could give them material advantages.”

The book, The Ibru Story: An Account of a Pioneering Nigerian Business Family, which was publicly presented in Lagos, with Obasanjo serving as chairman of the occasion.

Authored by Mike Awoyinfa, veteran journalist, the book, which is a biography documents the history, entrepreneurship and legacy of Michael Ibru and his siblings, namely Felix, Goodie, Bernard, Alex, Grace and Mabel, whose enterprises extended across fisheries, shipping, hospitality, agriculture, aviation, banking, oil and gas, media and other sectors.

The event attracted members of the Ibru family, traditional rulers, business leaders, public officials and representatives of the Lagos, Ondo and Delta state governments.

The book was described as the culmination of decades of efforts to document the history of the Ibru family. Michael Ibru had reportedly been encouraged on several occasions to record the family’s journey, while the late Felix Ibru later produced an unpublished manuscript.

Goodie said Michael possessed an exceptional ability to recognise opportunities where others saw uncertainty, but emphasised that the family’s achievements resulted from the contributions of several siblings, employees, advisers and business associates.

“The greater achievement was the demonstration that Nigerians could create, own and manage substantial enterprises of their own,” he said. “For that reason, the history recorded in this book belongs not only to our family. It forms part of the wider history of Nigerian enterprise.”

Godini Darah, professor and reviewer of the book, described the publication as a positive African story that challenges representations of the continent as incapable of building enduring institutions.

He said the 342-page book comprises 21 chapters arranged in seven parts and covers the family’s origins, commercial activities, involvement in politics, the role of women, periods of adversity and the responsibilities of the second generation.

The review identifies the importation and distribution of frozen fish as the foundation of the family’s rise.

By 1990, the Ibru organisation reportedly employed between 9,000 and 11,000 people and had developed interests in shipping, port operations, hospitality, agriculture, aviation, banking, and oil and gas.

The family said the publication had been contemplated for decades, with earlier efforts by Michael and Felix Ibru remaining incomplete. Goodie’s determination eventually brought the project to completion.

He urged younger family members to see the Ibru name as a responsibility rather than an entitlement.

Proceeds from the book will support the Ibru Foundation’s educational and development initiatives in Urhobo land, Delta State and other parts of Nigeria.