Governor Alex Otti is one of my favourite Nigerian governors at the moment.
He became more special to me when I heard from the mouth of the Innosson chairman, Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, how Alex Otti has been supportive of his business.
At the moment, no Nigerian governor buys the volume of cars that Alex Otti buys from Innosson.
Alex Otti’s official car is Innoson’s SUV.
Just a few months ago, Innoson completed the assembly of the Innoson Gwagon, and guess who took it for patronage and test driving?
Alex Otti
Peter Obi once did what Otti was doing, and that was the spring that scaled Innossonin in the last decade.
Since Peter Obi left, no other governor has been this supportive of Innosson’s hustle until Otti came along.
To show the respect that Innoson has for him, Innosson stopped granting credit to state governments in Nigeria after his experience with Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.
No matter who you are, you must pay him before he releases any cars to you.
But for Otti, he waves this policy off because Otti has shown that he is a man of character who keeps to his word.
The Gwagon that was delivered to Otti the last time I was in Nnewi was on credit, and he cleared the debt three weeks after the car was delivered.
He is that special. I love any governor who supports local businesses in Nigeria to scale.
The governor has a special place in my heart.
I have to share this part of Otti that many people didn’t know before. Labour Party supporters think I have an axe to grind with their star governor.
I don’t actually
I don’t discuss politics anymore.
I retired a long time ago, and that is why I discuss more about business, Odumeje, and Nigerian fine babes.
Anything more than this, you won’t see me.
However, I felt terrible yesterday with all that spotlight on Otti and not Prof. Barth Nnaji, who conceived, midwifed, and built the geomteric power plant.
The Geometric Power Plant is an $800 million project, and the project started in 2012.
No bank in Nigeria can afford to fund this project at that scale.
Not Diamond Bank or First Bank
The highest they would have done is to provide $50 billion, which is even too much for them because they can’t afford it.
Let’s say Diamond Bank provided 50 billion, which is too much and not possible.
50 billion for an $800 million project is very small, insignificant, and can’t move the needle.
$800 million is 800 billion naira.
Let me share a story.
In 2021, Barth Nnaji ran out of funds.
He was broke, paying interest on the foreign loan that he had collected before, and his problem with Emeka Offor was lingering more than necessary, which starved him of funds.
It was Afreximbank in Cairo, which provided the last $50 million, that enabled Barth Nnaji to complete this project.
The former governor of Abia State, Ikpeazu, gave a state guarantee before the money was disbursed.
The state guarantee that Ikpeazu gave was this:
If Nnaji defaults on paying back the $50 million, the Abia state government will pay it.
It was a big risk, but Ikpezu took the bullet for him.
It was on the strength of that guarantee that Barth could get the money to finish the power plant project.
Why did Afreximbank refuse to grant further loans until they got the Abia state guarantee?
Barth Nnaji was owing too much at that point and was too exposed.
He was struggling to pay the interest payment for the dollar loan they gave him in the past, so granting more loans It is a red flag and a risk that Afreximbank did not want to take until they were sure of the Abia state guarantee.
Also, the fight between Prof. Nnaji and Sir Emeka Offor was on and raging.
There was so much uncertainty around Geometric, so no bank worth its salt will be that fast to disburse another loan to Prof. Nnaji.
This was why I was shocked to see people rewriting history and doing revisionist work for a project I have been following since 2012.
Afreximbank, IFC, and the World Bank provided the bulk of $800 million that went into Geometric Power.
No Nigerian bank has the capacity to fund a project of this magnitude.
Alex Otti is a competent Nigerian governor who has been remarkable since Day 1, but dressing him in a borrowed suit and ascribing things that he did not do is where I knew I had to speak up.
Barth Nnaji deserves 100% of what geometric power is today.
He deserves his flowers and his glory.
What I just learned today is that if I build a cement plant or a modular refinery tomorrow, some of you will wake up and attribute the success of my project to a Nigerian governor you like, discounting my hard work like it is nothing and does not matter.
We need to fear God in this country.
