• He did it to celebrate daughters, Amouna and Hauwa’s graduation from Lynn University – Friends of Indimi
• ‘No! Charity begins at home!’ says pundits
In the aftermath of a reckless enterprise, the prodigal billionaire encounters the swollen belly of his pride. He runs smack into sourness and pain. He is afflicted by memories of worthless ego and of time that was a waste. Thus when Borno billionaire, Mohammed Indimi, remembers his $14 million (N4.2 billion) gift to American school, University of Lynn, he will probably get overwhelmed by bitterness and the consequences of neglectful disconnect with his roots. Indimi, a graduate of Florida-based University of Lynn, has undoubtedly mastered the art of indifference to his roots, that is why he found it very easy to donate a N4.2 billion world-class complex, the “Mohammed Indimi International Business Center,” to the University of Lynn – as part of the activities of the school’s commencement day.
Lackeys of Indimi justify his expensive gift to the institution claiming he only sought to celebrate his daughters, Amouna and Hauwa’s graduation from the school and the school’s efforts at imparting knowledge in them.
But pundits object to their explanation emphasizing that Indimi’s charity should have begun at home. Natives of Borno and the businessman’s greatest critics are no doubt miffed that the billionaire could deem it fit to make such an expensive donation to an American university while the University of Maiduguri experiences unpardonable decline.
The Borno billionaire, according to pundits, has never donated a plastic chair to the University of Maiduguri or any tertiary in the Niger Delta where he allegedly made his fortune from his stake in the region’s oil business. The people of Borno find it difficult to understand how Indimi, a son of the soil, could neglect his state with all its educational and socio-economic problems to endow a chair and donate generously to a United States (US) university. Left to them, the US university had no need for such generosity from Indimi but he went ahead to squander $14 million on the needless project.
According to them, hundreds of internally displaced people in Borno state and eth Niger Delta are in need of his Robinhood-like assistance from what he has stolen from the people but he would rather squander money on frivolous projects abroad.
Indimi’s action is a perfect example of how the Nigerian elite under-develops Nigeria. The Borno billionaire allegedly made his fortune from oil wells that one of his military dictator friends, gave to him. He is the Chairman, CEO of Oriental Oil and Gas and he is reported as the 10th richest billionaire in Nigeria. He is also a founder of many successful indigenous companies and sits on the board of several privately owned companies encompassing all sectors of the economy.
