Benedict Peters, is a simple-styled billionaire, a renowned philanthropist and an astute businessman, who has invested billions of naira into the Nigerian economy. His countless aids to various groups, organizations and individuals has also not gone unnoticed. He shares the same ideology with Albert Pike that what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
Truly, Africa is a developing continent blessed by God with extraordinary entrepreneurs who are embodiments of progressive ideals ruling the world. These entrepreneurs provide jobs; create opportunities for prosperity and they are extremely important in the scheme of things. Renowned as an oil and gas magnate, Benedict Peters is one of such few good people. He founded the Aiteo Group, Nigeria’s largest indigenous oil producing firm. As of November 2014, he had an estimated net worth of US$2.7 billion. He was ranked by Ventures Africa as the 17th richest person in Africa and the 7th richest in Nigeria. Birthdays are opportunities to x-ray whether we are truly living or merely existing. In order to make the world a better place, we ought to live life to impact others. This, perhaps is part of the moral obligations, that subjects billionaire, Benedict Peters to reaching out to the less privileged, despite his exalted position. At 55, Benedict Peters has entrenched indelible footprints on the sands of time, and has elevated some of his beneficiaries to olympian height where they will be torchbearers for those coming behind.Benedict Peters is an entrepreneurial doyen cum quintessential businessman—who hails from Onicha Olona in Delta state and was born in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State to a banker and a homemaker on December 5, 1966. He attended Ekulu Primary School, Enugu and Federal Government College Enugu, after which he proceeded to University of Benin, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Hons degree in Geography and Town Planning. He is a renowned philanthropist, who has used his legacies to engrave his name with gold on the path of life. 55 years on, Benedict Peter’s life has not only been a success but a source of inspiration to younger and upcoming generations. Peters began his career in the oil and gas industry in the early 1990s, working with the founders of Ocean and Oil, the entity now known as Oando Nigeria Plc, Adewale Tinubu, Mofe Boyo and Onajite Okoloko. He moved to MRS Oil Nigeria PLC as Group Executive Director, ending as its Managing Director, before leaving in 1999 to establish Sigmund Communecci.In February 2008, Peters founded the Aiteo group (Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited), the successor entity to Sigmund Communecci.
The company owns one of the largest petroleum tank farms in Nigeria with facilities in excess of over 250 million liters on over 100,000 square meters of landmass. It also owns and operates the Abonnema Storage Terminal.In 2014, Aiteo acquired a controlling stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) in the Eastern Niger Delta from Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
According to Wood Mackenzie, “OML 29 is a large block located in the southeastern Niger Delta. It contains 11 oil and gas fields”. “The 983-square-kilometer OML 29, onshore in the Niger Delta region, is the site of Nigeria’s first-ever commercial discovery”, in 1956 at the Oloibiri Oilfield. As the son of an astute banker, Benedict Peters did not only sustain the family’s name but stepped out of its cloak to carve a niche for himself in the oil and gas world. In his 55 years stint in life, so far, every nook and cranny of Nigeria’s economy cum polity, has had entrepreneurial grit and wit of this shrewd investor and ebullient billionaire written on it, albeit with bold letters.Peters is also rapidly diversifying with his founding of Aiteo Power, of which he is Chairman. He leads the Aiteo Consortium and EMA Consortium which has won separate bids to acquire three power generating companies and is set to build a 100,000 barrel refinery in oil-rich Warri in Delta State.
In April 2017, Aiteo Group announced the signing of a five-year partnership agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation worth an estimated N2.9b. In the capacity of Official Optimum Partner of the NFF, Aiteo’s support funded the salaries of Super Eagles boss Gernot Rohr and coaches of all NFF’s national teams. Peters told the media that “Aiteo Group is as passionate about leadership as Nigerians are about football, so we are proud to be working together with the NFF and its coaching staff to reach a shared goal of a more prosperous Nigeria”.Beyond oil, gas, power, etcetera, Benedict Peters has blazed the trail—and still breaking into new frontiers. Script News celebrates one of Nigeria’s largest employer of labor on the occasion of his 55th birthday, not out of parochial interest, but because our ideology resonates with a school of thought of a popular Nigerian singer, Patoranking, which enjoins others to “celebrate him, now that he is alive”.
Olamide Adeniji a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
