Chairman of the audit committee of SCOA Nigeria Plc, Magnus Onyibe has debunked disparaging claims made against the company’s managing director, Massad Boulos.
Boulos was recently announced by U.S. President-elect, Donald Trump as his pick for senior adviser Arab and Middle East Affairs, drawing criticisms in some quarters as regards his experience and profile.
Trump had described him as a “highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene.”
But a New York Times article published on Saturday had described Boulos as a “truck salesman”, who has been selling heavy machinery in Nigeria for decades with his truck dealership valued at $865,000.
Onyibe who also holds the position of SCOA’s Non-Executive Independent Director in a statement this weekend explained that the remarkable track record of Boulos and the companies he has been instrumental in nurturing speaks to his “formidable force in Nigeria’s industrial and economic landscape with roots spanning over four decades, and a track record of distinction as the first European automotive assembly plant in Nigeria”
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The statement noted that the legacy of the company which spans over four decades has been strengthened by Massad Boulos in assembling, distributing, and marketing M.A.N trucks and buses, power generators, tractors, agricultural equipment, industrial equipment and other heavy-duty construction and mining machinery critical to Nigeria’s key sectors.
He maintained that Massad Boulos’s business acumen and extensive networks have seen SCOA’s impact extend beyond Nigeria’s shores, with partnerships with firms such as one of the largest and most successful family-owned businesses in Africa, FADOUL Group employing over 20,000 people, and valued at over $1 billion, with hundreds of millions of United States dollars in assets.
Onyibe also dismissed claims suggesting that Boulos is not a billionaire, adding that his political and organisational acumen played a pivotal role in mobilizsing the Arab-American and Middle Eastern-American vote, contributing significantly to the Trump-Vance victory.
The statement concluded with the assurance that Boulos’s ability to negotiate and execute complex international transactions are precisely the expertise and accomplishments suited for his new role, where he will undoubtedly deliver impactful results on behalf of President-elect Trump and the United States.
Boulos, a Lebanese-American is the father in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
