Prince Dipo Eludoyin does not raise his voice. Yet across continents, his calls are answered. From Beijing to Abuja, he has become the man in the middle, the one threading Nigeria’s economic ambition into the global fabric through persuasion, patience, and quiet reach.
Eludoyin, the billionaire chairman of Paragon Group and owner of Ikeja Mall, is spearheading what could be one of Nigeria’s largest private-led investment drives. According to reports, he is rallying Chinese multinationals to inject over $10 billion in foreign direct investment into sectors ranging from automobiles to smart agriculture. The project aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s industrialisation agenda.
For a man so visible in business, his diplomacy happens mostly behind closed doors. He is said to have personal access to more than 20 world leaders, including China’s. His latest mission: to restore confidence in Nigeria’s governance, attract investment, and promote dialogue where suspicion once lingered.
Eludoyin’s case to the world is simple. Nigeria, he says, is a country of balance, a nation led by inclusivity, where both the President’s wife and son are Christians, and key security chiefs share faith across divides. To him, such pluralism deserves recognition, not doubt.
Beyond diplomacy, Eludoyin’s advocacy has a moral edge. He speaks often of poverty and insecurity as twin afflictions, urging debt relief for developing nations and calling for intelligence-sharing partnerships to counter terrorism. His argument rests on symmetry: without economic stability, peace cannot last.
Few know that Eludoyin once turned down the chance to become Ooni of Ife after Oba Sijuwade died in 2015. Royal blood, yes, but his empire lies in influence, not inheritance. His throne is the quiet boardroom, his sceptre a phone that connects power to purpose.
Through discretion and persuasion, he has made diplomacy sound less like negotiation and more like conversation. And perhaps that is Eludoyin’s true magic: the ability to move nations without moving lips.
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