Nigerian oil billionaire Igho Sanomi turns 51 with a standout philanthropy record

Igho Charles Sanomi II turned 51 on May 17. The Nigerian billionaire behind Taleveras has spent two decades building one of Africa's more consequential energy trading businesses. Away from that, his foundation has been putting money into places where it is harder to measure returns: children's spinal surgeries, cancer research, flood relief, rural churches and conjoined twins who needed separating.

Sanomi grew up in Agbor, Delta State, the son of a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police. He studied geology and mining at the University of Jos and had co-founded an oil business in West Africa before completing his final year. In 2004, he established Taleveras, an international commodities trading firm. The company grew into one of Africa's largest independent energy traders, moving more than 170 million barrels of crude and petroleum products annually at its peak, generating over $2 billion in revenues, with offices spanning Dubai, Abuja, West Africa, Europe and Asia.

Last year, Taleveras secured a significant legal win in London. The company had sued Nigeria LNG Limited over 19 gas cargoes that NLNG failed to deliver in 2020 and 2021. Taleveras had pre-sold a portion of those cargoes to Vitol and Glencore, and when NLNG did not deliver, cascading litigation followed. A London court ruled in Taleveras' favor. In February 2025, NLNG's appeal was rejected. The court ordered NLNG to pay Vitol approximately $260 million and Glencore around $120 million, a combined payout of $380 million. NLNG said it was reviewing the ruling. Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni did not comment.

The Dickens Sanomi Foundation, which Sanomi launched in 2011 alongside his siblings in memory of their late father, has been running in parallel to all of this.

One of its most reported cases involves Ali Ahmadu, a boy from Chibok, Borno State. In 2014, during a Boko Haram attack on his village, Ali was run over by a motorcycle ridden by insurgents. He was left paralyzed under a tree for days, without medical attention. Nigerian doctors said he would never walk again. The Dickens Sanomi Foundation covered the full $48,000 medical bill to fly Ali to Dubai in 2017 for corrective spinal surgery. After five hours in surgery and 48 hours in intensive care, Ali walked again. The foundation also pledged to fund his education through university.

In March 2025, the foundation participated in a N300 million ($190,000 at current rates) disbursement through the Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care to support 23 medically challenged children. That included a N110 million contribution toward the surgical separation of conjoined twins Hassan and Hussaina in India. One of the twins, Hussaina, did not survive the procedure. Hassan returned to Nigeria and was recovering. Through the GIPLC partnership, the foundation has funded surgeries for over 23 children in Nigeria and abroad. An earlier collaboration raised $234,000 in 72 hours for a baby born without 50 percent of her skull, with surgery performed in the United States.

In the UK, the foundation has directed funding toward bowel and prostate cancer research, raising over $1.5 million for the Bobby Moore Fund and Cancer Research UK. Both organizations formally commended the work. Sanomi has continued backing the Bobby Moore Fund through its Dining with Stars partnership, helping raise close to 1 million pounds.

On disaster response, the foundation's Project Rescue 10,000 was activated during Nigeria's flooding crisis, delivering food, shelter and healthcare to displaced families and following up with livelihood assistance and housing repairs. In South Sudan, during the civil war, the foundation deployed food, blankets and medical supplies to thousands of families and children, an intervention that prompted a commendation from President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

The foundation has also built Catholic Church infrastructure across Nigeria. It funded a 500-seat parish in Mariga, a rural community in Niger State, where worshippers had previously gathered in a bamboo and raffia structure with no clean water or electricity. The new building came with a borehole and a solar power system. In Delta State, the foundation has been constructing two additional parishes in the villages of Orere and Arhavbavien, near Ughelli, and a bishop's court to provide secured residences for clergy. Pope Francis recognized Sanomi's contributions to the Catholic Church with a papal medal.

The foundation's education work includes a national essay competition running since 2012, with scholarships and learning materials going to winners and their schools. The Dickens Sanomi Youth Centre operates a pilot program in Calgary, Canada, offering mentorship, sports and academic support to young people including Indigenous and immigrant communities. In Nigeria, the foundation runs leadership workshops and entrepreneurship programs for youth.

Sanomi has also backed Save the Children, Oxfam and African theatrical productions, including the plays "Awo" and "Kashimawo," the latter staged in London in 2025. He has served on the West Africa Book Development Fund's advisory board and as honorary chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Salute Committee.

He received the Forbes Best of Africa Leading Philanthropist award in 2022, the Martin Luther King Legacy Award in Washington in 2015, the Mode Men Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2012 and the Africa Emerging Community Development Icon Award in 2014. GIPLC gave him its inaugural Golden Heart Award in 2022.

His stated position on wealth is brief: "Wealth is not to feed our egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves."

At 51, with the NLNG ruling behind him and the foundation still active across healthcare, education and emergency relief, both tracks of his public life are still moving.