LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- Former Kogi State senator Dino Melaye has revealed that he started a goat business at 12, using the proceeds to fund his education before expanding his investments and building the wealth he now enjoys.
Speaking on the KAA Truths podcast, Melaye said he ventured into buying and selling goats as a child and used the money he made to pay for his JAMB and WAEC examinations.
He revealed that the business also helped him fund his first two years at university, while he began investing abroad at the age of 18.
Melaye’s account of his early business experience later led to questions about his current wealth, including his collection of luxury cars.
“I have over 200 cars and I’m still collecting more,” he said.
The former senator also claimed that he had never secured a government contract at either the federal or state level.
Melaye spoke about Nigeria’s economic and security challenges, questioning recent comments by Redeemed Christian Church of God General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adeboye about President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the country’s problems.
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He questioned how a religious leader could praise the government while Nigerians continued to face kidnapping and killings.
“Maybe he is doing Yoruba Parapo. But if it’s the same market that we go to that people are being kidnapped on a daily basis, that children are being murdered in cold blood in the wilderness, no minister of God will speak like that,” Melaye stated.
Melaye also criticized the number of churches in Nigeria, arguing that the country needs more industries and productive businesses to strengthen its economy.
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Recalling a visit to Ibadan, he claimed he saw about 40 churches operating from one six-storey building.
“I was in Ibadan not long ago. There was this six-storey building I saw and I counted it. There were 40 churches on one building. You cannot have a good economy or country where you have more churches than industries,” he added.
From his childhood goat business to his claimed collection of more than 200 cars, Melaye presented his financial journey as one built on early entrepreneurship, investment and personal ambition, while using the interview to question Nigeria’s wider economic priorities.
