Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has disclosed how Nigerian banks once deployed attractive female representatives to court his business and secure lucrative deals during his peak financial years.
The oil magnate made this revelation in his upcoming autobiography, “Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business,” which chronicles his dramatic rise and fall in Nigeria’s business landscape.
According to excerpts obtained by TheCable, Otedola described the stark contrast between his treatment by financial institutions during prosperous times versus his period of financial distress.
“One moment, I was the darling of the banks, who did everything in the world to court me, do business with me, give me loans, take deposits from me,” Otedola wrote in the memoir.
He detailed how banks would “send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing,” but noted the dramatic shift when his fortunes changed: “now I was waking up to the sight of hefty, barrel-chested men standing menacingly in front of my gate, waiting for the moment I’d step out of my compound.”
Financial Catastrophe Wiped Out Over $1 Billion
The business mogul revealed that multiple economic crises decimated his wealth, resulting in losses exceeding $1.2 billion. The financial devastation included $480 million lost to plummeting oil prices, $258 million from naira devaluation, $320 million in accumulated interest, and another $160 million from stock market crashes.
“It was devastating, like a terrible nightmare, but a nightmare would have been better: day would break, and I would wake up. There was no waking up from this,” Otedola reflected on the experience.
From Market Leader to Financial Crisis
Otedola’s troubles began in 2008 when he placed a massive diesel order while crude oil traded at $147 per barrel. However, by the time his shipment arrived, oil prices had collapsed to $40 per barrel.
The situation worsened with the naira’s devaluation from ₦120 to ₦167 per dollar in 2009, combined with reduced foreign exchange inflows. These factors created a perfect storm that left his businesses facing low diesel prices while servicing high dollar-denominated debts.
Before the crisis, Otedola had built a petroleum empire starting with Zenon Petroleum, which evolved from selling diesel in drums to capturing the largest share of Nigeria’s diesel market. He later acquired and rebranded African Petroleum as Forte Oil Plc, which became one of the top-performing stocks on the Nigerian Exchange.
