Femi Otedola @ 60: Celebrating a Life of Impact
Darlington Nwobodo
“The importance of a life is directly proportional to the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
The ultimate measure of a life is not in its longevity but the positive effect every strata of it has on the world inhibiting it. Likewise, the real value of wealth is not in the humongous figures displayed in our financial statements but the amount of light we generate and transmit to lighten up darkness in others, and by extention, make our society a better place to live. All men were born equally but will not be remembered equally when we must have lived our lives and exited the stage for up-and-coming performers in life’s stage to take over. In the bracket of life, time is used as a unit of destiny to remind us that we are on transit—the reason why we should thrive to live a life of impact while it is day because the inevitable night of death cometh.
Examining 60 years of Femi Otedola’s voyage on the ocean of life and the attendant impact his examplary lifestyle has had on his generation so far, shows that he understood this philosophy early on in life and began to set his life’s trajectory on the path that led to greatness. He was born into the family of Sir Michael Otedola on 4th November, 1962, two years after Nigeria’s independence. Despite coming from a privileged background he never allowed it create a mindset of complacency in him. The then young Femi fixed his eyes on the olympian height with a firm zeal to getting to the top. Sixty years down the road of a purposeful life journey, Femi Otedola has become a colossus whose footprints have been engraved on almost every strategic sector of Nigeria’s economy and beyond via his entrepreneurial exploits.
From oil, gas, maritime, power, banking, real estate, etc., Femi Otedola has displayed his midas touch in these industries and successfully built a formidable business empire that will outlast him up to third generations. As a billionaire businessman, shrewd investor and an astute entrepreneur, he has not only created wealth for himself but for Nigeria as a nation. Tens of thousands of Nigerians are gainfully employed today as a result of his entrepreneurial ingenuity. His investment has helped to drive growth of our economy. He is one of the lifewires of the nation’s private sector. Currently as chairman of Geregu Power PLC, Otedola’s uncanny mastery of businessworld makes him a subject of study by our business schools, because he is a walking encyclopedia on how-to-run-succecessful-businesses.
His passion for mentoring young entrepreneurs is another exceptional quality of humanity service that stands him out. He believes in the school of thought that true wealth is in teaching others how to create wealth—turning stones to diamonds. As a great manager of material and human resources, Femi Otedola always remind young entrepreneurs that businessworld is like a turbulent sea that you can’t predict where the next storm might come—you have to be prepared for the good, the bad and ugly, in order to not be caught off guard. He uses every opportunity he has with young entrepreneurs to remind them not to see any setback as dead-end but to strive to come out stronger, better with more experience on how to stem unforseen circumstances in the world of entrepreneurship. He has had his fare share of set back as well.
In an explosive article published in Forbes Magazine in 2016, Femi Otedola told an inspiring story of how his business suddenly nosedived. In 2008, he had one million tons of diesel shipment on the sea en route Nigeria’s shores, when the unexpected happened—oil prices crashed as a result of economic crisis. “I had about 93 percent of the (Nigeria’s) diesel market on my fingertips. All of a sudden oil prices collapsed and I had over one million tons of diesel on the high seas and the price dropped from $146 to $34”. As the then chairman of Forte Oil, with over 500 gas stations across the country, Femi Otedola was in for the biggest shock of his life. He found himself in between the devil and the deep sea. Plunge in oil prices, the crash of stocks, devaluation of the naira and accrued interests, collectively pushed a dollar-dominated billionaire to a seabed of debt, to the tune of $1.2 billion.
Instead of giving up, he remembered that it is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed, apology to Doe Zantamata. Femi Otedola stemmed the tide—staged a comeback from the downfall, to reclaim his place as one of the richest men in Africa. Only a few billionaire businessmen would have survived such a severe crash and still bounced back stronger within a short period of time. It speaks of a man who is not being propelled by sheer entrepreneurial grit alone but invincible hand of God which espouses grace.
This rough run and his miraculous recovery has deepened Otedola’s belief in giving back to society, as being expressed in his various philanthropic milestones which reflects the spirit of First Corinthians 3:6— “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow”. Femi Otedola, with his countless philanthropic gestures has shown that he does not have the heart of lion alone in business adventures but also harbor a soft spot for reaching out to humanity. In 2019 he made the single largest individual donation in Nigeria when he gave N5billion to the Save The Children Foundation, a charity platform to improve the welfare of Nigeria’s vulnerable and marginalized children.
When ex-Super Eagles coach, Christian Chukwu, was terribly ailing, it was Femi Otedola that came to his rescue with a financial support of $50,000 for leukaemia operation. He was flown abroad where he got a good treatment and recovered from the sickness—courtesy of divine intervention via Otedola. That singular incident which I keenly monitored reminded me that God still work through people. I can remember Tinsel actor, Victor Olaotan, who was down with terminal illness, Otedola intervened with $100,000 donation. He did a similar philanthropic gestures for Majek Fashek, Sadiq Daba, etc. Otedola being a lover of football has financially supported our national teams in the past, especially Super Eagles. His uncanny philanthropy has distinguished him as someone who knows how to create wealth and the heart of gold to distribute it, especially to the needy.
Femi Otedola is very patriotic when it comes to the love of nation. Uptill this moment only few Nigerians are aware that the nefarious fuel subsidy scam haemorrhaging our scarce national resources was first exposed to the public by Femi Otedola in 2012. Seeing how portfolio companies forged and submitted fake documents to claim subsidy on petroleum products they never imported into the country got him heartbroken. He said: “I realised that some companies in Nigeria were claiming money on petroleum products they never imported. When I saw how much was being stolen, I went to the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan”. When it became obvious that President Jonathan did not act on his whistle-blowing report, Otedola reached out to Senator Bukola Saraki who raised the issue on the floor of the Senate and subsequently, the House of Representatives set up a panel to investigate the allegation.
Fuel subsidy has become notoriously regarded as an organized crime. Nigerians would not have known of this massive theft of our common wealth if Femi Otedola had not opened the proverbial can of worms. In 2015, as then CEO of Forte Oil, Femi Otedola raised an alarm over a large scale adulterated aviation fuel (Jet A1) in the circulation which came in the form of Household Kerosene (HHK). The contaminated aviation fuel which contributed to the high cost of kerosene in the country could have led to air mishaps if not that a true patriot rose to the occasion to save Nigeria of such calamity. One special and rare attribute of Femi Otedola is that as a result of his simple lifestyle, he is not given to self-glorification. But on an auspicious moment of his 60th anniversary, the moral obligation is on every Nigerian who has keenly observed his impact on our journey towards nationhood to, not only celebrate with Femi Otedola but also wish him more fruitful years in good health and sound mind, because the importance of a life is directly proportional to the impact it has has on others, apology to Jackie Robinson.
