Sharing how a mix of global oil price collapse, foreign exchange shocks, and investment mistakes cost him almost N200 billion, Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola has opened up about one of the most turbulent times in his career.
In his newly released memoir Otedola: An Autobiography, the business mogul recounted how his company, Zenon Petroleum & Gas, was thriving at the height of the oil boom. In 2008, crude hit $147 per barrel, and riding on optimism, he placed a $500 million diesel import order. Within weeks, however, oil prices plummeted to $37, leaving him with shipments worth far less than he paid.
The News Chronicle understands that that was only the start of Otedola’s financial hell. His problems were exacerbated by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s devaluation of the naira, which meant that debts taken at N117 to the dollar had to be reimbursed at N165, thereby increasing his obligations overnight. He claims that nearly N60 billion in capital and another N40 billion in interest payments vanished almost immediately.
His significant financial commitments in the Nigerian banking industry, meanwhile, shared the same fate. He had UBA shares of another 6 percent and Zenith Bank holdings totaling 2.3 billion.
Otedola was on the cusp of a N191 billion windfall, having purchased Zenith shares at N12 and watched them peak at N60. Still, he clung on, believing the rally would continue. Those assets fell when the worldwide financial crisis hit, therefore obliterating a large portion of his wealth. He later called it one of his worst disappointments.
Otedola’s debt had risen to N220 billion by the crisis’s conclusion. He negotiated a rescue agreement with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), surrendering prime assets including real estate in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, oil tank farms, filling stations, truck depots, major stock holdings, and even a private jet, so as to live.
Otedola now claims that period was a defining event that changed his commercial perspective. As Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc today, he claims that those setbacks helped to foster a renewed sense of discipline and resilience. Released on August 18, 2025, his memoir, Making It Big, is both a reflection on grief and a homage to the ability of change.
