Nigerian billionaire and businessman Femi Otedola has revealed that he never attended university, attributing it to his lack of interest in academics.
The chairman of First Bank Holding shared the disclosure in his 286-page memoir, released on Monday, explaining that he stopped formal education after completing his Lower Sixth examinations and did not return for the Upper Sixth.
Otedola said his focus at the time was on joining his father’s printing business.
“My parents enrolled me at the University of Lagos Staff School in 1968, at the age of six. But there was something about academia and me; we were not compatible. I finished primary school in 1974 because I repeated a class. Even when I was allowed to pass, I consistently anchored the bottom rungs of our end-of-term examination results. My interests were definitely not in academia,” he wrote.
He continued, “I started Form 1 at age 12 and was there for three years. I began Form 3 at Olivet, and as I completed the first year of my A Levels, my father was establishing his printing company, Impact Press, in Surulere. I grew fascinated with the machines and decided my future would be inextricably tied to them. I stayed in school until the Lower Sixth examination was over, and then I was done. I never returned for Upper Sixth. All I wanted to do was get involved in business. My father kept watch over me and drew me close.”
Otedola’s memoir offers a detailed look at his journey from early life struggles with academics to becoming one of Nigeria’s most successful businessmen.
