Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire businessman, has opened
up on how he was hit by misfortune in 2009.
He said the sharp drop in oil prices, combined with a naira
devaluation from N120 to N167 per dollar in 2009, led him to lose $480 million
and $258 million, respectively.
Otedola, now chairman of Geregu Power Plc and First Bank
Nigeria Holdings, said he also lost another $160 million when the stocks
crashed. The total figure of financial loss amounted to $898 million, according
to the businessman.
In excerpts from his upcoming memoir titled ‘Making It Big:
Lessons from a Life in Business’, slated for release on August 18, 2025,
Otedola narrated that trouble began after his former company, Forte Oil Plc,
ordered a diesel shipment in 2008, when crude oil was priced at $147 per
barrel, and it was delivered after the market had crashed to $40 per barrel.
“All told, I lost more than US$480 million to the plunge in
oil prices, US$258 million through the devaluation of the naira, US$320 million
because of accruing interest, and another US$160 million when the stocks
crashed,” Otedola narrated.
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