Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has opened up on one of the darkest chapters of his career, revealing how the global oil crash and a cascade of financial missteps wiped out nearly N200 billion of his fortune.
The account, detailed in his newly released memoir Otedola: An Autobiography, chronicles how his once-booming energy trading company, Zenon Petroleum & Gas, was undone by a sudden collapse in global crude oil prices.
Otedola explained that his troubles began in 2008 when crude prices hit $147 per barrel.
Confident that the boom would continue, he placed a massive order of diesel worth $500 million for import into Nigeria. But within weeks, the market crashed, sending oil down to $37 per barrel.
“The diesel I’d ordered when the price was astronomically higher was already on the high seas,” Otedola recounted. “Now, it was worth a fraction of my purchase price. I said to myself, I’m finished.”
As if the crash was not devastating enough, Nigeria’s foreign exchange market worsened the situation. With the plunge in oil revenues, the Central Bank of Nigeria devalued the naira. Loans he had secured at N117/$1 now had to be repaid at N165/$1, instantly inflating his debt burden.
“I watched N60 billion evaporate before my eyes, alongside N40 billion in interest payments,” he said.
The missed stock market exit
At the same time, Otedola was a major shareholder in Nigeria’s banking sector. He held 2.3 billion shares in Zenith Bank (about 8% ownership) and another 6% in UBA. He had bought Zenith shares at N12 and watched them rise to N60, a rally that could have delivered a N191 billion windfall if he had exited on time.
But he refused to sell, believing the market rally would continue. Then the global financial crisis hit, dragging down stock prices in tandem with the oil market crash. His holdings, once worth hundreds of billions, became “next to nothing.”
“It remains one of my biggest regrets,” he admitted. “If only I had followed my instincts.”
What Otedola did to come out of the financial chaos
By the time the dust settled, Otedola’s total debt had climbed to n220 billion, leaving him with few options. He eventually struck a deal with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the government body established to absorb toxic bank assets in the wake of the 2008 crisis.
As part of the settlement, Otedola surrendered extensive assets including estates in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, truck parks, filling stations across the country, storage tank farms in Apapa, major bank and oil stocks, and even a Bombardier private jet.
“It was a lifeboat in the storm,” Otedola wrote. “I had to concede that if you sink, you sink, and if you grab a preserver, you’ll stay afloat. I gave it all up to start anew.”
Looking back, the billionaire describes the episode as a humbling but transformational moment. Losing his empire, he said, forced him to reflect, reset, and rebuild with a new sense of discipline.
Today, Otedola is Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc and remains one of Nigeria’s most influential investors. But his memoir offers a stark reminder that even billionaires are not immune to the brutal swings of the market.
Otedola’s memoir, ‘Making it Big’ was released on August 18, 2025, and is available for purchase. You can get a copy here.
