In 2008, Femi Otedola controlled 93% of Nigeria’s diesel market.
He placed a $500 million order for one million tons of diesel when crude oil was at $147 per barrel.
While his diesel was still on the high seas, three things happened at once:
1. Oil prices crashed from $146 to $34
2. Naira was devalued from N120/$ to N167/$
3. The 2008 stock market crash hit
When the dust settled:
→ $480 million lost to oil price crash
→ $258 million lost to naira devaluation
→ $320 million lost to skyrocketing interest
→ $160 million lost to the stock crash
Total: $1.218 billion in debt.
The same banks that once sent “elegant ladies” to court him for deposits started sending hefty, barrel-chested men to his Ikoyi home at dawn.
He surrendered 184 flats. Filling stations. Tank farms in Apapa. A Bombardier private jet.
Today he chairs FBN Holdings. The man who lost it all built it all back.
Disaster turned into a comeback story.
maturing is realizing none of us are easy to be with. It's about who's willing to stay committed to understanding you and actually wants to grow with you.
I congratulate my friend and brother, @AlikoDangote, on the remarkable achievement of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery reaching its full 650,000 barrels per day capacity.
More importantly, it is transformational for Nigeria and Africa. Supplying up to 75 million litres of PMS daily changes our energy narrative and conserving foreign exchangez
With domestic refining now firmly underway after decades of reliance on imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market should ease significantly. I am optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully, and trading below ₦1,000/$1 before year-end is increasingly within reach.
Aliko is not stopping here. He has embarked on an additional $12 billion expansion to increase refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, alongside 2.4 million tons of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tons of Linear Alkyl Benzene for detergent production. Work has already commenced in earnest.
Congratulations once again, my brother. Nigeria is proud of you 🏭🙌🏾… F.Ote💲
God didn’t isolate me to see who would stand beside me.
He isolated me to reveal who was never meant to be in my life.
People walked away, and that’s fine…
because God was clearing my path, not crowding it.
Their absence was the blessing.
BREAKING NEWS: Nigeria 🇳🇬 has officially launched a bid to host Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abuja.
If successful, it would bring F1 back to the continent for the first time since 1993, a historic step forward for African motorsport and global racing.
This zone should be the UK’s Silicon Valley.
We should create a special economic zone for high tech investment and employment outside of London. Lower taxes for companies and tech talent who are based in the zone. Special visas for talent moving in. Laboratories and office space galore. Transport that runs back and forth.
Do this and watch as the vibrancy comes back.