Nigerian billionaire and Chairman of First Bank Holding, Femi Otedola, has revealed that his lack of interest in academics was the major reason he did not attend university.

 

Otedola made the disclosure in his 286-page memoir, released on Monday, where he opened up about his childhood, education, and early attraction to business.

 

According to him, he stopped school after completing his Lower Sixth examination and never returned for the Upper Sixth.

 

“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.

 

 

The billionaire explained that while in secondary school, his attention shifted to business after his father established Impact Press, a printing company in Surulere, Lagos.

 

“As I rounded off the first year of my A Levels, my father was establishing his printing company. I grew fascinated with the machines and told myself that my future would be inextricably tied to them. I managed to remain in school until the Lower Sixth examination was over. And then, I was finished; I never returned for my Upper Sixth. All I wanted to do was get involved in business. My father kept watch over me and drew me close,” Otedola added.

 

The memoir offers rare insight into the formative years of one of Nigeria’s most prominent businessmen, tracing how his early decisions shaped his eventual rise as an entrepreneur and philanthropist.