Nigerian billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has revealed that his struggles with academics prevented him from pursuing university education.
The chairman of First Bank Holding shared this in his 286-page memoir, Making It Big, released on Monday.
Otedola explained that he stopped formal education after completing the Lower Sixth examination and did not return for Upper Sixth.
“All I wanted to do was get involved in business,” he said.
“The billionaire recounted that his fascination with his father’s printing company, Impact Press, in Surulere, Lagos, influenced his decision to leave school early.
He also shared details of his early academic life, noting that he struggled with studies from a young age.
“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,” Otedola recalled.
He added, “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.”
Otedola further reflected on his time at Olivet Baptist High School in Oyo.
“I started Form 3 at Olivet, and 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. My father kept watch over me and drew me close.”
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