How I Lost $898m to Naira Devaluation, Oil, Stock Market Dips — Femi Otedola

Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola has opened up on how he lost millions of dollars in 2009. According to him, 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.

 

He also narrated how Nigerian banks that once courted Otedola during his financial peak became hostile after his business fortunes declined in 2009.