“How banks used ‘bewitching’ ladies to woo me for deposits” – Otedola

Billionaire businessman and Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, Femi Otedola, has opened up on how banks once went to extreme lengths to secure his deposits when his business empire was booming — including sending attractive ladies to charm him.

Otedola shared this in his upcoming memoir, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, set to be released on August 18, 2025, under FO Books.

In excerpts from the book obtained by TheCable, the oil tycoon reflected on the highs and lows of his journey in the business world.

According to Otedola, there was a time banks were so desperate to win his favour that they sent “bewitching ladies” to lure him with tempting offers.

“One moment, I was the darling of the banks, who did everything in the world to court me, do business with me, give me loans, take deposits from me. They would send bewitching ladies to make their offers more convincing,” he wrote.

However, his fortunes nosedive when global crude oil prices crashed and the naira suffered heavy devaluation.

The businessman disclosed that he lost over $1 billion to a combination of oil price collapse, forex issues, interest accruals, and stock market crashes.

“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 wrote. “It was devastating, like a terrible nightmare, but a nightmare would have been better: day would break, and I would wake up. There was no waking up from this.”

He recalled how the same banks that once courted him turned cold and aggressive.

“Now I was waking up to the sight of hefty, barrel-chested men standing menacingly in front of my gate, waiting for the moment I’d step out of my compound.”

Otedola, who made his mark through Zenon Petroleum and later transformed African Petroleum into the now-defunct Forte Oil Plc, also narrated how a bad diesel shipment in 2008 purchased when oil was $147 per barrel arrived after the price crashed to $40, worsening his financial troubles.

This, combined with the naira devaluation from ₦120/$ to ₦167/$ in 2009, left Otedola battling with declining revenues and mounting foreign liabilities.

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