Philanthropist TODAY ..........After Grappling From Loss of Over N200bn Due To Crash In The Price Of Oil Years BACKS, Billionaire Femi Otedola Bounces Back To Give Back To Go

"The only ones among you Who will be really happy at the end of the day are those who will have sought and found how to serve." –Albert Schweitzer

* Sets to Single highhandedly build Faculty of Engineering for Augustine University, Ilara, Epe in Lagos State.

* Says God has been fair to him

Special Prolific Piece by

 Chief Mike De Cerutti Osagie

(+234 7042631895/chiefcerrutti@gmail.com)

In a recent special Copeland Ministries financial report paper, they wrote on benefits of giving God that * Giving to God’s work is an investment with eternal rewards for both the giver and the beneficiaries of the gift. In regard to the giver, Jesus said: “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done

There are also eternal benefits for the recipients of the gift. For example, when you give money to an evangelical organization (including your church), and through that organization someone accepts Jesus Christ as personal savior, then that individual will be in heaven for eternity-
These amazing benefits may eventually be what will await Africa’s top billionaire, Femi Otedola .

Otedola, it can be recalled last recently took it upon him to single highhandedly build Faculty of Engineering for Augustine University, Ilara, Epe in Lagos State

And speaking on the landmark move by the oil tycoon, The Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Most Rev’d Adewale Martins, lauded, Femi Otedola, for his decision to give back to God

The archbishop said the decision of the billionaire, who is an indigene of Epe, to build the faculty was a laudable one.
Martins said Otedola, a faithful Catholic, decided to support the university owned by the archdiocese instead of using his money to buying personal property.

Martins said, “We thank God for this project and we thank you ( Otedola) for your generosity. Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okojie envisioned the school and all of us have bought into the vision; he is also grateful to God and to you for this.”

He stated that Femi’s father, late Michael Otedola, who was governor of Lagos State , was passionate about having a university established in Epe.
Otedola also said that his late father was passionate about the institution and that he ensured that the institution was given parcels of land.

He stated that he was grappling with a loss of N200bn due to the crash in the price of oil some years back when he was approached to build the faculty.
The oil magnate added that God, however, helped him to pay all the debt and he decided to build the faculty which “will expand the frontiers of knowledge especially in engineering education.”

OTEDOLA: A BRIEF PROFILE

Femi Otedola is a is a Nigerian entrepreneur and CEO of Forte Oil Plc. Forte Oil which was formerly an auxiliary of British Petroleum (BP) now under the chairmanship of Otedola has over 500 gas stations across Nigeria. It also manufactures its own unique line of engine oil and owns storage gas depots. Forte Oil Plc is also a legitimate importer of fuel products.
Femi Otedola was also the second Nigerian after Aliko Dangote to be included on the Forbes list of dollar-denominated billionaires.
Background and Family
Femi Otedola was born into the family of Sir Micheal Otedola and Lady Doja on the 4th of November 1962 in Ibandan, Nigeria. His father served as governor of Lagos State from 1992 to 1993. He studied at Obafemi Awolowo university from 1980 to 1985. Femi Otedola is married to Nana Otedola and together they have three daughters; Olawunmi Christy Otedola, Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, Elizabeth Temi Otedola, and a son- Temi Otedola.
Femi Otedola’s children are also very well on their way to being celebrities in their own right outside their fathers wealth and fame- His daughter Florence is a popular DJ (Disc jockey) who goes by the name DJ Cuppy, she is also a music producer and a tourism ambassador for Nigeria. She was even the official disc jockey for the inauguration of President Muhhamadu Buhari into office in May, 2015. His third daughter Elizabeth Temi is an established style blogger and is also working towards becoming a designer herself.
Otedola has fancies real estate and is also fortunately rich enough to afford it; he owns houses in Lagos, Abuja, Dubai, and London and in New York City.
Otedola has also proven himself to be one who has zero tolerance for nonsense particularly when it involves his family. This he proved by sending the Canadian Matharoo sisters- Jyoti and Kiran back to their country when they allegedly tried to extort money from him through black mail.
Rise to Prominence

Femi started off in the late 1980’s with running marketing for his family’s printing press before he delved into the oil business.
And then in 2003 delved into oil with establishing Zenon Petroluem and Gas Ltd, the company focused on marketing and distributing petroleum products.
He invested a whooping sum of N15 billion into the company which was used for downstream infrastructure development, to acquire storage depots and for four cargo vessels. That very same year he purchased a fleet of 100 DAF fuel tanker trucks at the cost of N1.4 billion.
The company grew quite fast and by 2005 it was already controlling a major share of the Nigerian diesel market, it supplied fuel to a majority of the country’s major manufacturers including the likes of Dangote Group, Cadbury, Coca-cola, Nigerian Breweries, MTN, Unilever, Nestle and Guinness.
Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd continued to grow and broaden its capacity; by March, 2007 the company applied for a syndicate loan of US$1.5 (Naira equivalent-N193.5 billion) billion from ten banks which it used as working capital to build the largest motor spirit storage facility in Africa. Later the same year the company went on to obtain a 28.7 percent share in African Petroleum which is one of Nigeria’s largest fuel marketers.
Zenon went on to delve into even the financial sector. It bought substantial shares in Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA). Zenon also entered the kerosene market and secured a significant reputation for itself.
Apart from Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd Otedola has also headed other companies, in 2007 he was made chairman and CEO of Africa Petroleum by virtue of the domineering stake he owned in the business. By December that same year he obtained 29.3% of the company for N40 billion for himself. His personal stake in addition with Zenon’s stake in the business gave him a total stake of 55.3 percent.
By 2010 under his tutelage African Petroleum changed its name to Forte Oil Plc. Otedola’s aim was to change and improve the company’s technology and corporate governance.
Forte Oil stretched into the power sector in 2013 when he acquired a power plant for $132 million. The company’s financial influence and extension into the power sector effected a 1,321 percent rise in the company’s share price in 2013. By 2014 the company’s revenue growth for the whole year was up to 33 percent.
By September, 2015 the company gained access to global community markets by selling off 17 percent of its equity to Mercuria Energy Group- a Swiss commodity trader. Otedola reportedly gained an sketchy sum of $200 million.
Femi Otedola has proven himself to be one man that is never confined to a single line of trade or business. He has shown himself to be a jack of a lot of trades and master of all. He established CentreForce Ltd which specialises in finance, investments and trading, he also owns Swift Insurance.
He heads SeaForce Shipping Company Ltd which was once Nigeria’s largest ship owner.
He was made a non-executive director of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc in 2006 and held the position till 2011. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc is a multi-sectoral conglomerate which was founded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2014 to attend to market opportunities that requires huge capital investments in Nigera and also across sub-Saharan Africa.
Femi Otedola has also invested in real estate. One of such investments was the acquisition of Stallion House in Victoria Island in Lagos by Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd in February, 2007 from the federal government.
In March, 2017 he was made chairman of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in ABuja and charged with expanding the hotel and making it a seven star facility. He also owns FO Properties Ltd. Femi Otedola is also known to be a significant sponsor of the People’s Democratic Party. He reportedly donated N100 million to sponsor President Olusegun Obasanjo’s re-election in 2003.
Aside expanding and growing in influence and wealth Zenon has also been in the news for negative reasons- in 2012 Zenon was on the list of companies involved in an alleged fuel subsidy scam. The report stated that Zenon owed the government $1.4million. In the same year Otedola was in the news for bribing Boniface Emenalo and Farouq Lawan to remove
Aside expanding and growing in influence and wealth Zenon has also been in the news for negative reasons- in 2012 Zenon was on the list of companies involved in an alleged fuel subsidy scam. The report stated that Zenon owed the government $1.4million. In the same year Otedola was in the news for bribing Boniface Emenalo and Farouq Lawan to remove Zenon’s name from the list of companies indicted by Farouq Lawan’s committee for abusing the fuel subsidy regime in 2012. Evidence of a video of Femi Otedola giving the bribe was even produced in court.

Otedola: A Great Philanthropist 

Otedola has made several donations to the Michael Otedola University Scholarship Scheme, which was established in 1985 to give underprivileged students in Lagos State access to higher education.] In 2005 Zenon donated N200 million to the scheme's fund. Since its inception the scheme has benefited more than 1,000 students. In 2005, Otedola made a N300 million personal donation to the completion of the National Ecumenical Centre—Nigeria's primary place of Christian worship—in Abuja In 2007 he was among a group of donors who gave N200 million to the State Security Trust Fund in a drive to reduce crime in Lagos State. Later that year he donated N100 million to the Otedola College of Primary Education in Noforija, Epe.] In 2008 he donated N80 million to the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Port Harcourt.
And only last week Femi Otedola, took it upon him to single handedly build Faculty of Engineering for Augustine University, Ilara, Epe in Lagos State.

May God continue to expand his BUSINESS EMPIRE