Why i never attended a University – Femi Otedola

 

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has revealed that he never attended university, citing his lack of interest in academics as the reason

The chairman of First Bank Holding shared the revelation in his 286-page memoir, released on Monday, explaining that he left school after completing his Lower Sixth examinations and never returned for the Upper Sixth.a

Otedola recounted his early education, saying, “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 continued, “I started Form 1 at age 12 and was there for three years. I began Form 3 at Olivet, and as I rounded off the first year of my A Levels, my father was establishing his printing company, Impact Press, in Surulere. 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’s memoir provides insight into the early experiences that shaped his entrepreneurial journey, showing that formal education was not the path he chose to achieve success.