Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola recalls N200 million donation to father's scholarship

Femi Otedola has recounted a 2005 donation of N200 million to the Sir Michael Otedola Scholarship Scheme, the educational programme his late father established for underprivileged students, in a throwback shared this week that adds historical context to a philanthropic legacy now estimated to exceed N11 billion in total lifetime giving.

The scholarship scheme was founded in 1987 by Sir Michael Otedola, the former Governor of Lagos State and the late patriarch of one of Nigeria's most prominent business families. When Femi assumed control of the scheme in 2005, injecting N200 million through his petroleum company Zenon and expanding its reach, the award ceremony was chaired by the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The intersection of that 2005 ceremony's participants with where they stand in Nigerian life 21 years later illustrates the long arc of Nigeria's business and political elite more vividly than almost any other single data point.

The scholarship has benefited more than 1,000 students from Epe, Lagos, and surrounding communities since its inception, providing bursaries that allowed students who could not otherwise afford higher education to access it. The scheme reflects a pattern of giving that Femi Otedola has described publicly as rooted in his parents' example. His father, Sir Michael, had himself been the beneficiary of a scholarship that allowed him to study in the United Kingdom, and had established the scheme in part as an expression of that formative experience.

Otedola has since expanded his own philanthropic footprint significantly beyond the scholarship. His 2019 donation of N5 billion to Save the Children UK through his daughter DJ Cuppy's Foundation remains the largest individual cash donation in Nigerian history. He gave N1 billion in scholarships to all 750 students at Augustine University in Epe during the 2023-24 academic year, N2 billion to the construction of its Faculty of Engineering building and N22 million annually in ongoing scholarships covering students from nursery to university. He has also given substantially to religious institutions across faith lines, health infrastructure and national security initiatives.

His total documented lifetime philanthropy now exceeds $30 million according to a detailed accounting published last year, making him one of the most consequential individual philanthropists in Nigerian history by any measurable standard.