Femi Otedola Praises Dangote Refinery and Shares His Vision for First HoldCo

Aliko Dangote, chairman of First Hold Co, expressed his support for the project and pledged to personally invest one hundred million dollars worth of shares in the refinery Alhaji Aliko Dangote, God's chosen, a colossus,

a genius.

Again, over our factors, the engine room.

You know a tree cannot make a forest. Well done. Very great. Well done.

I've prayed to God, or I've spoken to God four times on four occasions.

I will tell you the four occasions. First one was when I heard my father had won for governor of Lagos State, and he said he was going to use me and disown me.

And I spoke to God. "God, please, do this for me."

And of course, he did it. The second one, I went bankrupt in two thousand and eight.

And I spoke to God. I said, "God, do this for me.

Get me out of this," and God answered my prayers.

The third time was when I came here with Adeko in two thousand and seventeen.

And I said, "God," because as a young man, I remember vividly the independence we had then with Ambition.

Chief Adebola was going to build the Nigerian industries in Epe, and the inconsistencies of government policies destroyed that dream.

Then, of course, Chief Omofoko, LAP Group, who also was going to build a regional factory, and same as before, inconsistencies of government policies.

In two thousand and seven, I teamed with Adeko and we acquired a quarter court with terminal earnings.

I had a twenty percent stake. Unfortunately, a team of visionless people, completely visionless people, discovered that apparently it was a blessing in God's color factory. And we embarked on this project, and I prayed to God, I said, "God, please, this man is a good man.

But please see this thing through." I've seen businesses collapse.

We have to take this down memory lane. If you remember, um, Stafford Chemicals were, were they doing?

Otutola Industries, Tundol, everything collapsed.

Everything collapsed. I said, "God, please, see, see this project through.

Please, please, please." And God, of course, Aliko is probably one of the most religious, popular former priests. Prays five times a day.

I only talk to God when I need a favor.

Nigeria. Now, Aliko, what you've done is you've delivered us from economic slavery in Africa.

So this is economic movement for Nigeria. Nigeria, I can tell you for nothing, in a few years, will probably be one of the greatest country in the continent.

Dubai. I used to live in Dubai, and now, what brought me to Dubai? One day I was walking CNN and I saw this building, seven-star hotel, Burj Al Arab.

So I flew to Dubai to look at it. In Nigeria today, we have a problem with communications.

If you've been watching CNN, they say the largest refinery in the world, Nigeria. The second-largest, well, eventually, the largest fertilizer plant in Nigeria.

That is why I call this project Eighth Wonder of the World, and the Eko Atlantic, the Seventh Wonder of the World.

Aliko, I thank you very much for your brotherly love, your support to the institution. Why I brought you here, the board, with the support of the board, we agreed that we must be within five years, First Hold Co. will be succeeded as the number one financial institution in sub-Saharan Africa. So where I derive that from, Adeko and

I, we probably talk about five, six hours every day.

We have dinner every day. And I said, "Aliko, please, I need a favor from you.

Please, go to Goldman Sachs for them to come and share your vision, to keep your vision."

And you have obliged me. I thank you very much. So on behalf of- -my co-directors, management, and staff of the institution, we thank you very much for your support. On behalf of Mr. Tarmim, I will tell you the story. Aliko called me, he said, "Femi,

you know Chef Ngwu came to us at six AM."

So it was two, two. Six AM, he wanted to deal of seventy million dollars because he's Tarmim.

Aliko, you have to, you have to please engage him. Probably have, Aliko, maybe you have another fifty years.

Maybe I have fifty years. But I pray God will continue to grant you good health, long life, more wisdom. I thank you very much.

So I did that mention to him. I want to take a sticker of one hundred million dollars. So I hope you'll apportion those shares to me.

This is more than just a refinery. It is a vast, interconnected industrial ecosystem combining energy, manufacturing, agriculture, technology, and Nigerian engineering on an extraordinary scale.

This is where oil becomes energy, energy becomes industry, and industry becomes opportunity.

Spoke to Alhaji Aliko that, please, can we visit, come for a retreat, and tap into your vision?

And it's been very insightful, very thought-provoking.

I wish Alhaji Aliko who is a colossus, a genius, probably one of the greatest men that has come out of Africa, for delivering us out of economic slavery in Nigeria and by extension, Africans. I've appealed to him.

I've been here with him twenty-five times.

So my compensation, he's going to allo-allocate to me shares worth one hundred million dollars in the private placement.

Wow. That's one of the reasons why I sold my stake in Garri Book Club to come and invest my proceeds in the IPO of Dangote Refinery.