Nigeria's Richest Woman Did Not Attend A University... Worth $2.6bn

Nigeria's richest woman, Folorunsho Alakija, has revealed that she did not attend a university as she worked her way to her fortune.

Alakija, who is worth $2.6 billion according to FORBES estimates, opined formal education is not a condition for success.

Addressing students at the University of Lagos during a ceremony to mark the 2014 UN International Youths Day, the billionaire said the lack of a university education should never be a reason for failure.

“So I am 63 and I am not yet done. So what is your excuse?

"I never went to a University and I am proud to say so because I don’t think I have done too badly,” she said as quoted in a .

She explained that while getting a formal education is important, it not the ultimate prerequisite for achieving success.

“You do not have to have a university education to be able to make it so count yourselves privileged to have that education as part of the feather in your cap," the oil magnate said.

Student Pulse gathered that Alakija pursued secretarial studies and fashion design in the United Kingdom and started as a secretary in a Nigerian Merchant Bank.

She now own Famfa Oil with 60% stake in the oil block she acquired in 1993.