At 91, Adebutu Deepens His Legacy of Philanthropy 

Sir Kessington Adebutu, founder of Premier Lotto and known across Nigeria as Baba Ijebu, has given the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) a purpose-built headquarters in Ikeja valued at over N800 million, plus five patrol vehicles. Witnessing the donation, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu inaugurated the building, cementing the latest thread of Adebutu’s legacy at 91.

LSSTF is a fund that raises private money for Lagos State’s security agencies. Previously, it worked from rented premises. Now with a building of its own, it no longer has to pay rent, and it now has a permanent base for mobilising other donors.

Lagos runs on commerce, and commerce depends on security, which is why a fund backing security agencies matters to traders as much as to residents. Clearly, Adebutu had all these laid out on his table before making the big move.

The fortune of Adebutu, as some readers are doubtless aware, comes from gaming, an unusual route among Nigerian billionaires, most of whom built theirs in oil, banking or cement. He laid the foundation for the country’s lottery and pools industry in the 1960s, registered Face-to-Face Pools in 1971 and founded Premier Lotto in 2001. He has since spread that money across the economy.

Through Neemtree Limited, he holds about 28 per cent of Wema Bank, making him its largest individual shareholder, and he chairs the listed engineering firm Arbico Plc. His group also has interests in real estate, oil and gas, and agriculture.

Moreover, his giving runs on a schedule. The Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation, set up in 2005, spends about N150 million a month on hospital bills, education and help for poor people, and has built libraries at Lagos Baptist Academy, his old school, and Crescent University.

When he clocked 90, he arrived with two large gifts: a medical research centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and a N4 billion commitment for infrastructure across the local governments of Remoland, the Ogun State area where he holds the title of Balogun.

Few businessmen carry Adebutu’s standing beyond business. The Ooni of Ife made him Odole-Oodua of Ife, a title once held by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and Lagos has given him the title Babalaje.

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