Sir Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, a revered tycoon and philanthropist, is the chairman of Premier Lotto Limited, a Gaming Company incorporated in 2001 to carry out the Lotto business in Nigeria. Sir Adebutu, fondly called Baba Ijebu, hails from Iperu Remo in the present Ikenne Local Government area of Ogun State. Born on October 24, 1935, Sir Adebutu rose from a very humble beginning to national limelight and business prominence through hard work, integrity, self- discipline and accountability. He is the founder of Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Sir Kessington Adebutu’s primary educational journey, which started at the Wesley Primary School, Iperu Remo in 1942, was later to be completed in 1950 at the Ijero Baptist School, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, where he led his class in the Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination and was offered a scholarship to train as a teacher at Iwo Baptist College. He rejected the scholarship offer simply because, according to him, he didn’t want to leave Lagos and he wanted to continue wearing blazer and tie like other students. In January 1951, he was admitted to the Baptist Academy School, Lagos but later proceeded to the famous Remo Secondary School (RSS), Sagamu Remo, Ogun State to complete his secondary education.
WORK AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
He began his early life at Cable & Wireless Limited (which later became NIT EL) as Operations Clerk before moving to Claffin Chemicals Limited, that later became known as Sterling Products, as Salesman, rising through hard work to the position of Regional Sales Manager for Lagos and the then Midwestern Region. His working experiences in these companies proved useful several years later when he started his own company, Face-to-Face Million Dollar Pools Limited, which has expanded to a casino. He has also diversified into other areas. He had this to say of his motivation for going into the gaming business;
“Having no capital, I looked for a business that required little or no capital and what came to my mind was to be a pool agent, because to be a pool agent, what you just need is to get a table and your pen. So, you can see it is not capital intensive. I did that briefly with my best friend, the late Chief Solomon Adebayo Ayoku, and within a short time, we dominated Africa. We then diversified to other areas like agriculture, manufacturing, estate management, the lotto and entertainment.
Today, I have the concession for the Gateway Hotels Abeokuta for 25 years.”
CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY
The Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu Foundation was set up to render assistance to the society through the advancement of education improvement of health care delivery and the promotion of the general well-being of the less-privileged in Nigeria. Sir Kessington Adebutu’s philanthropic gestures that have become the hallmark of his Foundation include: The construction of a 100 Million Naira worth vocational Centre built for the Lagos State Government; The Kessington Maternity and Laboratory Centre (KMLC) donated to the University of Lagos; 100 million naira donated to the Gateway Polytechnic Ogun State; The state-of-the-art LASU Radio donated to the Lagos State University; The Alhaja Seliat Olasumbo Adebutu Library endowment to Crescent University Abeokuta; Materials and cars donated to the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
AWARDS/HONOURS
In recognition of his numerous invaluable contributions to Nigeria’s economic development as an entrepreneur, and in appreciation of his magnanimity and philanthropy, which has impacted positively on the Nation’s educational and health sectors, Sir Adebutu has received various honorary awards and recognition. He was the recipient of a honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree of the Olabisi Onabanjo University; the only recipient of the ‘honoree alumnus’ award at the University of Lagos Alumni Association Distinguished Award in 2015. He has also had the Gateway Polytechnic Ogun State named after him. Sir Kessington Adebutu is the Asoju Oba of Lagos, a title conferred on him by the king of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu. On February 4 2017, he was installed as the Baba Egbe Bobagunte of Ijebuland.