A letter notifying Adebutu, made available to The Guardian, stated that: “I have the honour to formally inform you that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the conferment of the national Honours on you, in the rank of MON (Member of the Order of the Niger).”

Ajibola Adebutu was born on the 25th of February 1968 into the family of Sir Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu (CON KJW FISM, popularly called Baba Ijebu) and Dame Caroline Oladunni Adebutu of Iperu Remo in Ogun State. The 3rd child and 2nd son of 12 children to the Adebutu family.

Very early he had shown great academic aptitude by gaining admission into the highly revered King’s College, Lagos, between 1978 and 1983 where he obtained his O’Level Certificate. From there, he gained admission to the exclusive St. Columbas College, Dublin in 1983, and obtained the Irish Leaving Certificate in 1985 after which he proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin, to study Civil Engineering.

‘JB’, as he’s popularly called, started working at a tender age. He began his enviable career at Face to Face (Million Dollar) Pools in 1988, where he contributed very significantly to making the firm a market leader in the gaming industry. He is currently the Executive Director (Finance) of Premier Lotto Limited, the biggest lottery company in Nigeria, popularly known as “Baba Ijebu.”

Ajibola Adebutu is the Chief Executive Officer of JB Farms Limited, a 100 per cent indigenous agro-allied company involved in the development of commercial Oil Palm Plantations and production of Palm Oil and other Palm produce. His passion and drive for national development has contributed to JB Farms Limited being adjudged the fastest growing indigenous Oil Palm business in Nigeria by the Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria.

Following its incisive and determined drive, the Central Bank of Nigeria, in 2012 and 2015, threw in its support through subsidised loans in the respective sums of N500m and N2bn respectively from the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria. 

This enabled JB Farms ramp up its operations from a plantation of eight hectares and 10 staff to over 15,000 hectares and over 4,500 staff, with plantations located in Ogun, Ondo and Cross River states. JB Farms currently has four palm oil mills with a combined processing capacity of 21tonnes ffb/hour.