Billionaire businesswoman, Folorunso Alakija, while speaking at a church service on Sunday Novembe 28, while ministering in Lagos at the Amazing Grace Pentecostal Church’s 25th revealed why she stopped using jewelry.

The 70 year old who is the richest woman in Nigeria with a net worth of $1bn as at 2020 was at some point in her life, one of the largest collectors of the most expensive jewelries.

But the founder of The Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited, Digital Reality Prints Limited, said God stopped her from using jewelry.

“I used to love jewellery. I had all kinds and the jewellery had to match every cloth I wore. In those days I used to tell God not to take jewellery from me. If anybody had come to me and told me not to wear jewellery, I would not have listened to the person.

“I would have wondered where that person is coming from. But by the time God started dealing with me on it, I had no option but to do away with it.”

Alakija who is now a clergywoman said the turning point began when she started bleeding from her ear lobe while she was sleeping.

“That night I just suddenly found I was bleeding from my ear lobe. I did not sleep with earrings that night so I wondered what could have caused the bleeding. My ear lobe became sticky. When soap touched it while I was having my bath, it was hurting,” she said.

The executive vice chairman of Famfa Oil said a week before that experience, her younger sister had a dream that she saw that her ear lobe had cut.

“That dream was almost becoming a reality. At a particular time when we were praying, a nephew of mine asked if I put lipstick on my earlobe because it had become red. The experience was not funny. But to cut a long story short, it took ten days for God to deal with me. Finally, I gave it up. Now I am free,” she added.

The 70-year-old has business interests in different fields such as oil and gas and fashion.