‘My Father’s Philanthropy Left Me With No Inheritance’

Grammy-nominated singer, Seun Kuti, has recounted how his late father and pioneer of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti’s philanthropy left him with no inheritance.

He recalled that as a pupil his daily allowance was bigger than his teacher’s salary but when his father died he left him with no inheritance due to his (Fela Kuti’s) charitable nature.
He claimed that his father was catering for about 1000 people in his Kalakuta commune before his death.

Speaking in a video message shared via his Instagram account, Kuti said, “When Fela was the top musician in Nigeria, we were living with about 500 people in our house. All the money I was meant to inherit, Fela used it to cater for people.

“Everyone in Kalakuta was receiving daily allowance and weekly salaries. Both Kalakuta and [African] shrine. Almost 1000 people. They were artisans… We had all the professions in Kalakuta.
“My pocket money in 1990, throughout my primary school was N100 per day. My pocket money a day

was bigger than my teacher’s salary.”