DR ORJI UZOR KALU PROFILE OF A QUINTESSENTIAL LEADER Before he became governor in 1999, he had already built one of the most forward-looking companies in Nigeria with branches all over the world. SLOK has grown into a formidable conglomerate controlling equity holdings in diverse multinationals within and outside Nigeria. The company owns the fast-growing First International Bank (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, South Africa, Liberia and Botswana), SLOK Airlines registered in 1994, and the SUN Publishing Limited, publishers of the Sun and Soccer Star Newspapers. It has also managed the fastest-growing shipping outfit in the past 10 years. In politics, he is a household name. He served as a member of the Federal House of Representatives from 1992 to 1993, and held two key positions of deputy chairman of the Finance and Internal Affairs Committees. He moved the famous Dual-Citizenship Rights Bill in the House. He was elected the governor of the mineral-rich Abia State in 1999. His achievements between 1999 and now have astounded, even, his most vitriolic critics. His administration has built over 300 roads in both urban and rural areas, renovated 820 schools; planted 510 hectares of rubber, 2 million pineapple suckers, 5 million palm and cocoa seedlings; distributed over 10 million day old chicks to civil servants, schools churches and cooperative bodies to boost the protein intake of the people of the state. Added to these is the establishment of a free medical scheme that has seen about 1.5 million persons treated; introduction of tuition-free education in both primary and secondary schools, distribution of free computer sets, textbooks, mathematical sets, and desks; and the regular payment of workers and teachers salaries. His poverty eradication package is about the best in Nigeria. Apart from creating employment opportunities for thousands of youths, he has empowered many indigent persons through the distribution of interest-free loans, motorcycles, buses and cars. It is also on record that his government paid arrears of pension and gratuity owed retired workers by past administrations in the state since 1991. Space cannot allow us to list all the achievements of this enterprising young governor. Overwhelmed, however, by the accomplishments of the governor within six months of assuming office in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo on a state visit to Abia State on February 26, 2000, christened him THE ACTION GOVERNOR OF NIGERIA. Since that time there is no stopping Orji Kalu. Orji Kalu is a renowned philanthropist and humanist. This is evident in the many scholarships his foundation has awarded to thousands of indigent students from all over the country. His milk of human kindness is unfathomable from the bridges of friendship he has built across cultures, races, and religions. A sports enthusiast par excellence, he is the chairman Nigeria Judo Federation. He has been able to change the fortunes of the once comatose Enyimba Football Club of Aba. The club has won the Nigerian League back to back. Enyimba Football Club, for the first time in the 38 years history of the African CAF League Cup Competition, won the trophy for Nigeria. It repeated the feat in 2004 when it defeated Esperance F.C. of Tunisia to win the trophy the second time. It crowned this feat by winning the CAF Super Cup back to back in 2004/2005. He has won many local and international awards, the prominent being the Industrialist of the Year by the Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Industry; Humanitarian Award by the Humanitarian Club of the prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka; Volunteer Award by the International Association of Volunteers; and the National Merit Award of the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), Youngest Bank Chairman Award by the famous Top Magazine when he became the chairman of Cooperative and Commerce Bank in 1987, a special award by the European union in Brussels, Belgium, Special Award by the Enugu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Fellow Bauchi Polytechnic, Fellowship Institute of Certified Management Accountants, and the prestigious Leon Sullivan Award by the World Bank, Washington. He is also a visitor of Miami Dave County in the State of Florida, United States of America.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 12:25:45 +0000
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