Popularly known as Obijackson, Ernest Azudialu is the Group Managing Director of the Obijackson Group, the parent company of Nestoil along with its sister companies – Energy Works Technology Limited, B&Q Dredging Limited, Gobowen Exploration and Production Limited, Century Power Generation Limited and Time Power Global Dynamics Limited – Nestoil PLC is a pioneer of local content in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and an emerging force in the power industry. He also sits on the board of directors of several companies including Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and he is the Chairman of the Board of Nenconde Energy and Smile Communications.
He has received several awards and recognition for his services in the oil and gas industry including the 2011 THISDAY Young Global Champion Award for excellence and good governance. In August 2012, Ernest was awarded an All Africa Business Leaders Award (AABLA) by Forbes, CNBC, and ABN for West African Entrepreneur of the Year, in acknowledgment his exceptional vision and leadership in building a successful company from the ground up. Also, the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Americas also honored Dr. Azudialu-Obiejesi in Washington DC with the Nigerian Business Person of the Year 2012. He was also a finalist at the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist (Master Category) and received the Businessman of the Year at the Mode Men of the Year Awards in December 2012. In 2013, Dr. Azudialu-Obiejesi received a Nigeria Advancement Award for ‘Oil and Gas Man of the Year.’
Azudialu is also a philanthropist and he has put smiles on the faces of many people especially indigenes of his hometown, Okija village in Anambra State. He has reportedly transformed his Okija village into a modern city with multi-billion naira worth of infrastructures from building a multi-million naira state-of-the-art medical facility, Obijackson Women and Children’s Hospital (OWCH), to the construction of the St. Peter’s Stadium as a facility for social integration and youth empowerment to several other amenities for the benefit of members of his community.
However, January 2018 was a trying time for Dr. Azudialu as his private jet, a Gulf Stream G200 crash landed and skidded off the Abuja International Airport runway. Not only was the private jet badly damaged, the incident forced planes that were due for landing to return to where they departed from and prevented several other planes from taking off from Abuja. In turn, hundreds of passengers became stranded at the airport as the airport management battled with how to get the aircraft off the runway. For this reason, a lot of planes had to land at the nearest airports.
The private jet incident was, however, the last that has been heard about Azudialu this year as he has been able to successfully avoid being mentioned in the media for whatever reasons.
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