Azubuike Ihuoma Ezeibe: Redefining Hardwork, Philanthropy and Integrity

Azubuike Ihuoma Ezeibe, Esq. is probably one of the few people who have succeeded in demystifying the perceived ethnic dichotomy, religious and socio-cultural boundaries among Nigerians. A multi-disciplinary professional who incubates chains of

companies; Ezeibe towers above his peers in the areas of integrity, philanthropy and the observance of the golden rule. His being

born into royalty has not detached him from sharing in the pains of the ordinary citizens. Ezeibe in this interview presents steps

toward achieving success in the corporate world while fostering enduring family life. Precious Ugwuzor brings excerpts

As the founding Chairman of Crystal Trust Group of Companies, you have your hands in sp many pies which include insurance, real estate,

oil and gas, and even fast food chain; how do you prioritise each one so that the others do not suffer?

First and foremost, I am a trained corporate lawyer and that remains my core profession.

The others came along the line as time went on. The seed money however came from the legal profession and as the money came, we kept diversifying. It will be worthy to mention that I have a wife who I have known for about 40 years,

married to for about 30 years and has been my business partner for 27 years. She has been very instrumental to

many of the successes that the group of companies have recorded so far. My job as the Chairman is basically that of policy formulation and the hiring of good hands.

I am a very meticulous person who is considerate with people. When it comes to business, the motivating factor has always been getting things right before you start talking of profit. I will tell you that it has been very challenging but we have worked very hard in order to attain and retain the heights that we have

attained. Getting the right calibre of people to do any job at any time is a skill on its own and I think that I have developed that skill over time.

Are you among the people who believe that hard work still pays?

Absolutely. Hard work pays. We have found ourselves in this whole mix where we hold on to hard work and integrity. Although the system has been trying to

relegate hard work to the background but I tell you that there is the need for honesty and integrity when it comes to business and this culture, this principle,

has helped the growth of the Crystal Trust Group of Companies.

The Nigeria into which we were born into, even within the military, you could see that there were elements of integrity in leadership. But sadly, some politicians of today seem to have made some people

to believe in “come easy, go easy” kind of life style. And that brings me to our current situation in terms of productivity which is the basis for any society to

flourish. A man who has never done any job in his life just simply because he is an associate of a political leader suddenly finds himself on the corridors of power.

To use the street language, what you get is garbage in, garbage out. However, out of the challenges of today, I can see a better and bigger hope for this nation.

We agree here that the hen which laid the golden egg in terms of your fostering group of companies is the legal profession. But in a society like ours where insurance as a service has not been deeply entrenched in our ways of life and corporate survival; what magic wand do you think that you have applied as to have enabled you nurture Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited into such a reputable insurance broking outfit which now attracts and commands the patronage of big and reputable organisations?

My journey into insurance is miraculous both in conception and in output; particularly very providential.

I got married to a lady who is a core professional and she read law as well. After one year of practicing law in Aba, Abia State, l travelled to the United States. My wife did her youth service in Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation. She earned her insurance professional qualifications.

While in America, someone that l call a father, a mentor and a friend; General David Jemibewon (rtd) introduced me to insurance. By then my wife had joined Industrial and General Insurance Company as the pioneer Company Secretary and Legal Adviser under the legendry Remi Olowude. General Jemibewon (rtd) introduced me to a company called Asset and Liability Insurance Company and I bought some of their shares.

When I returned to Nigeria around 1992 and we discovered that Asset and Liability Insurance Company in which I invested was not doing well; the likes of General Jemibewon drafted me into the company to go and do the magic of turning the company around and that was how I joined the insurance industry.

I became the Company Secretary/Head of Human Resources and Legal Adviser. I under-studied the then Managing Director, Mr Joe Marienah for about 11 to 12 months before the mantle fell on me as the Ag Managing Director.

By then l had re-linked with my wife who was then my friend and school mate and mark you, I had not read insurance. So, most technical issues that cropped up l will refer them to my wife even though we had not gotten married then but were courting.

I was there for 18 months and by then l had been able to stabilize Asset and Liability Insurance Company. At that point, I had gotten married to

my wife. I resigned and moved on to establish a law firm; Ezeibe and Ezeibe (Legal Practitioners

and Consultants). I subsequently told her that we have seen the prospects in insurance business and should establish our own organization. A short while after, Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers

was born. Mrs Ezeibe; a thorough bred and dedicated insurance professional, became the Managing

Director/CEO of Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited. So, when you talk about how we moved

from one level to another level, Mrs Ekeoma Ezeibe was very instrumental to this. So, as I was running our chambers as a legal practitioner and consultant, as a Director, I was equally working as the chief marketing officer of Crystal Trust

Insurance Brokers and luckily, the network that I had built over the years helped our growth. So, I tell young people today; please maximize your

contacts. This same General Jemibewon that I talked about; we met at the Nigerian Law School as classmates and we became friends at my very tender age and I have continued to tap from such high network till today.

Your friends and associates keep referring to you as a man of integrity.

In what ways have this issue of integrity helped you in fostering these chains of businesses especially in insurance where the level of acceptance is still low with not too many people believing in insurance?

There is no doubt that my high level of morals and disposition to issues of integrity have helped us. First and foremost, insurance is built on trust

and integrity and I have developed a good blend of the two. Luckily today, insurance awareness is picking up as more and more people and

corporations are getting involved in insurance

and it has become such a high drive. I must tell you that the insurance industry is contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the

nation even though is expected to do better. A number of people are now wondering how “a good thing can be found out of Jerusalem”. Back

to our background as lawyers; if you are doing insurance as a legal practitioner, you have already met 50 per cent of your challenges.

Two, any profession that can help you see where the pitfalls are, you are already 50 per cent successful. So, our law background has done a lot of magic in the growth of our business. Let

me tell you one fact; in those days when one goes out to market insurance, the prospective client will slam their door when they hear that an insurance person was waiting outside. But when

they hear that a lawyer was waiting outside, they will quickly open the door and after speaking law,

I will introduce insurance as something as good and beneficial and the chances are that I will win that client. But the insurance industry has to invest much more in education and awareness creation.

No matter how good your product is, you still have to market it. Insurance must tell its story.

Insurance is a contractual obligation. It has its rules and terms of engagement. It has its benefit

but because there has not been enough education, the issue of its benefit has not been amplified. All

you hear is that insurance does not pay claims and it is not true.

You were also a consultant to major

government and multinational organisations like the NNPC, Shell Petroleum, CBN, Nigeria

Police Force, FIRS. What did that entail and what impact did you make on their respective portfolios?

I am 36 years at the Nigerian Bar. What has helped me thus far is the fact that I am a core professional. My service to the companies mentioned;

the multinationals that I have served and still serving, is because we try not to mess up things.

We do not compromise things. I am unyielding when it comes to standards and ethics. All that we do is to stick to the tenets of professionalism. You

have to be known, you have to be professional, you have to be seen as adding value to those

that you serve. Your best marketer is the service that you offer.

Have you in anyway made some sacrifices or paid some price for insisting that the right things must be done in the course of your professional conduct and practice?

Yes, no doubt. There is no way that as an individual, as an institution, that you will insist that the right things, the right ways, the right processes must be followed in doing things without you paying some price especially in a system where most people believe that everything goes.

In my sticking to best practices, trying to ensure that ethics and standards were enforced, I lost quite a lot of businesses but they never gave us

concern because the things that we gained by remaining strong and committed are tremendous.

There is this saying that no matter how far that lies run, truth must eventually catch up with it.

The beauty of it all is that today you might suffer but tomorrow you will smile. I will tell you that integrity pays. In upholding our principles, we have paid a lot of price but the benefit far outweighs the presumed loses and you get to a certain level that you must stick to standards. I must tell you

that I do not do much marketing again because the people that we have served previously are the ones that are now recommending clients to us.

Beyond these issues of technicalities,

professionalism and all that, you still make room to play the role of a philanthropist

with particular focus on the education of the underprivileged and feeding of the needy.

What influenced this move, how long have these been going on, how have you sustained it and what are the impacts recorded so far?

For me, it is humanity first, humanity second and humanity third. I was born into a privileged family to start with. I was born into a royal family

and I will tell you that when I reflect during my quiet moments and I note that the same God who put me in a royal household of Ezeibe could have put me in another family where I will be

begging for food. No person predetermines his circumstance of birth or into which family he would be born into. The same thing is applicable

to one’s faith. I opened my eyes to see that I am an Anglican and I have remained an Anglican.

Let me tell you, any time that I stop doing good, it means that the humanity in me has gone. l will not stop the work of philanthropy.

I will not stop helping the less privileged. I will not stop paying the school fees on behalf of those who I know could not pay the school fees of their children. I will not stop playing my

role in the church. Anytime that I stop doing the good things that l do, it means that I have become poor. Poverty may not be of the pocket.

The worst type of poverty is poverty of the mind. One thing that gives me joy is to put smiles on the faces of

people that l touch. There is nothing that God gave you that is for only you. God gave you so that you can in turn give to so many other people.

You made reference to being born into royalty; going through your profile, I saw where you were referred to as an Ambassador of Christ.

You are among the few people who have traveled all over the world. Let us situate things; who is Azu Ezeibe, Esq?

Azu Ezeibe is a very humble person, very educated, very privileged in all ramifications, a man that has

been blessed by God; a person whom God has given a very beautiful family. And above all these, God has

given me the grace not to fall.

You were also a one-time Special Adviser to the Minister of Police Affairs, what did your role entail and how did it shape your career trajectory?

The same General Jemibewon who I have mentioned before became the Minister of Police Affairs and he

decided to embark on head hunting as to those who would work with him and he appointed me Special

Adviser on Special Projects. I accepted to serve on a pro bono basis. Please permit me to digress a little here. I am an igbo man from Abia State and General Jemibewon is a Yoruba man who never knew me until our Law Schools days, but the kind of confidence reposed in me by him led to that appointment which was primarily intended to help him stabilize the ship

as I liaised between him and other people and we accomplished a lot of monumental things. It was under

that regime that the Nigerian Police created extra zones.

It was under us that we sat down to resolve that the Police must have a friendly outlook hence we changed

the police uniform from that very dark colour. We equally mounted a massive campaign about police relationship with the public. We tried to rebrand the police to ensure that the police were no longer being marginalized in comparison with sister agencies. I will say that within the period that we were there; roughly

18 months, we made tremendous progress.

You are currently presiding over so many companies, in fact you seem to have done well in business and social life but I guess that there must have been some challenging moments. How do you handle such moments?

Yes, challenges do come but I have developed the passion of looking unto God when such challenges come and I must confess to you that God does miracles.

There is no day that I resume work without first, praying

to God particularly knowing that we are working in an environment where nothing is certain. It has gotten to a point where the challenges of success are becoming more challenging. The challenges of success are too many; you have the challenges of human capital management, challenges of human relations especially the situation where most of the institutional and organizational framework have collapsed thus leaving some of us to become microfinance banks with every family and relation looking up to you to

solve their problems even when they do not come with any collateral to suggest that they will pay back.

You have problems of security, you have challenges of security and these things are pains on those of us

who are managers. And so, I have developed myself as to look unto God for us to micromanage. I have

learnt to handle low hanging challenges when they come before thinking of issues with super structures.

By so doing, I give myself the chance of being free because I know that I am a human too. I do not expect

perfection so that I will not be a sad person.

Congratulations for this is the season of your birthday. Your birthday is actually July 16 and as you celebrate, let us do some reflections; what is your attitude to life and living?

Bear no malice towards anyone and do not take any person for granted. Thirdly, do not forsake God, very important because there is the likelihood that one

might take things for granted as if the successes one recorded came as a result of one’s might and power.

That takes me to why this country must buckle up. We have gotten to the level where our leaders

think that they are smarter than other citizens.

When you get to the point of leadership which is indeed a privilege, the earlier that our leaders begin to realize that it is God that put them there, the sooner they will begin to make more effort to serve the people.

Hardwork, Philanthropy and Integrity