Orji Uzor Kalu
| Orji Uzor Kalu | |
|---|---|
| 7th Governor of Abia State | |
|
In office May 29, 1999 – May 29, 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Anthony Obi |
| Succeeded by | Theodore Orji |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 21, 1960 Abia State, Nigeria |
| Political party | People's Democratic Party (1st and 2nd terms). Formed Progressive Peoples Alliance(PPA) as a political party in July 2006 and contested as the party's presidential candidate in 2007. |
| Occupation | Chairman, SLOK Holding Chairman, Daily Sun Chairman, First International Bank Limited Chairman, New Telegraph |
Orji Uzor Kalu (born April 21, 1960) is the chairman of SLOK Holding and the Daily Sun and New Telegraph newspapers in Nigeria, who served as the governor of Abia State, Nigeria from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007. Prior to his election, he served as the chairman of the Borno Water Board and the chairman of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited. Kalu was also a member of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and the chairman of the PPA Board of Trustees. He was the party's candidate for president in the April 2007 general election.
Kalu attended Christ the King School Aba and Government College, Umuahia. After studying at Barewa College, Zaria, he enrolled in the University of Maiduguri where he studied political science. During his time at the university, Kalu became a student activist, and participated in the “Ali Must Go” riots against the education minister. His participation resulted in his suspension. While his fellow students later took the school authorities to court, Kalu left school to build his own business.
With only $35 to his name that he had borrowed from his mother, Kalu began trading palm oil, first buying the oil from Nigeria's eastern regions and then selling it in the country's northern regions. He then began buying and reselling furniture on a large scale.
Kalu eventually established SLOK Holding, a conglomerate that would consist of a number of successful companies, including the Ojialex Furniture Company, SLOK Nigeria Limited, SLOK United Kingdom Limited, Adamawa Publishers Limited, SLOK Vegetable Oil, Aba, SLOK Paper Factory, Aba, SLOK United States Incorporated, SLOK Ghana, Togo, Cotonou, Guinea, South Africa, Liberia, Botswana, SLOK Korea, Supreme Oil Limited, SLOK Airlines, Sun Publishing Limited, and First International Bank Limited.
Kalu became the youngest Nigerian to receive the National Merit Award from President Ibrahim Babangida, at the age of 26 in 1986. He was selected as the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce's Industrialist of the Year, and awarded the Humanitarian Award of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka's Humanitarian Club, the Volunteer Award of the International Association of Volunteers, the National Merit Award, the EU Special Award in Brussels, and the World Bank Leon Sullivan Award.
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