If you are conversant with Victoria Island you must have passed through this imposing towers, which is one of its kind, sitting on a large expanse of land on Akin Adesola Street in Victoria Island. It is a masterpiece which no other building can compete within that environs. The building is the Nestoil Towers owned by a popular billionaire and Okija big boy, Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, popularly called ObiJackson. His company, Nest oil provides leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services to the biggest players in Nigeria’s upstream space such as Shell, ExxonMobil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
He is very popular and always in the news for his large heart. He is one of the biggest philanthropists in the East, especially his home town in Ihiala, Okija. The big boy who has set another record with this edifice built by leading construction giant, Julius Berger, was also in the news when his daughter, Isabella, got married in a superlative wedding a few years back. He is a doting father to his children and loving husband to his wife, Nnena.
It was trending photos gone viral when the photos of his tastefully built Okija home filtered into the internet space and we scooped into the country home which must have gulped billions owing to its Sheer size and the many facilities inside it. The astute businessman, entrepreneur extraordinaire, founder
Barely two years after NESTOIL Group awarded the contract for the building of its new headquarters to Julius Berger Nigeria at N24 billion and a completion time frame of 25 months, the highrise now known as Nestoil Towers was ready for occupation. Located at the intersection of Akin Adesola Street and Saka Tinubu Street in Victoria Island, the building serves as a mixed-use combining office, parking and residential spaces. What does a tenant get from living in the Nestoil Towers? The approximately 75-metre high Nestoil Towers which sits on a floor area of 32,300 sqm is one of Nigeria’s first Silver LEED-certified buildings. The 15 floor structure has 9 stories of parking spaces, 19 apartments on 5 levels and 14 office floors all topped by a helipad shaped in the form of a crown on the building. The building also comes with high-tech elevators fully equipped lobby, meeting rooms, standby electricity, generating set and a host of other amenities. Ernest Obiejesi has other sister companies to Nestoil such as Energy Works Technology Limited, B&Q Dredging Limited, Gobowen Exploration and Production Limited, Century Power Generation Limited and Time Power Global Dynamics Limited. He is also the Chairman and leading shareholder of NECONDE, a Nestoil-led consortium that owns a 45 percent stake in OML 42, a large licence containing developed oil fields and gas reserves in the Niger Delta area of onshore Nigeria.
How
Because of Obi Jackson, Okija community has Diamond bank in its community. Obi Jackson single-handed built a banking hall, then invited Diamond bank to come and do business. He donated the building to it, free of charge with a caveat: The staff to be employed by the bank for their Okija branch must come from his beloved cherished community, a request the bank gladly obliged and today, Okija can boast of a full-fledged bank. Because of Obijackson, many widows, vulnerable people, students, indigent folks and ordinary individuals from Okija in need of financial help were empowered and their hope in humanity restored. His, Obijackson Foundation, empowers members of his community with grants, scholarships and financial aid to deserving members. Because of him, many have had cause to live and smile again. Because of Obijackson, the crème de la crème of the Nigerian music industry travel down to Okija every December to entertain youths of his community free of charge. It is like an annual rite for music stars to converge in Okija every December because Obijackson made it possible. As if this is not enough, the same man does organise a football competition for the promising youths of his community, who have the passion for football. It is called Obi Jackson Football Competition and it is an annual event. During this competition, many talents are identified, groomed and nurtured to play at the highest level. He is also the sponsor of ” Face Of Okija” beauty pageant, a pageant designed to celebrate Okija ladies and the new queen is entitled to a scholarship and a brand new car. He also invested heavily in infrastructure by building roads and renovating
It is instructive to point out that Obi Jackson was not born with a silver spoon. He was even born in the back yard of Onitsha and his late dad was just a business man, who wanted his son to manage his shops in Onitsha. Years later, Obijackson limited was born, a small start-up company from the rustic backyard of Onitsha has now transformed into a group of companies with global presence in three continents. it is from this seed that Nestoil Plc sprouted. His passion for hard work is only matched by his love for the good things of life. Fast and expensive toys, of all sorts adorn his garages. He has a private jet and arguably the biggest Rolls Royce collector around. He parades all models of the prized machine that many would die for. but according to him, they don’t excite him anymore, he recently told This Day Newspaper. He started his Nestoil business from the scratch in 1991 and one of the legacies of that company it bequeathed to Nigeria oil and gas industry is the 1.9 billion Dollar export pipeline in the Niger Delta to reroute the Kolo Creek gas to Soku Gas plant (K2S) contract they did for Shell. The first indigenous company to do so.
Also, Nestoil handled Edjeba Sewage Treatment Plant in Warri in 1998. This project was executed successfully and today the plant is still in active use at the SPDC Edjeba complex. For this project, SPDC gave Nestoil an award of excellence in quality and safety.
This achievement was a significant landmark in the life of the company and, indeed, a boost to the nation’s Local Content Initiative. The company has also constructed and commissioned a 20” X 38km Pipeline for Shell between 2005 and 2009 and is currently constructing the Nembe Creek-Cawthorne Channel Trunkline Replacement Project [NCTL] for SPDC. Nestoil is one of the few Nigerian companies that advertise their brand on CNN platform, a feat that shows the class Obi Jackson belongs.
Obi Jackson’s story is one of resilience, hope, compassion, uncommon courage and what determination to succeed can do in a man’s life.
TAYO FAJORIN OYEDIJI
(08111811219)
