Azubuike Ezeibe Esq: Quintessential man of integrity and humility

BY KELVIN EGERUE

When one is being driven majorly by passion for the things that he does, be sure that the person is certain to be a near perfectionist, if not a perfectionist indeed considering the fact that pecuniary and ancillary rewards are usually at the secondary levels as far as the person is concerned.

No wonder William Edward Burghardt had in a letter to his great grandson declared that “the return from your work must be the satisfactions which that work brings to you and the world’s need of that work. With this, life is heaven or as near heaven as you can get. Without this–with work which you despise, which bores you and which the world does not need–this life is hell”. AzubuikeIhuoma Ezeibe, Esq is one of the few Nigerians whose passion for the things that they do bring lasting joy, contentment and absolute peace of mind hence the infectious calm and confidence which he exudes almost all the time.

Azu, as his friends and associates call him has in the over 30 years of his practice as a lawyer; 36 years to be precise, strived towards bringing smiles on the faces of each and every of his stakeholders whether government, corporate or individual not excluding his environment for he is as human as he his humble. It is his desire to always add value to things that he beholds including services rendered thus responding to the dynamics of the society which many times come to him at a cost. AzuEzeibe is an acknowledged philanthropist for which his various communities appreciate him. These involuntary show of appreciation and love towards him were made more manifest on July 16 when he marked his birthday considering that friends, relations and well-wishers were not in short supply around him.

“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”, he had remarked.

AzubuikeIhuoma Ezeibe, Esq has every reason to be grateful to God considering the fact that his case is typical of the saying that hard work pays better when one prays. Although from a royal family, Azu found value in education early enough and he pursued that channel tenaciously. He was very young when he became the Ag. Chief Executive Officer of an insurance company in Nigeria; an encounter which became one of the reasons that propelled him and his wife, Mrs.EkeomaEzeibe to make a deeper foray into insurance business leading to the establishment of Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited, a company which today attracts and indeed commands the patronage of savvy investors, corporate and individual clients who desire the proper arrangement of their insurance needs. Crystal Trust Insurance Brokers Limited is a member of Crystal Trust Group of companies which comprise Insurance, Real Estate, Oil and Gas, Fast Food chain, among others which he incubates as the chairman.

“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 has 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”, he explains.

Yet, he strongly holds the belief that there should be morality in business since humanity is in every business value chain. During his 18 months service as Senior Special Adviser on Special Projects and Infrastructure to General David Jemibewon as the then Minister of Police Affairs, Azu and his team succeeded in bringing human face to the police including the remodelling of the uniform of the police from its hitherto black outfit to a friendlier disposition. Communication equipment also got an upgrade culminating in more efficiency in the force.

“There is no doubt that my high level of morals and disposition to issues of integrity has helped me. 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 it is expected to do better. A number of people are now wondering how “a good thing can be found in Jerusalem”, he observes.

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

“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 me concern because the things that l 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 my strong principles, l have paid a lot of price but the benefit far outweighs the presumed losses 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 l have served previously are the ones that are now recommending clients to my company” AzuEzeibe reiterated.

“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”.

He will tell anyone who cares to listen that “AzuEzeibe 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 have given me the grace not to fall”.