Ugonna Ozurigbo

Ozbpice

Ugonna Ozurigbo (born November 26, 1976) is a Nigerian businessman and politician from Imo State. He represented Isu/Njaba/Nkwerre/Nwangele Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and previously served as Deputy Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly (2015-2019). He also chaired the House Committee on Justice during the 9th National Assembly. Before politics, he founded OZB Communication Ltd, a telecommunication company.

Quotes

• It was never my idea to have OZB Communications LTD. I never believed that the company will be where it is today. The name OZB came as a result of the 2003 national ASUU strike that lasted for 6 months. I was in Abia State University with my girlfriend then who is now my wife and we started as a call centre under an umbrella. I used to wear MTN T-shirt for almost one week and people laughed at me but I was determined to make it. And today you can see for yourself that OZB has become a brand that you can’t just ignore. We have more than 700 staff in our payroll.

• You can’t achieve success alone. You can do it with your team. I can beat my chest and say that I am working with a wonderful team that can deliver even when I am not there. I promised myself that I will be supportive to my husband and I thank God that we are in a position to help the poor, create jobs and cushion the effects of poverty in the society today.

• I was about going for NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) when I had my traditional wedding. In fact, I left for the NYSC camp from the traditional wedding ground in Owerri (Imo State). Immediately after the traditional wedding, I just changed my clothes and moved down to Ogun State for my youth service. I took a night bus from Umuahia to the NYSC camp. I still remember that day. While I was fulfilling my traditional marriage obligations, my eyes and mind were in Ogun where I undertook my NYSC programme. I remember that it was important for me to leave for Ogun State that very day.

• Fatherhood makes one very responsible. Like I told you, once any of my kids clocks 21 years, they must get married. Six years before I got married, the man that helped me to start a business never requested any collateral from me. The only collateral he wanted from me was to get married. And that was from the understanding that being married makes one a responsible person, because marriage comes with responsibilities. If I borrow money from you, I cannot run away if I am married; I will think about my family. To me, marriage is one of the things that can stand as collateral whenever integrity is needed.

• The truth is that you do not need anything to get married. When I got married I never had anything. I was married those years when I was putting on MTN (promotional) shirt. I remember that it was my brother who sent me money to buy the outfit for my traditional wedding. But today, my loving wife and I have built a family. I have grown from nothing to something good. The advice I will give to them (people waiting for financial stability) is that they do not need the whole world to get married; after all, they say two heads are better than one.

• Business and fatherhood go together. But for politics, you know that going by the laws of the land, I cannot be running a business while occupying a political office. As a business owner, I had given instructions that my name be removed from the Corporate Affairs Commission documents because of the political office that I occupy. So, I cannot tag myself a businessman now because I am a public servant. But I will say it is very easy to combine politics and fatherhood. I combine the two the same way civil servants combine their jobs and family obligations. As a public servant, there is no difference. All you need to do is have a clear-cut timetable. You must differentiate between your roles as a father and your roles as a public servant. The two work together because they are services to humanity.

• What is the definition of politics? Politics, simply put, is service to humanity. So, if I am serving humanity, is my family not part of the humanity that I am serving? There cannot be a clash. Most times, people don’t see politicians that are not married as responsible people. So, I am happy being a married man and also a politician. During my first tenure in the Imo State House of Assembly, I knew (an unmarried) lady, I will not mention her name, and one of things that affected her was because she was not married. If you are married, people will study your family life before they can accept your involvement in politics. Marriage gives you a huge advantage in politics. Combining the two is no big deal.

• This is Nigeria; hospitals don’t allow men to go inside the labour room with their wives, most times. It is only in the western world that it is common for men to join their wives in the delivery room. But I was always at the door each time my wife was in the labour room. I became born again on each occasion. I would pray more than 50 times before the arrival of the baby. If you want to see a prayer warrior, get any man whose wife is in the labour room. You will see him recite the Bible from Genesis to Revelation before his wife is delivered of the baby. But by God’s grace I have not gone inside the labour room; I always stay at the door.

• Well, my children see me as a friend. Most times when I tell them I will flog them they will laugh at me. Their mother is the one you need to ask this question. She doesn’t need to talk to reprimand them. With only a glance at them, they will comport themselves. For me, I think one doesn’t need to be harsh on children; instead, one should be friendly with them so they can be free to discuss things with you.

• Whatever I am today I give glory to God and my parents, especially my father. Growing up, I was stubborn; I never got close to my father because he was always advising me. But now that I have got closer to him, I have started seeing the other side of life. Even politically, he has been a mentor. He has been the chairman of all my businesses. Even at 89, he still serves as the chairman of all my businesses. He has mentored me, given me a platform that assisted me even when my uncles were assisting me; he released his property for me to use as collateral. He is always ready to bring out anything that will ensure the success of my business. Aside God, I give thanks to my parents. My father taught me how to be a good father. The way he raised me and my siblings is the way I am raising my children. I learnt the virtues of sincerity, hard work, compassion and attention from my father and I have applied them in raising my children.

• My growing up was very rough. Well, I always stand for justice and I can’t stay where people are being maltreated. I can’t stand people being maltreated around me. Growing up was not that pleasant. I often fight for other people’s cause. But one thing that was sure was that I was very intelligent. My head was big and my mates and seniors were always taunting me by calling me names like “big man,” “big head,” and “barrow head.” Growing up was not that pleasant, coming from a background with civil servant parents. But my childhood was fun, quite unlike today, with so much technology. One day, my son told me that he wanted to trek to school but I couldn’t allow him because of the pervading insecurity. But those days, as a child, you could trek from one street to the other. Those days you couldn’t come to the living room to watch movies when your parents were watching (news on) NTA; but today, my child can tell me to change the TV channel. You could not try that in those days when we were growing up. My childhood days had advantages and disadvantages.