President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has appointed the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nze Chidi Duru, as Chairman, Governing Board, Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi State.
The appointment was conveyed in a letter signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
The appointment takes effect from 9th of January, 2025.
In a statement released Friday in Abuja by his media assistant, Ugboaja, Stanley Uzoamaka, described Hon. Duru as a grassroots politician par excellence who has also had a stellar career in the business sector.
“Nze Duru is well respected among peers and followers for insisting on ethical behavior in the political space.
“His ethics guided political conduct and comportment as a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives between 1999 and 2007, when he represented Aguata Federal Constituency, and facilitated critical initiatives in the transformation of Nigeria’s economic space to contemporary standards.
“One such initiative was the unlocking of the latent assets base of the contributory pension scheme as Chairman of the House of Representatives Pension Reform Ad-hoc Committee. Nze Duru ensured the speedy passage of the Pension Bill which was assented to by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The assets under management of the industry is now estimated at more than 16 Trillion Naira from a zero position in 2004 when the bill was signed into law.
“In addition to this, Nze Duru takes credit for championing the bill that led to the unbundling of the power sector to electricity generation (GENCOS), transmission, system operation and distribution (DISCOS) segments. During his term as Chairman of the House Committee on Privatization, with oversight responsibilities over the Bureau for Public Enterprises (B.P.E), he redesigned the bidding methods to follow the principle of technical competence before financial viability. The introduction of this principle nipped in the bud the political charge that characterised the dealings in the BPE at the time. Under his watch, the BPE realized N300bn (Three Hundred Billion Naira) which was credited to the Treasury of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Coming on the back of unleashing the potentialities of the pension industry, Nze Duru established First Guarantee Pension Limited in another record-pioneering accomplishment in 2004. First Guarantee Pension Limited is one of the first-generation, strategy-focused Pension Fund Administrators to be licensed by the National Pension Commission. It has now been acquired by Access Bank Plc and merged with Sigma Pension to form Access ARM Pension.
Outside politics, Nze Duru manages a large business portfolio under the Grand Tower Holding Company structure with interests in Investment, Hospitality, Real Estate Development and Distribution. The Bon Grand Tower Hotel franchise which operates across states in Nigeria is one of the flagships of his many entrepreneurial endeavours.
Nze Duru is the founder of CallPhone Limited, an integrated payment solutions company driven by innovative technology and systems to provide a wide range of value-added services. The company is the first Fintech company to be granted the CBN’s Payment Solution Service (PSS) license category to operate as a PSSP, PTSP and super-agent in Nigeria.
As part of his business landmarks, he remarkably hand-held the ShopRite franchise in a pioneering effort in the Federal Capital Territory to establish the first ShopRite Supermarket in Abuja with his Grand Tower Shopping Mall in Apo, Abuja. Other ShopRite Supermarket outlets have since sprouted across the Federal Capital Territory on the heels of his pioneering efforts.
He is an alumnus of many distinguished institutions of higher learning including the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State; Nigerian Law School, Lagos; Lagos Business School; University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain and Harvard University.”
