THE NIGERIAN ELITE OF 1900s part 2

At a time when Nigeria was heading into independence. people where moving to the major cities in search of jobs. Lagos as the capital city became the most preferred destination. This movement of people to major cities became a problem because back then they Were not transport company to transport people and goods from different parts of the country to the cities and aside the foreign trading companies were also shipping their goods to the ports in Lagos. So most traders in the different parts of the country all move to Lagos to buy their products. But there was a company in Lagos called JOHN HOLT which specialized in buying palm oil, rubber, and cocoa in Nigeria exporting them to England and while returning to Nigeria the company will import textiles, bicycle and other product to sell in Nigeria. During those years this company had some Nigeria sales men who help them to sell the goods among them was a certain sales clerk in the company called LOUIS OJUKWU.While working in John holt he decided to establish his own textile shop in onitsha. He called his shop in onitsha OJUKWU TEXTILE, this was in the Year 1930 back then the difficulties of moving goods to onitsha was that they where no bridge over the river Niger and traders spent so many days to transport their goods home. This was when he decided to save some money and buy a second hand truck to move his goods but he was not the only trader facing the logistics issue other traders would meet him to make use of his truck for their goods. From one truck he brought another <a class="tc-blue" href="https://truck.He" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">truck.He </a> later resigned from the company and that was the beginning of the name OJUKWU TRANSPORT in 1939 he had increased the number of trucks he had and had started to transport people and farm products, he became a major transporter along eastern and western roads in Nigeria.Suddenly September 1939 the second world war broke out during this war the British government choose ojukwu transport as their logistics partner to help move the soldiers and food supplies to the port. After the war ended in 1945 due to his contribution in helping in the war, the British government awarded him KBE meaning knight of the British empire. And he became sir Louis Ojukwu. By 1950 his truck has expanded to over 200 trucks making it one of the largest feets in the whole of West Africa. He also made so many money by importing dry fish and his textile business also dealing in cement and his transport business. He later became the first president of the Nigeria stock exchange as well as the president of the African Continental bank, he also serve on the board of directors of some of Nigeria most profitable companies.One of the most iconic of his wealthy status was when is Rolls Royce sliver wraith was used to drive Queen Elizabeth ii during her visit to Nigeria in 1956. By 1960 Ojukwu wealth was estimated to be about $4 billion in today's value in 1966 he passed away at the age of 57. So this was the man the federal government of Nigeria borrowed a Rolls Royce from to drive the queen of England and the first billionaire of Nigeria, he was useful to the Nigeria and British government.

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