Nuel Ojei built a quiet, billion-dollar empire

Emmanuel “Nuel” Ojei built his reputation in the quiet lanes of Nigerian business, where influence is measured less by interviews than by who returns your calls. When he died late Saturday in Issele-Uku after a brief illness, his family said, tributes cast him as an employer, a benefactor and a dealmaker who preferred to operate out of the spotlight. He was 74.

Ojei ran Nuel Ojei Holdings Ltd., a corporate umbrella used to stitch together ventures that can look unrelated on paper. Profiles and condolence statements describe interests spanning automobile distribution, banking and insurance, construction, telecommunications, solid minerals and energy. In biographical notes and company records, his name also appears as Dr. Emmanuel Isichei Ugochukwu Ojei, and in some registries it is shortened to initials, a quirk that can produce search results such as “Aeammnauel Ojei” or “A Emmanuel Ojei”.

His early training was commercial as much as academic. A 2022 profile said he was born May 23, 1951, and attended Issele-Uku Technical College in the early 1970s, earning a National Diploma in business administration and management. He began work at Rutam Motors in 1973, rising from sales executive to sales manager before leaving in 1976. He moved into insurance in 1977 at Kapital Assurance, later becoming a director, and the job immersed him in risk, credit and cash flow.

In 1981 he launched Nuel Auto Distributors, which became well known to buyers of Mazda vehicles and to fleet operators who cared as much about parts as about prestige. It is workshop capacity, technician training and supply chains that survive currency swings and port delays. Ojei’s model leaned into after sales, building recurring revenue and relationships.

That platform became a cash engine for a broader group. In 1989, he restructured affiliates under Nuel Ojei Holdings, tightening governance and giving lenders and partners a single counterparty. The same 2022 profile said the group’s strands included banking, insurance, construction and telecoms, with additional interests in oil and gas, solid minerals, shipping and shipbuilding. A separate biographical entry credits him with founding Jinn Nuel Industries Company.

Energy was the least discussed part of his empire, yet it is where his name repeatedly surfaced in reporting. In 2014, Reuters reported that subsidiaries of his holdings company were added to Nigeria’s list of long term crude oil term lifting contract winners, naming Emo Oil and Petrochemical Co. and Team Trade Petroleum Development Co. In a market where access to cargoes can define margins, such contracts open doors to trading lines and downstream supply.

The Emo brand also appears in accounts of upstream bids. Industry reporting on the 2006 oil licensing round described NJ Exploration, linked to Ojei, as partnering with Korea National Oil Corporation on Block 323, while Shorebeach partnered with CNPC. The same reporting said Emo partnered with ONGC Mittal on Blocks 279 and 285. A later Quartz analysis portrayed Emo Oil as belonging to Ojei and argued that crude lifting arrangements can become intertwined with elite networks.

Business directories and corporate registry style sites add more names, even if they do not show revenue or production. Emo Oil and Petrochemical is described as a subsidiary of Nuel Ojei Holdings focused on oil and gas services and consultancy. Registry entries also list Emo Exploration and Production Ltd., plus Emo Ashapura Energy and Mining Ltd., incorporated in 2007, pointing to a structure designed to bid, partner and reposition as policy and pricing change.

Ojei’s corporate life was complemented by recognition and philanthropy. Delta State University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2003, and tributes after his death referenced the Nuel Ojei Foundation as a vehicle for education and health related giving. His son, Chuks Ojei, announced the death and described him as a builder of lives and legacies. The legacy question now is continuity: whether a group built on a founder’s network can stay cohesive in a more digitized, more closely scrutinized economy.