There are men who are philanthropic, and there is a man who can be said to be a living example of philanthropy itself. He is Chief Sir (Dr.) Daniel Nwanneka Chukwudozie (aka Dozzy Oil) and he is the founder and Group Managing Director of Dozzy Group. Sir Chukwudozie was born in 1957 and he hails from Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. He has over four decades of vast entrepreneurial experiences. He holds a BSc. in Business Administration and an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science (Honoris Causa) from the University of Calabar, Cross Rivers State. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science (Honoris Causa) from the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State.
News of his humane nature flew to the Ijanandu, a team coordinated by Jeff
Unaegbu, a research fellow in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. “Ija
na ndu” is Igbo for
“Assessing people while they are still alive”. It is the conscious objective
scanning of the lives of people who have been generally accepted by their
societies as having achieved greatness - positive greatness. The team believes
that there is the emergent need for instituting ija na ndu in Africa as a
culture. Thus, the attention of the team was inevitably drawn to this wonderful
epitome of charity, Sir Dan Chukwudozie. Chinedu Nsofor, another member of the
team quickly approached this owner of the giant conglomerate, Dozzy Group, and began
talks with him about future ideas.
Either by virtue of his genial nature which seeks to please as many people as possible, or his realization that his actions are civil, he agreed to our ideas. Incidentally, Jeff Unaegbu was about to wed his sweetheart, Sonia Mbah at the time. Upon hearing this, Sir Dan Chukwudozie decided to donate handsomely to the wedding; this is despite the fact that he had yet to meet Jeff Unaegbu. This action was unique: a man deciding to support the wedding of another man he had never met. Sir Dan Chukwudozie followed up his pledge with the requisite action. Mr. Unaegbu was forced to sit down and reflect about the manner of man this Sir Dan Chukwudozie is. There is the golden child-like glee which is the caramel upon the cake in the whole affair. The lack of the inclination in Sir Chukwudozie to show off his philanthropy for the world to see is instructive; the propensity with which lesser men will wear their charity for all to see like a glistening gold wristwatch is not, and will likely, never be a whim or caprice of the mighty man, Sir Chukwudozie. There are many examples of his philanthropic efforts, some through the Dozzy Foundation. They include the construction and handover of an outstanding three storey school building to St. James Anglican Church, Awada, Onitsha; making sure to pay his combined workforce of 2000 people in his Dozzy Group conglomerate without owing anyone; donating over 18 Million Naira fund for the enrollment of 1,500 Okija indigenes for one year of health insurance coverage, which allows them to freely access the basic package of health services from the Anambra State Health Insurance Agency; singlehandedly building St. Paul’s Church, Awka and St. Peter’s College, Okija; contributing 100 million Naira towards the building of St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Okija; providing the stool on which the late Catholic Pontiff, Pope John Paul II sat when he visited Nigeria in 1999; contributing powerfully to the security of Cross Rivers State by reaching out to the state Governor, Professor Ben Ayade and donating five pick up vans to the state’s Police Command; completing and handing over a magnificent three-storey school building in honour of his late Mother, Lady Hannah Ugoyibo Chukwudozie, Mama Dozzy to the Anglican Church, Diocese on the Niger etc., etc.
Little wonder his path is oiled. His story is the oiled pathway, despite that he never had it rosy while climbing uphill in life with his dreams carried over his shoulders like a rock. He lost his father at a tender age and was raised by his mother. Beginning in 1982 as a trader, he rose like a comet over the years until he sat atop a conglomerate that boasts of Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited and subsidiaries including: Speciality Oil Company Nigeria Limited, Dozzy Plastic Industries Limited, Dozzy Gut-troff Gas Limited, Lubricant Manufacturing Oxygen/Industrial Gas Production, Industrial automotive household as well as high precision plastic products, manufacturing wigs/hair attachments, artificial human hair and oil and gas supply and distribution. Thus, the conglomerate has strong interest in Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Logistics, Hospitality and commerce amongst others. Sir Chukwudozie’s Dozzy Group built a petroleum product storage depot that is capable of handling 120 million liters of assorted petroleum products at once in Calabar. By this, the Dozzy Group became the first indigenous company to build a fully automated, world class LPG storage tank facility and terminal for storage of cooking gas in the country. Dozzy Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of Dozzy Group signed an MoU with Anambra state government in 2018 to build 1, 000 housing units in Awka at the cost of N12.4 billion. Dozzy Investments Ltd has the capacity to develop and manage property, which is mainly housing development. Dozzy Group is expected to build four-bedroom detached duplexes, five-bedroom detached duplexes with two-room auxiliary buildings, among others.
Chief Sir (Dr.) Daniel Nwanneka Chukwudozie is married to Lady Ada Chukwudozie. She is a Chemical Engineer and a publisher. Because of the self-effacing nature of Sir (Dr.) Dan Chukwudozie, the Ijanandu Team has begun its drumbeating about the resplendent lifestyle of this mighty man to tell the world that he is here and he is conquering. Go tell your neighbours about him.
