Profile of Alex Otti, background, career achievements, net worth

In this post, News360 Nigeria curates the profile and career achievements of Alex Otti.

Alex Otti, the current governor of Abia State, is a renowned banker, philanthropist, and politician.

He is an active member of the Labour Party (LP) and the former Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc.

Profile overview

Name: Alex Chioma Otti

Date of birth: 18th February, 1965

Place of birth: Isiala Ngwa South LGA, Abia, Nigeria

Education: University of Lagos

Spouse: Priscilla Otti

Political party: Labour Party

Career: Politician, Banker

Religion: Christianity

Birth

Alex Otti is from Umuru, Umuehim village in Abia State’s Isiala Ngwa South LGA.

Born on February 18, 1965, he is the son of Pastor and Mrs. Lazarus Weze Otti.

Education

He went to the prestigious Ngwa High School in Aba and Okpuala Ngwa Technical School in Abia.

He later attended the University of Port Harcourt, where he earned a degree in Economics in 1988. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of Lagos in 1994.

He has taken a variety of international courses to broaden his knowledge, including Executive Development Programmes at Columbia, Stanford, and the Wharton Business School (University of Pennsylvania).

He also attended an executive programme at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Babcock University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2009, and the University of Port Harcourt awarded him an honorary doctor of science (D.Sc.) in 2012.

He was awarded an additional honorary doctorate by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2013.

Career

He started his career in 1989 as an operations department employee of Nigerian International Bank, a Citibank New York subsidiary.

Later, he moved to Nigerian Intercontinental Merchant Bank Ltd., where he worked in the corporate banking division, treasury, and financial services division.

He became a senior manager at Societe Bancaire Nigeria Limited (Merchant Bankers), a division of Banque SBA Paris, after joining the company in 1992.

He then went on to work for United Bank for Africa (UBA), where he was employed as the principal manager in charge of the corporate banking division for the entire South Division. He was also tasked with expanding the bank’s oil and gas business.

With the primary goal of expanding the bank’s Energy Sector, he joined First Bank of Nigeria, PLC in May 2001 as assistant general manager.

A year later, he was named executive director of commercial banking and later elevated to director of the bank’s Southern and Eastern regions.

He was first promoted to deputy general manager in April 2004.

He became a group managing director and chief executive officer of Diamond Bank in March 2011 and led the bank through several changes during his two terms in that role.

Otti retired voluntarily on October 24, 2014, and Uzoma Dozie took over as the bank’s CEO and GMD.

Politics

He joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and ran for governor, but after the Nigerian Supreme Court reversed its decision, Okezie Ikpeazu of the People’s Democratic Party defeated him.

He subsequently switched to the Labour Party in 2022, ran for governor of Abia State in an eventual run that he ultimately won, and took office in March 2023.

Private life

Governor Alex Otti is a Christian who is happily married to Mrs. Priscilla Otti and their union is blessed with children.

Gov. Alex Otti with his wife, Priscilla Otti

In addition, he oversees a foundation and is deeply committed to assisting the underprivileged in all of the local government areas (LGAs) in the state of Abia.

Net worth

Gov Alex Otti’s businesses and political career have contributed to his estimated net worth of approximately $500 million.