Nigerian tech tycoon Leo Stan Ekeh opens $365,000 AI center at his alma mater, a first in Eastern Nigeria

The Zinox Technologies chairman opened a N500 million ($365,000) AI and ICT center at Holy Ghost College in Owerri, Imo State, the school where he once served as a mass servant and choir member. The center is the first of its kind across the entire Eastern States of Nigeria, Ekeh said at the commissioning ceremony, which was part of the school's 2026 Old Boys Association annual homecoming event.

Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese formally commissioned the facility after a Tech Workshop at Assumpta Cathedral Auditorium, where Ekeh addressed students, teachers and parents.

"I passed through this school and the school also passed through me," Ekeh said. "The AI ICT project is not a political project because I am not a politician. It is something straight from my heart."

A project built hands-on

Ekeh said he personally oversaw every phase of the construction despite his schedule as chairman of one of Nigeria's largest technology groups. He said he has done similar projects across approximately 123 schools in Nigeria, but described the Holy Ghost College facility as his most personally significant because of his connection to the institution.

The center sits alongside a broader set of commitments he announced at the event. By December 2026, he plans to refurbish a school dormitory into a modern student hostel, complete with beds, mattresses and utilities. From September 2026, teachers at the school will receive monthly payments from his foundation as motivational support. He also committed to funding extra mural classes for all SS3 students and will send an AI instructor to spend a week at the school.

The student who records the best SS3 result in 2027 will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Lagos with their parents, traveling on Ekeh's private jet, and will work at Zinox for one week with special pay.

What Ekeh is building beyond Owerri

The Owerri commissioning sits within Ekeh's wider education and technology push. He turned 70 in February 2026 and marked the milestone by offering 1,000 university scholarships to indigent Nigerian students studying computer science, computer engineering and related courses at federal universities, covering full fees, full boarding and allowances annually.

He is also building four two-bedroom housing units for teachers and one three-bedroom residence for a school principal at a secondary school in Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo State, and has extended support to Sacred Heart Secondary School in Obowo.

Ekeh founded Zinox Group, the first company in West Africa to venture into computer manufacturing and ICT solutions, and was the first to launch desktop computers in Nigeria. He told the Owerri audience that AI represented the defining technology of the current generation and that Nigerian students must be equipped to compete globally on their own terms.