Changes call for innovation, and innovation leads to
progress – Li Keqiang, Chinese politician.
The time for Nigeria to look inwards is now. We have all the
resources, both human and material, to be great.
To ensure that Nigeria is counted among automobile
manufacturers in the world, an industrialist, Mr. Innocent
Chukwuma, chairman of Innoson Group of Companies, took
a bold step by investing in the Automobile sector. The
Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Company has made
Nigeria proud.
Today, they design and manufacture Hummer buses, Waste
vans, Luxury buses, Hilux vans, Saloon cars, Jeeps and so
on in Nigeria and by Nigerians.
Engineering students
Following in Innoson’s footsteps, seven final-year
engineering students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,
Anambra State, designed and constructed a mini bus from
scratch with locally sourced materials made specially to suit
Nigeria’s topography and climatic condition.
“The bus was constructed from start to finish at the
University’s workshop, using all necessary design software
and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. We constructed
the chassis, down to every single part of the mini bus,” said
Callistus Ezeigwe, one of the seven.
The group, known as the Autozik Group, was made up of six
males and a female including Callistus Ezeigwe, Victor
Obinani, Ifeanyi Ezeanolue, Ogbu Ikenna, Fidelis Ominigbo,
Nnamdi Nwobodo and Chinaza Okoro, was supervised by
the then Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr.
C.H. Achebe.
“We made the mini bus using mere hand tools. This means
we did all of the constructions and folding, with our hands,
since the university could not provide us with ground
equipment, as used in most automobile companies,” said
Ezeugwu.
The mini bus which took about five months to complete, has
a beautiful finishing so that people find it difficult to believe
it was made in Nigeria.
Ezeigwe said the aim was to construct a mini bus using
locally sourced materials, which is more durable and can
better stand the test of time, compared to other brands out
there.
“We named it Autobully,” said Obinani Victor, explaining that
the brand name, coined from the normal bullion van, fits the
shape of the mini bus.
The challenge: There is no doubt that Nigeria has talents
but the challenge is how to tap harness them for the good
of the nation. These youths have been able to achieve this
feat with no help from expatriates. They have shown some
sense of doggedness and proficiency and they must not be
allowed to be swept away by the tide of brain drain.
Also in the same institution, five final-year engineering
students produced a Formula 1 car (Racing car).
They appealed to the government to invest in these youths
and channel resources to the Automobile sector as they
seek to diversify the economy. They also appealed to the
public to buy made in Nigeria products to grow the Naira.



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This is good!