Two young engineers have unveiled a prototype design of what they called a wholly Nigerian made car. They said the car had all fabrications including the engines done in the country.
This was recently disclosed in Lagos by Interstreet Messenger Limited, an auto design company promoted by two hardworking Nigerian youths, Azuka Ijekeye, an industrialist and Dapo Akintunde, a car designer.
They said in an interview that it is possible within the best possible time, to achieve a wholly Nigerian car with all it fabrications done in-country,” if we as a nation can become proponent of industrial culture.
Speaking, Akintunde said: “I am a train car designer, I had a master in vehicle designing after my B.Sc in design, I have always wanted to make cars because the difference between developed societies and underdevelop ones is production. If you look at where they make cars in the world today you will realize they are far ahead of other nations, a good example is South Korea
“I was sacked from where I was working just for no reason. So, I told myself maybe this is the time to fulfill my dream. One day my partner Azuka called me to make a design for him and I just told him ‘let’s make a car,’ he didn’t believe what I was saying, so one day he came to my house and saw me working on a car design and it was then he said this thing can better be done in my factory now, and that’s how we started.”
He said that the design prototype is the first ever fully 100 per cent designed car for Nigerians and by Nigerians.
He added: “We have designed a car that is our own car, because we have different climatic conditions throughout the year. Abroad, it is cold and the characteristics of a cold country we have to wrap up.
“But in Africa we have to open up. So, this car is an open car and not a wrap car, it starts to takes a cue from the convertible.”
He further said that since Nigeria has an open culture, the car that fits can be big, “our trees are tall, light everything so, our car also can be tall and big because of our safety consideration, because a trailer can kill anything. It is also a design to have a low centre of gravity so it doesn’t tumble anyhow.”
He said that the prototype is a non-working one “so that everybody can see where we are going so that people can contribute linkages, because that is how it is done in advanced countries,” he said.
- According to him, Interstreet Messenger Limited will be a catalyst to proper the Nigeria car industry because the in the industry is a very wide industry that has the glass, plastic leather, metal, chemical solar and many more subsectors. “So, when we talk about industry, this is truly the first time that an automotive solution will spur several industries in the country all linked together to achieve a purpose.”
