Design History, Moulds Of Nigerian Made Car Stolen By Robbers

http://odili.net/news/source/2006/mar/18/315.html

An indigenous motor manufacturing company, Izuogu Motors Limited, Naze Owerri, Imo State, has lost property valued at over one billion naira to burglary.


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According to the chairman of the company, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, some armed men numbering about 12 broke into Izuogu Motors factory, Saturday, March 11, between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. and carted away various machines and tools including a design history notebook of Z-600, the design file Z-MASS, containing the design history for mass production of Z-600 car, a proposed locally made car and the moulds for various parts of the car.

Izuogu, who has laboured for 18 years under very difficult circimstances to design and produce the stolen moulds, lamented that the moulds took 10 years to design and build.

“The perplexing thing about this theft is that it is clear that none of the stolen items can be sold in the market. Since the Z-600 is not yet in the market, the items stolen can only be used by the 600 phototype which is just one car,” he told journalists.

He wondered why other highly valued machines and tools in the factory were not touched by the robbers if they were looking for money.

“It seems that the target of this robbery is to stop the efforts we are making to mass-produce the first ever locally made car in Africa,” he stated, adding: “Other items stolen after a quick inventory conducted by the company soon after the incident include locally produced timing wheel, locally produced year camshaft, locally produced crankshaft, locally produced engine tappets, all 20 pieces each. Also stolen are 10 pieces of locally produced Z-600 engine blocks, 10 pieces of locally produced pistons, 4 pieces of engine block mounds, 4 pieces of top engine block moulds, 10 pieces of engine fly wheel and 2 pieces each of rear car and front mudguard moulds.

The moulds stolen took 10 years to design and build. In monetary terms they are valued over one billion Naira. But the problem is not the money but the time and energy it took to design and produce these moulds. To worsen the matter, our design notebook has also been stolen.”

He regarded the loss as a national economic disaster were the nation to appreciate the value of technological and intellectual property.

Izuogu therefore appealed to the Federal Government, the security agencies and all well-meaning Nigerians to assist in the recovery of the stolen items.

The robbers had mercilessly beaten the security men and tied them up before forcing the factory open, he added.