Jelani Aliyu, hails from
Sokoto State, Nigeria and is
General Motors Lead Exterior
Designer and the designer of
the Chevy Volt. General
Motors is the world’s largest
automobile maker. The car
has been described as an
American Revolution and one
of the hottest concepts in the
design line.

Jelani was born in 1966 in
Kaduna, to Alhaji Aliya
Haidara and Sharifiya
Hauwa’u Aliyu. The fifth of
seven children, theirs is a
very close-knit family. For
him, it was an amazing
experience growing up in
Sokoto, surrounded by the
rich culture of the people and
the state and enjoying
excellent access to the latest
and international information

From 1971 to 1978, he
attended Capital School,
Sokoto, an excellent school
and this served as a very
productive educational
experience for him. In 1978,
he gained admission into
Federal Government College,
Sokoto, from where he
graduated in 1983 with an
award as the best in
Technical Drawing.

Jelani was privileged to meet
and make many good friends
from all parts of the country
and beyond during this time.
He had tremendous
encouragement and
mentoring from his family
and friends and his creative
art develop the ed. He drew a
lot, designed his own cars,
and even built scale models
of them, complete with
exteriors and interiors.
After FGC, he got admission
into the Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria to study
Architecture, but soon
discovered that curriculum
did not support his future
vision and plans.

After considering other
institutions in Nigeria and
their academic programmes,
he concluded that only one of
them had the study criteria
that would support his future
goals. The institution in
which he chose to pursue his
education was one he felt
offered the best creative
programmes and had
experience that would give
him the best foundation
required to study Automobile
Design abroad. That
institution was the Birnin
Kebbi Polytechnic. He was
there from 1986 to 1988 and
earned an associate degree in
Architecture, with an award
as Best All-Round Student.
While there, he did some in
depth research into home
design and construction,
looking into materials and
structures that would be
most compatible with our
environment and climate;
buildings that would stay
cool in a hot environment
with little, or no artificial
electrical air conditioning.
Upon graduation from the
polytechnic, Jelani worked for
a while at the Ministry of
Works, Sokoto.

In 1990, Aliyu moved to
Detroit, Michigan to enroll at
the College for Creative
Studies in Detroit under a
Sokoto Schorlarship board
sponsorship. Having always
wanted to study Automobile
Design, this was a dream
come true and an absolutely
fascinating experience. The
course was very practical and
emphasis was put on
creativity and the
development of new designs
to provide solutions . He
received his degree in
automobile design in 1994.
In 1994 he began his career
with the design staff of
General Motors. He worked
on the Buick Rendezvous and
was the lead exterior designer
of the Pontiac G6. He also
worked on the Astra with
General Motors’ Opel
Division.

With his brilliant work on the
design of the Chevrolet Volt,
which was unveiled in 2007,
Jelani Aliyu is considered by
many to be the super star of
the General Motors
renaissance.

source: http://africanleadership.co.uk/blog/?p=433

Nigeria reping Africa since the time of Lord Lugard

Don't ask what your country can do for you, think of what you can do for your country and ACT.

# I'll invent a technology that'll make nuclear bombs harmless as a burst satchet of pure water

I am a Southerner. Most Southerners believe that Northern Nigeria produces only Almajiris, yams, tomatoes, peppers and groundnut. But I have met many very very brilliant Northerners. This guy is another exceptionally brilliant Northern Nigerian.

Naija has got the brains without the avenues to express its works.

So you guys have not stopped propagating this hopeless lie!!!!!! How many times do I have to say it on this forum that this is a big lie .. I have looked through the list of the design teams from exterior, safety, interior, and engine and there is no name the called Aliyu .. For your info every strategic component of a vehicle is designed by multiple teams and not one person..in Aliyus case he wasn't even on any single team .. Lies Lies Lies

See una life

My interactions with Jelani showed that he is a very brilliant and complete gentleman. I hope he gets a CFR award or even a GCON award from the president soon.

tobiak:
My interactions with Jelani showed that he is a very brilliant and complete gentleman. I hope he gets a CFR award or even a GCON award from the president soon.

Before you recommend him for a National Award; Y don't u show me where "Bob Boniface" is clearly written on his birth certificate?

Abi na Jelani Aliyu design the Bmw i8?

Wait 1st! Lemme check again whether this wikipedia is telling me the truth.

you can check out the link i provided below. Also you can watch the youtube video below and listen to what his professor says about him.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0904_chevrolet_volt_inside_story/photo_20.html
[img][/img]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqx-xKGeDCA

Zoharariel:


Before you recommend him for a National Award; Y don't u show me where "Bob Boniface" is clearly written on his birth certificate?

Abi na Jelani Aliyu design the Bmw i8?

Wait 1st! Lemme check again whether this wikipedia is telling me the truth.

idupaul:
So you guys have not stopped propagating this hopeless lie!!!!!! How many times do I have to say it on this forum that this is a big lie .. I have looked through the list of the design teams from exterior, safety, interior, and engine and there is no name the called Aliyu .. For your info every strategic component of a vehicle is designed by multiple teams and not one person..in Aliyus case he wasn't even on any single team .. Lies Lies Lies

Idu, yours is a case of bad belle or just thinking that because you are in a hole, no other world exists. Look at the following link from GM's Youtube handle. Jelani is there and he is alive and well. Here in North America, he has spoken to various kids of Nigerian parentage to enourage them. Please do your research well before you put people down.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGy3TvQVGSM

ayooluniran:
Don't ask what your country can do for you, think of what you can do for your country and ACT.

# I'll invent a technology that'll make nuclear bombs harmless as a burst satchet of pure water

a burst satchel of water is still harmful, it can destroy Garri.

simpleseyi:
I am a Southerner. Most Southerners believe that Northern Nigeria produces only Almajiris, yams, tomatoes, peppers and groundnut. But I have met many very very brilliant Northerners. This guy is another exceptionally brilliant Northern Nigerian.

The muslim north is a land of extremities
Either very rich or very poor
Fanatical or understanding
Very intelligent or very dull

Toyota is the largest car maker in the world, followed by VAG, then GM. Make we no because of sentiments say our brother dey there means say na GM be largest (no pun intended)

izzieman:


Idu, yours is a case of bad belle or just thinking that because you are in a hole, no other world exists. Look at the following link from GM's Youtube handle. Jelani is there and he is alive and well. Here in North America, he has spoken to various kids of Nigerian parentage to enourage them. Please do your research well before you put people down.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGy3TvQVGSM

I can't be fooled by this youtube video created with the sole intent of deceit .. Can't forget in a hurry one Philip Emeagwali deceived Nigerians for a decade that he created the internet.

idupaul:


I can't be fooled by this youtube video created with the sole intent of deceit .. Can't forget in a hurry one Philip Emeagwali deceived Nigerians for a decade that he created the internet.

See below list of members of lead design key and note that no Aliyu is there

blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2008/10/meet_members_of_the_chevy_volt.html

Here are the two things that "I" think is going on.

The thread title says "Meet Jelani Aliyu, Nigerian Genius Who Designed Chevrolet Volt".

1) On Nairaland and perhaps Nigeria posters like to use superlatives like hot, stunning, sexiest, etc. i think the word genius perhaps is throwing off a lot of people. No one single Engineer is a genius in a company like GM. Even companies like Apple who has very senior designers still work with a team. So the use of the word genius makes it seem like he single handedly created the Volt. At least in my opinion.

2) The subjects title is Lead Designer. In the US, and in most fortune companies, the title of a Lead doesn't mean that you are the one and only.

In a management chain, the Director of design, for example, amy not necessarily want to interact with every single employee on many teams that he oversees, so he will simply appoint one of them the Lead. Very common.

This Lead may actually not even doing any design work and may have been sidelined into doing administrative duties mostly. So a Lead Designer having proven himself to GM as an exceptional designer may end up doing only fine tuning, approving, improving designs that are submitted to him by his team mates before presenting it to upper management.

This may be the "middle management" curse.

Happy new year to my esteemed colleagues in Car Talk, may all our wishes comes true this year and may this year be the year of break throughs for each one of us. Even those with whom I don't see eye to eye

tobiak:
My interactions with Jelani showed that he is a very brilliant and complete gentleman. I hope he gets a CFR award or even a GCON award from the president soon.

For what? I dont blame you, i blame the presidency for bastardizing all those awards and honours...smh

brilliant