Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu : How the Izuogu Z-600 dream was destroyed

In 1997, a brilliant Igbo Electrical Engineer and Lecturer at the Federal polytechnic Nekede, Dr. Ezekiel Izogu designed and developed the Izuogu Z-600, the first African indigenous manufactured car.

The car was described by the BBC as ‘ the African dream machine as 90% of its parts were sourced locally. At a projected sales cost of 2000 dollars, it would have taken the world by storm and become the cheapest and most affordable car on earth. With mass production planned under Izogu Motors plant in Naze owerri, the prospects of an industrial revolution in Igbo land and Nigeria, was in the making.

The car was equipped with a self made 1.8L four cylinder engine that got 18mpg and allowed the car to achieve a top speed of 140 km/h. Front Wheel Drive (FWD) was chosen over Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) because a transmission tunnel, which RWD would require, would be more expensive to fabricate.

So 90% of the car’s components were made locally. General Sani Abacha set up a 12 man panel of inquiry made up of professionals to ascertain the road worthiness and authenticity of the car and after several days of probing, the committee gave Dr. Izuogu’s car a clean bill of health, recommending that some of the bumps on the body of the car be smoothened. It is worthy to note that this was five years before India built their first car known as the Indi.

At a well organized unveiling ceremony which had General Abacha represented by Oladipo Diya, over 20 foreign ambassadors and thousands of people in attendance, the federal government promised a grant of 235 million naira to Dr. Izuogu.

An excited Dr. Izuogu is still waiting for that grant till today. No dime was released to him. In 2006, the government of South Africa invited Dr. Izuogu to do a presentation about the car in the presence of several world class engineers. Being impressed with his presentation, they invited him to come and set up a plant in South Africa and begin the production of the car.

Dr. Izuogu reluctantly agreed, though he wasn’t happy that the benefits of employment generation will be lost on the locals of Naze and the Nigerian human resources environment. On Saturday, the 11th of March 2006, at about 2.00 a.m, a total of about 12 heavily armed men broke into Dr. Izogu’s factory in Naze and carted away various machines and tools including the design history notebook of Z-600, the design file Z-MASS, containing the design history for mass production of Z-600 car, and the moulds for various parts of the car.

According to Dr. Izogu:

“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. Other items stolen included locally produced timing wheel, locally produced camshaft, locally produced crankshaft, locally produced engine tappets, all 20 pieces each.

Also stolen were ten pieces of locally produced Z-600 engine blocks, ten pieces of locally produced pistons, four pieces of engine block mounds, four pieces of top engine block moulds, ten pieces of engine fly wheel and two pieces each of rear car and front mudguard moulds.”The inventor regretted that not only did they lose over one N1 billion in monetary terms, but also time (about 10 years) and the energy it took to design and produce the moulds. “To worsen the matter, our design notebook was also stolen,” he stated.

He regarded the incident as a national economic disaster because the nation had lost a technological and intellectual property. This Press was quiet about this story. The set back and governments attitude frustrated Izuogu and his dream died.
Credit: Comr Charles c agubor

L for lima

I REMEBER EZEKIL IZOGU.... THE GOVERNOR IMO STATE NEVER HAD.......

A VERY GENUIE YOUNG MAN ROBBED BY HIS NATION

if true

From the pic of the vehicle, one can see that Izuogu built it after the european/american version. And what was copied can not be called innovation.

Innoson also commited a great offence.He forged documents.
What do you now want us to learn from both of them? Nothing inspiring about them.

When i got to the point where his fellow yanminri broke in and looted his shop and stole the design materials, all my interest in the story evaporated instantly.

This is the biggest bullchhyte of the millenia.

Plenty big Yoruba owned businesses have failed for different reasons. No one says it's due to anti-Yoruba sentiments. When Ibos fail in business, they pull out the victim card ignoring everything else that could have been the reason behind the failure of that business. The persecution complex is deeeep

Ibadan used to be the manufacturing hub of Nigeria with many indigenous manufacturers. Odutola Tyres was competing with Dunlop until the same fools killed the indigenous manufacturing industry with cheap imports from Asia. Today, they're crying about govt support.

Just a few months back, TSTV the Ibo-owned scam cable provider got a three-year tax break, it wasn't a ploy against Ibo lol. Where is HITV that was owned by Toyin Subair? When it failed, I never saw Yorubas cry it was because govt didn't support him

More psychiatries need to be built in the east. Not Roads

Nigeria is just a toilet.....

BeautifulSE:
Plenty big Yoruba owned businesses have failed for different reasons. No one says it's due to anti-yoruba sentiments. When Ibos fail in business, they pull out the victim card ignoring everything else that could have been the reason behind the failure of that business. The persecution complex is deeeep

Odutola tyres was competing with Dunlop until the same fools klled the indigenous manufacturing industry with imports. Today, they're crying about govt support

Just few months back, TSTV the scam cable provider thats owned by an ibo man got a three year tax break, it wasn't a ploy against ibo lol. Where is HITV that was owned by Toyin Subair. When it failed, I never saw Yorubas cry it was because govt didn't support him

More pyschatries need to be built in the east. Not roads

I posted this previously but I think it fits in here.

The honest truth is that the average Igbo person has an inherent inferiority complex passed on from generation to generation. Every step he takes in his life is to mask the inferiority complex but the more he tries to mask it, the more apparent it becomes.

That explains why you see that in chieftaincy titles, they add 1 behind the chieftaincy title. Ebubedike 1 of EponOjuku Autonomous Community; Kerewawa 1 of Ozubulu Genocidal Community, etc. Each one seeks egotistical gratification to show he's better than his fellows.

That inferiority complex is what drives the clannishness and unintelligent herd-mentality displayed by a lot of them. Unfortunately, it has evolved into a chronic case of persecution complex.

Chronic case of persecution complex is what makes the thought process of the average Igbo man very incoherent, unfortunate, bereft of common sense and opposed to logic.

It is manifested in the way they analyse issues and their way of life. Let me give you examples.

Igbos in Mbaise fought with the Pope. This is because the Pope selected someone from outside Mbaise to be the Bishop of Achiara diocese in Mbaise. They said that the Pope was marginalising them and persecuting them.

Igbos in Ipob fought with Jesus Christ. They said since Jesus Christ is the Lord of all those marginalising and persecuting them, they'll boycott Jesus and start praying directly to Chukwu Okike Abiama (the God of all Creation).

If Igbos can insult the Pope and keep malice with Jesus Christ, you all would realise that they should just lock down the entire Igboland and conduct mental tests on all of them.

BeautifulSE:
Plenty big Yoruba owned businesses have failed for different reasons. No one says it's due to anti-yoruba sentiments. When Ibos fail in business, they pull out the victim card ignoring everything else that could have been the reason behind the failure of that business. The persecution complex is deeeep

Odutola tyres was competing with Dunlop until the same fools klled the indigenous manufacturing industry with imports. Today, they're crying about govt support

Just few months back, TSTV the scam cable provider thats owned by an ibo man got a three year tax break, it wasn't a ploy against ibo lol. Where is HITV that was owned by Toyin Subair. When it failed, I never saw Yorubas cry it was because govt didn't support him

More pyschatries need to be built in the east. Not roads

i think this post should cure the OP' ignorant.
The best reply so far.

This article is nothing but sentimental nonsense filled with many half truths dilberately hatched to steer tribal emotion , i lost interest when the writer said Mr Izogu produced his car 5 years before india produced its first car and this was in the 90s , for your information the first fully indian car was the hindustan 10 which was produced in 1942 ..

Cjrane2:
Now that the facts are clear

1. GTB withdrew N500 million from INNOSON"S account and claimed it was an "error"
2. GTB agreed to pay back the money at 22% interest
3. GTB then reneged on their promise and went to court twice and lost
4. GTB accused INNOSON of forging documents, yet could not produce the said forged documents and claimed the register for the transaction mysteriously got "burnt"
5. GTB continued to withdraw money secretly from INNOSON"s account and now the total debt to the customer is now almost N8 billion naira.
6. GTB claimed they were not in a finacial postion to pay the money, offered INNOSON shares in the bank and then withdrew the offer
7. GTB resorted to thuggery by using EFCC to bundle INNOSON as a criminal from his home just to intimidate him.


From the above, it is clear your money with these banks can be pilfered and if you catch them they will find ways to intimidate you.

GTB must pay INNOSON his money and stop making this a tribal issue.

INNOSON and many Igbo business men made a mistake to bank with a rogue institution like GTB

#Boycott GTB and better transfer your money to a safe bank or soon it will be your account that they erroneously deduct N500 million and send EFCC after you to intimidate you after robbing your account.

Rubbish

Noisemaker

BeautifulSE:
Plenty big Yoruba owned businesses have failed for different reasons. No one says it's due to anti-Yoruba sentiments. When Ibos fail in business, they pull out the victim card ignoring everything else that could have been the reason behind the failure of that business. The persecution complex is deeeep

Odutola tyres was competing with Dunlop until the same fools killed the indigenous manufacturing industry with imports. Today, they're crying about govt support

Just a few months back, TSTV the by an Ibo-owned scam cable provider got a three-year tax break, it wasn't a ploy against Ibo lol. Where is HITV that was owned by Toyin Subair? When it failed, I never saw Yorubas cry it was because govt didn't support him

More psychiatries need to be built in the east. Not Roads

Do you know how many businesses have collapsed because of importation? The day Nigeria Starts to regulate business for the benefit and progress of the country, some so called billionaires from across the Niger will start shouting marginalization.

Igbos should stop fooling themselves. The true question we should be asking is how many igbos use ivm vehicles before blaming anyone of frustrating anybody. I've seen more ivms in Abuja than I've seen in the entire eastern Nigeria. If you guys patronize him nobody anywhere can kill his business.

stonemasonn:
Do you know how many businesses have collapsed because of importation? The day Nigeria Starts to regulate business for the benefit and progress of the country, some so called billionaires from across the Niger will start shouting marginalization.

I said it sometime ago, the easterners only thrive because ... no competition. They have very poor standards and cant survive the game of continuous delivery.

TheCabal:


I said it sometime ago, the easterners only thrive because ... no competition. They have very poor standards and cant survive the game of continuous delivery.

Ibos think importation is Business
What an insult to the terminology.