₦airaland Forum

zoedew:
Leyland lies fallow at Ibadan. Abacha and corruption incorporated killed it. Indians profit.

naptu2:
Lets have a little clarity here.

1) The first auto assembly plant in Nigeria was built by General Motors (Bedford) in Lagos in 1959.

2) The Federal Military Government wanted Nigeria to be a producer of automobiles so it went into joint venture businesses with some foreign auto makers and state governments. The foreign auto makers were the technical partners, the state governments provided land and got around 20% shares in the business, while the Federal Government was the majority shareholder.

3) These assembly plants were:

a) Peugeot Automobiles of Nigeria (PAN), Kaduna.

b) Volkswagen of Nigeria (VON), Lagos

c) Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO), Enugu (they made Mercedes Benz trucks and buses)

d) National Truck Manufacturing Company (NTM), Kano (they made Fiat trucks and tractors)

e) Leyland Motor Company, Ibadan (they made Leyland trucks and buses)

f) Steyr Motors Nigeria, Bauchi (they made tractors and infantry vehicles for the Nigerian Army).



4) President Obasanjo sold Federal Government shares in these companies.

5) The state governments still have shares in these companies and they have been working hard to ensure that the companies return to full production.

6) Some of the companies that bought the Federal Government shares are not able to run these companies properly and so state governments have been working hard to ensure that other companies take over the plants. For example, Anambra and Enugu state governments have worked hard to ensure that Godwin Okeke (G.U. Okeke) and others take over ANAMMCO, while El Rufai is doing everything possible to ensure that Dangote takes over PAN. Fashola worked hard to ensure that Stallion Motors revived VON and that BRT buses were assembled there.

(Stallion Motors also took over Leyland Ibadan)

PMB COMMISSIONS 700 TROOPS VEHICLES : CALLS FOR SUSTAINANCE OF PEACE AND STABILITY IN THE COUNTRY.

The President and Commander- in- Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria ( AFN), Muhammadu Buhari today, 3 March, 2023 commissioned 700 Ashock LeyLand Troops Carrying Vehicles for the AFN. The President while commissioning the vehicles said that the procurement of the vehicles is a testimony of the commitment as well as importance the Federal Government attaches to the welfare of the AFN and other security agencies.

President Buhari who addressed the audience at the occasion held at the Nigerian Navy Holdings Limited in Abuja, via virtual medium added that, his government has over the years, intensified the training and equipment acquisition for the Armed Forces.

He therefore charged the AFN to consolidate on the gains of peace and stability already recorded in the country and gave an assurance of his administration's continuous respect and improvement on the welfare of members of the Armed Forces.

The Honourable Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retired) while speaking at the occasion stated that the procurement of the vehicles is a significant milestone of many initiatives of President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly his quest towards tackling security challenges in the country. He added that the country is faced with mirage of daunting challenges. In his words, "The challenges are however, being confronted head-on by the President's resilience". He noted that the process of transforming the AFN is not easy, given the multi- dimension of the challenges. The Minister also seized the opportunity to pay tributes to members of the AFN who payed the supreme prize in the course of defending the territorial integrity of the nation.

Also speaking at the occasion, the permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar pointed out that the vehicles were produced in Nigeria by Nigerians. He emphasized that with the advent of various faces of insurgency being experienced in the country, it is imperative for the country to look inwards and provide local preventive mechanism to fortify her critical assets, formations, borders and various camps across the nation.

Dr Abubakar explained that the engagement of Stallion Motors Nigeria limited by the Ministry of Defence, was based on the Honourable Minister of Defence convictions on upholding the President's desires to promote the utilisation of indigenous technology as enshrined in the Executive Order 5 signed by Mr President.

It could be recalled that the procurement of these vehicles was initiated since 2014 by the office of the National Security Adviser to facilitate the operational activities of the Armed Forces.

The Secretary to the Federal Government, Chief of Staff to the President, Ministers of Finance, Police Affairs and Interiors were among the dignitaries that graced the occasion.

Fake professor dismissed from Oxford apologises for misogyny at fraudulent book launch

By Cherwell News
2nd March 2023
CW: racism, misogyny

Onyeka Nwelue, a Nigerian author, has had his Academic Visitor status at Oxford University terminated after misusing University logos and premises for commercial purposes, an investigation by Cherwell has found. Nwelue is also facing complaints of misogyny towards students and the spread of racist, classist, and sexist content online.

The Fake Professor

Nwelue, a self-published author and filmmaker, held Academic Visitor status at Oxford’s African Studies Centre from Michaelmas 2021, until its removal in early February this year. During this time, he represented himself as a professor at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, but has been unable to provide Cherwell with evidence of an academic PhD. He was not credited as a professor by either institution in the course of his associations with them, and Oxford confirmed to Cherwell that he has never been a professor at the university. This week, the University of Cambridge also told Cherwell that Nwelue’s connections with Cambridge have been terminated following investigations into his conduct.

On 31st January 2023, Nwelue’s Instagram bio described him as “Prof of African Studies & Academic Visitor at University of Oxford & University of Cambridge” and on 1st February 2023, his Twitter bio said “Professor + Academic Visitor”, tagging the accounts of both universities. He also tweeted: “I am a university professor, attached to two of the top best universities in the world”, along with many other tweets where he referred to himself as a professor.

However, when asked to clarify his academic affiliations in light of this, Nwelue told Cherwell: “I have never ever posed as a professor at Oxford and Cambridge. My card says I am an Academic Visitor and that is exactly what I tell people. The accusation that I say I am a professor at Oxford is baseless.”

At Oxford, Academic Visitorship is set up on terms agreed between an individual and the University. The University confirmed that it does not employ Academic Visitors – they do not get paid, and are not expected to undertake duties for the University.

In his social media bios, Nwelue has also described himself as a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, but SOAS confirmed to Cherwell that he is not listed as one of its Research Associates.

When asked by Cherwell to provide further details of his academic certifications, Nwelue said: “I have the equivalent of Master’s as a filmmaker. I also have an Honorary Doctorate. I have been Visiting / Research Fellow in other universities. Prior to Oxford, I made award-winning films and published a lot of books. [sic]”

At least twenty-two books have been published in Onyeka Nwelue’s name. Twenty of his books were either self-published or published by companies owned by Nwelue. Nine of these have been published since 2021, and of the seventeen listed on Amazon, thirteen have no consumer reviews.

The Tweets

During his time as an Academic Visitor at Oxford, Nwelue posted content on Twitter which was racist, classist, and misogynistic. These include Tweets where he stated: “being raised in a poor family chains you mentally to be stupid.”; “no poor person has any value”; “African women look like masquerades when they wear wigs and make up”; “Arabs are known to relish slavery and servitude”; China “is poor, filthy (smells a lot!) and overpopulated”; “Eastern Europeans…only produce pick-pockets and scammers”.

When asked about these tweets, Nwelue told Cherwell: “It was a social experiment to get feedback for a book I was working on. Apologies that they came off wrongly.” He denied being racist, misogynist, or classist.

The University of Oxford has not confirmed whether any background checks were carried out on Nwelue before he gained status as an Academic Visitor.

The James Currey Society

The event leading to the termination of Nwelue’s association with Oxford University was a book launch, which he hosted for the Nigerian blogger and author David Hundeyin in affiliation with the James Currey Society.

The James Currey Society was founded by Nwelue and incorporated as a for-profit company in May 2022, under the name of James Currey International. It is named after the South African book publisher James Currey and has sponsored African authors to attend both Oxford and Cambridge, through awards of the James Currey Fellowship. Nwelue told Cherwell that “[the Society] was established in partnership with the University of Oxford”. However, Oxford clarified: “The James Currey Fellowships are not awarded, funded, or run by the University”.

The current holder of the James Currey Fellowship at Oxford is Mitterand Okorie, who in 2022 authored a hagiographic account of Nwelue’s life titled, Onyeka Nwelue: A Troubled Life, published by Nwelue’s own publishing house Abibiman Publishers.

Meanwhile, the 2023 holder of the James Currey Fellowship at Cambridge was David Hundeyin, who maintains a controversial social media presence and has been a significant supporter of populist politician Peter Obi in this week’s Nigerian elections.

Cambridge told Cherwell: “Onyeka Nwelue and David Hundeyin are no longer associated with the University of Cambridge. Their connections were terminated following an investigation into their conduct”. They added: “The James Currey Fellowship is not administered, awarded, or funded by the University of Cambridge.”

The book launch

On 31st January, Nwelue and Hundeyin ran a book launch together on Oxford University premises for Hundeyin’s most recent book, also published with Abibiman Publishers. This was marketed through the James Currey Society and tickets were priced at £20 for Oxford students. One attendee told Cherwell: “I signed up to attend the event, and was surprised I had to pay £20 to attend. Events run by the African Studies Centre are usually free as they are catering towards students.” In addition to charging £20 for entry, copies of Hundeyin’s book were also on sale for a further £20 at the event.

The book launch was originally advertised as taking place in the African Studies Centre, but the location was changed at short notice to a room in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at Wellington Square.

Attendees of the event told Cherwell that misogynistic remarks made by its organisers and other audience members made them feel “incredibly uncomfortable”. One student said: “Explicitly sexist comments were made throughout by the speaker and audience which were not challenged and were in fact encouraged. … Comments made suggested that women slept their way to the top, which oppressed men, and that marrying a woman held you back in life”.

Another student added: “A key point of concern occurred when a question was asked by an attendee to Hundeyin concerning the issue of sexism and sexual harassment that African female journalists endure. Hundeyin replied with the implication that women who were of a fair complexion, tall and had long legs would not face hurdles to their career advancement in journalism.”

A third student said: “Nwelue laughed and agreed with [an audience member’s] comment about women being controlling. This made me feel angry and upset.”

When asked about the event, Nwelue told Cherwell: “I am very sorry if the students felt uncomfortable. About sexism and misogyny, I will never condone that. I am apologetic if that happened. Really sorry.”

In the marketing of the event, Nwelue used the Oxford University logo, the African Studies Centre logo and the MML logo without permission. Oxford told Cherwell: “The [Modern Languages] Faculty logo was used on the event publicity without authorisation. Once it was brought to the Faculty’s attention, the Faculty contacted the organiser to request removal of the Faculty’s logo from the publicity.”

What next?

On 20th February, Nwelue stepped down as Director of the James Currey Society, announcing his replacement as the Zimbabwean actor Charmaine Mujeri. He confirmed that he resigned following the termination of his Academic Visitorship, “so that [his] personal affiliation with the University of Oxford can end there”. It is unclear if the James Currey Fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge will continue or be awarded again in future.

Nwelue has also written a letter to Oxford’s Vice Chancellor Professor Irene Tracy, seen by Cherwell, in which he unsuccessfully appealed the termination of his Academic Visitorship.

Yesterday, Nwelue locked his Twitter account after tweeting: “I am leaving social media this evening. It will be for long. [sic]. I might delete all my accounts as well. Bless you all!”

Investigations into Nwelue’s conduct during his time at Oxford University are ongoing.