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Graduate Of Olabisi Onabanjo University Builds A Car, Seeks Assistance To Complete Project

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Mr. Ibitoye Olajide Micheal is a Plant Scientist, and an auto manufacturer, he graduated in 2017, from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye Ogun State.
In an interview with the News Rain Nigeria, he spoke about his passion for cars, and how he has been able to make one, his advice for the government on how to turn Nigeria into the largest car manufacturing hub in the whole of Africa, among other sundry issues. Excerpts.
Can you please introduce yourself?

My name is Ibitoye Olajide Micheal, I graduated from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago – Iwoye Ogun State, 2017.

I studied Plant Science, and as a plant scientist I was taught how to deal with plants, basically with how plants exist, develop, communicates, lives, and grows. Though plant science as a course under Agricultural Science.
What Prompted you into the Car Making venture?
I have passion for cars, and I promised myself that the first car I’m going to use will be made by me.
Initially, I wanted to go to higher institutions to study mechanical engineering, but I wasn’t given the opportunity to study the course, and when I realized that I’m getting older staying at home without admission, that led me to accept Plant Science admission offer.
But towards the end of my studies as a plant scientist, I started getting things together to develop my own car.
My Dad is an automobile mechanic, I used to follow him to his workshop when I was young,  purposely to help him. Then, I used to make toy cars with engines, because I had potentials in construction. I construct anything, I used to call myself an inventor when I was young.
So, when I realized that I have the capacity to do the car project, I just gave it all it takes.
I remember consulting an iron bender to help me with the project, I told him what I wanted and he was amazed, he asked me if truly I know what I was saying and I replied that I want to build a car, and I showed him the picture of what I  wanted to do.

Graduate Of Olabisi Onabanjo University Builds A Car, Seeks Assistance To Complete Project

What are the components of your car?
My car works perfectly with four straight gears, that is, it uses four gears, it runs on a 1.6 liter Volkswagen engine, and it is located at the back, the reason was that when I was a little boy all the toy cars that I used to make then have their engines at the back, and I sensed that most of the cars with back engines moves faster than the front-engine cars.
The car has a very strong and firm suspension, I mean shock absorber, so my car can’t just skip off the road, it has a balance wheel, and an alloy rim, it has a space for an extra tyre at the front boot, the fuel tank is also located in the front boot, and though my fuel tank is still under construction, I intend to build it by myself, I have the battery located also at the back of the car for security reasons.
I have my car tape intact, there are two seats for two passengers, the car has a reverse gear, like any other normal cars, I can move my car from here to anywhere with high speed, the car has a speedometer as you can see, I’m working on how to start the car with the use of my phone, I already have the components, but I wanted to finish the covering aspect of it before embarking on such project because the dashboard must be fixed before I insert the phone ignition components.
 My car is working perfectly like Ferrari, Lamborghini because it is a sports car,  it rested more on the back tyres, I love making sports cars because they are faster on the road.
What do you want the government to do for you on this project?
I only want two things from the government, first is exposure, I want our government to look inward at this project and give me the opportunity to learn more on how to make use of mechanical tools that will make my job easier, neater, and faster, as you can see all the materials used for this project are locally made, all the fabrications, bending and assembling of engines are manually done by me, so if the government can help me by providing a template where I can get to learn how to make use of those machines it will really help me a lot.
For instance, I discovered that car can be covered with fiberglass, this will not make it burn whenever an accident occurred, as we see some cars get burnt when there is an accident,  glass doesn’t get burnt, those are the quality of glass, the worse thing that can happen is that it can be broken but with fiberglass its more secure, so I want to cover my car with fiberglass, fiberglass will make the car lighter in weight and this will make it to move faster, and it will reduce its fuel consumption, unlike other cars that are heavier.
Number two is that we have more people that are more gifted than me, if the government can probably provide an avenue for us to be together and work together as a team, within the shortest period of time Nigeria will become a car-producing country.
Nigerians like to buy what is unique, we value what we see than what is working, someone has contacted me, to sell my car for him, despite the fact that I have not even completed it, he said he so much love the shape of it, the Lamborghini, Ferrari cars that we buy are nothing but shapes, Nigerians love to buy a car that has nice shapes but those cars are mostly not original, they are replicates of the original.
So if the Federal government can identify those that really have a genuine passion for car manufacturing like me, and give us adequate supports and training, by exposing us to car assembling companies for more technical mechanical experience, I can tell you Nigeria will be the largest car manufacturing hub in the whole of Africa, in fact, foreign countries will be coming to Nigeria to patronize us.
I don’t believe in traveling out to foreign countries with this my skills I believe my money is in Nigeria, and as a good citizen of Nigeria,  I have made the pledge that I will remain in Nigeria and contribute my own quota to make our dear country great and that is exactly what I’m doing.