Jennifer Ugwueke
On Saturday 18th July, popular scientist, Ezekiel Izuogu of Akokwa clan in Ideato North Local Government of Imo state, died. Family sources revealed he was sick for a while before passing on, DgovScoops reports. It should be noted that Izuogu once competed for the Imo State Governorship election and was a BoT member of the All Progressives Party(APC).
He created the Z-600 in 1997 when he was a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, making it first Africa’s indigenous car . The BBC described the feat “The African dream machine as 90% of its parts were sourced locally. At a projected sales cost of $2000, 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 BBC described the car.
Another thing worthy of note is that after the federal government under the late General Sani Abacha’s regime gave the car a clean bill of roadworthiness, it promised to give the inventor a grant of N235 million. The grant, however, never came.
Reports further reveal that after the inventor reluctantly agreed to set up a factory in South Africa, his warehouse in Nigeria was broken into on March 11, 2006, by heavily armed men, taking away machines and the design history of Z-600 and file of Z-MASS.
“It is a very sad story a promising man has died without fulfilling his desire to build a vehicle made in Imo Nigeria. If you think of such a man dying at such a time without fulfilling his dream of building an Imo made car is very sad indeed,” the inventor said after the robbery.
President Muhammed Buhari through Femi Adesina, his media and publicity aide, also mourned the great icon as a “trail-blazing innovator, a well-respected academic and gifted engineer” while asking God to grant him an eternal rest.
The President also said that the man was also a very important political figure apart from the great innovation with a recognisable leadership in the country’s political landscape.