Seven
final-year engineering students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,
Anambra State, designed and constructed a mini bus from scratch with
locally sourced materials made specially to suit Nigeria’s topography
and climatic condition.
“The bus was constructed from start to
finish at the University’s workshop, using all necessary design software
and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. We constructed the chassis, down
to every single part of the mini bus,” said Callistus Ezeigwe, one of
the seven. The group, known as the Autozik Group, was made up of six
males and a female including Callistus Ezeigwe, Victor Obinani, Ifeanyi
Ezeanolue, Ogbu Ikenna, Fidelis Ominigbo, Nnamdi Nwobodo and Chinaza
Okoro, was supervised by the then Head of Mechanical Engineering
Department, Dr. C.H. Achebe.
“We made the mini bus using mere hand
tools. This means we did all of the constructions and folding, with our
hands, since the university could not provide us with ground equipment,
as used in most automobile companies,” said Ezeugwu. The mini bus which
took about five months to complete, has a beautiful finishing so that
people find it difficult to believe it was made in Nigeria.
Ezeigwe said the aim was to construct a
mini bus using locally sourced materials, which is more durable and can
better stand the test of time, compared to other brands out there.
“We named it Autobully,” said Obinani
Victor, explaining that the brand name, coined from the normal bullion
van, fits the shape of the mini bus.
Credit: vanguardngr
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