Do you know the first African private individual to produce a car? Well, it is an Igbo Nigerian man who first produced a car in Africa.
The man is none other than Doctor Ezekiel Izuogu. He was the maker of the first car in Nigeria and Africa. He was an inventor and politician. He produced the Izuogu Z-600 prototype, the first car an African produced. This vehicle was launched in 1997, and the announcement went viral.
When it was announced, the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, set up a 12-man committee to ascertain the roadworthiness and authenticity of the car. At the end of the day, the committee gave Dr Izuogu’s car a clean bill of health.
The car was then unveiled at an organized ceremony that over 20 foreign ambassadors attended, and the government promised Dr Izuogu a grant of 235 million, but the grant was never redeemed.
Although the car faced wide criticism in Nigeria, in 2005, the Z-600 started getting interest from other African countries, and in 2006 the South African government expressed interest in the car, wanting to set up a plant for it in South Africa.
However, on Saturday, March 11, 2006, 12 gunmen broke into Dr Izuogu’s factory in Naze in Imo State. They took away all tools, including the design history of the Z-600 and the design file Z-MASS containing the design history for mass production of the Z-600 car.
However, until his death, Dr Izuogu was involved in designing and developing the magnetodynamics car engine, or the “Izuogu Engine,” by the World International Property Organization.