The all-African dream machine
By BBC | Published 17 April 1998
It’s African, it’s new and it’s different. The latest - and the first - in the Z series, the Z-600, is the first ever all-African car, reports the BBC’s correspondent in Lagos, Hilary Andersson. It was designed and made in Nigeria for the family market and has a top speed of 140km (86m) an hour. Ninety per cent of its parts are locally produced - it has a doorbell for a horn. And if it ever goes into mass production it will cost just $2,000 (£1,195), making it the most affordable car in Africa - and probably the world. The Z-600’s inventor, Dr Ezekiel Izuogu, says that many Nigerians simply cannot afford a car. He believes his home-grown machine will be an instant hit.
How Ezekiel Izuogu Built the People’s Car
By BP | Published September 1998
Izuogu’s car may look a little raw, proudly showing a few bumps and lumps, but he claims that 95% of its components are made in Nigeria. The chassis is entirely Nigerian-made as is the four stroke, 800cc engine. Izuogu calls it “Africa’s first truly indigenous car”. He became fascinated by cars when he was an electronic student at the University of Nsukka. “I designed quite a number of toy cars then,” he told Palaver. “I read tomes on automobile engineering to the irritation of my lecturers who wanted me to stick to the syllabus.”
The brutal death of Nigerian asylum-seeker Markus Omafuma
By WSWS | Published 28 May 1999
The savage treatment and brutal death of a Nigerian asylum-seeker in Austria casts a harsh light on the character of the predominantly social-democratic governments in Europe. The same regimes which justify their bombing of Yugoslavia on the grounds of human rights are trampling on human rights in their own countries. Nigerian Markus Omafuma suffocated on the flight from Vienna to Lagos, as he was being deported by the Austrian government. Three officials of the Austrian interior ministry had bound his hands and feet, and repeatedly covered his mouth with tape. He was 25 years old.
Nigerian election fraud leaves elite in control
By WSWS | Published 5 March 1999
General Olusegan Obasanjo, who won the recent presidential election in Nigeria, is widely supported in Western capitals as someone they hope can bring order to Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria is on the brink of economic collapse and his government will face increasing social tensions as well as regional conflicts. Obasanjo, a friend of ex-US president Jimmy Carter, who acted as an observer in the elections, is well known in ruling political circles in both Europe and the US. As well as Carter, Margaret Thatcher appealed against Obasanjo’s execution by the military dictatorship after he was accused of plotting a coup in 1995.
- New government in Nigeria prepares austerity measures
- By WSWS
Published 12 June 1999
Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired general who was head of state under military rule in the 1970s, was sworn in as the newly elected president of Nigeria on May 29. The presidential election is supposedly the culmination of a transition to civilian government after 15 years of military rule. But the elections were democratic in name only. There were only two candidates for the post, Obasanjo representing the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Olu Falae, a joint candidate for the All People’s Party and the Alliance for Democracy. Only parties and candidates approved by the military were allowed to stand.
- What Ails the American Economy?
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By Kevin Phillips, Barry Gewen
28 Feb 2009
Even if his pessimism doesn’t seem wholly warranted, a sense of foreboding surely is, which is why his warnings have to be taken seriously. Mr. Phillips writes that the inventors and marketers of the new financial instruments didn’t entirely understand them. An executive of Fidelity International says a panicky feeling has set in on Wall Street because no one knows where the risks really are. The finance minister of France observes that investments may have reached such a level of complexity that no one can assess them. And Charles R. Morris, in his own gloomy book, “The Trillion Dollar Meltdown,” reports that even Citigroup’s chief financial officer “did not know how to value his holdings.
- What Ails the American Economy?
-
By Kevin Phillips, Barry Gewen
28 Feb 2009
Even if his pessimism doesn’t seem wholly warranted, a sense of foreboding surely is, which is why his warnings have to be taken seriously. Mr. Phillips writes that the inventors and marketers of the new financial instruments didn’t entirely understand them. An executive of Fidelity International says a panicky feeling has set in on Wall Street because no one knows where the risks really are. The finance minister of France observes that investments may have reached such a level of complexity that no one can assess them. And Charles R. Morris, in his own gloomy book, “The Trillion Dollar Meltdown,” reports that even Citigroup’s chief financial officer “did not know how to value his holdings.