A visionary and industrious young man from Nigeria has stunned social media users after he built his version of G-Wagon from scratch using local materials. The 19-year-old Chukwudi Godday Eze sourced locally-made materials and built a fully functional Mercedes G-Wagon.
Chukwudi Eze has always been interested in vehicles and their complexities. We all have certain pieces of kinds of stuff we are obsessed with, Eze’s was automobiles. Growing up, Chukwudi would build petty toy cars for his entertainment.
At first, Chukwudi lacked the motivation to pursue his interest in cars.
Since I was born, I started to produce some small, small cars in my childhood. My mind was telling me that I can’t be able to do this. Let me try. That was how I got started with this. I continued to try.
Chukwudi Eze
Speaking about his innovation, Eze mentioned that “the car doesn’t have a normal fuel tank, which could take me on a long-distance drive. Also, the tyres are small, compared to those of other vehicles but I couldn’t wait till I could afford better tyres.”
His handmade G-Wagon can carry up to 6 passengers. The interior of the vehicle is craftily decorated with red interiors and there is an available installed speaker setup. The footage also shows Eze driving his creation around the village, mixing his fuel supply and showing off the inner workings under the bonnet, which has a much smaller fuel tank and wheels than conventional cars.
Creating a vehicle isn’t child’s play. Chukwudi admitted to spending over 6,000 Euros from funds he attained and had to conceal the project from his family.
When I was working on the car, I never allowed any of my relations, including my parents, to see the work so as to avoid any discouragement from them, as the work made me appear mad, or as someone who didn’t know what he was doing.
Chukwudi Eze
The newly completed G-Wagon was welcomed with jeers of celebration and congratulations from Eze’s community. It also attracted positive applause from celebrities across the country.
Although it is not exactly an uncanny resemblance to the original G-Wagon model, it spells out the need for grassroots innovation and creativity to be appreciated in Africa. It also symbolizes a prosperous and bright future for Chukwudi Godday Eze.
