Watch: The eco-entrepreneur sparking the electric vehicle revolution in Nigeria

Mustafa Wuka Gajibo is a pioneer on a mission to turn Nigeria's roads green

Transcript

00:00 I'm a very stubborn person. I don't even believe in impossibilities. I always want to see whatever

00:08 I start to end. I have always been into renewable energy and I always look at how I can solve

00:15 problems using renewable energy. I love innovation. I have passion for it. Whenever I make things

00:24 and these things are solving problems and people are using it, that gives me a lot of joy.

00:30 As a company, we are solving a problem of the day, affecting everybody. My name is Mustafa

00:35 Obakarigarigbo. I am the founder and CEO of African Motor Works. African Motor Works is

00:55 a company with Nigerian origin, which is into design and building of electric vehicles and

01:02 other new energy powered vehicles. We have a capacity of assembling up to 200 electric

01:10 vehicles per month. Our main reason for building electric vehicles are high cost of mobility,

01:17 cost of energy and carbon emission. I can remember when I was in secondary school, we

01:24 used to have a lot of problem of electricity. We spent weeks, sometimes months, living it

01:31 up to a year without electricity. So that has really motivated me in coming up with

01:38 that company. Looking at the problems we are facing when it comes to energy, not only for

01:44 powering homes, but energy when it comes to what we need to do. Initially, when we went

01:57 into electric vehicles, our company's focus is more on mass transit, which is the key

02:03 problem our people are facing. Vehicles like tricycles, minibuses, large and mid-sized

02:10 buses and other vehicles that are used for day-to-day activities. Our mid-sized buses

02:17 can carry up to 16 passengers. Another model can carry up to 24 passengers and it has a

02:25 range of up to 250 kilometers, which can be charged in less than 40 minutes. We also designed

02:32 it to have battery swapping systems. You can easily swap the battery and move ahead without

02:38 having the troubles of waiting to charge the vehicle. The biggest challenge when it comes

02:49 to electric vehicles in this part of the world is sourcing for raw materials. The main source

02:56 for building those components are from Africa. We find it very difficult to access them locally

03:03 here. You have to get them outside the country. We source 30% locally sourced and 70% outside

03:11 the country. But as a company, we're always looking at how we could involve more local

03:16 content. Another challenge is forming a team, getting the right people who will align to

03:25 whatever vision you have and work with you to achieve that mission. We have over 24 staffs

03:33 which are working across different departments. We have the welding, metal work, hardware

03:41 and integration team. We have drivetrain assemblers. Also, we have the electric team and body works

03:49 also. The team achieve to whatever goal that we want to achieve because I alone cannot

03:57 achieve this. It's very important to me. Whatever glory we achieve, we achieve together.

04:18 Future for EVs, I think the future is now. We are already seeing cost of energy is going

04:23 high. If electric vehicles are used for mass transit services, you see that the cost of

04:30 mobility will be drastically low. The operators will make more money using the electric vehicle,

04:37 thereby bringing down the cost of transportation. Electric vehicles are zero emission. They

04:44 don't emit any carbon emission into the atmosphere. EVs are the solution. It's cheaper for you

04:54 to be running on electric vehicle than normal combustion engines. And it's also environmentally

05:00 friendly. No noise, very quiet. These batteries that we are using for our electric vehicles

05:05 will last you up to 12 years. Normally, the vehicles come from Europe, from America and

05:12 from Asia. I hope to see one day that African vehicles are driving the streets of New York,

05:22 Beijing and other big cities around the world. Our hope is growing African motor works to

05:31 become the biggest company, not only in Nigeria, but in the whole of the world.

05:37 [Music]