Arafat Adebola

Civil Servant

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@HonAbdullahiM12 Alhamdulillah

[GOVERNOR TWETTER @HonAbdullahiM12]

Congratulations to those who are not ashamed of sharing Quran🙌❤️

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@drobafemihamzat MHR sir

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@Olu_las Pbuh

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

Pbuh

[Olufemi las @Olu_las]

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.♥️

[Olufemi las @Olu_las]

Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.♥️

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@nwoko_greg62705 Interesting

[Greg Nwoko 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬 @nwoko_greg62705]

Ah, see how I used to connect to the internet in the 1990’s here in Lagos.

I remember Linkserve as my ISP, I also remember using Hyperia to connect to the World Wide Web back in the 1990’s during the era General Abacha was Head of State.

There’s this sound it made as connection was initiating on your laptop or desktop.

You got elated ones a connection was approved.

How times flies.

What year did you have your first email address?

Mine was in the 90’s on Yahoomail, Hotmail and EudoraMail.

My Yahoo was the sweetest.

[email protected]

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@Mahdii365_ Ameen

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

Ameen

[𝗤𝘂𝗿'𝗮𝗻 || 𝗛𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 || 𝗗𝘂'𝗮 || @Mahdii365_]

A Duʿāʾ for Total Forgiveness:

[𝗤𝘂𝗿'𝗮𝗻 || 𝗛𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 || 𝗗𝘂'𝗮 || @Mahdii365_]

A Duʿāʾ for Total Forgiveness:

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@hkmaza Ameen

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@Mahdii365_ None

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

None

[𝗤𝘂𝗿'𝗮𝗻 || 𝗛𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 || 𝗗𝘂'𝗮 || @Mahdii365_]

— Qur’aan [55:16]

[𝗤𝘂𝗿'𝗮𝗻 || 𝗛𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗵 || 𝗗𝘂'𝗮 || @Mahdii365_]

— Qur’aan [55:16]

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@nwoko_greg62705 Now we know.

[Greg Nwoko 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬 @nwoko_greg62705]

This bronze coin proves Nigeria once built its own Beetles in Lagos, March 21, 1975 to March 21, 1985.

If you hold the coin in your hand and turn it, the story becomes complete.

Front says 10 YEARS OF BEETLE PRODUCTION LAGOS NIGERIA with the big VW logo and laurel leaves. That is what we celebrated.

Back shows the exact dates 21.3.1975 at the top and 21.3.1985 at the bottom, with a classic Beetle parked under two palm trees in the centre. That is when and where it happened.

Here is what led to both sides.

The factory is Volkswagen of Nigeria Limited, VON, at Ojo Kilometre 16, Badagry Expressway, Lagos. It was incorporated in 1972 as a joint venture between the Federal Government of Nigeria, Lagos State Government, Volkswagen AG of Germany and German investors.

The total project cost was N11.5 million at that time, about 7.4 million British Pounds Sterling.

Peugeot in Kaduna was the first car assembly plant in Nigeria, commissioned by General Yakubu Gowon the previous week in March 1975. VON in Lagos was the second. General Gowon commissioned the Lagos plant on Friday, March 21, 1975.

That is the first date you see on the back of your coin. In his speech he praised West Germany for financial aid and urged Nigerians to develop pride in locally made goods.

Assembly started immediately with a target of 60 cars per day. The first models were the legendary Beetle in, and, plus the Kombi bus, Passat, Golf, Jetta and Audi.

The Beetle became the peoples car because it was affordable, strong and easy to maintain. Many civil servants could save salary and buy one. M
The two palm trees on the back are not just decoration. That was how Volkswagen advertised its tropicalised Beetle for Africa, a car built to survive Lagos heat and rough roads.

By 1981 VON was at its peak, producing and selling about 30,000 vehicles a year. It was part of the six European assembly plants set up in the 1970s for technology transfer, VW in Lagos, Peugeot in Kaduna, Anammco Mercedes in Enugu, Leyland in Ibadan, Steyr in Bauchi and Fiat Iveco in Kano. The plan was to raise local content every year until Nigeria would build cars fully.

Then the downturn came. From the mid 1980s, due to foreign exchange crisis, Structural Adjustment Programme, massive importation of used cars and government inefficiency, production crashed to about 1,000 units a year.

The plant went moribund in the early 1990s and stopped around 1990. At one point the huge factory was even used to store imported rice.

In 2005 the Federal Government sold its equity to Stallion Group of Dubai owned by Sunil Vaswani. Stallion revived the same Ojo plant and now assembles Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Ashok Leyland there. VW itself resumed assembly there in July 2015 for the first time in 25 years with Passat, Jetta, CC and Amarok.

So the second date on the back, 21.3.1985, is when this coin was struck. It was made for the 10th anniversary ceremony inside the Ojo plant and given to workers, dealers and government guests.

Front tells you what was achieved, ten years of Beetle production in Lagos. Back tells you the exact timeline, from Gowon on March 21, 1975 to Buhari and Babangida on March 21, 1985, under the palms of Lagos. Together it is not just a souvenir, it is the last physical proof of the golden era when Nigeria was actually building cars.

[Arafat Adebola @skippo2007]

@Objko03 Pbuh

[Rose 🌹(ﷺ) Daily Hadiths @Objko03]

The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said:

"None of you should long for death because of a calamity that had befallen him, and if he cannot, but long for death, then he should say, 'O Allah! Let me live as long as life is better for me, and take my life if death is better for me.'"