Professor Ayodele Oluwatumininu Awojobi (The inventor of Autonov 1, a bi-directional hybrid vehicle capable of moving forward and backward at identical top speeds using all four gears and a rotating/dual steering mechanism) was born on March 12, 1937 in Oshodi, Lagos State to Chief Daniel Adekoya Awojobi, a stationmaster at the Nigerian Railway Corporation who hailed from Ikorodu, Lagos State, and Comfort Bamidele Awojobi (née Adetunji), a petty trader who hailed from Modakeke, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. He attended St. Peter's Primary School, Faji, Lagos, between 1942 and 1947.
He had his secondary education at CMS Grammar School, Lagos, Nigeria. Ayodele Awojobi was a straight-A's secondary school student, while at the CMS Grammar school, passing his West African School Certificate examinations with a record eight distinctions in 1955. He proceeded to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan, for his General Certificate of Examinations, GCE (Advanced Level), where in 1958 he sat for, and obtained distinctions in all his papers: Physics, Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.
In 1962 Awojobi was awarded his first degree in mechanical engineering – a BSc (Eng) London, with first class honours, at the then Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria). He had studied there on a federal government scholarship won on the merit of his performance in the GCE (Advanced-level) examinations of 1958.
It was said by Akintola Ajai (himself an engineering graduate of the University of London), that when Awojobi arrived at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, he boasted openly saying that it was his intention to finish the whole course within a period of three years only; an impracticable feat due to the fact that nowhere was the BSc Mechanical Engineering curriculum designed to run less than four years. Awojobi accomplished it in three years just as he had predicted. The federal government awarded Awojobi another scholarship in 1962 to study further at the post-graduate level in the field of Mechanical Engineering at the Imperial College of the University of London (now Imperial College London). He completed the course, successfully defending his thesis, and was awarded a PhD in mechanical engineering in 1966.
On his return from England in 1966 Ayodele Awojobi enrolled as a lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, Akoka. His teaching methods endeared him to his engineering students, whose public chants: "Dead easy... Dead easy...", would often be heard shouted in his direction as he went along the campus grounds. He quickly rose in the ranks among his colleagues and would later become the head of department, Mechanical Engineering, University of Lagos.
Ayodele Awojobi went back to London to study for his doctorate. He returned in 1974 and was made an associate professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Lagos. However, one week after having been appointed associate professor, the University of Lagos Senate, after receiving news that Awojobi had just been awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc), immediately appointed him professor in mechanical engineering, making him the youngest professor in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos and the first ever to be expressly promoted from associate to full professorship within a week.
While as a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Awojobi successfully converted his own family car, an Opel Olympia Rekord, from a right-hand drive to a left-hand drive. He tinkered further with motor engines when he acquired an army-type jeep and proceeded to invent a second steering-wheel mechanism adjoined to the pre-existing engine at the rear end so that the vehicle could move forward and backwards with all four pre-existing gears. This gave the hybrid vehicle, which he christened Autonov 1, the ability to achieve its highest speeds at a moment's notice, in the normal reverse direction. He highlighted the advantage this might offer to army vehicles, as an example that might need to make a fast retreat, in a cul-de-sac or ambush situation.
Ayodele Awojobi passed on to glory on Sunday, 23 September 1984, at the age of 47, and he was laid to rest at Ikorodu Cemetery, Lagos. He was survived by his wife, Mrs Iyabode Mabel Awojobi (née Odetunde), and children.
Today, we remember a GREAT ACHIEVER, Professor Ayodele Oluwatumininu Awojobi, (The inventor of Autonov 1, a bi-directional hybrid vehicle capable of moving forward and backward at identical top speeds using all four gears and a rotating/dual steering mechanism)… May God grant him eternal rest.
References and further reading:
https://articles.connectnigeria.com/nigerians-in-history-ayodele-awojobi/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayodele_Awojobi
https://neusroom.com/prof-ayodele-awojobi-the-engineering-genius/
https://blerf.org/index.php/biography/awojobi-ayodele-olatumininu/
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