I produced my motorbike and ride it to school – Jawad

Muhktar Muhammad Jawad has been servicing, repairing and maintaining faulty little items that motivated him to produce a motorcycle which he rides to school. He says it is boring waiting to be taken or picked from school daily from his Community Secondary School, Asokoro, Abuja. Though a 15 minute drive, Muhktar was bent at finding […]

Muhktar Muhammad Jawad has been servicing, repairing and maintaining faulty little items that motivated him to produce a motorcycle which he rides to school. He says it is boring waiting to be taken or picked from school daily from his Community Secondary School, Asokoro, Abuja.

Though a 15 minute drive, Muhktar was bent at finding a means of getting to school his own way. The SSS 3 student says he did not learn it from anybody, but had always believed that he could produce a motorcycle.

 “When I told my father that I wanted to produce a motorcycle to be transporting myself to and from school without waiting for him to pick me, he supported me and said he would assist me financially to achieve my dream. He gave me N25, 000 to buy a grinding machine, or the one vulcanisers attach to compressors to inflate tyres,” he says.

According to him, he bought a Honda GS 160 model gear-box for N15, 000 and the rear tyre for N5, 000 and the handle-bar. He detached the front tyre of his bicycle for the new project. All the items cost N45, 000.

Mukhtar said he watched some videos from the internet for tutorials to help him realise his dream. That was how he completed the production, and thereafter, test-ran the machine within one month.

He says he started the fabrication without a design or measurement, but with mere guesswork and hired a friend who is a welder, to carry out the task and later sent the bill to his father.

“I have been using the machine successfully for the past three months with no problem, the day I made the maiden test-drive, my mother bought soft drinks and distributed to people with delight,” he says.

The engine of Jawad’s motorcycle is started with a rope which serves as the ignition, the throttle is on the right side bar while the left bar is used to apply the brakes.

The teenager looks forward with confidence. “My ambition is to be assisted by the government, corporate organisations or wealthy individuals to be self-employed by having a workshop, own staff and an assembly line to produce motorcycles for sale,” he says.

He adds that he is happy with the support from his parents, the school principal, Alhaji Said Ahmad, staff and colleagues who encouraged him. He says he is also happy with enquiries, encouragement and goodwill from interested people.

He notes his parents’ advice to be always cautious of  traffic rules and regulations as his motorcycle does not have hand signals. Jawad  says producing the same type of motorcycle would cost N150, 000.