NEWEST TECHNOLOGY: YOUNG NIGERIAN MADE NIGERIA PROUD IN AUTOMOTIVE MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING IN GERMANY.
Engr Odijie Irabor has finally achieved his life-long dream by qualifying as a technician in Automotive Mechatronics (Kraftfahrzeugmeachtronik).
He was presented his certificate on Wednesday (12 July) in the western German city of Marl after successfully completing a 3-year training course at the SBH Bildungsgesellschaft mbH Gelsenkirchen, during which he acquired skills across automotive-specific mechanics, electronics, communication and advanced control.
Odijie flashes the victory sign after achieving his life-long dream by qualifying as a technician in Automotive Mechatronics, a new technical field that offers him employment opportunities not only in Europe but across the globe
Mechatronics (Automotive) engineering is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of automotive mechanical and electronic systems. The course was introduced because of the increasing complexity of automobiles, entailing the integration of computer and communication electronics into their mechanical systems. It’s one of the newest branches of engineering, and has far-reaching applications to every sector of society. The name Mechatronics stems from mechanical and electronics and is a relatively new approach to product design and development for future generation of hybrid system cars that are expected to hit German roads in 2025, merging the principles of electrical, mechanical, computer and industrial engineering. To say the least, all over the world, specialists in new system of Automotive Mechatronics are being sought after.
Engr Odijie underwent the training under Germany’s Dual Vocational Training system. As part of the dual system, you will attend classes at a vocational school and receive on-the-job training at cars Production Company in German language.
During a chat with Engr Irabor Odijie, he said undergoing the training in German language and keeping up with the performance of his German colleagues makes him feel good. “When I started the course, I was a bit scared not because of my lack of technical knowledge but because of the language,” Odijie, who studied auto mechanics at the Benin Technical College, Benin-City, Nigeria, recalled. “Thanks to the Almighty God, I was able to catch up on the language and undergo the course successfully,” he added.
When asked how he managed to cope, he said. I was focused and dedicated to face any challenges with great resistance. I recalled when I passed my first exam to the greatest amazement of some students and lecturers to their least expectations, they teamed up against me and overturned my result. They wondered how I with little understanding of German language managed to passed when many Germans failed the exam they questioned. They said I must rewrite the exam. One of the lecturers called such action an aberration and advised me to go to lawyer. That was my early days experienced in the institute which I can never forget in my life in a hurry. I told the lecturer that though I am black but I am not stupid and that I will re-write it to prove them wrong which I did.
That single experienced made me more focused and dedicated. Whenever I remembered that I was on scholarship of over hundred thousand Eur which wouldn’t have been possible for me back home in Nigeria, I was always left with no options than to be more dedicated and that was obvious in second opportunity in the same exam and the result was even a better higher mark that marveled my critics. You could imagine how many lecturers attended church with me during a thanks giving celebration as the first Nigeria to have graduated of this new course that was introduced in 2015.
He was born and brought up in Isua Arue Uromi. Esan North East Local Government area of Edo state Nigeria. He attended Arue Primary School, Arue Secondary School and Benin Technical College where he studied Automobile Mechanical. He worked with EDEGBE MOTORS for a period of 7 years before relocating to Germany in 2011. Every attempt to work as a mechanic in Germany proved abortive because of the nature of modern day’s vehicle that run on electric, sensors and brainbox. He was left with no option than to go back to school with language barrier to battle with. But today, the rest is history.
The Esan, Edo born Nigerian automotive mechatronic engineer, advised young Africans in Germany to ensure that they get certified training in any areas of their interest because that will prepare them for a successful career in the employment market. “There is no way you will be unemployed if you have a good Ausbildung (training),” he said. “You will always find a good job as many companies in Germany already have acute problems training enough people for the continuation of their operations in the country,” he noted. “I advise every African living in Germany to learn something, because it is the lazy man that does the hardest job in Germany.”