I hope this guy gets enough funding to spread his products all over Africa. Yes, only home-made items will increase the bargaining power of African countries.

[code]Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.

"It took me eight months to build this one," he said, sweat pouring from his forehead as he filled the radiator of the banana yellow four-seater which he now parks in the grounds of his university.

The chopper, which has flown briefly on six occasions, is made from scrap aluminium that Abdullahi bought with the money he makes from computer and mobile phone repairs, and a donation from his father, who teaches at Kano's Bayero university.

It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago.[/code]

I am sure those neo-cons will start saying negative things like “no one will be allowed to use something made locally” , “we need to have it certified by European engineers” and other “empty words” that are common from African politicians. They should help him reach good levels of reliability instead of discouraging him at the beginning.

And those who gain (mostly through bribes) by importing will make sure that those corrupt politicians halt this guy.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hV0rzEDq7TWnlm7tMmr2zeQmiRig
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071021/od_afp/nigeriahelicopteroffbeat