Jelani Aliyu (born September 11, 1966) is a Nigerian automotive designer who worked for the American car company

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. He was a senior creative designer at GM, until his appointment as the Director general of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) in 2017 by Nigerian president

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

Early life and education

Aliyu was born in 1966 in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...

, Nigeria into the family of Alhaji Aliyu Haidar and Hajiya Sharifiyya Hauwa Aliyu, he was the fifth of the seven children in the family who were originally from Dogon-daji in

Sokoto State Sokoto State (Hausa: Jihar Sokoto Fula: Leydi Sokoto 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤧𞤮𞥅𞤳𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤮𞥅) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the extreme northwest of the country on the national border with the Niger, Republic o ...

, this was why young Aliyu was moved to Sokoto for his education. He studied at the Sokoto Capital School from 1971 to 1978 and then Federal Government College Sokoto where he received an outstanding award of the best graduating student in Technical Drawing. In 1986, Aliyu gained admission to study Architecture at the

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

. However, Aliyu quickly dropped out from the university when he found out that studying at the university would unlikely give him the opportunity to pursue his dream of becoming a car designer as studying there is not as practical as in the polytechnic and then went on to the Federal Polytechnic Birnin Kebbi in

Kebbi State Kebbi state ( ha, Jihar Kebbi; Fulfulde: Leydi Kebbi 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤫𞤦𞥆𞤭) is a state in the northwestern Nigeria, Kebbi state is bordered east and north of Sokoto and Zamfara states, and to the south by Niger state while ...

from 1986 to 1988 where he earned an associate degree in Architecture with an award for the Best All-Round Student. While he was there he began seeking admission into design schools in Europe and the U.S. that would lead him to a career in automotive design. In 1990, Aliyu was sponsored by the Sokoto State Scholarship board to study in the United States at the

College for Creative Studies College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Part ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

to study automotive design. While studying Aliyu won two prestigious awards from Ford Motor Company and Michelin, US. In 1994, Aliyu got his qualification in automotive design and immediately joined

team, where he started his design career.

Career

In 1994 after graduating from the

, Aliyu joined General Motors. At General Motors Aliyu was the co-designer of the

Oldsmobile Bravada The Oldsmobile Bravada is a four-door mid-size SUV manufactured and marketed by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. The Bravada was built across three generations as a rebadged variant of the Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Jimmy. It was the only ...

Buick Rendezvous The Buick Rendezvous is a mid-size crossover SUV that was sold by Buick for the 2002–2007 model years. Introduced in the spring of 2001, the Buick Rendezvous and its corporate cousin, the Pontiac Aztek, were GM's first entries into the cross ...

and the

Opel Astra The Opel Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kadet ...

and was the lead exterior designer for the

Pontiac G6 The Pontiac G6 is a mid-size car that was produced by General Motors under the Pontiac brand. It was introduced in 2004 for the 2005 model year to replace the Grand Am. The G6 shared the GM Epsilon platform with the Chevrolet Malibu, Saab 9-3 ...

and the

Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in t ...

, a hybrid electric vehicle with a sleek arcing roofline. When speaking about the inspiration for his automotive design career in an interview, Jelani said; He also said, his inspirations were his parents because they let him decide what he wanted to do. For example, when he went to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and decided he did not want to continue there, they were supportive. They did not insist that he had to remain there. On the design of

, he said;

Notable designs

* 2004

* 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliyu, Jelani 1966 births People from Sokoto Nigerian automobile designers General Motors designers Opel designers 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople Living people College for Creative Studies alumni

Early life and education

Career

Notable designs

See also

References

External links