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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaThe Nigerian professor who makes more money weldingPublished1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Mansur AbubakarBBC News, ZariaKabir Abu Bilal is not your regular Nigerian university professor – he has a second job working as a welder in the northern city of Zaria.Welding is widely seen as a menial job across Nigeria and he has shocked many – especially his colleagues – by opening up his own welding workshop.”I am not ashamed that I work as a welder despite being a professor,” he tells the BBC. “I make more money from welding.”The 50-year-old teaches and supervises research students at the faculty of engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria’s largest and one of its most prestigious universities.He has worked there for 18 years and published several books on physics and electrical engineering.His fellow academic, Prof Yusuf Jubril, explains that their colleagues find it strange: “Society make us think someone is too big for certain roles and it’s not true.”What he is doing is not humiliating but commendable, and I hope others learn from him.”Image caption, His income from welding has allowed the professor to buy a Mercedes-BenzProf Abu Bilal agrees that people, especially graduates, need to be more open-minded about how they make their living.”Education shouldn’t stop one from doing jobs like this, I am surprised that there are people with first degrees who find a job like this degrading.”His words have resonance – as according to Stutern’s Nigeria Graduate Report, more than 40% of graduates fail to get a job in Nigeria, Africa’s most-populous country.He opened up a mini workshop in Zaria around two decades ago.In 2022, a year after he was promoted to become a professor, he moved to larger premises having found plenty of business in the university town.This has allowed him to buy more equipment and take on bigger jobs, with customers asking him to make things such as metal door and window frames.”I collect the job no matter how small it is, even if it is one door I will weld it happily to get paid,” he says.Since he was a child, the professor says, he has always liked taking apart and putting back together gadgets and things like radios, which drew him to his career.”Unfortunately I found out engineering here was more theoretically based and I needed a place to express myself,” he says.”That desire culminated in me starting this welding workshop.”Not only has the workshop satisfied his need to get his hands dirty, but it has really helped him on the financial front.Academics in Nigeria have long struggled on modest salaries, most earning between 350,000 naira ($390; £305) and 500,000 ($555; £435) a month – and there are often long battles with the government to get a pay increase.Prof Abu Bilal says his welding job has allowed him to be more self-sufficient and he has even been able to buy a more reliable car – a Mercedes.In leaner times, he has even helped those who frowned on his joint career.”When university lecturers went on strike for eight months in 2022 and we weren’t paid, I always had money because of this job and a few colleagues came to me for help.”Prof Abu Bilal hopes to inspire other people to take on jobs like the one he does.Image caption, The apprentices tend to stay at the workshop for about a yearHe has 10 apprentices – aged between 12 and 20 – at the workshop where he is teaching them the skills of the trade.Those who are not at school during the day take care of the workshop when he is away at university.The apprenticeship tends to take about a year – and then when they have the skills they can go off and set up their own businesses.”I have learnt so much being at the workshop, I can weld many items together now,” 18-year-old Jibril Adam said.”Even as apprentices, he gives us 10,000 naira every month and a daily stipend for food.”The academic is also determined that his five children do not become academic snobs: “I bring them here most weekends to see how it is done. I want them to learn it so that one day they’ll be able to do it.”For Prof Abu Bilal his joint career suits him perfectly, as he is able to embrace his teaching role on both fronts: “I love to impart knowledge.” You may also be interested in:Why student loans won’t solve Nigerian education crisis’Wasted eight months’: Nigeria university strike endsRelated TopicsNigeriaAround the BBCFocus on Africa podcastsTop StoriesUN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claimPublished4 hours agoPost Office chairman asked to step downPublished7 hours agoEx-minister of secretive sect admits child sex abusePublished2 hours agoFeaturesWould it bother you if you only got mail three days a week?Who invented butter chicken? 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[ad_1] He has shocked many of his colleagues, who regard it as a menial job but are jealous of his income.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaItalian net closes in on ‘Fleximan’ – vigilante destroyer of speed camerasPublished25 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Nuovetecniche/Simone PiccirilliImage caption, At least 15 speed cameras have been destroyed across Northern ItalyBy Stefano FasanoBBC News, RomeItaly has been gripped by a vigilante who calls himself “Fleximan” and has made it his mission to tear down as many speed cameras as possible. Fleximan has already claimed at least 15 successful strikes, and a special police task force and four different prosecutors’ offices are now investigating the attacks. The anonymous vandal began leaving a trail of destruction months ago in the north-east, as more and more of the cameras were put out of action.Photos of his actions then spread on social media, along with the nickname taken from the Italian word for angle grinder, flessibile – the tool he has mostly used to destroy the cameras.The campaign may reflect popular anger about the proliferation of speed cameras, but road deaths in Italy are higher than in many other European countries.What is not clear is whether Fleximan is one man or two, or perhaps he has become a number of copycat vandals.Police in the north-west Piedmont region say they have charged a 50-year-old suspect, but most of the attacks have taken place in the Veneto area of the north-east.Image source, Asti prefectureImage caption, Closed-circuit TV captured two men sawing down a speed camera in the north-western Asti areaAt the scene of one of his most recent attacks, the anonymous vigilante left a handwritten message: “Fleximan is coming.”The vandal’s methods are consistent, and the chorus of approval is growing on social media, where Fleximan is treated as a sort of modern Robin Hood. So much so that a street artist in Padua called Evyrein has dedicated his latest work to Fleximan. His graffiti depicts Uma Thurman’s character from Kill Bill, holding a sword in one hand and a cut-up speed camera in the other. The autovelox, as it is known in Italian, has always been contentious in Europe. But Italy is known to have the highest number on the continent, estimated at more than 11,000.That’s a third more than the UK’s 7,700 and almost three times as many as in Germany with 4,700.This is likely to explain some of the anger towards the Italian speed detector, and local mayors have said they won’t replace the vandalised cameras just yet. The official reason is to calm the situation down.Image caption, This camera was dismantled near Padua in the north eastFines imposed on drivers have risen dramatically in recent years, with Florence taking €23.2m ($25m; £20m) in 2022, according to Italian consumer group Codacons, followed by Milan, Genoa and Rome.But Italy has a less than impressive track record on road safety. The European Transport Safety Council put the number of deaths in Italy per million inhabitants at 54 in 2022, almost twice as many as the 26 per million lives lost in the UK and 37 per million in Spain.For Paola Di Caro, a political journalist with Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, these numbers are highly personal and she has directly challenged Fleximan’s narrative of standing up for people’s freedom with her own devastating experience.Her 18-year-old son Francesco Valdiserri was knocked down and killed by a speeding driver as he waited for a bus in Rome in October 2022. “I would just like [Fleximan] to feel for one day, just one day, what I feel when I go to lay flowers where my son was killed… and then at [the cemetery in] Verano where he was closed forever behind poured concrete.”As she headed to her son’s grave, she told the BBC that the Fleximan enigma reflected a culture that tells people they have the right to feel that rules do not apply to them.”People hail him as a hero, but Fleximan for me is just shameful. The idea that these actions may be done for fun… is just unbearable to me. It is like they are making fun of my son.”Image source, Paola di CaraImage caption, Paola di Cara’s son Francesco was killed by a speeding driver in RomeThe speed camera story has also entered Italian politics, with nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini eyeing an opportunity ahead of regional and European parliamentary elections.Mr Salvini, who is also transport minister and deputy prime minister, has targeted the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, for bringing in a new 30km/h (18mph) speed limit across the city. The Bologna speed reduction was signed off by Mr Salvini’s own ministry, and inspired by European Commission figures that show the risk of death for pedestrians is eight times higher at 50km/h than at 30km/h.Bologna’s reduced speed limit has kickstarted a drivers’ protest, and a campaign for a referendum on the issue has attracted more than 52,000 names. “The problem is that a 30km/h limit is just too low,” complained Guendalina Furini, a 22-year-old student who started the petition.”It takes too long to cross the city, and it does not solve the real problem, which is people driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” she explained.She challenged the mayor at a recent meeting, so far with no success.Although she admits she is no expert on safety statistics she wants her voice to be heard. “We have obtained the right to divorce and abortion through referendums, why shouldn’t this be decided in that way too? This is not the democracy I am studying at university.”Related TopicsItalyRoad safetyTop StoriesUN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claimPublished3 hours agoPost Office chairman asked to step downPublished6 hours agoEx-minister of secretive sect admits child sex abusePublished1 hour agoFeaturesWill $83m defamation damages really deter Trump?Warning over children using anti-ageing skincare productsTwins separated and sold at birth reunited by TikTokHuge push for Gaza aid – but little hope for those sufferingBali bomb families face accused at Guantanamo Bay’What terminal cancer has taught me about life’Jess Glynne says she ‘fell out of love with music’The Kindertransport refugees who made Britain homeCheese, beef, cars: What UK-Canada trade rift meansElsewhere on the BBCA Scottish wild swimming road-trip!Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill take the plunge at Scotland’s breath-taking wild swimming spotsAttributioniPlayerScientists uncover alcohol’s hidden dangersInvestigating what alcohol is and why so many people love to drink itAttributioniPlayerCould this Italian dream turn into a real nightmare?Amanda Holden and Alan Carr don their boiler suits to renovate a dilapidated house in TuscanyAttributioniPlayerBritish television’s greatest double actEric and Ernie share their remarkable journey through TV appearances, rare radio material and BBC archivesAttributioniPlayerMost Read1World’s largest cruise ship sets sail from Miami2Ex-minister of secretive sect admits child abuse3Dragons’ Den episode edited after ME complaints4UN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claim5Post Office chairman asked to step down6Beauty giant Avon under fire over Russia links7My dad saved my club, now we’re playing Man Utd8Cuddly toy sellers chase an unlikely audience9Australian drill rap vs the police10’Rwandans get UK asylum’ and PM wants ‘Saga vote’](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/4C44/production/_132442591_autoveloxabbattutovilladelconte12.jpg)
