BusinessDay 08 Nov 2017

Toyota seeks more
investments in auto
tech, robotics
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BUSINESS DAY
Hyundai begins
30-days discounted
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C002D5556 Wednesday 08 November 2017
ExecutiveMotoring
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Guinness, FRSC, harp
on safety on Nigerian
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41
Nigerian, top pro athletes earns millions
…Yet chose to drive super cheap cars
MIKE OCHONMA
Professional athletes
who earn millions
are not known for
always making the
best financial decisions.
Many blow their paychecks
on fancy cars and extravagant
homes.
But not every football or
basketball star lives an overthe-top
lifestyle. In fact, many
choose to live like they’re
broke. Findings show that there
are up to five athletes who still
drive super cheap cars despite
earning the means to afford
something grander. Below are
name of those who choose to
live frugally.
Nnamdi Asomugha:
Nnamdi Asomugha has had
an impressive career so far. He
played 11 seasons in the NFL
after being drafted by the Oakland
Raiders in 2003, where he
earned up to $11 million a year.
Since stepping away from football,
Asomugha has successfully
transitioned into acting and
recently starred in the feature
film “Crown Heights.”
But, despite earning millions,
Asomugha chooses to
live modestly.”I was never a big
spender. We didn’t have much
growing up, so I guess I got
used it. Even when I was a Pro
Bowl player in the NFL, I lived
the same way because that’s
what I knew.”
His frugal habits include
keeping the 1997 Nissan Maxima
his brother passed down
to him in high school, which he
drove to his prom. He still uses
the car today.
Michael Ade-Ojo,
fondly called ‘Mr
Toyota’, a celebrated
and foremost industrialist
and automobile business legend,
is set to be honoured as
an icon of the Nigeria’s auto
industry by the Nigerian
Auto Journalists Association.
He is the founder of Elizade
Nigeria Limited and Chairman
of Toyota Nigeria Limited,
A statement by NAJA said
the award was in recognition
of the business mogul’s worthy
contributions to the development
of auto industry
in Nigeria.
“Ade-Ojo’s contributions
“That car is the one thing that
everyone makes fun of me for,”
he tells Wealthsimple. “Even after
I started earning good money,
I was still in the mentality
of ‘I know this is all I need so
I’m doing fine.’” Ex-NFL player
and actor Nnamdi Asomugha
still drives the 20-year-old car.
Kirk Cousins : Washington
Redskins quarterback
Kirk Cousins made $19.9
million last year. This year,
he’ll earn $23.9 million. But
you wouldn’t guess his salary
based on what he drives:
a dented GMC Savana passenger
van with more than
100,000 miles on it. He and his
wife bought it from his grandma
for $5,000 in 2014.
“It’s better to buy appreciating
assets than depreciating,”
Cousins told Kevin Clark
of The Wall Street Journal in
2016. “No yachts, no sports
cars.”
The starting quarterback
makes a good point. The moment
you drive a new car off
the lot, its value depreciates
by about 20 percent. This NFL
starting quarterback drives a
dented van he bought from his
grandma for $5,000
Last year, Dallas Cowboys
running back Alfred Morris
agreed to a two-year contract
worth $5.5 million. In addition
to a $1 million signing bonus,
Morris will earn a fully guaranteed
base salary of $1.2 million
this season and is eligible for up
to $1 million more if he leads the
league in rushing and runs for
1,500 yards.
But Morris’s spending habits
don’t reflect his paycheck. Case
in point: He still drives a 26-yearold
Mazda 626 sedan from 1991.
Morris purchased the vehicle,
affectionately known as “Bentley,”
from his pastor for just a
couple bucks during his junior
year at Florida Atlantic University.
It garnered national attention
in 2012 when he was drafted to
the Washington Redskins and
took Bentley with him.
“It just keeps me grounded,
where I came from and all the
hard work for me to get to this
point,” said Morris in 2012 on the
Redskins’ website.
John Urschel had a short but
lucrative NFL career. The offensive
lineman, who retired at age
26 in 2017 to pursue his PhD at
MIT, earned $1.8 million over his
three seasons with the Baltimore
Ravens.
His salary was as high as
NAJA names Ade-Ojo icon auto industry
and experience in the nation’s
automotive industry
span many decades,” said the
organisers of the award, adding
that it was the first time it
would confer such honour on
any industry player.
“This is a rare award as he is
the first player in the industry
to be honoured in this category,”
the group said.
Apart from automobile
industry, Ade-Ojo has also invested
in other sectors of the
nation’s economy such as insurance,
real estate, telecommunications
and shipping.
He recently established a
university, Elizade University,
in his country home, Ilara-
Mokin, Ondo State.
He has also set up a worldclass
golf resort very close
$600,000 in 2016, but Urschel
never lived like he was making
six figures. In fact, he did the opposite.
“I drive a used hatchback
Nissan Versa and live on less
than $25,000 a year,” the athlete
wrote on The Players’ Tribune
in 2015.
Urschel bought the Nissan
after he was drafted by the Ravens
in 2014. It cost him $9,000,
just a fraction of his $144,560
signing bonus.
On his part, LeBron James
isn’t only one of the best athletes
alive today, he’s also one of
the richest: he has a net worth
around $275 million, according
to Forbes. By the end of 2016,
King James had earned a total
of $595 million in salary and
endorsements since joining the
National Basketball Association
in 2003 as No. 1 draft pick to the
to Elizade University in his
hometown, which accommodates
not just golf events but
auto rally.
After graduating from the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
in Business Administration,
he joined the CFAO
Motors as a salesman and
successfully sold 20 trucks
to the Electricity Corporation
of Nigeria that year
(1966).
That same year, got a job
at the British Petroleum (BP)
and within three months
of his employment, he increased
the sales of his division
by 25%.
He later approached
Cleveland Cavaliers.
So when he started appearing
in Kia ads in 2015,
many fans expressed skepticism.
But James stuck by the
endorsement and insisted that
he really does own a Kia K900.
Confirmation came in
2016 when teammate Richard
Jefferson posted a video to
his Snapchat of James getting
into his Kia after the team arrived
back in Cleveland fresh
off a win against the Hawks
in Atlanta. “You come home,
eight straight, and he rocking
the Kia,” Jefferson says in the
video. “There’s a 1,000 percent
chance that there’s a 100 percent
chance that LeBron drives
a Kia.” The Kia isn’t James’ only
ride, however. He also owns a
2006 Hummer H1 and a 2012
Bentley GT.
the RT Briscoe Group and
made them an offer to sell
their trucks and automobile
equipment for a commission
on every successful sale. In
just four months after sealing
the deal with Briscoe, he
sold about 40 cars.
In 1971, he established Elizade
Independent Agencies
(EIA), with his wife, Elizabeth
Wuraola Ojo, and focused on
the distribution of Japanese
vehicles in Nigeria.
The honour will be bestowed
on him at the 2017
edition of NAJA Awards holding
at the prestigious Eko Hotel,
Victoria Island, Lagos on
December 12.
FRSC to deploy
100 vehicles for
Anambra polls
The Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC) is to deploy
100 vehicles and
personnel for the November
18 gubernatorial election in
Anambra State.
Bisi Kazeem, FRSC Corp
Public Education Officer
(CPEO) said the men and
vehicles would be drawn
from neighbouring Delta
and Enugu states to complement
the Sector Command
and sister security agencies
in the state.
“We are deploying patrol
vehicles from Delta and
Enugu state commands and
the unit commands with
monitors from RSHQ (Road
Safety Head Headquarters)
to ensure road blockage and
diversion on the day of the
election, aside deployment
at polling stations.
“So, the additional patrol
vehicles will be drawn from
the following commands:
Asaba, Enugu Night Mile,
Agbor, Issele Ukwu, Nsukka,
Okigwe, Obolo-Afor, Agwu
and RSHQ.
“In all, we are hoping to
deploy about 100 vehicles
in all, while about 2,000 personnel
will be deployed for
the duties.”
Asked what road traffic
management personnel
would be doing at polling
centres, the FRSC spokesman
explained that their
role would be purely complementary
to ensure crowd
control and disciple.
“You know we are a paramilitary
organisation. So, we
do security duties too. If they
put two policemen somewhere,
they can put one immigration
and road safety
All the security agencies will
come together – police, SSS,
FRSC, NDLEA, Immigration
and Customs if they are
there.They will have them in
a pool and distribute in polling
stations to do security
duties just to maintain order
and discipline.” He stated.