Why it is on record
Commissioned 5 December 1980 by High Chief Joe Oluware Obasa as a Peugeot Automobile Nigeria distributor at Ijero-Ekiti; upgraded by his sons High Chief Johnson Obasa and Victor Obasa Sr. to manufacture armoured and specialty vehicles for Nigerian security and civilian use. Unveiled the TEKOWI armoured carrier on 15 April 2017 — one of the earliest fully indigenous Nigerian armoured vehicles, with materials substantially sourced locally.
Record held
Earliest Ekiti-based Nigerian-owned specialty-vehicle manufacturer (1980); 2017 TEKOWI armoured carrier among the first 100% Nigerian-built armoured vehicles.
Deep dive
Obasa Specialty Vehicle (OSV) — sometimes traded as Obasa Brothers — is among the oldest indigenous specialty-vehicle and bodybuilding operations in Nigeria, founded in 1980. The company builds ambulances, prison vans, security vehicles, and specialised commercial bodies on imported chassis (Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Isuzu) and is a long-standing supplier to federal and state governments.
OSV is representative of the pre-Innoson generation of indigenous Nigerian automotive enterprise — operating in the bodybuilding-and-customisation tier rather than full vehicle manufacture — and remains in continuous family ownership.