Engineering Day: Engineers sensitise students, seek ministerial appointment

Sensitisation
By Ibukun Emiola
Ibadan, March 4, 2020 (NAN) Some members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Oluyole Branch, Ibadan, have underscored the importance of engineering to national development.

Oluyemi Morakinyo and Abiodun Alli, both members of the branch, spoke in Ibadan on Wednesday during a sensitisation exercise at the Methodist High School, Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise was held to commemorate the first celebrated World Engineering Day declared by UNESCO in September 2019.

Morakinyo, a structural engineer, said the importance of engineering could not be over emphasised in the development of any society.

“We are creating the awareness that engineers have a great part to play in the development of the society.

“We commend President Muhammadu Buhari for signing into law Executive Orders Five, Seven and so on which seek to project the discipline of engineering.

“The latest was made in December  2019 whereby engineering graduates must now be posted to engineering concerns during their service year and not to schools again,” he said.

Morakinyo said the present administration had also done well by empowering the Council of Regulatory Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) to identify building defects and prosecute where necessary.

He noted that this was not the case before now, adding that engineers now have a larger role to play in the development of the country.

Alli, on his part, stated that the Engineering Day was about inspiring people to become engineers.

He, however, said the government could do more by engaging engineers in the country, especially in ministerial appointments.

“The government can further engage engineers, for instance, in appointing them as ministers, particularly as the Minster of Works and Housing.

“It would be better to pick the best brain among engineers who knows the nitty gritty about the job so that whatever convention that would be given to the government would suit Nigeria’s context.

“I recall that it was only during the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon that an engineer was made the Minister of Works and Housing,” he said.

Alli said sustaining this situation would undermine the competence of engineers and could mislead whoever was appointed as the Minister of Works and Housing.

“It means he will first go and hold a meeting with some engineers and if they are not the best, they will never give the best advice,” he said. (NAN)
IBK/MAS/OJO
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(Edited by Moses Solanke/Mufutau Ojo)