The Nation Newspaper

Tag: engineers

  • Engage indigenous engineers’

    Engage indigenous engineers’

    The Chairman, Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Bola Olowe, has called on all levels of governments to engage indigenous engineers in their projects, saying local professionals were as good as their foreign counterparts.

    At the 21st Lawrence Arokodare Memorial lecture, with the theme “Commitment of Engineering into the Hands of Stakeholders: A Catalyst for National Development and Improved Living Standards,” Olowe condemned previous administrations guilty of engaging foreign firms at the expense of indigenous professionals.

    He said engaging local engineers and professionals would ensure a smooth take-off of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the standard of living in the country.

    Urging governments and others to patronise local engineers so the nation can leapfrog into the league of developed nations, Olowe said this was imperative to reduce capital flight.

    He noted that governments must ensure indigenous engineers are patronised and given the right of place and opportunities to handle projects.

    “It is time we brought to the front burner the need for governments to take deliberate decisions to ensure indigenous engineers are patronised and given the right of place and opportunities to handle engineering development projects in Nigeria.”

  • Engineers: concretes roads are durable, cost effective

    Engineers: concretes roads are durable, cost effective

    •Buhari calls for action

    THE Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NISTRUCTE) has called on the nation to switch over to the use of concrete for road construction.

    The engineers spoke in a statement after their just concluded 28th Annual Conference in Abuja, with the theme: “Structural Engineering Excellence in an Environment inundated with Collapse”.

    Their president, Samuel Ilugbekhai, an engineer, said concrete pavements have been found durable and last longer than bituminous roads.

    “The time has come when Nigeria should step up the use of  concrete for roads, especially now that the country has increased its potential to produce cement at lower prices and even exporting to other countries,” Ilugbekhai said.

    The institution’s vice president, Eddy Atumonyogo, an engineer, stated: “Concrete pavements are very good because they last longer and can be used for busy roads, especially in the state capitals.

    Its deputy president, Oreoluwa Fadayomi, and a vice president, Aliyu Aziz Abubakar, said concrete pavements have been in use all along, but that the difference now was that the conversation might shift to adopting it to replace bitumen totally.

    The Chairman of Sea Dredge Construction Company, Ayo Folorunsho, said concrete roads “are the future and the way to go, even though the cost may be high on the short run, it will be economical on the long term given the increasing capacity of cement companies in Nigeria”.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Mr. D.S. Kigbu, called on structural engineers to champion what he called “structural integrity and reliability”.

    He regretted the number of Nigerians dying as a result of bad structures and urged the engineers to step up action to put an end to collapse of structures and other engineering problems.

    The President of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Isaac Ademola Olorunfemi, who was represented by Olatunde Akinteye, said the society was considering an Infrastructural Scorecard for states to ginger governments in their developmental strides.

    He said the country’s engineers have a lot to do in guaranteeing the safety of Nigerians.

     

  • Synagogue: Engineers urge court to dismiss Lagos’ case

    Synagogue: Engineers urge court to dismiss Lagos’ case

    •Nov 2 for ruling

    Two structural engineers indicted in the six-storey Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) building collapse have urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss a preliminary objection to their suit by the Lagos State government.

    Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun are praying the court to quash a District Coroner’s verdict, which found them culpable after an inquest.

    They filed separate suits against the Commissioner of Police, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Attorney-General and the District Coroner.

    Yesterday, the engineer’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, said the coroner’s verdict could not be a basis for arresting, investigating or prosecuting his clients.

    Arguing Ogudeji’s reply to the objection, he said: “The fulcrum of the applicant’s case is that he was not charged with any offence before the coroner; he merely appeared as a witness and the coroner went on to indict him of criminal negligence and it is a nullity.

    “As far as this case is concerned, there is nothing against him; then what are the police acting upon? The applicant is saying that his indictment by the coroner court is a nullity and being a nullity the first to third defendants cannot on the basis of a nullity arrest, detain or charge the applicant to court.

    “We are here so that they don’t use their powers to oppress us,” Ojo said.

    However, the respondents, represented by A.A. Bakare, said the engineers’ case was not rights enforcement action but was designed to stop government agencies from performing their statutory duties.

    “Nobody has indicted the builder; all that was recommended by the coroner was police investigation and if found culpable, charge the builder to court. The police have invited the applicant to ‘come and tell own your side of the story.’ Does that amount to human rights violation?

    “I would not want to contemplate that there is a law in this country preventing the police from inviting a citizen for questioning. I urge Your Lordship not to allow this applicant to pervert the course of justice,” Bakare said.

    COREN’s lawyer Abumere Osara said the engineer’s reliefs were not provided for under Chapter 4 of the constitution. According to him, Ogundeji did not prove that COREN had or was about to violate his right, adding that he was subject to COREN probe as a member.

    “COREN, a statutory body established by law, has the duty to investigate any of its members for professional misconduct. What the applicant is asking is to prevent COREN from carrying out its statutory functions; it’s like asking the court not to hear a case or give judgment.

    “Even the highest executives in Nigeria are not immune to being investigated. The only being that I know cannot be subjected to investigation is God or Allah Himself,” Osara said.

    The engineers are challenging the July 8 inquest verdict on the death of 116 persons in the building crash. Ogundeji and Fatiregun were accused of criminal negligence regarding the building’s construction. The Coroner recommended them for criminal prosecution.

    The state’s objection to their suit is on the ground that the applicants’ main complaint is not for enforcement of their fundamental human rights but to challenge the Coroner’s verdict.

    The state said the respondents were not Federal Government agencies, therefore, their action or decisions were not subject to the court’s jurisdiction.  Lagos said the engineers’ application “is a gross abuse of court process.”

    Justice Ibrahim Buba adjourned to November 2 for ruling.

  • Rector tasks engineers on national issues

    Federal Polytechnic, Offa Rector  Dr. Mufutau Olatinwo has called on stakeholders in the engineering and technology sectors to proffer pragmatic solutions to youth unemployment, insecurity and epileptic power supply using the emerging trends in engineering and technology.

    Olatinwo gave this charge at the fourth national conference of the School of Engineering and Technology of the Polytechnic. He also tasked tertiary institutions to groom great minds that could make positive changes and advance the nation’s technological capacities.

    “I challenge our institutions to rise up to this great task of which this conference is an avenue to fashion out tactics in moving Nigeria from developing country to a technologically advanced nation” he said.

    He continued:  “I am particularly happy that this conference with the theme ‘Application of emerging trends in engineering &technology to solving prevailing national Issues’ is coming at a time in our country when concerted efforts are actually needed to integrate engineering and technology into our national lives.

    The main and sub-themes of today’s conference are very much in accordance with the current thinking of all stakeholders in the education sector having realised that Nigeria cannot continue to produce graduates that could not blend and function optimally in an ever-increasing globalised technological environment.

  • Synagogue: Engineers urge court to quash coroner’s report

    Synagogue: Engineers urge court to quash coroner’s report

    Two engineers have gone to court to quash the coroner’s report which ‘indicted them for the September 12, 2014 collapse of the Synagogue Church of All Nation (SCOAN) guest house in Ikotun, Lagos.

    The plaintiffs, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, filed two suits numbered FHC/L/CS/1095/15 and FHC/L/CS/1096/15 against Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice and the coroner, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe.

    Yesterday, the plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, told Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos that he filed ex-parte applications seeking to restrain the police from inviting his clients for questioning in order to prosecute them.

    The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that “the findings and recommendations of the 4th respondent (Komolafe) as contained in his verdict dated 8th July, 2015 as they relate to the applicants’ indictment for prosecution for criminal negligence and recommendation for prosecution for criminal negligence by the 1st to 3rd respondents are invalid, null and void and of no effect, whatsoever.”

    They are also urging the court to declare that the police lacked the power to act on the coroner’s verdict to prosecute them.

    Among others, they want the court to perpertually restrain the Attorney-General or any officer under his authority from initiating criminal proceedings against them on the basis of the coroner’s report.

    Ojo urged the court to protect his clients, claiming that the police had been after them since the verdict was delivered.

    He said their constitutional rights to dignity and personal liberty enshrined in Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution were being violated as they can no longer move about freely.

    The lawyer said the police went to Ogundeji’s home, but when they could not find him, they arrested his brother-in-law.

    Ojo said the police were also at Fatiregun’s office in Ikeja on July 16 to arrest, adding that he voluntarily reported at the police station and was asked to write a statement on the role of his company, Hardrock Engineering Construction Limited, in the building collapse.

    According to the lawyer, the move to arrest the engineers on July 16 came a day after they filed fundamental rights enforcement action against the respondents on July 15 challenging the coroner’s verdict.

    Ojo argued that arresting them in the face of the pending suits would not be just because they raised serious issues for the court to determine.

    Judge Idrus directed parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of the applicants’ motions on notice.

    No fewer than 116 persons, including 85 South Africans, 22 Nigerians, two Beninoise, one Togolese and six unidentified persons died in the building collapse.

    Justice Idris adjourned the case till August 3.

  • Pilots, engineers plan proposal for Buhari

    Pilots, engineers plan proposal for Buhari

    The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers ( NAAPE)  plans to submit a proposal to President Muhammadu Buhari on how to fix sore points in the aviation sector, its General Secretary, Ocheme Aba, has said.

    He said the proposal to the government would reflect the views of stakeholders on key civil aviation regulations, flight safety and security as well as protectionism and liberalisation of bilateral air services agreement .

    Aba said the association decided to forward the position paper to the government to douse ongoing  discordance of tunes coming from various aviation stakeholders .

    He said :”  Our resolve to send the position paper is coming

    at a time when the new Federal administration is in the process of setting new agenda of reforms in all sectors of the economy.

    ”NAAPE considers this present state of animosity among various elements of the aviation family to be a dangerous trend which needs to be urgently arrested, less aviation misses this golden opportunity to take its rightful place as a driver of economic prosperity in Nigeria.

    “It is, therefore, in a bid to provide a platform for the aviation family to muster together at this critical junction of our national life that NAAPE is organising an Aviation Stakeholders Forum which outcome will be a unified and unifying aviation agenda for the Buhari government.”

    He further said :” It is pertinent to note that several other key stakeholders will equally present individual and group views for dissection at the forum.

    “The synthesised views which will be presented to government will, therefore, be fully representative, encompassing, and will no doubt act as active ingredients for the rapid and sustainable growth of the aviation industry in Nigeria.”

    Meanwhile, NAAPE will today hold a stakeholders forum to discus myriad of challenges confronting the sector.

    A former rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Captain Adebayo Araba will chair the forum .

    A former of airworthiness standards engineer at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Patrick Ekunwe, will lead discussion with his paper titled : “ Bottlenecks , shortcomings and competences in Nigerian civil aviation regulations .

    A retired air traffic controller , Sam Akerele, will discuss a paper titled:”Issues in Nigerian flight safety environment – An overview.”

    While, Capt. Adeyemi Dare , a former staff of NCAA will examine the title: “ Liberalism Vsp Protectionism – Whither Nigerian national interest: An aviation sector perspective.”

     

  • Ibom Power MD to engineers: ethics very important

    Ibom Power MD to engineers: ethics very important

    The Managing Director of Ibom Power Company, Dr. Victor Udo, has urged engineers to uphold the ethics of the profession.

    He spoke at the seminar organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) tagged “Infrastructure Decay: A case study of Akwa Ibom State”.

    The MD said: “Engineers ought to be at the vanguard of infrastructure development and management for sustainable development.”

    He urged engineers to “be involved in the technical, financial and public policy aspects of infrastructure development”.

    He added: “If engineers concentrate only on the technical aspect, neglecting the other two, the problem of infrastructure decay will persist. The problem of infrastructure decay cannot be blamed solely on corruption because Engineers also have a role to play.

    “Engineers should take responsibility for infrastructure management by shunning the use of substandard materials for infrastructure projects. Infrastructure decay can be minimised if there is core competency development with private sector involvement. Core competency development includes public policy analysis, financing acumen and the technical aspects of infrastructure development.

    “Private sector involvement can be either through Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) or Build Own and Operate (BOO).”

    The MD concluded that “to curb the problem of infrastructure decay there must be improved management and maintenance culture for sustainable development”.

  • Indigenous engineers can fix power problem, says Onu

    Indigenous engineers can fix power problem, says Onu

    Nigerian engineers have the capacity to solve the power problem, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu,  has said.

    Onu, an engineer, spoke at the  Academy Technology Dinner held in his honour by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE) during its yearly lecture, life achievement awards and induction of new fellows in Lagos.

    He urged members of the academy and other engineers to  contribute to the development of the power sector, adding that there is no way the power problem can be solved without engineers.

    He said emphasis on technology would, among other things, fast-track the development process that would create jobs. Technology would facilitate the rebuilding of the economy and also enhance efficiency in public institutions.

    Onu said the power sector is very important to the development of any nation, adding that economic and industrial development of the country cannot be achieved without fixing the power sector.

    On the event’s theme The Nigeria power sector reform: progress, status, issues and outlook, Onu said the  administration was committed to building the sector.

    “As a body made up of highly skilled professionals, you would avail the administration the benefit of your expertise in order to strengthen standards and ensure that as we embark on massive infrastructural renewal programmes, your contributions and commitments will become invaluable assets that will leave behind enduring legacies that would stand the test of time,” he said.

    He noted that the country cannot develop at the pace it should if Nigerians do not emphasise  technology, adding that engineering professionals have an important role to ensure this is achieved.

  • Don’t compromise, VC tells engineers

    Acting Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) Prof Jelil Oguntola has advised engineers not to compromise the ethics of their profession. He urged them to handle projects given to them with seriousness, saying professionalism must always be their watchword.

    He gave the advice at a workshop organised by the Osogbo chapter of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in the school’s main auditorium. The workshop is mandatory for prospective members of the society.

    Oguntola advised the engineers to adhere to the ethics of the profession, stressing that there were legal liabilities that could be incurred if engineers failed to take precautions.

    He urged members to practise the profession with care and seriousness, adding that a mistake made by a professional in his professional duties could be costly  to the society.

    In his address, the NSE chairman, Mr Felix Adeniran, praised the university management for its support towards the Society’s cause.

    He said disclosed that a senior lecturer of the Civil Engineering Department, Dr F.A. Oginni, has been appointed pioneer chief examiner for the group.

  • Expatriates threaten local engineers’ survival- NSE boss

    Expatriates threaten local engineers’ survival- NSE boss

    PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Engr. Ademola Olorunfemi, has said influx of expatriates into the Nigerian engineering industry is threatening the survival of local practitioners.

    Olorunfemi made this disclosure at the induction ceremony of new graduates of the Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan. He was represented at the event by Engr. Oluyemi Morakinyo.

    Assuring that the NSE is making efforts to address the anomaly, Olorunfemi said the association is planning to advise the incoming government to take the issue of local content more seriously as a way of assisting indigenous practitioners to thrive.

    In his inaugural speech, the Country Manager of Schumberger Nigeria, a major oil servicing multinational company, Engr. Muyiwa Akinpelu, who was the guest lecturer, said the challenges facing the engineering profession today are global in nature, adding that finding solutions to these challenges would make the world more technologically advanced and make life more sustainable, safe, healthy and joyous.

    He advised the inductees to be more proactive and not reactive in order to achieve success in their career, in addition to understanding and actively participating in public policy process.

    In his address, the state chairman, NSE, Engr. Rauf Salawu, said the society expects a lot from the budding engineers as they are seen as the symbol of development and better life.

    He urged the inductees that proffering solutions to the myriads of societal problems should be their primary focus as they begin their career journey.