NSE seeks capacity building of engineers to boost local content development

The aims of Federal Government executive Order 005 and 007 would not be met until the capacity of indigenous Engineers is adequately built, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has said.

The President of the Society, Adekunle Mokuolu, who stated this at the Nigerian Content development conference held in Abuja by the Society, explained that the promulgation of the Presidential Executive Order 005 ‘for Planning and Execution of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts and Science, Engineering and Technology’, which was signed by the President on February 5, 2018 and Executive Order 007 ‘on Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme’, would not achieve their aims until Nigerians Engineers are adequately prepared to take up the challenge.

He added: “Also, the recently released policy on public building maintenance by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing all have their salient composite advantages for Nigerian professionals and therefore, worthy of our commendation. The question that we must begin to ask ourselves now, as professionals of varied fields, is – what is the level of our preparedness to take up these opportunities thrown at us?

“That question throws up issues about capacity building. In my opinion, efforts at advancing Nigerian Content must begin by addressing the issues of capacity building more seriously and in a holistic manner. A developed intellectual capacity is the basic rudiment needed for acquiring advancement in local content development. Therefore, there is the need for us to overhaul our engineering curriculum in our tertiary institutions, empower Engineering teachers and make more concerted efforts at bridging the gap between what they teach and industry practice.”

The NSE Chief also posited that organisations and government agencies must be committed to training and retraining of their Engineers to get them abreast with the realities and modern trends in the industry. He emphasized that Nigerian Engineers must deliberately strengthen their intellectual capacity, embark on technological innovations, as well as build alliances across disciplinary boundaries in order to maximize the benefits of the well thought out policies of the Federal Government.

He added that the conference is opening a window on the rural perspective for sustainable Nigerian Content Development with special interest in three broad areas of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, Utilization of Renewable Energy and Information Communication Technology.

According to him, it also offers Engineers the platform to espouse opportunities in the identified economic and technological fields that will benefit Nigerians in the rural areas.

He said: “As patriots, we have put the advocacy for Nigerian Content Development in the front burner for many years because we believe that it is the only sure route to sustainable development, self-sufficiency in food production, wealth creation and improvement of the welfare of Nigerian citizens. This occasion is suiting for me to also reaffirm that we will not relent in championing professionalism, as the enabling tool to achieve the above, be it in the government circle or in the industry.”