Mr Ali Rabiu, the President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), has said that the recent amendment of its Act has allowed for the enactment of regulations without external forces.Rabiu was speaking at the 2021 Engineering Week and Annual General Meeting organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Abuja on Thursday.
He said that the Act had also provided for enhanced opportunities for the training of practitioners, thus ensuring capacity building and recognition for local contents in the Nigeria Engineering Industry.“Pursuant of its new mandates, COREN has achieved some degree of autonomy and can now enact regulations without the approval of any external person.“The Council also has the power for the strict enforcement of its regulations including prosecution for any breach.”
According to him, previously COREN has not achieved much in the enforcement of its regulations, including the elimination of quacks in the engineering profession, because of its weak law.Rabiu said with the recent amendment of the COREN Act, the mandates of the council had been expanded and given more bite.He identified benefits of the new Act to include rescue of engineering and indigenous practitioners from expatriate patronage as well as regulation, control, training and continuing professional development of engineering.Rabiu appealed to all stakeholders to join hands to ensure that the new Act was fully implemented and not leaving it for only COREN to handle.He, therefore, said that one of the challenges faced was lack of enough manpower to drive the programmes of COREN.Also, the President of NSE, Mr Babagana Mohammed, called for a new level of collective engagement and awareness that would guarantee a resilient engineering practice in the country.
Mohammed, who was represented by the Deputy President of NSE, Mr Tasiu Wudil, stressed the need to ensure that professional standards and ethics were enshrined in the engineering profession.In the same vein, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonaya Onu, said that the theme was apt considering cases of infrastructural collapse in the country.Onu, who was represented by the Director-General of NIBBRI, Prof. Samson Duna, said that there was need to drive sustainability in the engineering industry.He said this gave rise to the supply of equipment to tertiary institutions in all geo-political zones of the country.
Highlight of the event was the presentation of a lifetime achievement honours award to the President of COREN. (NAN)
