In an interview with VON, the President, Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Engr Ali Rabiu has called on the Federal Government to adhere to implementation of the Executive Order number 5 recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, if properly implemented it will go a long way in building capacities of the Nigerian Engineering practitioners as well as contribute to national economy.
He pointed out that the Executive Order 5 gives preference to Nigerian engineers, professionals and companies in award of contracts in line with Public Procurement Act of 2007.
Further he said “The (COREN) Act has given us a leverage to be able to expand our sources of revenue and we are just starting to look at the modalities on how to implement the provision of this new Act” Engr Rabiu said.
According to him, the Act has also also allows COREN to access grants from multilateral agencies.
Upholding professionalism and investigating incompetency
Speaking on his achievements in the past one year in office, Engr Rabiu disclosed that before now, the council was handicapped in dealing with quacks because the: “COREN Act only allowed us to deal with engineering personnel we have on our register”. However, with the recent amendment of the Act by the National Assembly, the council can now prosecute any quack or individual who commits any infractions in the Engineering profession.
The COREN President disclosed that the council has taken up the case of the collapsed building in Owerri so that the case would not be swept under the carpet as investigations into the incident has commenced while culprits would be prosecuted.
He lamented that recently the National Sovereign Investment Agency engaged a company from South Africa just to advise them as their technical partners on how Abacha loot will be expended on capital projects and queried why a South African Consultancy service in Engineering would have played such role when Nigeria has qualified Engineers.
According to him, such action is a flagrant disregard to Presidential Executive Order 5 which he urged authority to rectify.
He commended the federal government for appointing engineers into top management positions in the MDA’s but regretted that there are situations where engineering consultants are brought into the country to handle projects which many indigenous engineers can execute.
On COVID-19 impact on Engineering activities, the COREN President disclosed that Information Technology has come into play as many engineering workshops, events and seminars are taking place online stressing that post COVID-19 Engineering events will be not be the same again as engineers will continue to tap into advantage of technology.
-VON
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