By Isqil Najim
The Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) made history on Saturday, April 25, 2026, as Eastern Province Chapter in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was inaugurated under the leadership of Engr Tokunbo Ajanaku.
The ceremony, held in Riyadh, drew senior figures from across the Nigerian engineering profession and diplomatic community, marking a defining moment in the institution’s ambition to build a globally coherent Nigerian engineering profession and to maintain connection with the growing population of Nigerian engineers in diaspora.
Among those present were the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the NICE National Chairman and National Executive Council, the Chairman of Nigerian in Diaspora Organisation, NIDO KSA, and the Acting Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Saudi Arabia, whose attendance lent formal state endorsement to what was simultaneously an act of professional organisation and diaspora cohesion.
The highlight of the ceremony was the Public lecture organised as part of the event. The Inauguration lecture was delivered by Engr. Adam Ayinla, a Shell UK Project and Construction Manager currently deployed on the Bonga North deepwater megaproject in Lagos.
Speaking on the them “Discipline and Excellence in Civil Engineering Practice in a Changing World” , Ayinla drew on a career spanning high-rise building design in Lagos, offshore structural engineering in the North Sea, and brownfield project management on live assets.
Ayinla, an alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University and Imperial College London and a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK, told the gathering that extraordinary outcomes in complex engineering projects are almost always the product of disciplined, consistent attention to the basics — not sophisticated tools or elaborate methodologies.
Shedding light on what he described as the three pillars of effective project delivery, Ayinla explained that Interface Management sits at the foundation of any successful project. “People do projects, not documents,” he said, adding that what separates a project that succeeds from one that deteriorates into disputes and schedule overruns is the quality of human relationships on site.
He urged engineers to prioritise trust-building and partnership over the mechanical enforcement of contract terms, stressing that informal trust is what actually moves work forward on complex projects.
On Risk Management, Ayinla challenged the profession’s tendency to treat risk as a bureaucratic exercise. He explained that risk must be made visible to every member of a project team and embedded into every task, rather than confined to registers reviewed at milestone meetings. Asking why repeatedly and relentlessly, he told the audience, is the discipline that enables teams to fully understand the nature and consequence of every risk before it materialises.
On Quality Management, Ayinla urged engineers to begin every project with a clear and shared picture of the desired outcome. He stressed that delivering the right quality the first time is not merely a professional aspiration but an economic imperative, particularly on high-value projects where rework and rectification carry catastrophic costs.
Ayinla walked the audience through his experience leading the accelerated refurbishment of a flotel and installation vessel in a Chinese shipyard, completed in four months against a planned nine-month schedule. He explained that the project demanded navigation of significant language and cultural barriers, careful management of job security anxieties among yard workers, and the alignment of a newly assembled multinational team around a timeline with almost no room for error. Summing up the central lesson, he told the gathering: cost is a consequence — the focus must be on scope and schedule.
Following the inauguration lecture, the NICE National Chairman formally inaugurated Engr. Dr. Moruf Olalekan Yusuf, as the inaugural Chairman of the Eastern Province Chapter.
Thereafter the new Chairman, Dr. Yusuf inaugurated his executive council, comprising Vice Chairman Engr. Prof. Dan’azumi, General Secretary Engr. Dr. Abdullahi Kilaco Usman, Technical Secretary Engr. Dr. Babatunde Abiodun Salami, Financial Secretary Engr. Durojaiye Oluwaleke Adegoke, Treasurer Engr. Dr. Bashir Alhaji Jega Labaran, and Publicity Secretary Engr. Dr. Adeshina Adewale Adewumi, among others.
In his inaugural address, Dr. Yusuf spoke about the chapter’s strategic direction under his administration. He pledged to use the chapter’s unique position in Saudi Arabia as a bridge — facilitating knowledge transfer, resource exchange, and joint professional engagements between diaspora engineers and their counterparts in Nigeria, with infrastructure development at home as the ultimate goal. He described the chapter’s proximity to a different engineering and regulatory environment as a genuine opportunity for collaborative research and innovation that could benefit both nations.
He said Mentorship is a critical part of his agenda as he emphasized that the continuity of any professional body rests on its capacity to nurture younger engineers through structured support and shared experience — a commitment he said the chapter would honour through regular seminars and professional development platforms addressing emerging themes including artificial intelligence and sustainable infrastructure.
Dr. Yusuf also raised the problem of structural failures and building collapses in Nigeria, attributing them to poor material quality control, inadequate professional supervision, and the unchecked activities of unqualified practitioners. The chapter, he pledged, would collaborate with relevant agencies to enforce best practices across the full lifecycle of infrastructure delivery.
The programme concluded with the induction of new members and the launch of the chapter’s official website.
The Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers, NICE is umbrella body of Nigeria’s Civil Engineers. with Chapter spread across the 36 states of Nigeria. With this inauguration the Eastern Province chapter become the first official foreign Chapter of the Institution which was founded decades ago.
The Pioneer Chairman, Dr. Moruf Olalekan Yusuf has established a distinguished professional career defined by his leadership in the engineering community and his global impact on sustainable construction technology. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). He hold top-tier certifications, including Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Cost Professional (CCP) designations from the USA, alongside his COREN-registered engineer. Professionally he has been recognized as one of the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists in the world, Dr. Yusuf has bridged the gap between theory and practice by authoring over 50 high-impact publications on alkali-activated binders and industrial waste utilization, providing the structural engineering industry with viable, low-carbon alternatives for durable infrastructure delivery.
Meet Dr. Moruf Olalekan Yusuf, the Pioneer Chairman NICE Eastern Province Saudi Arabia
