A 68th Birthday Tribute to Engr. Kashim Abdul Ali, FNSE, mni, The Man Who Gave COREN Its Most Significant Modern Amendment — and Took Nigerian Engineering to the World
By Isqil Najim
Today, June 10, 2026, Nigeria’s engineering community marks the birthday of one of its most consequential figures, a man whose legacy is written in every places he had opportunity to serve and the global platforms onto which he carried Nigeria’s engineering flag. Engr. Kashim Abdul Ali, FNSE, mni who hails from in Ofugo, Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, turns 68 today,
Years ago, a young man from Ankpa had set his sights to become a military fighter pilot. A false blood genotype result closed that door. What followed was a redirection. He enrolled at Kaduna Polytechnic for a Higher National Diploma, then proceeded to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering, from where he charted a course toward a career of uncommon distinction.
In 1982, professional practice began with the Benue State Government. Among his earliest assignments: the direct-labour construction of a 54-metre reinforced concrete bridge at Ikpa-Mbatierev on the Wannune-Igbor Road, and the design and construction of erosion control structures along the heavily eroded Anyigba-Idah Road in Kogi State. These field assignments, were to become significance in his later years as a regulator.
By 1992, he had joined the Federal Capital Development Authority as a Principal Engineer, bringing his expertise to a capital city still in formation. When he was appointed Director and Chief Executive of the FCT Water Board in 2005, he inherited a utility weighed down by debt and public frustration. Within his first year, the Water Board had moved from deficit to surplus. He repeated the performance in 2012, returning the stalled Abuja Rail Mass Transit project to its planned schedule. These were early signals of what would become his most defining quality: the capacity to transform distressed institutions.
The Amendment That Began With a personal request
It is in the story of the COREN Act amendment and his leadership of Engineering institutions that Engr. Ali’s most enduring contribution will be found and the circumstances under which it was set in motion reveal the character of the man.
At his 2008 investiture as the 26th President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, his friends had just surprised him with the gift of a brand-new Toyota Prado SUV. When Senator Engr. Chief Adefemi Kila, FNSE a distinguished legislator and longtime ally offered him any personal gift of his choice to mark the auspicious occasion, Engr. Ali declined. He made, instead a single request: that the senator sponsor an amendment to the COREN Act — a gift, he specified, not for himself, but for the entire engineering profession.
What followed was a legislative undertaking spanning years, marked by procedural setbacks, political headwinds, and the endurance that Nigeria’s lawmaking process routinely demands. By the time Engr. Ali assumed the presidency of COREN in 2013, the amendment remained unresolved. He picked it up and carried it forward with the same methodical resolve that had characterised his entire career.
The reform eventually materialised under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, a landmark moment representing one of the most significant regulatory milestones in Nigerian engineering history. The amended Act gave COREN more powers to prosecute quackery, enforce professional standards, and fulfil its mandate as a credible regulatory body. All these began with one man choosing to use a moment of personal celebration as an act of institutional service to Engineering.
Nigeria on the World Engineering Stage
As COREN President, Engr. Ali championed the development of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) for Nigerian engineering undergraduates, a foundational prerequisite for global alignment. His target was the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) framework, which cross-validates engineering qualifications worldwide through three instruments: the Washington Accord for Engineers, the Dublin Accord for Technologists, and the Sydney Accord for Technicians.
“Engineering standards being universal, every nation desiring a rating and recognition must subject its training and certification processes to open international scrutiny,” he told ThisDay in 2022. Under his stewardship, COREN’s curriculum standards and accreditation processes were realigned toward these global benchmarks to advance Nigeria’s standing in the international engineering order. This will eventually culminated into Nigeria being admitted into provisional signatory of Washington Accord under the Presidency of Engr Ali Rabiu, FNSE. Before then. Engr Ali’s tenure has signed MoUs that opened door for Nigerian Engineers certified by COREN to practice in over 40 countries in Asia
His expertise has been deployed at the highest levels of Nigeria’s economic planning. He served on the Vision 20:2020 Steering and Implementation Committee, chairing its sub-committee on physical infrastructure. He co-chaired the Infrastructure Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), contributed to the Policy Support Group of the Economic Management Team, and sat on the boards of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).
His diagnosis of Nigeria’s infrastructure delivery failures has been characteristically blunt. He has argued that the Federal Ministry of Works, by functioning as both policy formulator and implementation agency, perpetuates the very inefficiencies it should be correcting. His long-standing proposal for a dedicated Federal Road Authority and Federal Roads Fund remains a credible blueprint that continues to await the political will it deserves.
Engr. Ali has been a consistent champion for the rights of engineers, utilizing his tenure at both the NSE and COREN to advocate for critical industry issues. Among them are combating corruption, poverty, and unemployment within the profession, while actively opposing the NYSC’s practice of posting engineering graduates to teach in schools. He championed the cause of contractors with unpaid federal government invoices and defended the rights of HND holders and technologists to ascend to the highest echelons of their careers. On the HND issue specifically, he authored many letters to the Head of Service, advocating for technologists to be permitted to progress to Grade Level 17
For all his national and international standing, Engr. Ali has never drifted from the community that shaped him. In 2019, when the NNPC and the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) held a Girl-Child STEM empowerment event tagged “Invent it build it”, Engr Ali was honoured by naming both the science laboratory under construction at LEA Primary School and a new scholarship programme in his honour — the Engr. Kashim Ali Engineering Scholarships for Girls. He responded by facilitating the donation of school uniforms and HP laptops for student competition winners. A man who had climbed to the summit of his profession, he came home with gifts for school children.
His community has recognised him with the traditional titles of Olimene-Ata, conferred by the Attah Igala, and Galadima Ankpa, by the Eje of Ankpa. He holds the mni post-nominal following studies at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru — a fitting convergence of engineering mastery and national governance.
What unifies every chapter of Engr. Kashim Abdul Ali’s career is a consistent conviction: that the deepest infrastructure a nation can build is the integrity of its institutions.
For his many sacrifices and leadership, he has was awarded honour both home and abroad including a National honour by the Federal Republic of Nigeria and countless awards locally. At international level, he is a recipient of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Presidential Gold Medal. He served on the governing board of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre (ISTIC) for South-South Cooperation under UNESCO, and holds membership of the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
Today, at 68, he adds another year to a career of uncommon purpose. he remain active within Engineering policy, infrastructures and practices. The international standards he pursued continue to define what Nigerian engineering must become.
Happy Birthday, Engr. Kashim Abdul Ali, FNSE, mni. From every engineer whose practice is protected by the law you helped forge, and from every young Nigerian who may one day benefit from a world that measures this country’s engineering qualifications as worthy — thank you.
Isqil Najim can be reached on LinkedIn HERE
Promoting Strategic Alliance Among Engineering Professionals: Amended COREN Act by Engr. Kashim Ali
What a man! Nigeria has many unsung heroes and we want to hear more them. Thank you Engr. Ali for your services to the nation.