Council Seeks Exemption From Non-funding Policy Of Professional Bodies

The Council for the Regulation of Engineers of Nigeria, COREN, has pleaded with the Nigerian government to exempt it from the non-funding policy of professional and regulatory bodies in the country.

This is as the Vice President, Mr. Kashim Shetima, challenged the National Assembly to pass a bill to make it illegal not to use local professionals for government projects.

He spoke through the Governor of Borno State, north-east Nigeria, Banagana Zulum.

Governor Zulum said; “my take home is that the very important thing we should work on is the local content order, how we can ensure that our engineers will handle all engineer products in Nigeria. If not all, at least 90 per cent.”

According to him, in Borno State, local engineers handle up to 98 per cent of infrastructure projects. I think this is something that we need to do.

“There are many Senators in the National Assembly who can sponsor bills, many Governors and Deputy Governors. I think we can put our heads together; we can on the issues of local content. We have very brilliant Nigerian Engineers and it is not that we don’t have but the opportunities are limited.”

“Go to Borno State, massive infrastructure projects are ongoing and others were all designed and executed by local engineers.

“There is should be political will and commitment to drive this very important process for the growth and development of our country,” he said.

Speaking on the theme of this year’s event, Entrenching and Strengthening Engineering Practitioner’s Code of Conduct for Resilient Engineering Practice, the President of the Council, Mr. Sadiq Abubakar, said that COREN is not a professional association but a regulatory agency rendering government function of protecting the general public through registration and licensing of engineers, consulting firms and engineering firms.

He used the occasion to highlight the quality contributions of COREN to the development of Nigeria.

According to him, “the council see the non-funding policy of the Nigerian government as a welcome development as it will also give the organisation the force to regulate all agencies in the built industry.”

While allaying the fears that it would mean higher charges for the registration of Engineers, Abubakar said the council would rather begin to enforce penalties for non-compliance, as in the case of internal quackery.

He said; “Since quality engineering practice is germane to the country’s quest for development and the avoidance of the risk associated with engineering failure occurrences, the attendant loss of lives, and economic waste, the council wishes to state loudly that it should be exempted from the federal government no-funding directive

“I want to use this opportunity to emphasise the fact that COREN is not a professional association but a regulatory agency rendering the government function of protecting the general public through registration and licensing of engineers, consulting firms, and engineering firms
accreditation of engineering programmes offered by universities and institutions; ensuring and managing of continuing professional development.” 

On education, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) said it would begin the indexing of students in schools to ensure that institutions don’t exceed admission quotas for engineering programmes.

The COREN President said that “the council would ensure that tertiary institutions only admit the number of students they can effectively handle.”

According to him COREN would make oath-taking and induction of engineering students after graduation a mandatory exercise, just like it is done in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Abubakar said; “For us to monitor the implementation and enforcement, students must be indexed. Just like in medicine, if you are not indexed, you will not be mobilised for NYSC.

“We are going to work hand-in-hand with them to enforce it to the posting of engineers for primary assignment. We have also parleyed with the Director-General of NYSC.

“We don’t want to see engineering graduates going to teach in primary or secondary schools. We are trying to take our own rightful position.”

He said the council would ensure that whether in the public or private sector, the rules of dichotomies, regulations, and placement of fresh engineering graduates are well-defined in the civil service.

On the issue of quackery, Abubakar said the menace was caused by those outside the built industry claiming to be engineers.

He said; “On the site, you have civil engineers, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers; everything is correct.

“But, when a civil engineer is carrying out the responsibility of a structural engineer, that is quackery.

“If you are registered, qualified, and up-to-date but you are doing somebody else’s work, which you do not have competence in, that is internal quackery.

We are going to translate lots of these to non-compliance, and it has come in handy in the issue of IGR and non-funding policy by the federal government.”

Abubakar noted that the best global practice is for a regulator not to be funded by the people it is supposed to regulate.

“We were successful in Washington accord. One of the indices for assessing us in the last six to seven years is financial autonomy.

“We know that a regulator in engineering globally does not go cap-in-hand to the public sector to ask for money,” he said.

The COREN president said the council heartily welcomed the non-funding policy of the Nigerian government, adding that it would give the organisation the force to regulate all the agencies in the built industry.

The Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Mr. Ben Akabueze, conveyed the message via memos sent to the professional bodies.

Some of the memos addressed to the Registrar/CEO, Optometrist, and Dispensing Optics Board as well as the Nigerian Council of Food Science and Technology (NICFOST) read;

“I wish to inform you that the presidential committee on salaries (PCS) at its 13th meeting approved the discontinuation of budgetary allocation to professional bodies/councils effective January 1, 2024.

“The purpose of this letter,, therefore is to inform you that, in compliance with PCS’s directives, this office will no longer make budgetary provisions to your institution, which means that you will be regarded henceforth as a self-funded organisation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, you will be required, effective January 1, 2024, to be fully responsible for your personnel, overhead, and capital expenditures.”

The keynote Speaker, the Board Chairman of Engineering in Ghana, Dr. Kwame Boakye,  emphasised the need to mobilise and strengthen the Africa engineering resources to focus them on national development agenda for social economic transformation.

He said; “code of conduct and ethics is the major key driver for industrialisation on the Africa continent as no nation can develop without indigenous engineering practitioners.”

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere