Nigerian Engineers promise healthy environmental pratices

Engineering practitioners have assured of the resolve to adopt measures designed to promote a healthy environment and mitigate climate change.

Members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Calabar Branch, gave the assurance during a media chat with some newsmen to mark the World Engineering Day celebration in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in Southern Nigeria.

Ndifon Agbiji, the State Chairman of the group, said the theme of the celebration ‘Engineering for A Healthy Planet’ was a call on engineers in the world to consciously adopt practices that would not degrade the environment.

Agbiji said, “The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Engineering for a Healthy Planet’. For us in Africa, the earth is the only planet we have and engineering is for sustainable development. It is to make the society a better place which is the focus of engineering.

“We are focusing on a healthy planet because of climate change and predictions about the future of the environment given the anthropogenic event around us such as fossil fuels, land use practices in our catchment,” he noted.

According to him, “engineers must live up to the responsibility of making the planet a healthy place by putting in place mitigation measures to make sure that all of these – by engineering practice – make the world a healthy place. For us as engineers, we are poise to making the world a better place through better engineering practices.”

Fulfilling SDGs

Also, Joseph Ukpata, the immediate past state Chairman, Joseph Ukpata, noted that in 2015, the United Nations, UN, came up with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, most of which are linked to engineering.

He stated, “If you examine the 17 SDGs objectives, it is evident that engineering has some kind of bearing on most if not all. So, there is now emphasis for engineers to look inward and see how to make the world sustainable through these different goals that has been set aside by the United Nations.” 

The practitioners further disclosed that through regular meetings, members of its group are constantly enlightened on updated environmental best practices and ways to sustain the clean and green nature of the state and country in general.

Dominica Nwabufo