The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa, has called on the Nigerian Government to accord local engineers more recognition and support for their passion, industry and resilience.
Dr Opeifa spoke while receiving the leadership of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, led by Mrs Margaret Aina Oguntala, FNSE, who was in his office on a courtesy visit.
According to him, “if the Nigerian Government could invest more on our local engineers, we would be saving the country billions of dollars.
Citing the example of the NRC, Dr Opeifa said “the corporation’s local engineers have continued to save the country huge foreign exchange as they continue to improvise in keeping the corporation’s rolling stocks moving.”
“The Nigerian Railway Corporation is blessed with the very best of our local engineers. They have a good work ethics and despite the absence of necessary working tools, they have continued to use their blood, brain, sweat and cerebrospinal fluid to keep the railway systems working,” Dr Opeifa said.
He noted that the corporation’s engineers went beyond standard procedures to keep the Nigerian Railway running despite limited funding.
“They have continued to demonstrate capacity. They have shown that they can build rail tracks, fix locomotive engines and do much more. Our female engineers are very passionate and compete with their male counterparts just to contribute to the smooth operations of the railway,” he stated.
Dr Opeifa said from the Kaduna bomb attacks and the very recent train incident at Asham, the NRC engineers were the ones who prevented the Government from awarding any contract “to re-rail, recover and evacuate our trains.
“Beyond collecting materials from our supplies, we have sustained our operations through the ingenuity of our engineers, be it civil, mechanical, electrical, signals and telecommunications engineers,” he added.
Dr Opeifa urged the NSE to continue to draw the attention of the government to funding gaps and the need to support local engineers as their members have continued to prove their mettle in national development.
Best in the World
Dr Opeifa said he was confident that given the necessary backing, Nigeria engineers can rank among the best in the world.
He said the NRC was blessed with both male and female engineers who can hold their own in their areas of specialisation.
Dr Opeifa stated that with the amendment to the corporation’s law which has moved railway from exclusive to concurrent list, the NRC engineers are now in hot demand as they are being poached by states and regional development commissions that have started taking more than passing interest in rail transportation.
Earlier, Oguntala, who is the 34th President and first female President of the Society applauded the NRC Managing Director for the positive transformation of the railway transportation.
She said Dt Opeifa has reawakened a strong consciousness of work ethics with focus on ensuring value for money which was resulting in effective and efficient service delivery.
“Your commitment to enhancing transparency in railway administration is noteworthy and we applaud this efforts. This direction inspires confidence and aligns closely with our shared aspirations for a better and more accountable Nigeria,” she said.
Annual General Meeting
Oguntala said she has come to personally invite the NRC boss to attend its flagship event which is the 2025 International Engineering Conference, Exhibition and Annual General Meeting with the theme: Engineering Innovation for a sustainable blue economy, which is coming up from December 1 to 5, 2025 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
“As the largest engineering gathering in sub-Saharan Africa, the conference attracts over 8,000 participants from Nigeria and across the globe comprising engineers, policy makers, industry stakeholders, academics and development partners,” she said.
Oguntala said the NSE has a membership of over 71,742,000 engineers, with 93 branches across Nigeria and the diaspora and 25 specialised divisions.
She said that Nigeria continues to play leading role in global engineering leadership with the successful completion of an NSE Past President as President World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO).
Among Oguntala team members are; Odunayo Bamodu, Dr Uche Obiajulu, Femi John Adedotun, FNSE, Iyiola Olaoye, and Oyekemi Oyetunji among others.
Confidence Okwuchi