Speaker seeks government collaboration with Engineers for infrastructural development 

The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, says it is important for the Nigerian government to collaborate with Professional bodies such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers to make progress in infrastructural development in the country.

He stated this at the opening ceremony of the 2023 National Engineering Conference, Exhibition and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The theme of this year’s Conference is “Re-Engineering the Manufacturing Sector for Competitiveness and Enhanced Economic Growth”.

Mr. Tajudeen Abbas who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu said the theme of this year’s Conference aligns with the government’s national goal.

The Speaker noted that following the example of other well-developed nations, the government has to work with Engineers to make any progress in technical and infrastructural development.

The Speaker added that the lawmakers were open to constructive dialogue with the NSE.

“This theme aligns with our national goals, emphasizing the vital role of engineering in shaping our future and anchoring the sustainable economic growth of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which we as the legislature believes in.

“The intersection of engineering and governance is particularly significant in our pursuit of sustainable growth and development. The Federal Government’s integrated infrastructure masterplan launched in 2020 envisions an investment of 2.3 trillion dollars over the next 23 years to bridge Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit. This ambitious undertaking underscores the critical role of engineering in addressing the nation’s infrequent needs and laying the foundation for our economic prosperity. The success of this grand plan hinges in the convergence of engineering expertise with effective governance” he said.

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The President of the NSE, Mr. Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari-Wudil who will be ending his tenure by the end of 2023, said the theme of this year’s Conference was selected due to the decreasing activities in the manufacturing sector.

“The theme of the conference was informed by the continuing decline of activities in the manufacturing space of Nigeria’s economy. Nigerian Engineers are concerned about the gradual erosion of the little record Nigeria had on her non-oil export performance in the 60s and 70s. 

“Many international conglomerates that bolstered the manufacturing sector of Nigeria’s economy at some points have folded up their businesses and left. We can name them – Volkswagen, Michelin, Procter & Gamble, ISO Glass, Universal Steel, Universal Rubber, NASCO Fibre, GSK Pharma, Tower Aluminuim, etc. Many more may go. The reasons for the gloomy situation are not far-fetched, they range from unfavourable and inconsistent government policies such as unstable foreign exchange regime, hostile import licensing policies, unavailability of constant power, rising cost of alternate energy supply, amongst many others,” Gidari-Wudil said.

The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule who was awarded a Fellowship of the NSE stressed the need for Nigeria to focus on manufacturing considering the abundance of natural resources in the country.

The Governor said his state has established an executive order where any company mining the much sort after lithium in the state must do the first processing of the solid mineral in the state.

“Before I came to Nasarawa state as a governor, all the Lithium mining was illegal. On coming in, we came up with what we call the executive order one on mining. And what we said on that is that anybody who is going to mine lithium in Nasarawa state must also do at least the first processing of lithium in Nasarawa state. Today we ended up having the first company called NANMAC Mining. It has established a three thousand metric tons processing capacity and that company is going to be commissioned in December. 

“We have another company that is also going to be processing eighteen thousand metric ton of lithium a day called GANFEN. And that company is going to be commissioned by the 3rd quarter of 2024. Now this first company has already employed nothing less than 1000 Nasarawa state indigenes working already in that company. So apart from processing lithium, the economic value is most important because we are getting the training of people from Nasarawa state so that they can understand the aspect not just on mining but the manufacturing aspect of it.

“We have also established a company for granite and marble,” Sule said.

The Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Society of Engineers NSE started on Tuesday, November 28.

The meeting will have in-depth discussions and presentations on how to develop the manufacturing sector of the economy for national development.

The event which will end on December 1st will have in attendance industry experts in the engineering and manufacturing sector.

At the end of the conference, communique will be sent to the President and released to the public.

At the opening ceremony, 6 individuals were granted fellowship of the Society including the Nigerian Vice President, Kashim Shetimma, who was given an Honorary fellowship.

Present at the opening ceremony were Representative of the President of the Senate, representative of the Minister of Works and members of the National Assembly.

Representatives of the Engineering professional bodies of Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone were in attendance.