Issues
Boosting Capacity Of Nigerian Engineers
In recent times, Nigeria has witnessed a very high incidence of collapsed buildings and bridges at different locations across the country.
The development, no doubt, has elicited a lot of concern from many citizens.
A major question bothering the minds of many Nigerians is: Why is it that the country has not been able to produce enough qualified engineers to stem the menace?
The emerging situation has somewhat tainted the image of Nigerian engineers, particularly civil and structural engineers, some observers says.
They also note that for a long time, foreign construction firms appear to have maintained an unchallenged dominance of the construction industry in Nigeria.
Mr Oluwole Da Costa, a mechanical engineer, says that the dominance of expatriate engineers in the construction industry is probably due to the fact for many years; Nigerian engineers subtly exhibited some apathy towards construction works.
“Those who had the courage to venture into construction, rather went into consultancy aspects. Even at that level, the consultants entered into partnership with foreign consultants from the U.S., Britain and other European countries,’’ Da Costa says.
“Unfortunately, the partnership arrangement, which is line with the government policy aimed at boosting transfer of expertise via partnerships, was not successful, as many of the consultancy jobs were undertaken in overseas countries without the involvement of the Nigerian counterparts,’’ he adds.
Da Costa stresses that by the time such collaborative projects were concluded, no knowledge would have been transferred, while no data on the executed projects were kept in the Nigerian offices of companies involved in the partnership arrangement.
Development experts, nonetheless, argue that tangible efforts should be directed at integrating plans to develop the engineering profession in national development plans so as to stimulate the physical, economic and industrial growth of Nigeria.
The recognition of the invaluable roles of engineers to nation-building efforts, perhaps, compelled the Federal Government to inaugurate Presidential Committee on Strategic Plans for Engineering Development and Control in Nigeria.
The committee’s inauguration was part of a Federal Government’s policy designed to put Nigerian engineers in charge of all development projects in the country.
The policy is aimed at reversing current practice, in which a greater percentage of government contracts is awarded to foreign firms.
The policy is particularly hinged on the time-tested belief that a country’s growth could be partly measured by the competence and strength of its engineering sector, while true growth can only be effected by a country’s citizens
From indications, the recurrent cases of collapsed buildings and bridges across the country tend to signal a downward trend in the quality of engineering practice in Nigeria.
Against this backdrop, the Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) appears to be apprehensive about the development and is determined to tackle the menace.
The President of COREN, Mr Mustapha Bulama, considered it very expedient to convene a stakeholders’ conference last November to examine the pertinent challenges facing the road sector, in particular, and proffer solutions.
The meeting was also convened to address issues relating to the rising concern about the activities of unqualified engineers in the country.
The participants resolved that all the stakeholders in the engineering field should collaborate and initiate pragmatic strategies to deal the menace regarding the incessant collapse of buildings and bridges in the country.
Their concern is heightened by increasing fears over the structural state of many bridges across the country. This is because experts believe that some of the bridges may even collapse before their expected lifespan.
The experts’ apprehension stems from the recurrent instances of bridges’ collapse in the country.
They recall that in 2005, for instance, heavy rains caused an overflow of River Jalingo in Taraba, which led to the collapse of a bridge that killed several people.
The list of collapsed bridges and houses appear endless, forcing many people to question the capacity of the engineers who handled their structural designs.
Observers say that the incidents are often blamed on the defective structural designs of the bridges, adding that the development tacitly gives the government the leeway to award contracts for major construction works to foreign engineers and firms.
The Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, particularly stresses the need to enhance the capacity of Nigerian engineers so as to enable them to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.
The minister notes that the improved capability of Nigerian engineers will be quite helpful in efforts to reduce the costs of construction projects in the country.
“As government, we have a responsibility to help build the capacity of Nigerians in the engineering field and we are closely working with officials of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) and COREN in that regard.
“We have challenged them on the need to build the capacity of our engineers so that they will be able to compete with their counterparts in foreign countries,’’ he says.
Onolememen bemoans that fact that about 90 per cent of the projects of the Ministry of Works are still handled by multinational firms.
He says that this explains the rationale behind his call on Nigerian engineers to come together and set up big construction companies that could effectively compete with multinational companies.
“I have challenged the indigenous engineers to collaborate and form companies and corporations that can compete with the multinationals.
“What we have in place is that many of our professionals are still contented with just providing consultancy services,’’ he says.
The minister reiterates that Nigerian engineers and construction companies should bring themselves up to a level that will enable them to vie for big contracts.
“We are talking of the second Niger Bridge, we are talking of the Oweto Bridge; no Nigerian company is indicating interest in the projects because of the lack of capacity.
“This is not because we do not have the requisite manpower; it’s because the entrepreneurial spirit is just there,’’ he says.
Onolememen pledges government support for Nigerian engineers if they are able to come together and form synergies.
He also notes that the proposed cooperation in the engineering sector will boost efforts to enhance the local content – the development of local skills, technological transfer, as well as use of local manpower and engineering products.
The general consensus among experts and observers is that efforts should be made to streamline the engineering profession and make Nigerian engineers more efficient in their service delivery.
Bridget Tikyaa
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
