NAN-H-90
Capacity
By Monday Ijeh
Abuja, March 3, 2017 (NAN) Mr Otis Anyaeji, the President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has called on the leadership of the various divisions of the society to embark on capacity building of their members.
Anyaeji made the call on Friday in Abuja at the investiture of Mr Andam Ekpo-Bassey as the 15th National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE).
He said the call was to ensure that young engineers were prepared to take up leadership positions in the profession.
Anyaeji said the capacity building could be in different forms and urged the division to assist the National Youth Service Corpse (NYSC) in mobilising engineers to engineering based institutions for primary assignment.
He said the policy of NSE mandating divisions to submit incisive papers emanating from their national conferences for publication in the NSE journal was still valid.
Anyaeji commended the leadership of NICE for its input in the presentation made by NSE to the National Assembly on the need to prosecute building law violators.
“We have asked for a correct placement of engineers, visa-viz the entry points of engineers into the civil service in both Federal, State and Local Government,” he said.
He urged the new executive of NICE to constitute a Think-Tank that would come up with policies to help in reforming the construction sector of the economy.
In his key note address, Dr George Moghalu, said Nigerian engineers were still behind and blamed the problem on both politicians and policy makers.
He said the task before the country was to change from the usual ways of doing things to encourage research and capacity building in the engineering profession.
Moghalu also advocated collaboration among institutions, government and the private sector to ensure adequate funding of research and development efforts in the profession.
Mr Robbie Owivry, the outgoing Chairman of NICE, commended members of the institution for their support and loyalty during his tenure and called for similar understanding for the new executive.
Owivry said the major target of his two-year administration was to consolidate on the achievements recorded by his predecessor.
He identified reconciliation of aggrieved members, the development of platform for knowledge sharing and the support of members as some achievements of his administration.
Also speaking, Ekpo-Bassey commended the outgoing administration for the achievements recorded adding that the focus of the new exco would be on capacity building for young engineers.
He further said his administration would set up forensic unit in the institution to check incidences of collapsed building in the country. (NAN)
IMC/DO/DUA
Edited by David Onilede/Dada Ahmed
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