NSE warns FG on dangers of using foreign engineers in projects
By Isaac Job, Uyo
The Nigerian Society of Engineers has cautioned the federal government against the use of foreign engineers to execute jobs in the country.
President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Adekunle Mokuolu, who gave the advice, observed that jobs handled by foreigner engineers in the country can be better executed by Nigerian engineers.
He described the preference for foreign engineers over their domestic counterparts as capital flight, adding that the presence of many foreign engineers practicing their trade all across the country was not because of the lack of competent Nigerian engineers.
Mokuolu explained that the problem is lack of political will and the inability of government to harness domestic engineers to execute such jobs, stating that Nigerian engineers are well trained and have the capacity to compete with their contemporaries anywhere in the world.
Addressing a section of engineers on Wednesday in Eket, Akwa Ibom state during the investiture of Aniebiet Udoh as chairman of the NSE, Eket branch, Mokuolu said Nigerian engineers are intellectually and ethically competent to deliver on any engineering challenge facing the nation.
He said engineering was not a skill that is acquired and can be abandoned, but requires continuous practice for the engineer to become better, maintaining that capabilities, skills or knowledge not used gets eroded overtime.
Furthermore, he decried the recurring issue of non-engineers manning engineering ministries in the country, describing it as inappropriate for a nation that is still at its building stage, suggesting however, that since Nigeria is still trying to provide infrastructure, core engineering and engineering administrative projects should be executed by engineers before non- professionals are considered.
Mokuolu expressed hope that the current economic situation in the country which has resulted in the shortfall of the nation’s income would help to check the dependence on foreign engineers.
He said the situation would force the federal government to develop local capacity, adding that the Local Content Development Law came about as a result of Nigeria’s financial difficulty in the oil business.
