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Nigerian engineers not responsible for building collapse – NSE president
Nigerian engineers not responsible for building collapse – NSE president
March 03, 2020 -
Engineer
Babagana Mohammed is the 32nd President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers
(NSE). In this interview with journalists in Abuja, he speaks on the first
World Engineering Day to be marked this Wednesday, solutions to recurring cases
of building collapse in the country and on other burning issues.
The celebration is going to kick off that day in Paris, headquarters of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The
essence of declaring the day as World Engineering Day is just to celebrate
engineers and engineering; because it is life, it is development. Whatever part
of human life is tied to engineering; no aspect of human life or activity can
go on without an aspect of engineering. So, UNESCO found it fit to celebrate
those men and women behind these accomplishments. That is why they declared the
4th of March every year beginning from 2020 as World Engineering Day.
When we mention UNESCO, it means it is worldwide as various countries make up
UNESCO. And for our engineering group, we have the World Federation of
Engineering Organisations (WFEO), and it’s been decided that we celebrate this
day in our various countries.
In Nigeria, we have lined up activities to mark the day. First, we are to
identify engineers in the engineering family. In the family, we have engineers,
artisans, technicians and craftsmen. I am the head of the engineering family in
Nigeria. We will celebrate those that have done well in the field of
engineering. And we are starting with 60 renowned engineers who have excelled.
It means I may not be part of it, although I am the President of NSE. Some of
those to be honoured are Prof. Awojobi, University of Lagos (the man that went
to the Supreme Court to explain two-third [2/3], the first engineer in eastern
Nigeria, the first engineer in Northern Nigeria, the first woman engineer,
engineers with innovative inventions, technocrats; these are the kind of people
we want to celebrate. Some of them may no longer be in service or even alive,
but we need to tell the world that they have done their bits. Loading.. Copy
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is a saying that, "You don’t allow your man to die before you celebrate him.”
If he has done excellently well, then celebrate him while he is alive. For
instance, the man, who formed the Nigerian Society of Engineers in 1958 in
London needs to be celebrated. What are the challenges the profession faces in
Nigeria? Challenges are many. You don’t remain without challenges; it is not
possible. Some challenges are germane. Others, I don’t even want to take a look
at them. For instance, most people, because of their mentality, will prefer a
white engineer to a black one; this pains me. You know why? The same Nigerians
will go to America, Europe, Asia, etc. and excel and come out with excellent
results. So, why the preference for colour of the skin? This makes me angry.
But maybe one day we will overcome it. When Nigerians start believing in
themselves, then things will change. It is just that many people don’t believe
in themselves. So, they find it difficult to believe in somebody else. Let me put
it in a proper perspective, people graduate here with second class lower, third
class and what have you and go to America and obtain first class and what have
you. Something must have happened to warrant those results. They just didn’t go
there and sleep, but the point remains that they started from here; a very
tough environment. I may agree that they have more facilities than we have and
are exposed to so many things that we don’t have, including the latest
machines. But I won’t agree that we lack knowledge. What is the implication of
patronising expatriate engineers? Let us be very clear, nobody will love your
country more than you do; take it or leave it. Nobody can come from neigbouring
Chad and say he loves Nigeria more than me; I disagree. The next point I want
to make is that nobody will develop Nigeria more than Nigerians. If I am given
a job to do, I will do it passionately. Assuming you are bringing somebody from
Cotonou, are you not going to pay him? But he will not be as passionate as I
will be because it is not his country. I have a stake; that is the difference.
How can we overcome the menace of building collapse, and how many of your
members have been sanctioned concerning it? When you mention building collapse,
should I laugh or keep quiet? Okay, let me laugh, but I will also talk. I am a
Nigerian and I want to put things in the right perspective and be honest with
everybody. Once there is building collapse or structural collapse somewhere,
the first name you will hear them call is the engineer. Nobody wants to know
what happened, who and who were involved; nobody cares about that. All you hear
is: where is the engineer? The engineer is the first point of call; which is
okay. We are happy that we are recognised. At the point of collapse, everybody
looks for the engineer. But at the point of building, nobody remembers to
involve the engineer. It is still okay and we are happy with it also. But as I
am talking to you, only two cases of building collapse involved Nigerian
engineers. Those are the ones before us. That will now take us to the point
where we define who an engineer is. You must define who an engineer is. But you
start saying what A, B and C are doing. If you don’t know what A, B and C are
doing, then you will lump everybody together and say they are engineers. People
lose their lives, we are not happy. But Nigerians are not doing the right
thing. Some people are building and are not using engineers because they want
to cut cost, but how much is our cost compared to loss of resources and lives?
How much is an engineering cost that you will dodge from even when you know the
implications. Can you pay for one life? So, what are you doing to change this
narrative? We will keep advocating that whatever you want to do, please engage
engineers; engage professionals who are certified. In the building industry, we
are so many, use everybody. When you have something to do with quantity
surveying, use a quantity surveyor, when it has to do with building, use
builders, and when it has to do with engineering, use engineers. It saves you
time, energy and you will get value for your money. Do you not you think you
have to go further than that; I mean checking quackery? Checking quackery is a
very difficult task. What we are now doing is that there is an association of
builders, craftsmen and artisans that came up of recent. We are now partnering
with them. They are people who are semi-skilled; we are reaching out to them.
We are assembling all of them to train them. There was a time in this country
that they would tell you that to get the best person to do POP for you, you
have to go to Cotonou; how is that possible? We are 200 million Nigerians. What
is the population of those in Cotonou? What is their level of intelligence and
exposure? What do they know that we don’t know? I am a Lagos man, tell me what
we don’t know in Lagos that someone somewhere else knows more than us?
Sometimes maybe we are not very serious people. But we are now trying to
challenge the narratives. That is why we have to start by training the local
people; the artisans, for them to understand the standard they need to follow.