By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, says it has lined up various critical programmes and issues for discussion towards achieving a stronger and more vibrant practice in the Nigerian engineering space at its 31st Engineering Assembly slated for next week.
Revealing this at a press conference held at the headquarters of the Council in Abuja on Wednesday, COREN President, Prof. Sadiq Zubair Abubakar, said while the keynote address will be delivered by the board chairman, Engineering Council of Ghana, Eng. Kwame Boakye, Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, among other dignitaries, stakeholders, and experts expected at the event, will be the Special Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony.
According to him, the “permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is the Chief Host, while the permanent secretary, Federal Capital Territory is the host.
COREN Engineering Assembly which holds yearly is designed to among other things provide a forum for continuous professional development of engineering practitioners.
The theme of this year’s assembly which holds from Monday 7 to Wednesday 9 August in Abuja is: “Entrenching and Strengthening Engineering Practitioners Code of Conduct for Resilient Engineering Practice in Nigeria”.
Engr Abubakar said in a bid to restore sanity and confidence in the education, training, and practice of engineers in Nigeria, the Engineering Regulation Monitoring, ERM, unit established in 1977 as an organ through which COREN could monitor and ensure compliance with its Act, has recently been rebranded National Technical Committee, NTC, even as State Technical Committees and Expatriate Monitoring Committees established by the Council were undergoing inauguration in 19 states of the federation to facilitate ERM activities.
He said the federal government’s policy on non-funding policy of agencies which also affects COREN as well as the Roadmap already established will among others form the fulcrum of the discourse at the event, including highlights on the admission of Nigeria as a Provisional Signatory to the Washington Accord by the International Engineering Alliance, IEA, in June 2023 and its implications to engineering practitioners in the country.
Speaking further, he said, “COREN under the present Leadership is being restructured for more effective and efficient operations and service delivery through promotion of professionalism, fostering of new, and strengthening of existing, partnership that would lead to positive reforms in the education, training and practice of the engineering profession in our dear nation.
“A roadmap that would guide the restructuring was developed through a participatory process guided by appraisal, reviews, performance assessments etc. It’ll ensure that the existing technical departments are strengthened and expanded from five (5) to seven.
“The scope of activities for COREN will also be expanded to Ten sectors including power, oil & gas, aviation, mining, maritime, telecommunication, transport, agro-allied, and manufacturing, in addition to the construction Industry.”