By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
The Council for the Regulation of Engineering (COREN) in Nigeria has approved the resuscitation of the mandatory Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE) under a new name of Engineering Residency Programme (EREP) which engineering students must undergo for one year at the end of their programme.
COREN President Prof. Sadiq Abubakar disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the forthcoming 32nd COREN Engineering Assembly slated to hold with the theme: “Regulating Engineering Profession for Shared Prosperity In Nigeria” from Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th September, 2024 in Abuja.
The Assembly is an annual event which brings together engineering practitioners and experts from from within and outside the shores of Nigeria for professional assessment, evaluation, discussion and over all sector growth.
He also hinted that the Council planned to ‘engage the National Assembly to seek legislative backing for its funding by the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, as provided for by extant law.
“This is a one year post graduation training programme for all engineering graduates of an accredited university or polytechnic, designed to meet practical experience requirements for the purpose of registration with COREN as a professional engineer or an engineering technologist similar to the practices of Medical, Pharmaceutical, etc professions,” he said.
He said all relevant organisations contacted had given their nod in support of the initiative.
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COREN serves as the statutory body of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the mandate to regulate and control the engineering education, training, and practice of engineering in all its aspects and ramifications.
Speaking to other initiatives being worked on, the COREN boss said, “In the same vein, COREN being a member of National Skill Council (NSC) was charged to drive the Sector Skill Council for Engineering, SSC4E,” adding that inauguration arrangement with the stakeholders had reached an advanced stage.
He said expanding the regulatory tentacles of COREN to cover the critical sectors of Oil & Gas, Power, Mining, Communication, Construction, Maritime, Aviation and Aerospace, Agro-Allied, Manufacturing and Transportation was aimed at achieving shared prosperity goal.
This year’s Assembly was earlier scheduled to hold in the month of August, but was later postponed by a month to hold from 2nd to 4th September, 2024 in Abuja due to the #EndBadGovernce protest that erupted across the country at that time.