Gov Umahi proposes one year mandatory training for young engineers

[From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki]

Ebonyi Governor David Umahi has proposed mandatory one-year training for engineers who are fresh school leavers.

Umahi who made the proposal at the 29th Engineering Assembly held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Tuesday, said the one year course would help to adequately equip the younger engineers for the challenges of the future.

The governor, who is a civil engineer, also identified professionals in the sector as people with the ability to address the myriads of challenges facing the Nigeria.

He said engineers deserved regular training and retraining to be able to keep afloat with demands of the profession.

He called for discipline among the Engineers and urged them to put the integrity of the Profession above financial gains.

“I call for the training of our young Engineers and I propose the adoption of one-year compulsory course for our young Engineers and I am going to provide you a facility fully built and furnished that can accommodate 3000 persons for take-off in Ebonyi State and that should be the basis for qualification to answer an Engineer.

“We train our people in this kind of arena, we provide people that are of practical experiences, we provide expertise, they come there to teach for six months and the rest of the six months must be compulsorily attached to projects. I want us to radicalize Engineering practice in Nigeria.

“Mr. President, we need this Assembly to change our country, we need this Assembly to change our history. I have always told people that there are two things to chase if you chase money and you chase the profession, you will get the money but you will miss the profession but if you chase the Profession and its ethics, you will get the money and you will get the Profession. You need to cultivate an attitude of discipline. Discipline is key. The question is, is there still discipline in our tertiary Institutions.

“We, young engineers, need to cultivate the attitude of discipline. When I was doing my NYSC, we were going to work 29 days in a month, we woke up by 6:00 AM then, I was the only black man heading a section in the Italian company in Lagos – Ebinga pipeline project. We need discipline, patience, and patriotism.

“When I was a contractor as the party Chairman, I had a constant failure of the asphalt in one of our roads and I sat down and asked, how do I solve this problem and I went to the cement technology and I had to open the asphalt and I concrete it and put asphalt overlay and the water seepage top and when I started as Governor, as a contractor, I had about 3 asphalt plant in Ebonyi State, I could have as well been selling asphalt but 99% of our project are concrete base, out of patriotism.”

“When you go to sites, you see that there are black people that are doing the job with one man that is supervising (moving up and down) and we tend to obey that man but if it is a black skin we tend to disobey that person, what is wrong with our skin?”

The Governor further asserted that the cost of executing projects in Nigeria was the highest all over the world, and there was need for a change.

“Mr. President, this can make people angry but the truth remains that the cost of projects in Nigeria is the highest all over the world; why should it be? I have to engage and train our young engineers, 90% of my projects in my second tenure are done by Ebonyians who are engineers under direct labour cost.

“So, I would like us to engage our engineers, we have a lot to offer this nation, I will like us to say no to the cost of projects in this country, I will like us to say no to the treatment meted on our engineers in the various construction companies that are expatriate based, I like the payments that are been done to expatriates, some of them not even engineers, heading us to be reviewed to favour our engineers.”

“Mr. President, I am telling you that Nigerians can develop Nigeria, it is very possible and Ebonyi State offers that challenge. I will be ready to take up any assignment towards the radicalization of the engineering profession in our country,” he said.

Governor Umahi while advocating for the adoption of concrete technology in constructing Federal and State roads across the country, said it was durable and cost-effectiveness.

He lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating Executive order regulating the practice of Engineering in Nigeria, saying, it would go a long way to instill discipline in the Profession.