Vice President, Kashim Ibrahim Shettima has stressed the need to prioritise the use of local engineers in government projects.
This is just as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) pleaded with the federal government to exempt it from the non-funding policy of professional and regulatory bodies in Nigeria.
Shettima spoke yesterday at the 31st Engineering Assembly held in Abuja. He emphasised the need for the government operatives to look inward and use the local engineers for government projects.
Represented by the governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulu, the VP said, “My take home is that the very important thing we should work on is the local content order–how we can ensure that our engineers will handle all engineering projects in Nigeria—if not all, at least 90 per cent.
“In Borno State, local engineers handle up to 98 per cent of infrastructural projects. I think this is something that we need to do. There are many senators in the National Assembly who can sponsor bills, there are governors and their deputies. So let us put our heads together. We can do something on the issues of local content.
“We have very brilliant Nigerian engineers and it is not that we don’t have but the opportunities are limited. Go to Borno State, massive infrastructural projects are ongoing and they were all designed and executed by local engineers.
“There should be political will and commitment to drive this very important process for the growth and development of our country.”
Earlier, the president of COREN, Prof Sadiq Abubakar, argued that COREN is not a professional association but a regulatory agency rendering government functions of protecting the general public through registration and licencing of engineers, consulting firms and engineering firms.
According to him, COREN should be exempted from such a policy because of the services it is rendering to the Nigerian society.