Amendment Act gives COREN more power to sanction defaulters

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The President ­of the Coun­cil for the Reg­u­la­tion of Engi­neer­ing in Nige­ria (COREN), Engr. Ali Rabiu, said the amendment act  has given the council more power to sanction individuals that default in the engineering practice.

Engr. Rabiu was speaking at the 2021 Engineering Week and Annual General Meeting organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Abuja branch, held recently in Abuja.

“This is not like before, the new amendment act will sanction the professional engineer and non professional engineer.

“Engineers are now reclaiming their engineering profession due to the COREN amended act of 2018.

He said that, the recent amendment  Act has allowed COREN enactment regulations without external forces.

He said that the Act had also provided for enhanced opportunities for the training of practitioners, thus ensuring capacity building and recognition for local contents in the Nigeria Engineering Industry.

“Pursuant of its new mandates, COREN has achieved some degree of autonomy and can now enact regulations without the approval of any external person.“The Council also has the power for the strict enforcement of its regulations including prosecution for any breach.”

The council is charge with the responsibility of determining the standard of knowledge required by any practitioner wishing to practice engineering in Nigeria, issue necessary license and monitor conduct as defined by its code of ethics and apply sanctions required.”

He however, stated that there are lack of registering manpower in the registry of COREN to thrive our programs, adding that there is an embergo of employment by the federal government.

“Like you know very well, COREN is an agency of government and we are subjected to the laws and regulations of the federal government, to every rule they said there is an exception.

“So we are looking at the visibility of getting waver because of necessity from the office of head of service to enable to provide the needed manpower for us to be able us to move on.

“Recently we were in the news for trying some of our practitioners. We found them wanting of errors in engineering practice and we punished them accordingly,” he said.

He noted that engineering have code of conduct that is abide by the practitioners.”so if any engineer is found wanting, we will punish you accordingly.

Engr. Rabiu explained that “we are still investigating some places and once the Investigative pannel is true and establishes cases against proffessionals or practitioners the trabunal will look at their cases and the basis of their merits.

Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria Society of Engineers(NSE) Engr. Babagana  Mohammad called for a new level of collective engagement.

Mohammad represented by the Deputy President of NSE Engr. Gidari Wudil said there will be awareness that would guarantee a resilient engineering practice in the country.