Resilient engineering key to building sustainable nation -Prof Mohd Noo

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The Chair Dublin Accord and Governing Group at the IEA.President,Malaysia Society of Engineering Technology I.r Prof . Megat Johari Mohd Noor, said A resilient engineering and regulated engineering sector is a key to building sustainable and prosperous nation .
I.r Prof. Mohd Noor made this known in his keynote address recently at the 32nd Engineering Assembly held in Abuja .
He said although there are experiences of self -regulation in some countries.
“ In this countries, the code of ethnics is the determining factor to ensure the engineering profession is self -regulated”.
He said engineering professionals makes decisions that affect the public all the time , from small scale technical judgments that will influence safety of the environment to strategic decisions that may affect the lives of millions and the planet at large .
Similarly, He said there are
challenges exist to get engineering persons , employers and businesses to adhere to engineering ethnics . Business decisions may may undermine engineering judgment”.
He stated that a regulated engineering profession becomes a solution to the uncontrolled environment to ensure the consumer and public are well protected.
He added that Regulatory bodies are built to ensure that those who qualified academically and exhibited professional competencies after going through supervised training to practice engineering works.
“ Several models of regulatory practices are in practice are in existence alongside semi unregulated or self regulated models”. According to him, Some quarters in engineering believe that regulation is to protect local professionals from migrating professional.
He also emphasized that the fact that all regulatory laws are to protect public health , safety and environment.
“Mostly through registering competent engineering persons”.
He said “Developing engineering human captial with adequate regulation is a prerequisite to building a nation’s energy sector and infrastructure.
“ Thus allowing greater industrialization and technological advancement and consequently eliminating poverty towards shared prosperity”,he said.
Meanwhile, while delivering his welcome address, COREN President, Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, appealed to the federal government to consider the strategic role of the Council for re-inclusion in government funding like its peers in other sectors to enable it improve on its regulatory performance towards checking the incessant failure of engineering infrastructures across the country.
The federal government had earlier excluded 26 professional bodies and councils of agencies from its budgetary allocations for the year 2024, of which COREN is one.
Prof. Abubakar affirmed that COREN was ever ready to improve its performance in regulating engineering education training of practitioners and their practices in line with the global ethics and standards to ensure the prevention of the failures engineering infrastructure and safeguard lives and properties of the citizenry.
“The Council is therefore appealing to the FGN to continue to fund COREN similar to its peers in the health sector. It is our hope and prayer that the FGN would reconsider its position to return the Council into funding regime for the benefit of the nation,” the COREN Boss said.
The COREN boss told the audience that in response to the call on the council to rise to the occasion to check the incessant failures of engineering infrastructure, the Council was embarking on reforms in its various areas of operation.
According to him, part of the reform was expansion of its coverage to about ten additional critical sectors of the economy, including Oil & Gas, Power, Mining, Communication, Construction, Maritime, Aviation and Aerospace, Agro-Allied, Manufacturing and Transportation.
Engr Abubakar explained that to consolidate on the gains of the Washington Accord membership of COREN which empowers certified Nigerian engineers to work anywhere in the world, efforts were in top gear to acquire membership of the Sydney and Dublin Accords to increase the mobility of engineering technicians, technologists, and craftsmen beyond the shores of the country.