Former President Goodluck Jonathan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Saturday charged the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to take decisive action against recurring infrastructure failures and the menace of quackery in the engineering profession.
They made the call at the investiture of Ali Rabii as the 35th President of the NSE in Abuja.
The event was attended by top government officials, professional bodies, traditional rulers and industry stakeholders.
Jonathan, in his goodwill message, described engineering as the backbone of modern civilisation, stating that Nigeria’s roads, bridges, power systems and digital networks were fundamental to economic growth and national stability.
He stressed that no nation would achieve meaningful development without a strong, ethical and forward-looking engineering profession.
The ex-President, who was represented at the event by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, said: “Our major cities have increasingly become sites of disaster.
“Avoidable structural failures have led to devastating losses of life and properties. While we cannot always rule out natural disasters, we must recognise that professional negligence is often the root cause of these collapses.
“This reality poses a higher moral and regulatory responsibility on NSE and the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria(COREN).
“You must transition to a system of rigorous compliance and effective response mechanism.
“In nations where regulations is sound and systems are efficient, even the impact of earthquakes is significantly mitigated. Your goal must be the total prevention of deaths through proactive oversight and unyielding standards.”
Jonathan, therefore, urged Rabiu to lead the charge for a more resilient and accountable engineering system as the 35th president of NSE.
On his part, Akpabio, reaffirmed the central role of engineering in national development and declared that “without Engineers, there can be no infrastructure.”
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