OpinionOPINION: AS BUHARI ASSENTS TO ENGINEERS REGISTRATION ACT 2019

OPINION: AS BUHARI ASSENTS TO ENGINEERS REGISTRATION ACT 2019

Ask ZiVA 728x90 Ads

In response to the recent collapse of a two storey building in Lagos which attracted negative attention to the country and led to the demise of some people including innocent schoolchildren, President Muhammadu Buhari in line with his administration’s adherence to lawfulness and due diligence has appended his assent to the Engineers (Registration etc) Act 2019. What this act seeks to achieve is to strengthen the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

In the words of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, ”The amendment now assented to by Mr. President broadens the powers of COREN with far-reaching powers of prosecution of infractions, regulating industrial training of Engineers, capacity building of local content in Nigeria Engineering industry”.

From all intents and purposes this is one of the most workable and pragmatic approaches towards holding people, especially engineering professionals accountable for the incidents of building collapse in Nigeria. It is futile to start recounting the numerous incidences of building collapse in the country or the damage done to our psyche and physical being, but suffice it to say that for once an administration has braced the challenge and decided to address the issue frontally.

Glo

This is not only a demonstration of a responsible government, but one that is responsive to the yearnings of its people. President Muhammadu Buhari has by this singular act shown his administration’s commitment to avert any future occurrence of such unfortunate incidents.

For the purposes of enlightenment and clarity, it is pertinent to note that the new law has granted more powers to COREN including prosecutorial powers of any person or firm that contravenes the provisions of the new Amendment Act. Such prosecution will be pursued in a court of competent jurisdiction, and the regulatory body now has powers to regulate industrial training schemes for engineering practitioners and students.

They are to further ”ensure capacity building and monitoring local content development in the Nigeria engineering industry through mandatory attachment of Nigerians to expatriate engineers on major projects, to understudy them from inception, among others”. Based on the foregoing we now have an engineering professional body-COREN with wide-ranging powers to restore sanity to the practice of the profession in Nigeria.

Before now it was an all-comers affair where quacks assume the role of qualified engineers and deliver substandard projects including roads and bridges with the attendant loss of lives and material resources. In fact they have done incalculable damage to our lives and the cost cannot easily be quantified.

With the newly assented engineers’ amendment act 2019, the federal government has taken the bull by the horn and it behoves COREN and other relevant bodies to ensure that the law is implemented to the letter. On no account should people’s lives be sacrificed at the altar of incompetence or negligence on the part of regulatory bodies like COREN.

With the assent to the amendment act, the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari has provided an enabling environment for the engineering profession in Nigeria to flourish without any let or hindrance. Henceforth, COREN and other stakeholders in the industry like the Institution of Structural Engineers, Nigerian Institute of Architects and Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors must work together to make projects in Nigeria safe and liveable.

The aspect of the amendment act which seeks to ensure capacity building through the enforcement of ”mandatory attachment of Nigerians to expatriate engineers on major projects to understudy them from inception and ensuring that all foreign engineering firms establish their design offices in Nigeria” is the right step in the right direction as this will encourage and enhance transfer of knowledge from the developed countries to Nigeria. Similarly it will help in the quality control methods being applied on Nigerian projects, and developers have a duty meet relevant authorities to ascertain the integrity of any structure. This will help to avert needless deaths and loss of huge financial investments when there is a collapse or the authorities come with their bulldozers for demolition.

In the same vein owners of properties must ensure that from the beginning drilling of boreholes and other ancillary works are incorporated in the project execution to avoid altering the master plan thereby causing unforeseen damage to the main building.

Again planting of trees around buildings should be preceded with the test on the soil texture, otherwise the growing roots can pose danger to the foundation of the building.

Experts have also posited that environmental factors can contribute to building collapse hence developers should avoid indiscriminate dumping of acidic substances near their buildings as this is capable of eroding the soil and affecting the structure adversely.

All these preventive measures as have identified by experts are encompassed as issues related to building collapse in Nigeria , and which the regulatory authorities like the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN will use the instrumentality of the newly assented amendment act by President Buhari to check the embarrassing impact of building collapse in Nigeria.

Therefore with assent of Mr. President to the Engineers Registration Amendment Act 2019 by the president, we are confident that a solution for periodic building collapse in Nigeria is foreseeable and realisable.

*** Chukwudi Enekwechi JP is an Abuja-based journalist.Kwechis19@yahoo.com

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

More like this
Related