By Kunle SHONUGA
The Executive Director (Engineering) in Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority (AIRBDA, Mr Michael Nwachukwu, has identified delays in budget implementation as a major challenge facing engineering practice in public sector.
He said the short timeframe of three to six months between budget approval and closure of financial year had left engineers in the public sector with little time to carry out proper engineering work as well as its implementation and monitoring.
Nwachukwu spoke at the 2018 Quarterly Dinner of the Imo branch of Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) where he delivered a key note address titled “Engineering Practice in the Public Sector, Challenges and Way Forward”.
Nwachukwu, a Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said apart from the poor time frame, ill-conceived projects was another major problem in engineering practice in the public sector.
He said most of government’s projects were ill conceived as some were based on political considerations. He faulted the current practice of awarding contracts to the lowest responsive bidder without reference to engineers’ inputs or estimates.
He said such practice would only encourage awarding contracts to incompetent contractors and abandonment of projects.
Nwachukwu said that to correct this anomaly, government must ensure that inputs of engineers during the process of awarding contracts and their estimates were considered.
He also advised that project initiation must not be based on political considerations which had become a trend in the public engineering sector.
Nwachukwu also faulted the appointment of non-professionals to head and supervise any government department. a practice which he said, had been counter-productive in project execution.
According to him, compromised practice in public sector and ill-conceived projects are hugely responsible for the monumental setback in the country. He said engineers were being restrained by government bureaucracies including written and unwritten laws which had made engineers in the public sector less productive.
Nwachukwu called for synergy among the NSE, heads of MDGs and project initiators on proper engineering ideas.
He said NSE and COREN should collaborate with Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) to ensure that engineers’ estimates were considered alongside other considerations in determining lowest responsive bidders.
He said government should establish a mechanism to improve engineering delivery and ensure that professionals with good ideas were engaged.
Nwachukwu also enjoined COREN to always ensure strict supervision of Nigerian engineers so as not to compromise international standards.
He said pupilage training must be enhanced through in-house execution of project and enhanced remuneration for engineers. He advised that research institutions should be encouraged to enlarge their laboratories to accommodate visiting engineers in the country.
