By Abisola THOMPSON
The President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr Adekunle Mokuolu, on Thursday tasked civil engineers to champion the war against quacks infiltrating the profession.
Mokuolu gave the charge at the investiture ceremony of Mrs Aishatu Umar as the 16th National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE).
He said that the activities of quacks had infiltrated the construction industry in particular, adding that they were threatening lives and property, while posing a big threat to the image of the engineering profession.
The NSE president urged the new leadership of NICE to “champion the war against unscrupulous elements that have been unleashed on the unsuspecting public.’’
Mokuolu, who described Aishatu, the new NICE national chairman as an astute engineer, admonished her to achieve excellence not only in capacity building, also in advocacies and acquisition of assets.
“I also challenge NICE in particular, and all our other related divisions, to identify the problems affecting their various sectors under their purview, and come up with possible solutions.’’ Mokuolu said.
Responding, Aishatu said that her primary focus as the new chairman would be to ensure and maintain the unity, peace and progress of the institution.
She said that her action-plan during her tenure would be to ensure that the Abuja secretariat had enough competent secretarial staff to meet the growing needs of members.
The new NICE boss further listed other action-plan to include intensifying efforts on membership financial update and drive.
“We also intend to spread our revenue dragnets to workshops, seminars, public lectures, journal production and software training.
“I will look into the possibility of reinvigorating the activities of the NICE Ventures Ltd. to help boost our financial base,’’ she said.
Aishatu said that as part of her action-plan, her administration would focus on tracking and legalising the ownership of all NICE landed property.
She said that the continuing professional development of its members would be her principal focus.
The lecture at the investiture was titled: “Civil Engineering Practice in the 21st Century: A podium for jobs creation.”
The lecture was delivered by Mr Mohammed Jibrin, the Director- General, National Board for Technical Incubation.
Jibrin tasked NICE on the need to facilitate greater synergy in enhancing competitiveness in products and services.
He called for the establishment of a working relationship between government, industries and academia for policy directions that would go in line with the nation’s industrial focus.
The immediate outgoing Chairman of the NICE, Mr Andem Bassey expressed appreciation for the encouragement and support given him during his tenure.
He said that during his tenure, the institution was able to relocate the NICE headquarters from Lagos to Abuja.
He said that among other achievements, his team successfully brought back due process in appointments and the implementation of all NICE programmes.
