By Mandy Park
Imo State, Governor Hope Uzodimma, has blamed frequent building collapses in Nigeria on poor engineering quality.
As a result,he advocated that members of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) should be allowed to discharge their duties like other professionals.
The governor spoke, when he received the president and top executive members of NSE in Nigeria, on Friday, who paid him a courtesy call at Government House, Owerri.
Said Uzodimma “The innocent lives we lose every time there is building collapse could be avoided if engineers were allowed to do their job as professionals.’’
He then challenged NSE to, from time to time, intervene to save the nation from those calamities.” Uzodimma, who had earlier reminded the body that he is a corporate member of the organisation, reiterated his believe in the professional integrity of NSE, and his conviction that “everything about life and society is engineering.”He said: “For Nigeria to develop, NSE must be in the forefront, and be fully involved.”
The governor regretted that, over the years, “different governments have not given enough attention to engineers,” and that “quality construction will, no doubt, help the nation develop.”
He also called for partnership between government and NSE, especially in the area of monitoring and supervision.
Earlier, the National President of NSE, Tasiu Wudil, said they were in Owerri for the 6th Engineer Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu Lecture Series, and acknowledged that on entering the state, they saw that “the governor is doing quality jobs, especially on road constructions.”
Wudil commended the governor’s achievements, which, he said, are mostly people oriented projects such as roads infrastructure, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development, as well as women and youth empowerment.
He noted further that NSE is a non partisan body, and requested the governor to assist the organisation in realising its dream of having an engineering centre in Owerri, just as they have in Lagos, Benin, Uyo and Kano for the purpose of training young engineers, and providing them jobs opportunities.
