Victor Duruamaku Owerri
A Professor of Civil and Geotechnical Engineering , Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State Samuel Uchechukwu Ejezie has expressed worry over the influx of foreign Engineers in Nigeria
He therefore called for the enactment of local content law for the construction industry in the country pointing out that this would help curtail the influx of all shades of foreign practitioners in the nation’s construction industry
Professor Ejezie who is currently serving as professorial Assessor for Universities in Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria stated this in a lecture titled “State of Infrastructure in Nigeria: An Embarrassment for local Content Advocacy in the construction industry”
He noted that the protagonists seem to have apparently succeeded even without government pronouncement lamenting that construction practice in the nation’s construction industry by Nigerians is so competitive that it has become an “all comers” affairs irrespective of educational and training background, professional affiliation or vocational calling.
The Professor believed that the proficiency and areas of specialization of construction contractors handling most of the small –medium sized construction projects all over the country are not readily discernible.
“There are no common parameters for their identification and many of them are manned by non-engineers as key staff. Whenever accosted by deploying unqualified manpower to site, their defence is usually anchored on the number of years they have been in construction practice and number of completed structures ”
According to him, this group includes all those that can rightly be described as quacks in the construction industry but who are highly patronized by the indiscernible private developers because their services are relatively cheap.
Professor Ejezie, extolled the qualities of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu as one of the nation’s foremost indigenous players in the construction industry.
He emphasized the need for governments to outlaw the practice of appointing non engineers as ministers, commissioners, Directors General, Directors of Heads of engineering related ministries and units in government.
Prof Ejezie said that Engineering contracts should strictly be awarded to companies owned and managed by Engineers,that an independent judicial organ made up of predominantly qualified and experienced Engineers should be instituted to work with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
