Nigeria must intermittently pause and reflect on her journey as a country towards becoming one of the world’s leading scientific, engineering, and technologically upbeat countries in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or remain backward and pitiable, despite its numerous professionals.
This is contained in a message of Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, delivered by his Special Adviser on Power Infrastructure, Sadiq Wanka at the Nigeria Academy of Engineering Forum in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
A 2019 study commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineers, that looked at 99 different countries across the world, showed that the most advanced countries were also those with the highest number of engineering jobs, highest wages for engineers and the highest gender balance in engineering.
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Unfortunately, no part of the report mentioned engineering infrastructure efforts by Nigeria. The development appears worrisome to Nigerian professional engineers.
For Vice President Shettima, the role of engineers in writing the rebirth story of the country is undeniable. For him, the strength of the country’s engineering capacity is inextricably linked to its economic and social progress
The Vice President’s desire for Nigerian professionals to place the country on the list of countries with strong engineering capacity is echoed by most speakers, including House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
The urgent need for Nigeria to rejig her engineering curriculum for institutions, which will conform with the speed brought by Artificial Intelligence, AI, was also top on the list of demands by the engineering professionals.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
