Why building collapse persists in Nigeria – COREN

Engr. Kashim Ali is the President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). In this interview, he speaks on the need for government to patronise Nigeria engineers and why building collapse will continue.

As head of regulatory body of engineers how can building collapse be addressed?
Building collapse will not stop in Nigeria until we change our ways of doing things. Building construction is like a sick person and if you referred a sick person to a carpenter for treatment, it is either the person would die or continue to be sick. So building would continue to collapse if we continue giving its construction to those who are not professionals on the job.  Until building construction is given to engineering professionals the nation will continue to grapple with building collapse and its attendant effects.
There is a white paper which states that job of N500 million and below should be given to local engineers. What is your opinialon on this?
Yes, there is a white paper which states that such job should be given to indigenous professionals, especially engineers but this has not been the practice. As it is now, there is no preference for Nigerian professionals, they are exposed to the same treatment as the foreigners and there is no form of special protection for them. That paper was never respected right from the onset because jobs were given to foreigners instead of indigenous professionals.
But some say the reason for the  preference for foreigners is the belief  that most Nigerian engineers are not qualified?
The truth about it is that we were all trained in Nigeria whether lawyers, medical doctors among other professions but why do they single out engineers as people who are not properly trained. The truth about engineering practice in Nigeria is that like in all other countries substantial investment of national resources is in infrastructure and infrastructure are mainly engineering projects and because of the quantum of fund available in that sector, everybody want to have a piece of the pie and they go to any length to get it. Unfortunately the trained engineers are not able to compete in terms of lobby like the non-engineers because they are bound by ethics. For instance, an engineer cannot advertise himself but a non-engineer can do anything or promise anything to whoever that will give out the job. Even if our engineers are not qualified, is it a better option to give non-engineers the job in place of engineers who are trained? Many of our colleagues who had the opportunity had done very well. If you talk about revolution in Nigeria in some critical infrastructure, it is because of the inputs of our engineers. The card reader that was used during the election was designed by Nigeria engineers and nobody is talking about it. Nigerian engineers are doing good things abroad and are well respected.
Does it mean giving job to non-engineers is responsible for failed projects in the country?
Yes, that is why government has not been able to prosecute those people who handled failed projects. If an engineer handled any failed project, he would be reported to COREN and a tribunal would be set up to carry out investigation and if found guilty would be punished but the non-engineers cannot get punish- ed because they are not bound by our ethics. So when you see that nothing has happened to those who have committed heinous crime in terms of failed project it is because they are not members of ethical organization.
Does this practice lead to corruption in engineering projects?
Yes, it is still part of the whole process, the real reason is pecuniary, and people just want money. For instance, if you are talking about federal highway contract, it is billions of naira and where else would you get such contract except in engineering projects. You talk about power, road and rail projects, they are in billions, every engineering project is in billions. So the non-engineers would not allow engineers to handle such money alone and because they are in power, they use the power to take the job through pretention and forgery and when they do the job and it failed nothing is done to them because they are beyond reproach and above the law.
What do you think of  the appointment of non-engineers to head engineering institutions in the country?
The president is a beneficiary of the work of Nigerian engineers as Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) chairman, he used Nigerian engineers and they did not disappoint him. He should use Nigerian engineers to deliver key projects like NIPP, rails among others because the power project is too complex to be left in the hands of non-engineers.  Engineering institutions like Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should not be handled by non-engineers because it is not regulation as in law but technical regulation. It is taught in Engineering Faculty and not Law School. That is why you see a lot of anomalies going on in that institution. So the regulation should be given to those who are qualified technically.
What is your advice to the government on this?
My advice is that the government should recognize that they have a responsibility to every citizen of the country and Nigerian engineers are citizens of this country.  They have a right to be patronized, they are not asking to be spoon fed but to be given the opportunity that they rightly deserve. Every nation of the world that has developed invested in its engineers  and Nigeria cannot develop without taking that part. Any attempt at deviating from the path of using our own internal and human resources to develop our country is meaningless because there would be no sustainability in such developmental effort, so government must recognize engineers. Nigerian engineers have been  tested and they have passed exceedingly well.