- Stephen Godonu:
The Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has appealed for public and private sector support for supervision access to project sites across the country. COREN President, Mr Ali Rabiu, made the appeal at a virtual conference organised by the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (NIEEE) on Wednesday in Lagos. He explained that this would guarantee quality infrastructure delivery for Nigeria’s rapid advancement. Rabiu said that every aspect of human life and industrial sector including transportation, telecommunication, power, aviation, hospitality, health and environment thrived on engineering hence the need to regulate the practice. He said that emerging technologies could improve the living standard of Nigerians in several ways, using Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and other innovations. Speaking on the topic ‘’Engineering Regulation in Emerging Technological Era”, Rabiu said the collaboration of stakeholders toward effective regulation would ensure quality infrastructure delivery across Nigeria while improving living and livelihoods. “With the recent signing of the amended COREN Act by President Muhammadu Buhari, COREN is currently organising a restructuring of Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) nationwide. “It is in this regard that COREN seeks the cooperation or partnership of all establishments and institutions in the public and private sector in ERM for effective monitoring of all engineering projects nationwide.
“To ensure value for money in engineering projects in order to accelerate national development,’’ he said. He said that COREN established the Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) to monitor and enforce compliance with the amended COREN Act standards in line with global ethical principles of engineering. Rabiu represented by Mr Yakubu Garba, fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) said collaboration for effective compliance to standards was key to unlocking the potential to keep pace with global technological innovations. “It is my hope that Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) nationwide would be given maximum cooperation and unrestricted access to engineering projects sites while on a mission to conduct their assignments,’’ he said. The COREN President listed some ERM regulation and compliance guidelines which would guarantee quality infrastructure delivery as well as create vast opportunities for mass job and wealth creation across the nation. Earlier, Mr Kings Adeyemi, National Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (NIEEE) also called for the involvement of stakeholders in the standards development process to guide emerging technologies. Adeyemi said that advancements in electrical and electronic engineering were the “bedrock of all emerging technologies“, hence the need for government to increase investments in the area. “Our government should create a conducive business environment for innovations to thrive particularly among our young engineers. “There is a need to invest in digital technologies and also to patronise locally developed innovations. The good news is that the future looks bright as new technologies open up new opportunities,’’ he said. Highlighting the importance of new digital technologies driving changes across industries to lead the 4th Industrial Revolution, Adeyemi said that power and telecommunications play critical roles in digital transformation. Adeyemi added that digital transformation would open up opportunities for innovations and rapid growth to help create value across organisations. He listed some of the new technologies to include robotics, machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligent (AI), solar power, battery storage, wind power, electrified vehicles, smart buildings, microgrids, among others. He explained that the world was going through a digital revolution “that will transform how
