COREN moves to end building collapse

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has said it will soon commence the enforcement of a new act that empowers the body to end the increasing rate of building collapse in the country.

The President of COREN, Engineer Ali Alimasuya Rabiu, disclosed this recently in Auchi, Edo state, at the second annual “Engineer Kashim Ali Distinguished Lecture Series” titled: “Agricultural Mechanisation and Food Production for Youth Empowerment: Engineering Sustainable Development.”

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier in the year assented to the Engineers Registration Amendment Act (2019) to address the menace of building collapse and other cases of engineering failure in the country.

The new law grants COREN the power to prosecute any person or firm that contravenes the provisions of this act in a court of competent jurisdiction; regulate industrial training schemes among engineering practitioners and students.

Rabiu said COREN had recorded many successes due to the instrumentality of the new law.

He said: “We are worried about building collapse in the country, but  has given us a new law that empowers us to create more departments for engineering regulation and monitoring.

“This will give us a leeway to be more effective in monitoring engineering projects. 99 pe rcent of investigation we have carried out on building collapse in the country shows that our engineers were not involved; that is the truth of the matter.”

Rabiu said to stem the tide of building collapse, the law had empowered the council to prosecute those who were responsible: whether engineers or not, adding that before now, the law only empowered them to prosecute engineers who were on COREN’s register as members.

He said lack of government patronising Nigerian engineers and their products as identified by speakers during the lecture had been a challenge to the development of the engineering profession in Nigeria.

“Nigerian engineers are good outside the shores of the country due to enabling environment. If our engineers are given the enabling environment, they will proffer solutions to our challenges. Nigerian engineers are up to the task if allowed to prove their mettle”.

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