The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has declared total confidence on his nation’s engineers.
“I have a lot of respect for Nigerian Engineers, having worked with them over the years, from my time as Federal Commissioner for Petroleum, to the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
“Every time and anywhere I’ve served in Nigeria, we found it efficient and cost-effective to use Nigerian engineers.
“They’re very competent. I will ensure we utilize them as much as possible for our infrastructure projects,” the President of the most populous black nation said.
The President declared his confidence on the engineers at his investiture as the grand patron of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
“Today the President of the Nigerian Academy of Engineers, Mrs. Joanna Maduka, decorated me as grand patron of the NAE,” Buhari posted on his Facebook page.
Speaking at the investiture of the President at the Villa, Mrs Maduka, said Buhari’s appointment was in line with Article 7.0 of the academy’s constitution.
According to her, the constitution provides for the appointment of a Grand Patron to promote, support and protect the activities of the academy.
She said the academy was convinced that the Buhari administration had the capacity to raise Nigeria’s standing amongst the comity of developed nations through the funding and exploitation of the gains of science and technology.
“We are highly delighted at the desire of your administration to address the infrastructural deficit in our country.
“This effort is very germane to the development of our nation. For this to be done effectively and efficiently, inputs are required from all cadres of engineering disciplines,” she said.
She stressed the need for Nigerian engineers to be adequately engaged in planning, policy formulation, consultancy and construction as well as industrial processes of production and manufacturing, while thanking the President for accepting the appointment and for appointing one of them, Ogbonnaya Onu, as a member of the Federal Executive Council.
In his remarks, President Buhari frowned at the sophistication deployed in the blowing up of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta.
According to him, going 70 kilometres into the sea to blow up oil pipelines with ease, suggests that some “professional associations with high competences must talk to their members to ensure they are not deploying their skills in a negative way to the detriment of the country”.
“How can ordinary Nigerians go into the deep sea, almost 70 kilometers, to blow up installations?” the President queried.
“They are not ordinary Nigerians,” he exclaimed while advancing an advice to the academy: “So you have to talk to your members”.
The President, however, thanked the Academy for appointing him as grand patron.
