COREN signs MoU with ICPC

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) on Friday 16 May 2014 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to eliminate quackery in the profession.

Speaking at the ceremony in Abuja, both the President of COREN, Engr. Kashim Ali and the Chairman of ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said the MoU became necessary following the increasing number of quacks in the engineering profession.
Mr. Nta called on COREN to ensure that the activities of its members were regulated, and pledged the support of ICPC to ensure that non-engineers were denied access to engineering contracts. He said the MoU would help in addressing challenges of wrong perception where some unqualified persons were seen as engineer by members of the public. He pledged ICPC’s commitment to continually partner with professional bodies towards ensuring that incidences of corrupt practices leading to underdevelopment were addressed. Mr. Nta advocated for a similar MoU between COREN and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to ensure that wrong companies were not registered. He cautioned against falsification of records aimed at evading tax by members of the Council, adding that the Commission would not relent in arresting and prosecuting offenders. Mr. Nta called on members of the Council to come up with system design that would reduce corruption through good practices, adding that it was better to prevent corruption than to prosecute it.
In his remark, Engr. Kashim Ali, President of COREN, decried the negative perception of the profession to quackery, adding that implementing the MoU would reduce the menace. He called for full implementation of the MoU, adding that the Council was already in partnership with CAC to ensure that quacks were denied registration. “We have a tribunal in place, but the challenge before us is that offenders are not part of COREN”, he added. Engr. Ali said full utilisation of Nigerian engineers would reduce corruption in the system.