My Engineers Blog

Dear Distinguished Engineering Personnel, In line with the Federal Government Policy of single Treasury Account, COREN hereby direct all its registrants and other stakeholders to pay their practising fees/others to COREN through the Federal Government TSA . Visit www.coren.gov.ng click on Make Payment. On the Remita Platform, Click on Pay A Federal Government Agency and then follow the instruction please. Note: The following fields are important. Name of MDA: Type COREN and the full name will pull out. Select it and move to the next field. Name of Service/Purpose: Click for a pull down and select COREN fees or others Amount to Pay: Enter the amount Description: e.g Practising Fees Payers Full name: e.g Engr. Peter Awunde (R.15711). Make sure that your Registration number is indicated please. Phone no: 080...... Click Proceed Note: You can print this page containing the Remita Retrival Reference (RRR) and take it to any Commercial bank listed on this page for Payment or use your

In a comprehensive analysis looking at the impact of cost deflation on the global upstream oil & gas sector, Wood Mackenzie concludes that while operators are seeking an average cost reduction of 20-30% on projects, supply chain savings through squeezing the service sector will only achieve around 10-15% on average. In order to ensure projects are economically viable, operators will also need to focus on project optimization and adopt smarter ways of working with the service sector. Illustrating the need to reduce costs in the industry, Wood Mackenzie's analysis estimates that $1.5 trillion of uncommitted spend on new conventional projects and North American unconventional oil is uneconomic at $50/bbl. "As the upstream industry responds to the low oil price, investment is down $220 billion in 2015 and 2016 compared with our pre-oil price crash projections,” James Webb, upstream research manager for Wood Mackenzie, said. “In addition to reduced activity onshore North

Two of my final year students approached me and requested that I deliver an inauguration lecture during the formal inauguration of the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMECHE), University of Uyo chapter, on the above topic. The date and time of the lecture was acceptable to me and so, I gladly obliged and proceeded to develop the lecture by asking and answering a few pertinent questions as outlined in the material that follows. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING           Right from the time man was able to discover himself and his environment, and indeed throughout the civilizations, mankind has always used mechanical engineering in one way or another. Take ancient Greece for example, the Archimedean spiral, Archimedean solid and other works of Archimedes (278-212BC) cast a prolonged influence in mechanics in the western tradition, Heron of Alexandria (10-70AD) in Egypt was an important geometer and worker in mechanics, who through such works as pne

When 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed arrived at school on Monday morning with a digital clock he’d built from scratch, he was keen to show his teachers the fruit of his labors. Instead, he was pulled out of class and arrested for attempting to build a bomb. The Dallas Morning News reports that Ahmed built the clock at home on Sunday night. It’s simple, but demonstrates that he knows what he’s doing: it was built from a small circuit board, power supply and digital display, all housed inside a case decorated with a tiger hologram (he is 14, give him a break). Ahmed showed his engineering teacher the clock, who told him not to show any of the other teachers at MacArthur High School in Irving. Later in the day, Ahmed sat in English class. Sadly, the clock kept beeping, and a teacher insisted that she be shown what was causing the disruption. When Ahmed revealed the clock, the teacher took it from him. Then, in the sixth period of the day, the school’s principal arrived in his class wit

Association of Professional Women Engineers APWEN kick starts her 2015 National Conference in Warri with a Cocktail Party. It was a real fun at the Warri Country Home of the APWEN President, Engr Mrs Nnoli Akpedeye FNSE, FNICE, PMP, FMP, the venue of the Cocktail Party. All APWEN & "APMEN" Members danced and danced. Some Highlights of the event included dancing competition, presentation of prizes, wine & dine, among others. Below are some photographs of the event. Ibitoye Kilomode-mo Klm  won the 2nd best in the dancing competition. For more, you can visit our YouTube Channel to enjoy the highlights of the event. https://youtu.be/jqpQokt4qEI Note: The Opening Ceremony will be on YouTube LIVE tomorrow Thursday 17th September, 2015 from 9am. I congratulate the APWEN President and wish our dear Women a successful Conference. Signed: Engr Ibitoye Kilomodemo MNSE, FNIMechE, MASME, MASBE, KLM

The Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa has said that for the nation to adequately harness its abundance natural resources for industrialization, there must be synergy between the private sector and research centers. Olaoluwa, who spoke as a guest at the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) Council meeting in Abuja, noted that while some of the nation’s research institutes had developed a number of new technologies, it was worrisome that they had not been connected to the markets where they were mostly needed. He stated that as part of the moves to encourage the linkage, BoI had struck a deal with the Federal a institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) to fund any Small and Medium Scale operator willing to leverage on its innovatons for business concern. According to him, in order to facilitate the conversion of some of these new technologies into bankable projects, research centres such as FIIRO and NASENI, must package products in a language that would be

How can you keep your product — and your start-up — out of the dumper? The early hurdles of setting up a new business are fairly well known: choosing a name, setting up a legal entity, raising capital, evolving a product or service to sell etc. Having made all of this effort, it’s a shame that the failure rate is so high. 90% of technology start ups fail. Whilst some of these failures may have been inevitable, many fail due to common errors that undermine a company’s ability to survive, grow and scale.  I’ve therefore listed below the ‘top 3’ most commons errors I see when mentoring: Selling something no one wants Not just for start ups, this is probably the biggest problem when developing an innovative new product. It’s particularly true for technology companies since the products are often brand new, have never existed before, and therefore there’s no established buying behaviour.  In this situation you literally don’t know what you don’t know. Instead of embracing this f

The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has disclosed its intention to promote technology and engineering innovations of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). It stated this when the executive vice chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna led a delegation of top management staff of the agency on a visit to the NGF’s secretariat in Abuja, where they were received by the acting director-general, Alhaji Abdullatif Shittu.. Shittu commended the agency on its achievements which cut across all sectors of Nigeria’s economy, and advised that NASENI’s relationships with tertiary institutions and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) be strengthened particularly in the area of distribution of science kits to schools, saying the forum would be made available for the agency to publicise its inventions and innovations so as to attract patronage from the states. He said: “We are well placed as governors forum because of our position and that can give

In other to ensure professional development of all students across all institutions of higher learning offering Mechanical Engineering, NIMechE inaugurates student wings called “National Students Forum” across institutions to easily get across to student, ensure their professional development and mentorship during their school days. NIMechE has inaugurated several student chapters. And the recent one to be so inaugurated is University of Uyo in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Miss Glory Essien, the Pacesetter The event was declared opened by Blessing Ekpo, after which the guests were introduced and usher on the high table to signal the official commencement of the event at the fully packed PTDF Auditorium of the University. Chairing the Event was the NIMechE Akwa Ibom Chapter Chairman, Engr. Ekerete Usak MNSE MNIMechE MASSE with Engr. Dr. Obotowo W. Obot and Engr. Youngson. N. Ukaru delivering the inaugural lecture. Also on around are Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering Universit

Mr Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has tasked the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) to deploy Information Technology to fight crime.  A statement signed by Mr Bolaji Adebiyi his Director of Press, said Lawal made the statement on Tuesday in Abuja when the leadership of the two associations paid him a courtesy visit. He called on the associations to come up with concrete proposals on how best to deploy information technology to fight all forms of crime in the country.  The statement said Lawal urged the NSE to exploit the possibility of assisting the Federal Government create employment in the areas of infrastructure development, mining, manufacturing and agriculture. He said that engineers could also help in counter terrorism, since the activities of terrorists involved communication engineering.  He assured the leadership of the two organisations that proposals coming from them as experts, woul

The dwindling crude price at the international market is certainly taking its toll on the operations of local oil companies in the country. Most local players in the oil and gas industry are lamenting that the reduction in the price of crude has adversely affected both the federal Government and the majority of the International Oil Companies (IOC), which are in joint venture agreement with the federal government. They noted that the full force of adversities in the domestic petroleum sector has started to destroy the business fortunes of operating companies across the industry; compounding the gloom in the oil market to weaken the capacity of investors to generate commercial values from capital. The performance indicators emerging from the results of publicly quoted indigenous companies show that players in the domestic environment are getting increasingly overwhelmed by challenges peculiar to the local industry.  Across the globe, oil and gas producers are generally losing

For the past century, people and corporations alike have polluted our oceans at an alarming rate, killing tons of marine life and denting the economy and ecosystem rather recklessly. Dutch engineering student Boyan Slat has invented a cost-effective solution that can help us rid our oceans of plastic for good. His idea involves putting specially-designed V-shaped booms in the world’s major marine gyres, as it moves across the ocean the water flows under it collecting all the floating plastic. The solution itself is extremely efficient and is already making a huge impact. According to his site, theoceancleanup.com, a single boom could clean a gyre of plastic in 7-10 years and make a majority of the money spent back by recycling the collected plastic. As a result, this method would be 33 times cheaper than the current cleaning methods used today. As of today, the project has raised $1.2 million in crowd sourced donations and is a well on its way to reaching its goal of 2 millio

RECENTLY, President Muhammadu Buhari approved licenses to 65 Nigerian private firms to construct private modular refineries in the country. The companies were reportedly selected from about 285 applications that were screened for the purpose. Modular refineries are mini-refineries with capacities ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 barrels per day, (bpd) which can be assembled and separated easily for enhanced performance and efficiency. The decision to award licence to establish, which was taken within 10 days of his assuming office in June, is reportedly connected with the desire to see the increase in domestic refining capacity to meet local demand, thereby reducing huge import bills for subsidy. To construct these modular refineries is usually very expensive at and for investors to get their license they pass through very stringent requirement, What makes it viable? Michael Ighofose, petroleum Engineer speaking on an NTA Good Morning Nigeria said. It is viable because, lookin

ADDRESS BY THE COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS, COL. HAMEED ALI (Rtd) AT THE FIRST MEETING WITH ALL OFFICERS AND MEN HELD AT CUSTOMS HEADQUARTERS ON FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER, 2015 Good morning Officers and Men. 1. Since I took over yesterday, I have been receiving briefing notes to enhance my understanding of the Nigeria Customs Service. I have articulated some ideas to start with, and I have found it necessary to share these ideas with you. These ideas shall be the guiding principle and platform for a smooth takeoff. 2. First and foremost, it is important that we know where we are going. We can start by ensuring that we pick up the mantle of Mr. President’s policy thrust. Therefore, in conjunction with you, moving with you and fighting with you we will fight corruption and restore discipline through attitudinal orientation for effective service delivery. 3. We will optimally achieve the core statutory functions of the service, of revenue collection, trade compliance, and facilit

Our 2015 Salary Survey highlights the current work environment of our engineering readers. It shows that our engineering workforce is dominated by white males age 50 and over. One of the major concerns expressed by a majority of our responding engineers was the ability to find qualified engineering talent. One solution to this issue is to encourage diversity among future engineers and promote STEM education among women and minorities. According to our Salary Survey, only 2.0% are female and 7.0% are minorities. U.S. News & World conducted a STEM Index researching the number of students from high school to university that are interested or studying STEM fields, and the number of graduates entering STEM fields. The Index also polls the number of women and minorities in STEM. Brian Kelly, the editor and chief content officer for U.S. News & World, says that “People put STEM in a box, a nerd box,” and that it is not promoted toward a wide audience. Companies in STEM fields hav