" The sad reality is that most of these graduates are becoming experts in negativity and why and how things cannot work..…”
..Isqil Najim
He went to school with intention
of being a change maker and a problem solver. He was told that if he can be the
best in his class he will build the best bridges, great automobiles and
railroads. He was shown the images and works of great engineers and scientists
of years gone by. Albert Einstein is just too exalted not to be emulated. The
discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton brought changes to science worlds, just as the
work of many more distinguished scientists, and technologists all over.
Then he thought of Bill gates,
Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur, Guglielmo Marconi and other
innovators who had made their mark in tech industry. He pictured in his mind a
glorious career path that can also bring him fame, money and respect. Driven by
the inspiration of these great achievers and the promises therein, he went into
school with resolve to work harder and deploy his intellect into study of
engineering. He played and watched fewer sports programmes; he limited his
social contacts and befriended his four figure table, calculator, and workshop
suit….
As he devotes himself in his
study, devouring books after books, sweating inside workshops and laboratories,
and grinding metals after metals on different type of machines, to hone and
develop his skills, his colleagues (in non-technical vocations) have extra time
to spend on clubs and other social activities. He has little and he spares
little. Drenched in his overcoat (most of the time), he learned to cope with
heat, oil and dirt while fabricating one material after the other. He learned
to dress lightly and live simple. He learned the concept of hard work and
dedication to duty. His trainings are all designed with such rigidity and
requirement for attention to details. Mistakes are rarely tolerated-not in
technical works. By the time he graduated from the college, he has sacrificed
most of his social life for the profession. Victorious, he knew that the future
holds better promises, and he set out on a journey to the world…
Out of the college, he began another
four-year race, where he is expected to work even harder and translate his
classroom knowledge into reality. The challenge is harder here and the stake
higher. He needed to work for his professional certification and also his pay-cheque.
With higher responsibility involved, he again fraternized more with machine
tools and drawings (basically his works) while the bulk of his associates are
those in same profession. After all said and done, the typical Nigerian
engineer is rewarded with lesser pay and put in a “dignified kiosk” called
office. He can’t go on strike, and he has to work harder for every level he
attains in his postgraduate career…
More embarrassing is the fact
that in today Nigeria, engineers are gradually being reduced into second class
citizens. Most of their works are handled by foreigners while most of the top engineering
management positions are handled by non-engineers.
The man who has worked his way up
to become an engineer soon discovers that that opportunity to harness the vast
amount of skills acquired in schools are limited. Most ended in factory as
operation engineer, maintenance engineers, supervisors etc; while most working
with foreign firms are performing tasks designated for technologists, craftsmen
and artisans. In this situation, the nation gradually kills most of her promising
engineers. A skill not used for long soon become idle and gradually lost.
Some divisions of engineering are
more affected and this makes me think there is need to revise our national
curriculum to meet the reality of our national technological demands. Of what
use is sponsoring youths to go through rigorous trainings, and spend the most
productive years of their life in an undertaking, that the nation have no use
of? It is like we are training our youths for the sake of it. We trained them
and then ask them to go out and fend for themselves without providing the
infrastructures and incentives for them to evolve innovate and contribute into
national development.… Even when they have the skills we do not provide the
environment for them distinguish themselves. There are many engineers who have
developed one prototype or the others but can’t find a way to commercialize
them.
I understand some youths still go
to college to learn automobile engineering (it was my first choice) whereas the
nation has no ambition to develop her auto industry! At most the automobile
engineers in Nigeria will be assembling cars and tricycles already made in
other countries. The rest of the jobs can be handled by the technologists and
technicians. And where some engineers has taken gallant steps toward
conceptualizing their vision for auto-industry, the policy makers have often
been found wanting. What happen to the young man who made helicopter? And what
happen to Nigerian domestic industry? The vast potential in revenue and
trickledown economic effect of having a truly functional automotive industry
has not been exploited. The nation appears to be more content at importing raw
materials even when we have an undeveloped and under-exploited steel industry.
All of which can create thousands of jobs for other engineering segments.
What about electrical
engineering? How many of these highly skilled are given opportunity to apply
their skills? As the nation reel in darkness and the businesses suffer (and now
the recession), what policy has been put in place to encourage these talented engineers
to solve the problems? It will presupposed that we have no qualified engineers
to solve our energy crisis, and initiate productive enterprises, but when you
take inventory of our homegrown professionals going outside the country only to
make great impact in their host countries, you will understand the extent of
the neglect at home. This is just as example. In telecom industry, electronics,
etc same stories are all recorded.
Civil engineering has been faring
better than others perhaps because of the nature of their works. However, this
doesn’t mean they are better. They have more opportunities than their
counterparts in mechanical and electrical engineering because most of the
materials needed for their works can be sourced locally. And because it seems
easier to set up civil engineering works in Nigeria than building machines and
factories to start electrical or mechanical engineering facility. With right
application of knowledge and mobilization of workforce, civil engineers can
perform wonder. Another observation is the fact that since pre-independent
Nigeria, civil engineers has been the forerunners when it comes to technology
development. Nigerian civil engineers
especially in the built industry, road construction have no excuse to cry for
lack of tools. But then, government has been overlooking them in many projects
in favour of foreign contractors. Many are not paid for their services, while there
are many abandoned projects across the country which all tells stories of
brilliant engineers that are laid-off due to redundancy.
Many (technical) sectors of the
economy remain underdeveloped. Petroleum sector however is doing fairly well
due to the strategic importance to the nation’s economy. But the sector is
still dominated by the foreigners. Railways sector is in comatose. Despite its
importance to the nation’s development, no single university can boast of
specialization in this sector in Nigeria today. Our best railway experts are
either old or trained abroad while the sector itself is only beginning to get
the right attention to thrive. The opportunity in the sector is grossly
underutilized.. It will look as if Nigerian railway sector has been doomed to
remain in the past despite being the pioneer in transport sectors and despite
it relevancy in Nigerian economy today.
Shipping industry is being
championed by the Navy and they are doing quite okay. We have couple of
fabrication companies that are making us proud. Aeronautical and space
engineers are trained outside the country. Many new technologies entering the
country are not treated in Nigerian universities and polytechnics; yet, we
graduate thousands of engineers in saturated disciplines and continue to wonder
why we are not developing.
When I first pen this article; I was
looking at a publication in which one of the State’s first ladies is promising
jobs to graduates in the state. The jobs to be created are barbing, fashion
designing, shoe making and jewelry! I cringe at the thought that among the
participants will be talented engineers and scientists with strong technical
background. God forbid that to happen again!
Here is a state with many minerals
and uncultivated farmland: A state with fertile land for cultivation of
sugarcane. In their cluelessness and lack of idea and innovation, they fail to
see the connection between sugarcane and renewable energy. They fail to
understand that if they can develop a strong programme for sugarcane, they can
build and develop Ethanol industry and even earn foreign exchange. They failed
to see the high earning that is accruable to the state and the number of jobs
that can be created from agricultural processing. Like sugarcane, they can
easily look deeper and challenge these idle young professionals to create and
develop the land. They have failed woefully in identifying potentials and their
only escape is to stick to the duplication of jobs in areas already saturated.
Who does not know how to shave or
have haircut? And how about developing the local textile (Aso Oke/Adire etc)
and challenging the local engineers, technologists and scientists to develop
machines and techniques that could make the works of the producers easier and
more profitable? I was even told that in
another state, some of the beneficiary of the new jobs are turned into
environmental officers where they will be busy making sure that road sweepers
clean the highways and housewives wash their hands before cooking! If this is
the road to attainment of vision 2020, then it is a sure road to servitude and job
crisis.
Some of those engineers with
first class grades are being gracefully accepted into banking and allied
industries. Where they put all their knowledge into use! What a way to midwife
our nation into technologically developed country!
As I meditate on this, I realize
that we are all guilty. The schools, the individuals and the professional
bodies are as guilty as the government and policy makers. Nations make progress
when all concerned share the vision of the progress. No nation will make
progress when more talks are recorded than their works.
In concluding this, I opine that
we must come back to basics and look inward. The universities, the professional
bodies and regulators must urgently together and look into our technological
needs and chart a way forward for the nation development in the next 20 years.
There is surely need for revision of our schools’ curricula unless we want to
continue to produce sophisticated graduates that we do not need. The sad
reality is that most of these graduates are becoming experts in negativity and
why and how things cannot work. They trade blame and lament their abandonment
by the system and the profession they love so much. It is not uncommon today to
see them look at their fellow professionals in Law and Medicine and rain abuse
at their leaders for neglecting engineering.
The Nigerian engineers cannot
continue to fly against the wind. The nation cannot afford to be spending so
much on training of engineers only to deprive them the opportunity and
environment to put their skills to use. The excuse being made is that some of
them lack experience. But what about those that have these experience? The foreign
nationals that we invite were allowed by their home countries to develop and
make their mistake and yet rectify it. Engineering is a profession that self
regulate itself where there are standards in place. There is no excuse. As with engineers, so are scientists and
technologists affected in this general neglect.
Engineering is the bedrock of
development of serious nations, when engineers get it right, the scientists
will have the hope that their inventions and discoveries will be put into good
use and the society will have the hope that all those theories are translated
to useful concepts and techniques that benefit them all. In the end, everyone
will benefit from the final works as community move forward; to greatness, to
better quality of lives and social stability.
We must find a way of harnessing
the talents available to us and ensure they work for the good of all. We must
resolve as a nation that our engineers and scientists are going to be
encouraged to play prominent roles in our development. This is where we can
truly say we have evolved as a nation. The world of productivity is at the feel
of the engineers and scientists. They are the permanent road out of our current
recession and toward enduring economic prosperity and social development. To make
Nigeria truly great, it is time to challenge her engineers to show what they
are capable of. It is an illusion to expect other nations to come and develop
Nigeria. They cannot love Nigeria more than Nigerians.
Isqil Najim is a Mechanical Engineering Graduate. He currently works as
Business Development Analyst at An award winning
oil and gas engineering design, construction and procurement firm in Lagos. He
is also the Technical Assistant to National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of
Mechanical Engineers. He is a technology enthusiast with unrepentant passion
for developing young engineers and advocating engineering for community
development. He is a member of Editorial
Board of Mechanical Engineering Magazine at National Headquarter. He tweet at @isqilnajim
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