My Engineers

Service Improvement Manager at the NEC Group □ Tech Columnist □ LinkedIn Top Voice □ Ghostwriter The smartphones that sit uncomfortably inside our pocket are now more powerful than the large desktop computers from 10 years ago. However, many people will tell you that these fantastic advances in technology are not always a sign of progress.
For example, anyone that remembers the days when the tank like Nokia 3310 ruled the world will scoff at our unusual modern ways. Back in simpler times, you didn't have to worry about dropping your phone or constantly searching for a power socket to charge your phone, and it even fit in your pocket.
You didn't feel the need to have to search for a game that you somehow buried on page 7 of your phone apps because the only game you played was called Snake. This was an era where reliability and resilience were rated much higher than shiny new gimmickry.
Sure, there was a reversal of fortune when the iPhone appeared on the scene, and we fell in …

President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. Otis Anyaeji, (right), wife of the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Her Excellency, Engr. Ebierin Otuaro, FNSE and Chairman Board of Fellows/College of Fellows, Engr. Chris Okoye shortly after the Society’s Fellowship Conferment in Abuja
The huge parity between what engineering students are taught in school and what actually obtains in the industry has become a source of concern for the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE). This issue was brought to the fore at the 2017 first special dinner for the conferment of Fellows on engineers this week in Abuja.
Speaking during the event, which took place at the Banquet Hall of the NAF Conference Centre and Suites in Kado District, the Chairman, Board of Fellows/College of Fellows of the NSE, Engr. Chris Okoye said, “today we want to bring to the front burner, the need to empower Engineering teachers in Nigeria especially as regards bridging the gap between what they teach and industry practi…

One aspect of construction that has remained largely untapped in the country is tunnelling. This is the art of creating useful and effective space below ground level. Mr. Abidemi Agwor is the national chairman, Tunnelling Association of Nigeria. He is also the first and only Nigerian representative at the world body of tunnelling engineers. Agwor is championing a fresh awareness of this aspect of construction, especially in infrastructural development. For him, this will help build better and efficient cities. In this interview, he explains the concept and its benefit to the nation. MUYIWA LUCAS of THE NATION was there.
Tunnelling does not seem to be very popular in this country. Why?
Although it is not alien to us, it is, however, an approach that is not readily part of our infrastructural conceptualisation. To put it simply, tunnelling is the act of creating useful and effective space below ground level. This cuts across several sectors, covering a wide spectrum from the seemingly s…

The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has enjoined government at all levels to make deliberate efforts to patronise and develop indigenous professionals in order not only to reduce capital flight, but also to grow the indigenous professional capacity and competence.
Speaking at a press conference to kick off the 2017 Engineering Week of the Ibadan branch with the theme: “Bringing the Nigerian Economy out of Recession; The Professional’s Approach”, Engr. Bola Olowe said that one of the ways the country’s economy can be speedily taken out or recession was for the government to spend its way out of it and expand the productive and construction base of the economy.
“If our governments refuse to patronize us, I wonder which government will. It is high time our governments jettison the short term view of infrastructure development by thinking that it is only foreigners that can provide quality service. Nigerian engineers, are up to the task; they are able and have indeed been providing q…

“Pupils would be able to choose perfect role models if parents, guardians, teachers and the media make them hear more about good people in the society rather than echoing the names and offences of the corrupt individuals in the hearing of the children all the time.”
The Proprietor of Okanlawon Science Academy, Osogbo, (OSAO) Osun State, Mr Badmus Ismail Okanlawon made this assertion during a chat with our correspondent on the side-line of the Role Model Day organized by the school as part of strategies to familiarise the pupils in the school with quality people worthy of emulation in the society.    
The school showcased the former Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Osun State Council, Engineer Felix Adediran Ibitoye to the pupils and the event afforded the children the opportunity to interact with Ibitoye who addressed them and also entertained questions.
Okanlawon explained that Ibitoye who is popularly known as ‘Kilomodemo’ (what does a child know) was choosing for the…

Decades of neglect have resulted in colossal damage to the nation’s bridges with many of them never having undergone any form of maintenance, either structured or unstructured over the last four to five decades.
Amid the shocking revelation that the Federal Government is planning to spend N270 billion for maintenance, repairs and restoration of over 50 bridges across the country, experts said, the nation would have continue to vote such a humongous sum for repairs until government initiates an appropriate policy that will change the status quo.
According to them, the nation could have been saved the trouble, if government had adopted a policy of nurturing indigenous engineers, who should be at the helm of affairs for any construction works to being executed by expatriate engineers.
The Guardian’s investigation reveals that during Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s administration, which witnessed massive infrastructure development, Nigeria engineers were made to study under the expatriates who are h…

Thursday January 5th, 2017 was a memorable and historical day in Nigeria; it witnessed the launch of the NIMechE Innovation Challenge 2017. Held at the NIMechE Lagos Chapter Secretariat at the Loco Building, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Ebuta Meta, Lagos State.
Stakeholders from Mechanical Engineering Departments from ten tertiary Institutions across Lagos State namely; University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State Polytechnic, Covenant University, Bells University, Olabisi Onabanjo University, University of Science and Technology, Bowen University and Wolex Polytechnic, and media practitioners from various media organizations in Lagos State gathered to commence the process of finding indigenous solutions to problems in agriculture, power supply, renewable energy, and automation.
Speaking at the occasion, the President of NIMechE Lagos Chapter, Engr. (Mrs) Funmi Akigbagbohun, said that “The challenge which is the first of its kind in Nigeria wil…

Sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia and Rwanda, have embarked on an ambitious path to reclaim and sustainably manage 100 million hectares of land by 2030. This journey is timely considering 65 percent of Africa’s soils are sick and degraded. Ailing African soils result in low crop yields and low household capital, pushing millions of smallholder farmers into hunger and the poverty trap, further thwarting Africa’s hope for a food-secure future.

There are plenty of factors that have contributed to the widespread degradation of soils, including unsustainable practices such as not rotating crops, not applying the right kind of fertilizers, failing to ensure the presence of appropriate soil microbes (including beneficial microbes to break down organic matter), continuous tilling of the land, and leaving the land bare after crop harvests. As soil is degraded, important ecosystem processes such as the formation of new soils and nutrient and water cycling are impacted, which fu…

Setting out the case for business support in its recent green paper Building Our Industrial Strategy, the government hailed the UK as a “success story for start-ups”. Some 350,000 new enterprises were registered in the UK in 2014, it explained, going on to acknowledge that we need to marry start-up culture with the right support and investment to raise productivity.
Some of the UK’s most innovative new companies have been built around technology developed in our universities, and it is encouraging to see government directing attention towards supporting these businesses through their initial stages. By exploring the impact of different university commercialisation approaches, including the varying size of equity stakes taken, we hope that the government can facilitate the sharing of valuable ‘best practice’.
The UK scores highly in innovation league tables – it came third in the 2016 Global Innovation Index – and one of the factors underpinning this success is undoubtedly the strengt…

Driverless passenger drones could take to the skies above Dubai as soon as July 2017 according to the city’s transport chief.

The plans were unveiled by Mattar Al Tayar, Chairman of Dubai’s Road & Transport Authority during a speech at the UAE’s annual World Government Summit.

Al Tayer revealed that the city plans to use an autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) produced by Chinese drone specialist Ehang. “RTA will spare no effort to launch the AAV in July 2017,” he said.

Originally unveiled at the 2016 CES show in Las Vegas, the Ehang 184 is claimed to be the first vehicle of its kind to offer autonomous human flight over short-to-medium distances.

Able to fly at altitudes of upto 500 metres and stay aloft for around 30 minutes, the fully unpiloted eight rotor aircraft can carry a single passenger weighing upto 100kg.

The firm claims that during use a passenger will select a destination using an on-board touchscreen and an intelligent flight control system will then guide the vehicle t…

The President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), has debunked the view in certain quarters that Nigerian engineers were not good enough to handle major projects in the country.

Kashim Ali told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on Sunday in Abuja that such an excuse was untrue, insisting that Nigerian engineers were the power behind the railway system in Britain.

“The problem we have in Nigeria is that we are good at blaming and as I speak to you, we have so many Nigerian engineers doing a lot of work abroad.

“Nigerians are the engineers behind the rail system in Britain and if Britain can rely on Nigerians to handle their system, why can’t they do it in Nigeria?

“The truth is that the blame game cannot continue; what I am saying is that we should give people direct challenge.”

Ali advocated that the Federal Government should insist on adherence to competence as one of the criteria for the award of contract to Nigerians while payment of taxes…