The immediate past President of the Federation of African Engineering Organisation (FAEO) and a former President of the NSE, Balarabe Mustapha Shehu, however, blamed slow development of physical infrastructure in the country on lack of interest among women in engineering courses.
Shehu, who spoke at the African Catalyst Project: Statistical Data for Women in Science and Engineering: A Pilot Project for Nigeria, Rwanda and Malawi, noted that government should strive to introduce policies that would encourage women develop interest in engineering profession to engender national development.
Speaking, Chairman Committee for Women in Engineering of FAEO, Valeria Agberagba, said time had come for teachers and lecturers to adopt alluring methods in the teaching of science, mathematics, technology and engineering courses to make it attractive to students.
She added that guardian and counselors have a major role to play in the career choices for young adults.“The last time teaching methods were reviewed was in 2000, which is 17 years ago. I think this is inadequate. Developments are evolving in the world, so also the teaching methods. We must teach engineering subjects to our children in a language they understand.
“Also, the guardian and counselors must be incorporated into the movement. Children must have early guide and choose courses that are relevant to current development.”
Anyaeji lamented lack of standards for projects across all the sectors saying most players in project delivery who are foreigners bring standards prevalent in their countries to Nigeria, which do not bode well for the country.
“When there are no standards, people do things that will most likely end in failure. Once there is such failure it means that what has been done that ought to have a long lifespan end up having a short lifespan and the process has to start all over again. This also means that we are spending more than we originally should. That is the result of doing things without following standards,” he said.
Also, the society has cautioned the Federal Government against wholesale adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for domestic and industrial use saying, “if the country wants to leapfrog to the use of gas-powered industries from the fuel system, it is possible within the shortest possible time within five years.
“But we must understand that we have to balance interests and competencies so people are not stranded. We have to look at what exists and how to move from where we are without leaving a lot of people stranded.”
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