Tap into waste industry, be great entrepreneurs, NSE advises corps members

The Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) has urged prospective engineers in the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in Cross River State to tap into the waste industry and become employers of labour.

The association gave the advice, yesterday, in Calabar during a career talk and counselling of NYSC members, as part of activities to mark the 2022 Engineering Week that kick-started on August 20, 2022.

Guest Speaker, Dr. Jerome Egbe, told NYSC members to be creative by using their engineering skills to develop new ideas because the white-collar jobs are no longer adequate.

“The white-collar jobs are not available and the market is increasing. So, you need to be an entrepreneur. You need to bring your engineering skills into play. Tap into the waste industry, reduce carbon emission and the effect of climate change and still make money. You can also be a web designer,” he said.

Egbe, who was the immediate past Chairman of the Nigeria Association of Civil Engineers, a division of NSE, in an interview with The Guardian shortly after his lecture, further said: “The world is globalising and with the number of graduates that we have year-in-year-out, we do not have the industry that can absolve them. We are worried that instead of them roaming the streets, the NSE has the core mandate of training and retraining corps members and upcoming ones to the possible challenges, remedies and areas. It is better that they learn some of these to become entrepreneurs and become employers of labour.

Similarly, one of the resource persons, a 23-year-old undergraduate of Accounting at the University of Calabar, Promise Suh, who spoke on the theme, “Entrepreneur Opportunities in Waste Management,” advised the NYSC members to tap into the opportunity of turning wastes into wealth.

He said as prospective engineers, they should develop strategies to tackle climate change by tapping into the wealth of plastic waste, which is yet to be exploited.

“I am seeing value in wastes if properly managed. I am seeing potential in waste. Through plastic wastes, we can get construction materials as engineers. You have to think outside the box to produce something out of waste.

Plastic waste is everywhere around you, you can become successful in business if you can tap into it,” he said.