Don harps on new infrastructure model for job creation

A professor of industrial and production engineering, Victor Oluwasina Oladokun has said the Federal Government needs to deploy new infrastructural model that would generate jobs and reduce poverty in the country.

Prof. Oladokun, who said this at the investiture of the new chairman for the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Lagos, emphasised that viable economic growth is only achievable through industrialisation.

He said history has shown that industrialisation is a product of technologies and the application of technological breakthroughs are only possible through engineering development.

According to him, the liberation of Nigeria from its economic doldrums depend on engineers, stressing that the current economic challenges, especially Nigeria’s infrastructural vulnerability holds huge opportunities for technicians, technologists and engineers.

“It has become obvious that Nigerian economy requires urgent transformation based on diversification of the nation’s production to become self sufficient in food production, energy provision and critical infrastructure. It has become urgent to energise critical non-oil sectors like agriculture to drive meaningful growth. This can only be achieved through aggressive engineering development and application of technological and innovative ideas”, he said.

Prof. Oladokun who lectures at the University of Ibadan, said Nigeria’s challenges hold wealth creation opportunities for those who could turn their ideas and inventions into marketable products and services. He added that engineering development remains the only path to sustainable economic growth.

Speaking on ‘Engineering Development as a Catalyst for National Development’, he advised government at federal, state and local levels to focus on the development of Science, technology, engineering and mathematics as they are effective for wealth creation and economic growth as demonstrated in the way Silicon Valley, United States has changed the world.

He harped on the deployment of emerging technologies like Internet of Things, Machine learning, 3D-printing, artificial intelligence, 5G internet connectivity, Nano materials and robotics to transform traditional items like clothing, cameras, cosmetics and medical practices.

In his inaugural speech, the new chairman, Tosin Ogunmola, said the branch would focus on strategic partnership that would enable engineering development, promote standards, state of art industrial workshops and innovation hubs as well as drive engineering advancement in Lagos state.

Ogunmola also pledged to deploy the needed leadership, build on past legacies and work hard to promote the image of the profession.In a remark, the outgoing chairman, Dr. Funmilade Akingbagbohun, urged the new executive to build on the foundation that had been established by the founding fathers.

Earlier, NSE President, Babagana Mohammed represented by the former president of Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, Salihu Lawal, advised the new executives and elders of the Ikeja branch to work together for a greater engineering profession in Nigeria.