Engineers plan community-based project for national development

Towards achieving overall growth and development of the country, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in collaboration with the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) are to unfold a programme called; ”Community Engineering”.

The initiative described by the organisations as unconventional way of delivering services to their immediate community, is to engender rural development through projects and mentoring for the Girl-child to develop interest in engineering based courses.

Speaking at the investiture of the 15th president of APWEN, the national president of NSE, Adekunle Mokuolu said, the programme when launched, would served as a new frontier of partnership with the grassroots for enhancing the speedy growth of Nigeria in the long run.

Mokuolu noted that the scheme would also serve as a platform for engineers to accelerate value added services in their respective practices and blazing the trail in the path of being good ambassadors of the profession.He commended President Muhammadu Buhari over his proclamation and directive for the immediate implementation of the Presidential Executive Order 5 for planning and execution of projects, promotion of Nigerian contents in science, engineering and technology and assured the president of the institutions’ determination to support and ensure the fulfillment of the spirit behind the executive order.

In her acceptance speech, Mrs. Felicia Agubata pledged that the association would scale up its programmes to all the six geo-political zones of the country unlike the past when its activities were city-based.

According to her, the decision would help APWEN to connect to rural areas and positively impact on the girl-child especially, in ensuring that they choose fields of human endeavour like; science, technology, engineering and Mathematics.She declared that engineering as a profession sets the tones and creates the platform for collaborative utilisation of skills and talents without the gender brick wall or bias. The portrait of women as the weaker sex and the societal practices that sustain the mind set, she said has been acceptable in the past centuries but not anymore in this 21st century.

For her, ones the nation get it right by having more women in Science, Engineering and Technology fields, a lot of society and made-made problems would be solved.“There is always a room for improvement in anything one is doing. If women are given the chance and opportunity to serve, we would do more. Nigerian women engineers have the capacity, competence and creativity needed to lead Nigeria to the next level. We are going to add our voice to what NSE is already doing in advancing the fortune of engineering in Nigeria. When people connect easily to their locales, there would be development”, she stated.The ceremony also featured presentation of Presidential Awards to corporate organisations and individuals.