As part of contribution towards revamping the nation’s economy, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) says it plan to carry out preliminary audit report of all the Federal Government-owned moribund industries across the 36 states of the federation.
Otis Anyaeji, president/NSE chairman-in-council, said this would enable the Federal Government to be abreast with the number of its moribund parastatals and put realisable machinery in place to revive them.
Anyaeji made the remark in Warri, Delta State, weekend, during the inauguration ceremony of Ugochukwu Nzurumike as the 12th national chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMech).
Anyaeji said the revitalisation of the nation’s ailing industries, especially the steel industries, would go a long way in reducing unemployment as well as diversify the economy away from over dependence on crude oil.
According to Anyaeji, “I am urging the institution to bring up all those issues that have to do with the opening of all the various industries that have been closed down in the country. We have chapters all over the country and we can use the chapters to bring preliminary audit reports of all the closed industries in their various jurisdictions, and we are ready to push such reports to the Federal Government.”
He said the closure of both federal and state governments owned industries were not only an indication that the country had stopped moving but that mechanical engineers were in distress.
“Mechanical engineering carries a lot responsibility. It means that when you want to get a country to move you must be into manufacturing because when you manufacture, things are moving and mechanical engineers are also working. When for one reason or the others you get to shut down all those manufacturing facilities it means of course that the country has stopped moving, and more importantly that mechanical engineers are in distress.
“Until you are able to relieve the system and the mechanical engineering of such stress you really cannot run the country properly. Hence, this crisis of oil price that has plagued us for quiet some months.
“Now, we have a new government that has come with the mantra of change. That change we are talking about is a change on how we have been behaving, living and want to change from being a consumption people to a production or manufacturing people. That is the change.
“It is not possible and you cannot find enough money to keep importing things that the people need here in Nigeria. So, it is a season of big challenge for mechanical engineers. The institution ought to be on its drawing board now, working out how we are going to begin with low hanging fruit of starting off all the factories that were closed down,” he said.
He noted that if government revive the Delta Steel and operate all its plants, the annual financial turnover would be well over in excess of the turnover of half of the 36 states of the country.
“If again government is able to get Ajaokuta Steel started and get it running with its 43 technological units and so many commercially viable support units, you’re again talking about the turnover of perhaps all the states in Nigeria in good days,” he added.
He also called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to put machinery in place for the revitalisation of Machine Tools Factory in Osogbo.
In his inaugural address, Ugochukwu Nzurumike said the place of engineers were well respected and known in a developed economy.
Nzurumike noted that engineering must play a central role in the politics of any nation for progress to be recorded, adding that engineering pulled Europe and America out of all the economic recessions they had survived to this day.
Speaking earlier, the outgoing NIMech national chairman, Adisa Bello, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the country with regards to education and sustainable infrastructural development.
He also want government to mobilise all Nigerian engineers and challenge them to work on the various identified projects across the length and breadth of the country, considering the present state of the economy.
An inaugural lecture titled, “Unemployment: The Skills Gap and Possible Remedies,” was delivered by Akaehomen Akii Ibhadode, vice chancellor, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State.
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH
