Having served progressively in different capacities in the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Uyo Branch, such as Financial Secretary, Treasurer and the Branch Vice Chairman, it would be safe to say that our guest has learnt through the rungs to his current position in the NSE.
With a great chunk of his total age so far being sunk into the practice of Engineering Profession -fifteen years, he could be said to have garnered a considerable experience to speak eloquently of the import of Engineering Profession in the live of every individual.
Hailing from Ikot Inyang Osom in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Engr. Emem Ezekiel, MNSE, MNIMechE, MCIPEN, MCPP is the Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Uyo Branch.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH), Calabar, with Master’s degree in the same field from the University of Uyo in view.
Engr. Emem has to his credit a huge amount of post-certification experience having worked in some private firms such as System Engineering Services, Calabar as Project Supervisor, CEECOM Nigeria Limited as a Production Engineer and rose to become a General Engineer before joining the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service as Mechanical Engineer II in 2015. He has advanced to the position of Principal Mechanical Engineer.
He has been involved in various significant projects including but not limited to design, fabrication and installation of telecommunication towers in Calabar, installation and distribution of water networks for Cross River Water Board Limited; Calabar, maintenance of the Calabar segment of the NNPCL pipeline, construction of the 9.5km 10-lane Idongesit Nkanga Drive and Clement Isong Drive.
In this no-holds-barred interview with Newsmen in Uyo, the newly sworn-in Chairman of NSE, Uyo Branch, expressed his views on the attitude of some members of the general public preferring the use of uncertified persons in the name of Engineers to certified Engineers for their structural projects; attributing the causes of buildings collapse in some parts of Nigeria to such acts.
Enjoy the EXCERPTS as captured by the Editor-In-Chief of The Profile Newspaper; IME SILAS:
Congratulations on your emergence and subsequent inauguration as the 17th Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Uyo Branch. How was the journey?
Thank you very much. Well, as in any keenly contested election, the journey towards my emergence as Chairman was not all that rosy. And, that was understandable judging from the angle that we have many eminently qualified members of the Society, some of whom were interested in the position.
But as God would have it, I emerged and I, along with my Executive members were inaugurated. It has always been my dream to serve the Society and I thank the Almighty God that the dream came through at His appointed time.
So, talking about the journey, whatever happened during the period of my electioneering, I have put all of them behind me. Today, I am the 17th Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Uyo Branch. My primary focus now is to serve my organization and humanity through the instrumentality of my profession and position.
As the new Chairman, Sir, what should your members expect from your administration?
Service! Just as I outlined in my inaugural speech, my vision is hinged on three pillars: Excellence, Inclusion and Impact.
The Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, is a professional organization with standards and by-laws as guiding principles. Therefore, to achieve excellence, we shall act in accordance with these guiding principles. We are going to ensure that the wishes of the general house prevail at all times.
One key area that I will want to focus on is the welfare of our members. Therefore, in order to improve the strength of our members, we will ensure that we prioritize initiatives that would enhance their personal and professional lives for the purposes of maximizing their outputs.
As I pledged during my campaigns, we shall complete the Engineering Building Project so as to enhance our dignity and prestige as a professional body. I believe that completing that state-of-the-art edifice would not only provide us with a working environment but would also symbolize our commitment to growth and excellence.
We will also promote unity and peace within the organization.
In fact, we have a lot of programmes that would make our tenure a memorable one.
In this era of ICT which appears to have dealt a significant blow on many professionals as they grapple with innovations; what’s your plans regarding the Engineering profession?
Thank you very much for this question. Yes. It’s also part of our plans to organize trainings and retraining for our members to square up with the emerging trends. We also have mentorship programmes for the young Engineers in our branch to enable them operate at par with their contemporaries, anywhere.
Let me also add quickly that we shall partner with the media because we have a lot to sensitize the general public on the roles of Engineers in their day-to-day lives.
You just mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the roles of Engineers in the general public’s day-to-day lives. What’s your thought on recent news of rampant collapse of structures in Nigeria… though we have a few of them in Akwa Ibom State like the Reigners Church building, the one that happened off Aka Road?
It’s rather unfortunate that these avoidable tragedies actually happened and I really sympathize with the victims. However, I want to emphasize that in most cases, the causes of these collapse are most times traced to quacks.
There are uncertified people who go about impersonating the Engineers, especially in the Civil Engineering sector. They are the ones that mostly cause these buildings collapse. Why I am saying so is that there are disciplinary measures and sanctions against certified Engineers who breach any professional ethics and codes or carry out any operations against technical and professional standards.
But the problem is the general public themselves because most times, they prefer patronizing quacks.
For example, like the Reigners Church issue you mentioned. Yes, as a professional body, we were part of the panel of enquiry that investigated it. We made our recommendations based on our findings and the appropriate authorities had acted accordingly.
Again, there are scenarios where the clients go against professional advice of the Engineers while carrying out their constructions. In such instances, a certified Engineer is obligated to withdraw his services via a written document.
Like what happened in Lagos where a supposed 7-storey building was increased to 10-storey, and later 17-storey before it collapsed in the process of construction. It is on record that the Engineer who was handling the project withdrew his services because the owner of the project refused to heed his advice.
The client contracted another person who agreed to do his bidding against standard. That led to the building collapse which claimed the lives of many including the owner of the house. So, it is always advisable for clients to listen to Engineers’ advice.
But don’t you think that it’s due to high cost of fees charged by the Engineers that always cause the clients to patronize quacks who seem to charge lower?
Let me answer the question this way. Assuming it is true that it is due to high cost that clients patronize quacks: how much is the cost of one life lost to building collapse resulting from structural defect?
Like what happened recently in Jos, Plateau State where many pupils lost their lives and others badly injured, how much do you think each life costs?
Okay, let’s leave the loss of life. Do you know that the money you spend trying to replace or repair parts of a building that have structural defects are far more than what you would have spent if the right thing was done, or the right materials used?
I am saying this to say that most times, when Engineers, like the Structural Engineer, ask for a fee, it is because of the professionalism and technical input he wants to contribute in your building project. But if you patronize a quack without the needed technical skills and is ready to use substandard materials at low charge, you will spend more subsequently when you want to correct the defect caused by the substandard materials. Therefore, it is in the general public’s interest to always seek the services of a certified Engineer.
But, Mr. Chairman, you have mentioned substandard materials as some of the causes. What’s the role of NSE in curtailing the flooding of our markets with substandard building materials?
Unfortunately, there’s nothing much that the NSE can do on this. There are bodies and agencies of government statutorily saddled with the responsibilities of checking to ensure that these substandard materials don’t find their ways into our markets.
Some of them are the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), etc. Whether they are doing their best or not is left to be determined by what we see in our markets and stalls. The highest the NSE could do would be to draw the attention of the appropriate quarters where these substandard materials are seen sold.
As Engineers, the NSE are expected, if I am right, to be integral part of any construction like roads, etc, undertaken by governments to ensure quality control. How come we have potholes everywhere, especially on roads recently rehabilitated by government?
It depends on the stage at which a certified Engineer, for example, a Civil Engineer is engaged to be part of a project and sometimes, the level of freehand with which he is allowed to operate… ( cuts in)
Let’s take for instance, AKROIMA in Akwa Ibom State which is in charge of filling potholes in the state. But you see such potholes springing up again, few weeks or days after filling…(cuts in)
That’s what I am saying. You need to check who is at the helm of affairs in such agency or whether there are Certified Engineers contracted or engaged by such agencies. Like potholes as you have mentioned, when you see it reoccurring after filling, it’s probably because there is a root cause of the failure around that spot, if not detected and treated from the root before asphalt is applied, it will definitely reoccur after a shot while.
However, there are other factors which time may not permit me to state within this interview. Nevertheless, I have just been inaugurated as the NSE Chairman. I will get to know the extent of engagements of engineers in such project because you can’t really supervise what you have no knowledge about.
Sorry Mr. Chairman. Are you saying that the State government don’t engage appropriate Engineers to carry out supervisory functions in these relevant agencies?
Well, I didn’t say so because I know that we have Engineers working directly under government in different Parastatals in Akwa Ibom State.
Remember, our Executives have just been inaugurated, we will follow up to know the level of involvement of our Engineers on this to be able to provide a more sufficient detail.
Why the question came was because it is a common practice by government to engage Engineers who would provide technical input. Like at Dakadda Skills Acquisition Centre; how involved is the NSE?
I’m aware that the management board of the Skills Acquisition Centre was inaugurated by His Excellency the Governor, and that the center was set up to train Akwa Ibom youths on various skills including technical skills. I am also sure that the Engineers through the NSE would have a lot of inputs to make therein. I know also that His Excellency, the governor has a Special Adviser on Technical Matters who must have advised on the importance of involving Engineers in the management team of the center but I can’t give you definite answer right now since I have yet to have a comprehensive information on that…( cuts in)
What of the recently created Akwa Ibom State Infrastructural Maintenance and Asset Management Agency; is the NSE represented; since you cannot maintain what you did not build?
I must say that these questions you have asked are very relevant but I need to provide you with factual and detailed answers. But, I’m barely a week in office as Chairman. I will look at all of these and respond accordingly at appropriate time.
Still on involvement of Engineers in government agencies. Recently, some of us were at the State House of Assembly for the Public Hearing regarding the constitution of Akwa Ibom Electricity Regulatory Board. Though the NSE representatives were sighted at the hearing, they didn’t make presentation. Was this in order considering the importance of the Board?
Well…You see, the invitation to that Public Hearing actually came in the week of our inauguration and in the morning of the public hearing date. Our representatives were dispatched as you rightly mentioned. But, what happened at the public hearing venue was not in order, Engineers ought to have been given opportunity to speak given the fact that the agency will have more to do with engineering.
As I have said, our profession has a duty to serve humanity. It is our core mandate to ensure that we make necessary inputs as Engineers in our relevant fields on these agencies. So, as NSE Chairman, we shall liaise with relevant government agencies in order to guarantee safety and value for government’s investments.
On a final note Mr Chairman, What’s your advice to the general public on the need for them to engage certified Engineers when undertaking structural or any kind of project?
I want to advise them with these few words of mine: if you cannot permit a quack medical doctor to carryout operation on you or your loved ones, why allow a quack Engineer to handle your building projects?
For instance, if a quack doctor administers treatment on a patient and peradventure such treatment has an adverse effect on the patient to the extent of death, only one person may die as a result of that quackery. But, if an unqualified person builds a mansion or school and such a building collapses as an adverse effect of the quackery, many people would die!
You spend less when you engage a professional because he charges you once. But, you may end up spending multiple times trying to fix or replace damaged substandard materials or services. So, go for a certified Engineer.
It’s been nice sharing some thoughts with you, Mr Chairman.
It’s my pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.