President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the Engineers (Registration etc) Amendment Act, 2019.
The principal Act establishes the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria – COREN’ with power vested.
According to the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly matters (Senate), Ita Enang, the new amendment has broadened the powers of COREN with far-reaching powers of prosecution of infractions, regulating industrial training of Engineers, capacity building of local content in Nigeria engineering industry.
Specifically, he said, the new law grants COREN powers of: “prosecuting any person or firm that contravenes the provisions of this Act in a court of competent jurisdiction; .regulating industrial training schemes in engineering practitioners and students;
(I)..ensuring capacity building and monitoring local content development in the Nigerian engineering industry through – mandatory attachment of Nigerians to expatriate engineers on major projects to understudy them from inception
“(ii) ensuring that all foreign engineering firms establish their design offices in Nigeria. (iii) granting of compulsory attestation to all expatriate quota for engineering practitioners, including turnkey project, that there are no qualified and competent Nigerians for the job in question at the time of application and that granting of the expatriate quota shall be contingent on training of such number of persons as may be required for the execution of the job, and;
“(iv) ensuring that, before being allowed to practice in Nigeria, such foreign engineering practitioners granted work permit, register with the council and obtain such licenses as may be required from time to time; (h) investigating engineering failures.’’
He
said that the new Act further admits into the Council (COREN) the
following: “Nigerian Association of Technologists in
Engineering
Nigerian Society of Engineering Technicians,
and
Nigerian Association of Engineering Craftsmen, and
One
person each appointed to represent the –
Association for
Consulting Engineering in Nigeria,
Federation of Construction
Industry in Nigeria
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria,
and
Armed Forces in rotation.’’
The Council, he said, is now entitled to maintain a fund into which shall be paid money appropriated by the National Assembly, subventions, fees, charges for services rendered or publications made, donations, engineering development levy, among others.
“On
NYSC, the Amendment states:
(14) (i)‘’The Directorate of the
National Youth Service Corps shall ensure posting of graduate
engineers and technologists to places of relevant professional
engineering experience.
(ii) Pursuant to the provision of
subsection (i), the Directorate of National Youth Service Corps shall
communicate the location of graduate engineers and engineering
technologists to the Council.’’
The Act broaden engineering ‘’practitioners to include a registered Engineer, Engineering technologist, Engineering technician and Engineering craftsman. It emphasis more on engineering practitioners as against ‘engineer.’
“The Act has been remitted in accordance with standard legal procedures.” Enang stated
