The President, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Adekunle Mokuolu on Saturday inaugurated the Bwari branch of the society in the Federal Capital Territory.
Mokuolum, who warned Nigerians against patronage of quack engineers, also called on registered engineers to ensure strict adherence to professional engineering standards.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that theme of the investiture ceremony was: “Reminiscences of Infrastructural Failures in Nigeria: Building collapse in Focus’’.
NAN also reports that 14 engineers were inducted into the society at the ceremony.
The president charged the new members that “I want you to put together your efforts and professional knowledge and resources to the development of Bwari area and Nigeria at large”.
The Guest Speaker, Prof Danladi Matawal, FNSE, called for zero tolerance for quackery, outcome of which he said had become embarrassing to the profession.
He also called for training and retraining of site engineers and periodic enlightenment programmes for artisans as a short term solution to the challenges facing the industry.
He said: “We are deficient in artisans and art craftsmen who if knowledgeable enough will correct some of the errors in design in the site and resist directives from corrupt and ambitious developers who want to cut corners.”
Speaking earlier, the President Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Kashim Ali, charged engineers to be selfless and avoid greed in their dealings.
He said the council had produced five regulations aimed at ending building collapses and called on engineers to up their game.
The Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority, Umar Gambo Jibrin, noted that though the issue of collapse building had reduced in the city, but it was still a source worry.
He said a technical committee had been set up to investigate remote and immediate causes of the collapses.
He added that the FCDA was making efforts to weed out quackery through full enforcement of engineering regulations.
He said: “Collapse buildings have reduced within the FCT compare to other places, for the few that were recorded, a lot of investigations have been done both at professional and FCTA levels to make sure that the right things are done.
“We already have existing laws, if we ensure strict compliance with the rules of how buildings are done, we won’t have these issues.”