Nigeria FG to employ 500 engineers, says minister

SUCCOUR may have come the way of some fresh 500 engineering graduates from diverse engineering backgrounds as the Federal Government has finalised arrangements to engage them in its ministries and parastatals.

The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen made the disclosure in Calabar while speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan has already approved the employment. He also said that the idea was to recruit the young graduates and build their capacity to effectively deliver on their tasks upon deployment.

He said: “The president has graciously approved the recruitment of about 500 engineers and the Federal Civil Service Commission is processing same, with a view to enhancing the human capacity of the ministry to meet the challenges associated with effective supervision of road projects nationwide.”

The minister commended the theme of the conference “Effective transportation system in Nigeria – The Way Forward” saying that the outcome of the deliberation would help government to re-strategise to overcome the problem associated with transportation in the country.

He said that there was need for engineers to dwell on the state of the country’s roads in their deliberation if a proper way forward must be charted for the transportation sub-sector of the economy.

Onolememen said that most of the country’s roads were currently in state of disrepair for the fact that they had out-lived their designs. He also identified planning constraints such as the absence of a national development plan, inadequate maintenance and severe funding constrain.

Other problems mentioned by the minister included poor institutional framework and the absence of other modes of transportation.

He said that the national road network had a total length of about 195,000km, with the federal roads accounting for 17 per cent, which is about 34,000km. He stated that the ministry was looking forward for the resolution of the NSE on how the problem of transportation could be best tackled.

The minister said that the government recently took steps to see to the completion of critical roads in the country despite the paucity of funds. Some of these roads, he said, included, the Apapa–Oshodi Expressway in Lagos, Benin-Ore–Shagamu Highway, Abuja–Abaji–Lokoja and Onitsha-Enugu roads.

He further disclosed that government had embarked on rehabilitation of roads that had washed-off like the Sokoto-Ilela Road including the repairs of Usman Danfodio University Road. He also mentioned that work was also on going along the Jalingo–Lau and the Ondo–Ore and Gbongan–Iwo roads among others.

Earlier, President of NSE, Mr. Olumuyiwa Ajibola in his welcome address highlighted that the decision to make the theme of the conference centred on transportation was essentially due to the fact that transportation was a topic that always drew global attention because of its impact on human communities, this he said was key to the economy and social life of nations.

He explained: “Nigeria is not an exception in this regard and has committed sizable resources to the development of the transportation sector and transportation infrastructure such as highways, railways, airports and the sea ports.

Globally till date this vital sector of every nation is dynamic responding to the present and the future needs of the populace.”

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By Collins Olayinka, Abuja