Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Against the backdrop of recent building collapse in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assented to the Engineers (Registration etc) Amendment Act, 2019.
Presidential Liaison to the National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, while briefing State House Correspondents, explained that the principal Act establishes the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria – COREN’ with power vested.
According to him, the amendment now assented to by President Buhari broadens 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.
Enang said: “Specifically, 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; 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.
“Ensuring that all foreign engineering firms establish their design offices in Nigeria; 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; 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; investigating engineering failures.”