From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) has vowed to punish any engineer found to have compromised standards in the four-storey building that collapsed recently at Citec Villa, Gwarimpa, Abuja.
Registrar of COREN, Mr. Kamila Maliki, stated this when he led a team of engineers to the scene of the incident, where they were briefed by the Managing Director, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin.
The FHA chief executive blamed the collapse on the use of substandard materials.
Maliki asked the FHA to furnish COREN with all the documents to help its investigation into the role of engineers in the failed structure, adding that any engineer found wanting would be punished accordingly.
He urged government to put in more resources and ensure that the main structure on the site was pulled down, since its integrity could no longer be trusted.
However, the COREN Registrar, in a chat with Daily Sun, blamed the FHA for not acting quickly enough to forestall the collapse of the building after establishing that there were contraventions.
“Having heard that the developer sacked the site manager and since they had served the developer contravention notices, they should have taken action. I believe that they were trying to do controlled demolition to prevent it from affecting the approved structure. They were being sentimental,” Maliki said.
NIPC: NIPC initiates investment for educational development
From Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has continued to promote the various sectors of the economy, especially the non-oil sectors, in line with the Federal Government’s policy thrust on diversification, as it has launched a set of initiatives designed to promote domestic, foreign direct investments and strategic partnerships in the education sector.
According to Joe Attah, an assistant director in the commission, it was in recognition of the pivotal importance of education, for the attainment of sustainable economic development and to enhance Nigeria’s economic competitiveness that the NIPC, in collaboration with Cognitus Consulting, has initiated platforms and signature events to address and arrest the fundamental issues of finance, investment and strategic partnerships.
The initiative, which is in line with the recently launched road map on the education sector, include domestic and international platforms to engage the local and global investment community to invest in and do business in the sector in Nigeria.
Attah said this would be launched with “the Nigeria education investment and finance forum” scheduled for September 2016 at the Calabar International Convention Centre, Cross River State, with the theme: “Investments, innovative financing for educational development and national economic competitiveness.”
NIGER DELTA: FG to train 10,000 ex-militants in agriculture
From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has evolved a programme in which about 10,000 ex-militants from the Niger Delta would be trained in various areas of agriculture. Also, another 3,600 would be trained in oil and gas.
Coordinator of the PAP and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd.), said it was part of the mandate of the programme to reintegrate ex-agitators into society. He said that after the training, the beneficiaries would be assisted to set up their own farms.
Boroh, who spoke after a meeting with some elders of the region in Abuja, also disclosed that about 70 ex-militants, equipped with vocational skills in under-water welding in St. Kitts and Nevis recently graduated and returned to the country.
The presidential aide explained that, as part of the mandate of the PAP to reintegrate ex-agitators into mainstream society, the Amnesty Office has trained 17,000 former militants, and the decision to train them in agriculture was in line with government’s resolve to diversify the economy.
He further stated that the amnesty programme was expensive, and only the United Nations could sponsor this kind of training.
Boroh noted that the Amnesty Office’s partnerships with Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, the World Bank and other partners would soon begin to bear fruit.
EDUCATION: Our major challenges – TRCN
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has said that lack of awareness of its core mandate has been responsible for its low performance in the past, particularly.
To change this, according to the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the Council, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the council has concluded plans to begin massive advocacy at all levels.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday, the registrar said: “We would engage various media platforms in this exercise. They would educate and inform Nigerians on the activities of the council as well as its determination to drive the education plan of the Federal Government, particularly as it concerns the quality of teachers for basic and secondary education.
“Clampdown on unregistered teachers will begin at the close of the window. Good enough, the Ministers of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and Professor Anthony Anwukah, have thrown their support behind us and we are committed to making them proud,” he said.
He, however, encouraged teachers whose bio data were not among the 1.5 million recently announced registered teachers in the database of TRCN, to take advantage of the stress-free registration process to get the recognition and certification of the Council, to avoid embarrassment from TRCN enforcement team.
Ajiboye also warned unregistered teachers to desist from parading themselves as professionals, stressing that gone were days when the “TRCN only barks and not bite.”
