• Erudite Professor sets Agenda for Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution
Former Honourable Minister of Power and former Vice-Chancellor of University of Ado Ekiti (UNAD), Iworoko, Ekiti, Nigeria, Prof. Chinedu Nebo on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, asserted that Engineering and Technology are the wings upon which Nigeria can move towards attaining sustainable development and that if Nigeria will become an industrial nation, engineering and technology inescapably will have to drive the process.
Prof. Nebo made the assertion while delivering his keynote lecture at the just concluded concluded 1st Alex Ekwueme Biennial Engineering conference organized by Faculty of Engineering and Technology from May 15 – 18, 2019 with the theme Engineering and Technology: A driver for Sustainable Development.
The expert stated that “if Nigeria has not developed, it is because engineering and technology have not taken their due places in our national lives… Nigeria needs to harness the incredible array of knowledge in Engineering and technology to leap-frog from a developing economy to a fully developed one”. He viewed that Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) must be propelled by the implementation of the National Industrial Revolution Plan and Nigeria Intergrated Infrastructure Master Plan both of which are expected to play huge roles in achieving the set targets by 2020.
Nebo gave hope for a greater Nigeria by his expression that “I am confident that using Engineering and technology to power the NIPR and ERGP will industrialize our great country and that will create the much needed jobs, and wealth to make Nigeria achieve the fullness of its potential and reach the heights of its glory”.
For him, technological and scientific revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in engineering health systems, education and infrastructure. The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on Micro processors, tele-communications, bio-technology, and nano-technology. According to him, the most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and applications arising when these technologies converge. Nigerian engineers and technologists need to help the country key into the global science and technology innovations. He strongly recommended that government should increase financial support for applied research and outreach including extension, at technological institutions and in the establishment of machine tools industries throughout the country; for development of local capacity to deliver public health services, including support for the establishment of strong schools and public health in Nigeria; assist important institutions in Nigeria using broadband access internet and other modern technologies to strengthen their information acquisition and processing capabilities in support of Science, Engineering and Technology (SE&T) specialists; and government should sponsor expert assessments of SE&T infrastructures across Nigeria.
In his opening remarks while declaring the workshop open, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba ably represented by the DVC (Academic), Prof. Sunday Elom, thanked the guest speaker Prof. Chinedu Nebo for honouring the invitation and stated further that the university management is honoured that a person of his status despite his very busy schedules was present at the epoch making engineering conference. He used the opportunity to intimate the visitor on the process so far made by the university in the field of Engineering.
Responding, Prof. Nebo expressed his happiness for being in AE-FUNAI for the event and for the opportunity he is given to contribute to the development of Engineering in the university.
Engr.Prof. O. O. Ugwu, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology who presents the welcome address, said that this is the first in the series of engineering workshops that will become sustained series of Biennial conferences for engineering and technology. He further said that it will be a platform for knowledge sharing on various areas of Engineering and Technology, he added that to confront the problem of mankind and find sustainable solution, Engineering and Technology must be at the forefront to drive for sustainable development.
He stated that Engineering and technology is one of the main lagers in addressing issues of sustainability and sustainable development in professional practice. He said that Engineering and technology is the key people in the society and AE-FUNAI is working hard to make sure that any student passing through Engineering and technology programmes will face anything and also have all it takes to be an Engineer. According to him, he stated that the global Engineering community must address the challenges of sustainable development while the global university system must find requisite solutions as they relate to Engineering practice, research and Development for the benefit of humanity. He urged everyone present to make sure that he or she must go home with something because a lot are to be discussed by the guest speaker.
He stated that it is gratifying to note that the conference sub-themes cover several topics and bodies of knowledge that define sustainable as a concept. These sub-themes include: Structural Engineering Challenges in Engineering – the way forward, Renewable Energy, Engineering Education in Developing and Transition Countries, Engineering Innovation and Wealth Creation, Engineering and Climate Change, Engineering and Food Security.