₦airaland Forum

Neoteny:
I've always said it we're the only society that values paper over real skills and talent. Whatever your ability, if you don't possess some silly paper it's not valued.

Elon Musk was once asked what education requirements will assist one get a job in Tesla or Space X. Musk said he didn't care about degrees and stuff, only what you can do.

I agree for professional jobs like medicine and pharmacy and piloting certifications matter, but not so much for engineering and programming and graphics design and drawing and management etc.

The problem in Nigeria is, a dunderhead who went through some of our many dubious colleges and gets a 2.1 will be considered more than a 2.2 or 3rd class who's quite talented in the position. They'll promptly hire the blockhead 2.1 who'll proceed to accomplish nothing.

I myself have a third class because of emotional trauma of losing some people during college, not proud of it but I'm quite pleased with my versatility and accomplishments and I'm currently earning just shy of 700k per month (I've a promotion due next month) and I'm planning to retire into private venture to commercially exploit my natural and acquired skills and talents.

Niyi74:
Thank you for sharing this.

Fresh Engineering graduates from Nigerian Universities going from classroom straight to factory may only be useful for technical reporting. Smart ones can be trained as operators or maintenance technician on short term. For long term engineering practice however, they have to be shipped abroad to unlearn, relearn and re-certify to meet up with global best practices.

COREN is the primal enemy of Engineering in Nigeria. They are more interested in titles and professional dues than the profession itself. Before you can be called a Doctor or Lawyer, you must pass through medical school or law school respectively, where you will learn your craft and rudiments of professional practice in your field. Mediocrity isn't tolerated. But what's the case in Engineering in Nigeria? You'll be rolled out straight from University to work place, inadequately prepared. There was a time some great thinkers came up with the idea of SITSIE (Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering). SISTIE if implemented will make it mandatory for all Engineering graduates (after bagging HND/B.Sc/B.Eng/B.Tech) to undergo mandatory 2years tutelage (like law school) in the industry under registered professional engineers. They'll only be able to go for NYSC after completing SITSIE and becoming junior professional Engineers (Registered with practice license). The idea was never implemented and we are now wondering why we are here. COREN is not sincere. They know what the issues are but they are unwilling and too weak to push for legislations that will address the issues. Most of those who lead COREN today are not passionate Engineers. They don't love the profession for what it is. They only love it for what they can benefit from it.

wirinet:
Still the same excuses. How is the government making it hard for engineering to thrive? You mean, you design and engineering solution to one of the numerous engineering challenge we have in Nigeria and the government banned you?
I had a friend who dropped out of year one from elect/elect department in Ife and started building LED signage. He took his product to Alaba to demonstrate to guys selling such imported items. He started getting orders. I borrowed him money to start business. He did very well and now he is out of the country. This was far back in early 2000s, when Internet was still a novelty in Nigeria.
There are many companies with numerous engineering challenges and nobody to solve them. They have to import engineers from outside Nigeria to help repair and service their industrial equipments.

Dothraki:
Engineering undergraduates study old theories from Way past generation, that is of little relevance to modern engineering. The university system teach so many calculation, and almost nothing on how to apply these mathematics to solve real life problems.

Many of theories learned aren't useless jargon, since we arent taught how to praticalise most of those knowledge, 99.99% of all engineering graduate would have forgotten what they learned by the time they graduate.
We only remember what is useful to us, what help us get through, or things we do constantly. Everything else, our brain trashes it.

Its quiet disturbing Most of the engineering student only read to pass. Which makes one question, are we in school only to pass some paper? If so, modern technology would not have existed at all.
Our primary purpose of studying engineering is to apply scientific discoveries to solve practical problems in the society. But unfortunately the system only made us to study only for grade.
Without practicing what we learn our brain will eventually discard everything as useless

An average engineering graduate does not remember 90% of what he learned in five years, I tried to go through some of my jottings from 300l, i was suprised because it all seem strange to me.. i couldn't remember a thing from the calculations l did with my own hand. A friend of my who have have a very much good grade have the same experience.

Apart from the abstractions of studying engineering in nigeria, most of the curriculum is old, we spent so much time studying theories that should be thought as a mere history. No wonder there havent been any groundbreaking engineering achievement from Nigerian universities

Majority of the engineering jobs that involve applying engineering maneuver will be given to foreigners. Innoson motor employs foreigners to do All of its engineering design, our Nigerian graduate work as if they are
mere technician. Engineering graduate will never apply most of the theories they learn at school. lot of our graduate who are lucky to find job in engineering companies work as a maintenance engineer. Whenever they need new designs or innovation, they hire foreigners to do the job, this is quite sad in my opinion. They have made mockery of 5 years of lifes. Quite sad

Dothraki:
Engineering undergraduates study old theories from Way past generation, that is of little relevance to modern engineering. The university system teach so many calculation, and almost nothing on how to apply these mathematics to solve real life problems.

Many of theories learned aren't useless jargon, since we arent taught how to praticalise most of those knowledge, 99.99% of all engineering graduate would have forgotten what they learned by the time they graduate.
We only remember what is useful to us, what help us get through, or things we do constantly. Everything else, our brain trashes it.

Its quiet disturbing Most of the engineering student only read to pass. Which makes one question, are we in school only to pass some paper? If so, modern technology would not have existed at all.
Our primary purpose of studying engineering is to apply scientific discoveries to solve practical problems in the society. But unfortunately the system only made us to study only for grade.
Without practicing what we learn our brain will eventually discard everything as useless

An average engineering graduate does not remember 90% of what he learned in five years, I tried to go through some of my jottings from 300l, i was suprised because it all seem strange to me.. i couldn't remember a thing from the calculations l did with my own hand. A friend of my who have have a very much good grade have the same experience.

Apart from the abstractions of studying engineering in nigeria, most of the curriculum is old, we spent so much time studying theories that should be thought as a mere history. No wonder there havent been any groundbreaking engineering achievement from Nigerian universities

Majority of the engineering jobs that involve applying engineering maneuver will be given to foreigners. Innoson motor employs foreigners to do All of its engineering design, our Nigerian graduate work as if they are
mere technician. Engineering graduate will never apply most of the theories they learn at school. lot of our graduate who are lucky to find job in engineering companies work as a maintenance engineer. Whenever they need new designs or innovation, they hire foreigners to do the job, this is quite sad in my opinion. They have made mockery of 5 years of lifes. Quite sad

Greenishland:
I am an Engineer. I studied in Nigeria as well. What I realize is that Nigerians don't like using their brains to think technically.

If you check well, even Nigerians who studied Engineering abroad are the same as the ones who studied at home. They either become musicians or entrepreneurs. I believe we are being taught the same thing as the whites.

For instance, we were all taught acceleration due to gravity right from secondary school, laws of motion, we solved countless number of equations on bearings, did a lot of map readings, learnt about weightlessness , streamlining, etc. plus every single thing learned in higher institution. My brother, what more do you need to learn in order to manufacture an air plane?

Air plane is even too much. Take washing machine as another example. Science students were taught circular motions in rev/min, you know the function of timed circuits and their principle of operations, sensors etc. Do you know that the white guy combined this knowledge to design this machine?

Nigerians would rather wait for you to come and announce that the topic for today is how to manufacture an aeroplane...

eminemkayc:
For someone who has put in over fifteen years practicing core engineering design and applied mathematical principles in solving a vast array of structural statics, dynamics ,impusive and geotechnic engineering problems, I completely disagree with the notion as presented in the opening remarks. I was trained in nigeria and Iv applied all I was taught as an undergraduate in the design of bridges, water retaining structures, slope stabilization, understanding of soil consolidation beneath foundations of high rise structures, modelling of finite elements in the undstanding of soil particle and pile interactions in STAAD spring selections etc iv used newton's finite divided difference methods in topographic survey to predict ground elevation on non-chainage points where i was to situate and design foundations for piperacks for proper levelling, iv thoroghly employed calculus in the calulation and simulation of irregular waves and current loads on shore protection and berthing structures by numerical idealization, applied lagrange interpolation polynomial methods in the design of Larssen sheet piles in order to determine the min depth of pile penetration for stability beneath proposed dredged points, applied bernouli's equations severally and various expressions for head losses in steady state pipeline flow on projects to determine pressure drops and pump sizing requirements, reynold's number for hydrocarbon fluid composition etc. The list is ENDLESS...I was trained in nigeria and by nigerian lecturers and there are brilliant nigerians trained in nigeria as well. What is lacking is the exposure and the inability of most lecturers to solve practical problems on one hand and bridge this glaring gap during lectures making it difficult for the students to see a correlation. But these are the same mathematical and engineering principles the russians and asians used and are using in the design of complicated weapon systems. The Iranians are following suit as iv interfaced with a number of them on projects. Fields such as partial differential equations and ordinary differential equations are EXTENSIVELY deployed in structural and mechanical engineering in the explanation of the behavior of sytems under static or dynamic.loading. flow tru soils, one dimensional consolidation and settlement prediction of soil strata, deflection of structural elements, buckling analysis and determination of effective lengths in steel designs etc are all mathematical and highly applicable in the field of engineering.

akaahs:
Weldon sir. From ur contribution on the subject matter, one can deduce that u re a civil engineer. I ll need help from you sir. I'm a pgd student and I intend to write my final year project on design of a small earth dam. Please, are u willing to help?

wanger50:
This is what get me mad with our Nigerian "Engineers". We are trained to design:That's there motto.So what are you designing?Of all the engineering products I have around me and uses everyday,I can't find any designed by our Nigerian Engineers so why keep wasting money and time training them?I know what will happen if our roadside mechanics go on strike for a day even as I'm very sure the nation won't feel any pinch if our Engineers refuses to work for a year;that is if they have any work that they do at all

eminemkayc:
In whatever way I can, I would... you can always write me an email for technical support and documentation where necessary..

hischoice:
I hate to spoil your mojo but engineering curriculum is same world-wide.

Three, four or five years of university engineering study at undergraduate level is built on the studies of heat transfer and thermodynamics. Every other subject is a derivative of those.

Where the problem lies in Nigeria's specific case are the embedded silly art subjects like Use of English and Philosophy of God's existence (jokes on COREN).

What could have been used in keeping the lads more in Thermo and Engineering Analysis classes, they spend with children of Karl Marx.

And by the way, you will never make sense of engineering until you graduate and start practicing... And that applies to everyone, irrespective of where you studied.

So my take is for the curriculum to be re-jigged to allow
more study of core engineering pricincples. They are theories. Yes, they are supposed to be so. Get grounded in the theories of Lagrange and Echelons, you will find them handy if you ever find yourself in a career involving engineering simulations.

madridsta007:
Studying in Nigeria and completely relying on your lecturers, laboratories, etc, is deluding yourself.
Going outside the box in every course is the way to go.
I know graduates of Engineering in Nigeria who are currently working at NASA, Washington D.C. Two brothers from a University in Northern Nigeria.
Anywhere in the world, if you ONLY rely on what you are being taught, you'll probably end up being mediocre. The world is fiercely competitive. If you go outside the box, you wouldn't. The average Nigerian student is extremely lazy. He/she goes on the internet to chat and engage in other frivolities. It is the same internet that gives the hard-working ambitious student, Edx and Coursera free courses, which this hard-working student takes and improves his knowledge of data science and analysis to complement the theories he learns in school.

The ambitious student does not have two heads. The lazy student easily latches onto an excuse, such as describing his/her course of study in Nigeria as a "scam". No sir/ma. It isn't. You are the lazy, scamming student.
It is up to you.

akaahs:
So for ur mind u said something tangible abi?? So the road u plight everyday was designed by a doctor or the storey building u use was designed by lawyer abi?. See ehhhhh even the GP tank in ur house must be designed to serve you effectively. Don't come here and show ur ignorance ok

poseidon12:
I don't think there is any University in Nigeria that has the facility and qualified teaching staff to offer engineering programs. If the appropriate accrediting agencies from the US or Western Europe come over here to assess our engineering programs, I don't think any Nigerian university will pass.
It costs a lot of money to equip an engineering department. And you need enough experienced, qualified teaching staff.
Even in the US, it is only the reputable Universities that offer engineering programs.
I would not advise any young man or woman to waste their time studying engineering in Nigeria.

SIRTee15:
It's like u giving excuse for Mediocrity.....
I'm not sure ur write up apply to engineering students abroad....
There is something called application of knowledge and this is the key to innovation and research........
The above is where nigerian universities are failing....
Medical schools don't just teach theory but lay extreme emphasis on knowledge application....
If a student doctor fails the clinical exam, he's repeating the whole exam, irrespective of his score in theory even if it's 100%....
That's why nigerian doctors can function n adapt easily when they practice abroad....
Why can't we apply same principle to engineering course....
In fact m, all othet programs in our university....
I remember, I once asked a 500L final year agriculture economics student what she knows about commodity trading....
She had no idea, told me that will be their last topic in the semester!!!!
She didn't even know the function of the commodity market.....
I met a 400L microbiology student who had never looked inside a microscope.....
Abstract learning is killing us.....
And if we talk am now, some will say Nigerians are smart, therefore they don't need practical....

Maj196:
I studied civil engineering and i lost the zeal when i got to 200L... The only time i enjoyed d course was during my IT in Julius Berger. Now am fully into computer programming and am loving it

RealBadBoy:
U are the scam ursef & u are not a civil engineer. CIVIL engineering principles taught in Nigeria are same everywhere in the world. If u claim u are a civil engineer can u state first principle in design? Of course u can't, because u were flexing in school. Better go back and learn.. u are a lazy Nigerian. Engineer is nt road mechanic or brick layer oga.. u need those theories u
are taught..... Alot of it

CodeTemplar:
I am not a Buhari supporter or party person even. I spoke the truth and I know it.
Engr isn't about cramming how a particular technology works but understanding the principles of engineering and using them endlessly.
Can you imagine what life would be like if your lecturers decide to give you limited practical examples in a world of plenty possibilities?

ojay36:
You currently work in the UK then? I'm a 3rd year elect elect student and I'm thinking of masters abroad where do you think is the preferred destination money wise..

Neoteny:
Our curriculum on many disciplines are a disgrace. Engineering students are taught pre-industrialization mechanics, electrical students are taught Faraday-level basics and electronics majors are a joke.

Our tutors are unambitious, uninspired, talentless lemmings.

The worst is computer engineering. They teach Cobol and Fortran endlessly, and almost none of the modern OOP languages (if they try it's just Java and C++). They don't do AI or ML or anything remotely modern.

Computer labs are stocked with legacy equipment.

And i also wonder why examination bodies like Jamb disallow calculators. I don't imagine anyone will encounter a real-world situation where they don't have access to calculators and other devices designed explicitly to make things easier and more accurate.

Useless and pompous PhDs and Professors who don't discover, invent, innovate or even improve. They're not abreast with modern trends, once they collect their doctorates and whatnot they're accomplished, deliberately dressing and wearing 1970s hairstyle because they think it somehow projects knowledge.

Imagine so-called IT experts calling IT "ICT", when no one else does that. Information and communication have been merged, as one without the other is meaningless. You communicate information, don't you? So to the world it's plain "IT", but to our local dinosaurs it's still "ICT". That shows their being behind the times.

You go to our "ICT" labs and all you'll see are old desktops and LaserJets. No robotics, no arduinos, no breadboards nothing.

Our education system is terrible. Cavemen from the Paleolithic can do much better

udemzyudex:
Lol, I have met a lot of computer engineers who could not fix simple mother issues and I begin to wonder what they are being taught at the university.


Well, the reason why most organisations go for Indians and others is because we do a lot of trial and error in Nigeria, take our mechanics for example, in fact they will end up causing more damage to your car.

I learnt computer engineering in Nigeria and I can tell you that most of the jobs were trial and error.

After I finish learning, I had to learn more and guess who I went to? The Indians.
They will teach you the theory and practicals, they will teach you the right way of doing things.

I can tell you that I'm 100% better than before in advance Iaptop chip level repair, I remember asking one of my seniors back then some questions and he was like I was just laughing.
The world is evolving and technology is evolving but Nigeria is still stagnant.

StackNerd:
Great Answer!. Fortran is still in use tho, even in ML/AI' (side question: numpy library used in python was developed in what language?), . The whole point is to learn the idea/concept of programming, once you get the idea you can learn any other language easily

StackNerd:
Fixing motherboard issue is fine, but that's one of the least of the things you should know as a computer engineer, because it is not taught in college, mostly by just watching a YouTube video you should be able to know that, as A computer engineer majorly focusing on comp/arch and systems,. You should know chip design(SOCs), FPGAs, Microcontrollers, Cache Design, Memory design, Tools such as Xillinx, Vivado, Atmel Studio and be solid in Languages like Verilog, VHDL, Embedded C, MATLAB, Assembly Language and know something about Digital signal processing, if you graduate as a computer engineer are not at least solid in 30 percent of this things . Hmmmm . Its like wasted time.

asuustrike1:
Not true. Medicine, nursing and law are thought at Nigeria university yet they are applied to real life situation. Those courses are practical oriented to a large extend