To Enhance Practical Experience, COREN Approves One-year Residency for Engineering Graduates

•Set to hold engineering assembly in August

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) yesterday announced that it was planning a one-year residency programme for graduates of Nigeria’s universities and polytechnics.

In a briefing in Abuja during which the council said it had scheduled its annual Engineering Assembly for August 5, President of COREN, Prof Sadiq Abubakar, stressed that the move was to ensure practical experience for Nigerian engineers.

Abubakar stated that the regulatory body was liaising with the National Assembly to ensure funding from the relevant government organisation.

“In response to the goals of the current administration, the council approved the resuscitation of Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE) under a new name of Engineering Residency Programme (EREP) and planned to engage the National Assembly to seek legislative backing for its funding by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in line with the existing law.

“This is a one-year post-graduation training programme for all engineering graduates of an accredited university or polytechnic, designed to meet practical experience requirements for the purpose of registration with COREN as a professional engineer or an engineering technologist similar to the practices of medical, pharmaceutical and other professions,” Abubakar added.

He stated that all relevant partners had been contacted and they all expressed their readiness to participate and support the initiative.

COREN as a statutory body has the mandate to regulate and control engineering education, training and the practice of engineering in all its aspects and ramifications in Nigeria.

Having become the 2nd African Country after South Africa to join the Washington Accord (WA), to consolidate the achievement, Abubakar stated that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and COREN had agreed to commence joint accreditation of engineering programmes in universities similar to the existing practice between the one for polytechnics and mono-technics

The council, he said, has approved the creation of a new register for the cadre of engineering artisans in line with its mandate.

“In the same vein, COREN being a member of National Skill Council (NSC), was charged to drive the Sector Skill Council for Engineering (SSC4E). Arrangement had reached advanced stage with NBTE and other relevant organisations for the inauguration of the SSC4E,” the COREN president said.

As part of efforts to decentralise the operations of COREN and ensure effective engagement at the grassroots and promote sanity in the practice of engineering for a more positive impacts in Nigeria, the council, he stressed, has created new departments and units at its headquarters.

He added that the organisation was also expanding its regulatory activities to cover oil & gas, power, mining, communication, construction, maritime, aerospace, agro-allied, manufacturing and transportation.

On the COREN engineering assembly, he explained that it will help bring all cadres of engineering practitioners together to discuss issues that will lift the engineering profession to greater heights.

Themed: “Regulating Engineering Profession for Shared Prosperity in Nigeria” several papers, he said, will be presented by eminent local and international subject matter experts.

It will also feature the “Engineering Family Forum” dedicated to guiding Nigeria prepare its submission and application for admission into Sydney and Dublin Accords for Engineering Technologists, Technicians, Craftsmen and Artisans. This, he stressed, is similar to the the historic admission of Nigeria into Washington Accord in 2023 at Taiwan.

“It is also pertinent to inform you that COREN is ever ready to improve its performance in regulating engineering education, training of practitioners and ensure that their practices is in line with the global standards to safeguard lives and properties of the citizenry as well as ensure the prevention of the failures engineering infrastructure.

“Thus, the council is appealing to the federal government to continue to fund COREN similar to its peers in the health sector. It is our hope and prayer that the federal government would reconsider its position to return the council into funding regime for the benefit of the citizenry and the nation,” Abubakar said.