COREN Begins Engineering Assembly in Abuja, Minister Calls for Quality Infrastructure

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigerian (COREN) yesterday formally kicked off its 32nd Assembly in Abuja, with the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa calling for a culture of building quality infrastructure nationwide.

At the event, the minister highlighted the issue of engineering failures in the country, explaining that there was the need for rigorous regulation to prevent the menace.

He stressed that COREN remains one of the most important regulatory partners in the sector, underscoring the significance of the standards and professional ethics enforced by the body in ensuring the quality, safety, and resilience of housing and other infrastructure.

He added: “The standards COREN sets and the professional ethics it enforces are crucial to ensuring the quality, safety, and resilience of housing and infrastructure projects across the nation.”

Specifically, Dangiwa raised the issue of building collapses, which he said have plagued the country for a long time, acknowledging COREN’s efforts to mitigate these issue.

He congratulated COREN for its proactive measures in addressing the challenges within the built environment, especially concerning building collapses, especially in the area of training, certification, and licensing.

 The minister emphasised the importance of synergy, teamwork, and information sharing among professionals to enable proactive measures against potential engineering failures.

Dangiwa urged the engineering community to use the assembly as an opportunity to reflect on the current challenges and collaborate in finding sustainable solutions.

Also speaking, the President of COREN, Prof. Sadiq Abubabar noted that for the first time, the country was going to witness another epoch-making event in the way of addressing the formal and informal sector wherein they will be allowed  to have some certification or licensing.

“For the first time in this country, we’re going to expand that sector that allows building collapse to thrive. We have developed a technique that is very comprehensive that will allow us, for the first time in Nigeria, to track who is doing what, at what point, who is not doing his job, either individuals or organisations.

“So that for the first time, we’re able to track and have very comprehensive documentation that allows us to do forensic investigation to be able to identify the perpetrators and to be able to apply the law accordingly to sustain the incessant building collapse,” Abubabar stated.

Also speaking, the Governor of Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, stated that his state has become one of the four states contributing at least N1 billion to the federation through improved harnessing of mineral resources.

He lamented that Nigeria was still generating less than 6,000 megawatts of power in 2024, stressing that engineers must practically find a way to solve the problem.

“Nigerians are intelligent. Nigerians have the capacity. Engineers in Nigeria are some of the best engineers that you can find. So we must do something to be able to practice and show that we are truly engineers that are making this impact,” Sule stated.