A metallurgical engineer, Mr. Fidelis Ezenwankwo, has called on the Federal Government to take urgent steps to overhaul the curricular for engineering courses in all Nigerian universities, polytechnics and other related higher institutions of learning.
Ezenwankwo, who is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Castmaster Metallurgical Company, said that such a measure would enable the products of such disciplines to contribute their own quota to the nation’s quest for technological development.
The registered member of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and the Nigerian Society of Engineers, told our correspondent in Abuja that overhauling the curricular for all engineering courses had become imperative.
According to him, the curricular must reflect the necessity of practical training in the various fields of engineering in the nation’s higher institutions.
While identifying practical experience and theoretical knowledge in engineering as “one of the ways to move the Workers insist new Vice-Chancellor will not be accepted POINT nation forward technologically,” he lamented that students of engineering passed through the university in five years without undergoing practical demonstration of the theories learnt in the classroom.
The metallurgical engineer, who said he voluntarily left the Federal Civil Service for engineering practice, further lamented that the posting of National Youth Service Corp members was usually done with little or no consideration for their disciplines or areas of specialisation.
“There are dons in the field who have never had any practical experience in their chosen fields,” he said.
The Casmaster boss stressed that such a situation would have direct consequences on the quality of practice in the engineering profession.
Ezenwankwo, who also advised the Federal and State Governments to prioritise the acquisition of practical professional knowledge rather than theories, said Nigeria had had enough seminars and paper presentations.
He noted that expatriate investments and contributions had become important for the development and growth of the nation’s economy as well as its technological advancement.
The metallurgical engineer, however, cautioned the government to be mindful of the vested interests of foreign investors, saying, “They too have something to gain.”
Making reference to the state of the Ajaokuta Steel Company, the National Iron Ore Mining Project, the steel rolling mills in Nigeria, as well as the frustrating environment in which indigenous private metal sector companies survive, Ezenwankwo urged the government to set up a ministerial committee to address the state of nation’s indigenous metal sector.
