Blame FG for incessant building collapse, says NATE

It said inability of the federal government to place its priority on technical know-how, strict enforcement of law and use of quacks by clients were responsible for the menace.Vice President, North-West zone of NATE, Lucky Okwonkwo, who stated this at the weekend in Kaduna during the first zonal inauguration award and induction of new members […]

It said inability of the federal government to place its priority on technical know-how, strict enforcement of law and use of quacks by clients were responsible for the menace.
Vice President, North-West zone of NATE, Lucky Okwonkwo, who stated this at the weekend in Kaduna during the first zonal inauguration award and induction of new members in the zone, added that, until government, corporate organisations and individuals stopped patronising quacks, the problem would remain in the country for a long time.
He said that the body was making frantic efforts, in collaboration with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), at ensuring compliance to standards, leading to several engineers been sanctioned for compromising standards.
“On collapse building in Nigeria, we are making frantic efforts through COREN, which is the umbrella body for professional engineers in the country. We should not use quacks when we have professionals and until we begin to use experts in building, road and bridge construction, the problem will persist,” he stressed.
 Earlier, the National President of NATE, Dr. Leo Okereke, who frowned at BSC/HND dichotomy, said every successful economy in the world today was technology driven. He said the economy of Nigeria could only be grown through technology-based ideology, adding that government needed to pay attention to its technologists to achieve development.
Okereke said: “No matter the time, our economy must be technologically driven. You know that if you hire a technologist to work for you, he tells you the bill and you pay him without being discriminated against because you know what you want and you go for that.
“Emphasis should not be placed on certificate because certificate does not make proficiency and that is our gospel. Certificate that took people six years before can now be gotten at the weekend. Technologists in this country are in the middle of the nation’s economy. We hope to see technology advancing.”