Evelyn Omotoye
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The Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to continue  to accord engineering profession its pride of place in the scheme of things in the state.

Akeredolu stated this at the weekend at the maiden edition of Engr. Ademola Olorunfemi Annual Public Lecture of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) Akure branch held at the International Culture and Event Centre, The Dome in Akure.

The governor represented by his deputy, Hon. Agboola Ajayi stated that the theme of the lecture “Funding of Engineering Education and Training for Self-Reliance” cannot be more apt than now in the contemporary life as a country.

While noting that investment in education is the greatest commitment any government can make towards national growth and development as no country can rise above the level of its education, he said funding of education generally and Engineering education in particular, cannot be over-emphasized.

He maintained that “engineering which covers all strata of economy and human development, is quite crutial to the sustainable socio-economic development in any developing economy just like the developed ones

“Well educated engineering professional are undoubtedly sine qua non to national development. This is because engineering is critical and more or less a life wire of the developmental trajectory of a society”, noting that there is a concomitant growth and development in all fields of engineering as the world advances in Science and Technology.

He posited that only adequate funding of engineering education, training and retraining of the professionals can lift the country out of its seeming doldrums of infrastructural development to make it self reliant in this field.

Akeredolu however charged the Engineers never to compromise standards but abuse strictly by the ethics of their profession to build a strong and reliable society and ensure overall national development.

Delivering the lecture, A renowned lawyer, President and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola has identified inadequate funding as the major challenge confronting Engineering education in the country.

He highlighted other challenges facing engineering education to include obsolete curriculum, lack of students exposure to industrial practices, poor quality of teaching staff and paucity of prerequisite experience, discontinuance technical education among several others.

The ABUAD founder called on well to do individuals to invest in the field and “all Nigerians should be encouraged to  endow professional chairs and make generous donations to the tertiary education, saying engineering education is too expensive to be left alone in the hands of politicians.

Babalola while also calling on government to show more commitment in funding engineering education, disclosed that engineering education has the capacity to open up avenues in diverse domains with good remuneration as it deals with the various degrees of comfort that technology brings the way of man.

Earlier in his address, the chairman of the occasion who is the President of the NSE, Engr. Adekunle Mokuolu stated that the public lecture is instituted in honour of Engr. Ademola Olorunfemi in recognition of his numerous monumental achievements and valuable contributions in the profession, the NSE and in national development.

Mokuolu further stated that the theme of the lecture is well conceived saying that funding engineering education is not only for self reliance but also for socio-economic development if the nation

Meanwhile, the NSE Akure branch chairman, Engr. Oloruntoba Abe in his welcome address informed the gathering that the annual programme was put up in a bid to enhance professionalism in line with global best practices as technology advances as well as building a viable society.