President Goodluck Jonathan has directed relevant government agencies to ensure full implementation of the white paper on the Presidential Committee on Strategic Plans for Engineering Development and Control released since 2005.
The President revealed this at the 21st Engineering Assembly for Capacity, Integrity and National Transformation held in Abuja, yesterday.
He said that the time had come for Nigeria to reflect and review what was and what ought to be in the interest of Nigerians and bemoaned the lack of a maintenance culture in the country. This, according to him, endangers the sustainability of government’s developmental attempts.
While stressing the position of the current administration on job creation, he revealed that the federal government through the ministry of works recently employed over 500 fresh engineering graduates, even as it looked forward to mapping out possible ways that could leverage the unemployment situation in the country.
The President maintained that the federal government had approved a reform of the road sector while promoting the recently established Nigerian Content Development Act meant to benefit engineers in the country.
Furthermore, while promising that government would continue to work with the Council for The Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) to bring down the cost of construction and maintain standard in the industry, President Jonathan expressed the government’s resolve to encourage agencies of accountability in the fight to protect the interest of Nigeria at all times.