The visit, among other things, Any society that must develop in the area of good infrastructure must take the engineering practice seriously.
This was the submission of the Lagos Regional Co-Ordinator of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, Engineer Tomide Akinaowo, when he led a team of COREN Officials on a courtesy call on the Director, Lagos Operations of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, Mrs Bolanle Owoyemi and her Management Team, at the Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Engineer Akinaowo said that they came to appreciate the FRCN, for its laudable programmes and the sensitisation efforts the Corporation had been making to pass relevant information to the people for positive change.
He, however, expressed disappointment at the constant neglect of engineering facilities in various sectors of the society which had most times resulted in decay in infrastructure particularly, in key sectors of the economy.
According to him, if the engineering aspects of various sectors were not usually compromised, society would have been better for it.
He stressed that attention should also be given to various infrastructures in the society so that some buildings that were already weak could be detected on time to avoid cases of building collapse as observed particularly, on Lagos Island recently.
Engineer Akinaowo therefore, called for adequate sensitisation on the need to take the issue of caring for engineering facilities seriously.
The COREN Regional Co – Co-Ordinator noted that if all stakeholders could play their roles professionally by embracing standards in all ramifications, society would be better for it.
Therefore, he called on relevant authorities to always put the right peg in the right hole by allowing only professional engineers to handle relevant projects in society.
Mr Akinaowo however, advised the Government against what he described as “breakdown maintenance” which he said was usually very expensive to manage.
He, therefore, solicited partnership with FRCN and seized the opportunity of the visit to invite the Station to the Council’s upcoming event in Lagos.
In a response, Mrs Owoyemi thanked the team of COREN officials for the visit and took out time to brief the guests on the three stations on the stable of FRCN in Lagos.
She, however, advised COREN to patronize the stations as a means of sensitizing the public on its mandates and activities.
Underscoring the importance of engineering, Mrs Owoyemi gave kudos to the Engineering Staff of the Lagos Operations of FRCN for their ingenuity in solving issues in the stations.
She however assured the Guests that FRCN would always adhere to engineering standards in all its operations.
Issues of blocked drainage, theft of manhole cover on the roads, vandalisation of bridge railings and the act of pulling down the national grid were brought before the Engineers for discussion.
In her contribution, the Deputy Director, of New Media, Mrs Julie Ekong appealed for prompt clearing of debris at the site of building collapse to avoid blockage of drains.
The high points of the visit were the exchange of souvenirs between Mrs Owoyemi and Engineer Akinaowo, and the taking of group photographs.
Story by John Obot