The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Wednesday, re-introduced a compulsory residency programme for engineering graduates before going for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
According to COREN, the compulsory residency was aimed at strengthening engineering practice in Nigeria, and also designed to make graduates employable.
The President of the council, Professor Sadiq Abubakar, disclosed this in Abuja at a news conference on the 32nd COREN Engineering Assembly scheduled to hold on August 5th to 7th in Abuja.
He expressed the council’s readiness to approach the National Assembly for legislative backing to get funding from the Industry Training Fund (ITF) in line with the existing law.
“In response to the goals of the current Federal Government Administration, the council approved the resuscitation of the supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE) under a new name of Engineering Residency Programme (EREP).
“We also planned to engage the National Assembly to seek legislative backing for its funding by the Industry Training Fund (ITF) in line with the existing law. This is a one-year post-graduation training programme for all engineering graduates of an accredited university or polytechnic.
“It is designed to meet practical experience requirements for the purpose of registration with COREN as professional engineer or an engineering technologist similar to the practices of Medical and other professions, ’’ he said.
Abubakar said relevant organisations like National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), among others were contacted and all expressed their readiness to participate and support the laudable initiative.
He said that COREN would ensure that all qualified engineering practitioners including technologists, technicians and craftsmen were certified through the registration process of the Council before they are licensed to practice in Nigeria.