#Sunshine 2015keynote presentation by afe babalola at nse conference #sunshine2015

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Aare Afe BabalolaAare Afe BabalolaOFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, D.Litt, FNIALS, FCI.ArbOFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, D.Litt, FNIALS, FCI.Arb

Founder/ChancellorAfe Babalola University, Ado – Ekiti

www.abuad.edu.ng, , www.founder.abuad.edu.ng

Tuesday, November 17, 2015.

http://www.abuad.edu.ng/

http://www.founder.abuad.edu.ng/

PROTOCOLPROTOCOLABUAD... A Vision in Motion 2

Lecture Title

SUSTAINABLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

NATIONAL INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE MASTER

PLAN: MOVING FROM NATIONAL ASPIRATION TO

LOCAL REALIZATIONABUAD... A Vision in Motion 3

TributesTributesDistinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I consider

it a great honour and privilege to be invited as Keynote Speaker at this very important gathering of Nigerian Society of Engineers.

I congratulate President Olorunfemi and all the members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers on the 2015 National Engineering Conference and Annual General Meeting tagged “National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) 2014: Strategies for Implementation”.

ABUAD... A Vision in Motion 4

Pivotal Role: Engineering and Technology as Basis for DevelopmentSince its establishment in 1958, the Nigerian Society of

Engineers (“NSE”) has played a pivotal role as the umbrella organization and the voice for the teeming population of engineers in this country.

Historically, the name “engineer” originated in the eleventh century from the Latin term ingeniator, meaning one with ingenium, the ingenious one.

This characterization remains true today. The importance of engineers to a society, development

and advancement cannot be overemphasized. It is therefore not surprising that countries that have

made it or those that are emerging, embrace engineering and technology as the basis for scientific and economic development.


Pivotal Role: Engineering and Technology as Basis for Development Cont’dMany ancient monuments such as the Acropolis

and the Parthenon in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Hanging gardens of Babylon, the pyramids of Egypt, the iconic TajMahal in India, the Great wall of China, not forgetting the National Arts Theatre, Lagos, and the seven thousand capacity multipurpose hall in Afe Babalola University which President Jonathan described as “an engineering feat because there is no supporting pillar” to mention a few, are evidence of the great skills and ingenuity of engineers.


Pivotal Role: Engineering and Technology as Basis for Development Cont’dEach of these monumental constructions, as well as

other technological innovations such as the cars we drive today, improved telecommunication and information technology, whether it is Face Book, Face Time, Skype or Linkedin; and our ability to extract oil, just to mention a few, are attestations to the primordial importance and contemporary aims of engineering, which is exploiting scientific principles to develop useful tools, engines, machines, and structures.

I congratulate engineers for dedicating their lives and careers to this great aim of pushing the boundaries of knowledge to make the world a better place for us all.


The Theme of this ConferenceThe lofty visions of the NSE, as reflected in the theme of this year’s conference, which is to reform and promote sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria, strikingly captures a vision and ideal that I have passionately championed.


Decay of Infrastructural facilitiesNigeria today is faced with several

problems. Aside from much talked about issues of

endemic and systemic corruption, terrorism, unemployment, erosion of our educational institutions and the bastardization of our economy, another fundamental problem facing Nigeria today is the near annihilation, dilapidation and decay of our core infrastructure.


Decay of Infrastructural Facilities Cont’dTechnically defined as “the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society”, there is no better reflection of the health and state of a nation than the state of its infrastructure.


Opportunity to BrainstormThis week’s conference presents another

opportunity for all of us here present to brainstorm and rub minds on how we can get there.

Based on my experience as the award-winning Pro-Chancellor of University of Lagos, farmer, lawyer, economist, teacher, auditor and university administrator, I hope to share with you practical suggestions on how the Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan can be effectively implemented to address the current infrastructural facilities and to lay a solid foundation for future self-sustenance across the power, transportation, municipal development and climate change sectors.


What is the Problem?Essentially, the problem in this country has never

been that of the absence of one form of government master plan, aspirational blue prints or white papers, such as the Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan.

The problem however has perennially been lack of effective and sustainable implementation.

How do we translate aspirational blue prints and action plans to practical, transparent and effective local results that everyone can be proud of.

This is the central question that I will be addressing today


The National Integrated Infrastructure Master PlanThe National Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan

is a policy document that was conceived and released in July 2012 by the administration of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and the National Planning Commission.

The ultimate goal of the Masterplan is to build and maintain adequate infrastructure in all areas of the Nigerian economy.

The Master Plan sets out the aspiration of raising Nigeria’s infrastructure investment from the current 20-25 percent of GDP to at least 70 percent by 2043 and ensuring delivery of quality and affordable infrastructural services.


The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan Cont’dIt also outlines estimates of investment

requirements for actualizing this aspiration. The Plan will require a total investment of $3

trillion over a period of 30 years. The Master Plan focuses on the key areas of

energy, housing, agriculture, ICT, roads, and security.


The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan Cont’dThe sectors for investment and the

allocated amounts are as follows: energy, about $1 billion; transportation $775 billion, Agriculture, water and mining $400 billion, housing and regional development $350

billion, ICT $325 million, social infrastructures $150 billion and vital registration and security $50 billion


The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan Cont’dThe idea of the Master plan is to look at

the various sectors that utilize infrastructure in the country, develop a framework for their revamp, develop monitoring and evaluation and also address lack of coherence in infrastructure development and maintenance.

The Plan adopts an integrated management framework aimed at addressing lack of linkages in the infrastructure sector.


A right step in the right direction: Adoption by other countriesThe Masterplan must be commended as a right step

in the right direction; and a necessary statement of intent that is in line with global trends in infrastructure development.

In realization of the importance of adequate infrastructure to national development, several other developing economies have adopted concrete national infrastructure master plans to shore up their infrastructural development.

Some of these countries include Malaysia, India, Singapore, China, as well as developed economies such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.


A right step in the right direction: Adoption by other countriesIn addition to generally supporting the

growth of the national economy, the adoption of a national master plan signaled the priority and focus of a government, which is a key determinant of private sector investment.

The adoptions of infrastructure master plans in those countries have therefore resulted in remarkable private sector inflow of investment for infrastructure development.


A right step in the right direction: Adoption by other countriesThese countries have also been able to

generate new employment from infrastructure projects and have witnessed significant increase in demands for local raw materials, all of which have improved their respective local economies.

A national master plan evidently enhances competitiveness and gives rise to prioritized projects and programmes that could address deficits in infrastructure.


Ambitious PlanAs beautiful and as laudable as the idea of the

Master plan is, a close examination of the Nigerian Master Plan shows that it is largely ambitious, aspirational and very similar to previous policy objectives established by past governments such as the famed Vision 2010.

The Master Plan rightly identifies concrete issues and sets out robust intentions and plans to address them over a 30-year period.

However, it is lightweight and unrealistic in terms of practical measures, governmental commitments and resources needed to meet the identified infrastructure gaps.


The ProblemsThere are six complex problems to be solved in

order to achieve sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria.

Three of the problems are primary in the sense that they are largely responsible for the other three.

The primary problems are: the negative influence of a corrupt and

retrogressive political class; lack of proper funding and finance necessary to

drive infrastructural development; and overdependence on foreign technology, goods and

services for local projects. ABUAD... A Vision in Motion 21

The Problems Cont’dThese three have led to

the weakening of local infrastructural development and maintenance capabilities;

erosion of a culture of technological innovation and research in our Universities; and

lopsided manpower deployment in engineering and technology institutions and ministries.


The Problems Cont’dViewed very closely, items (b & f) above are matters that the government can address, whereas items (a, c, d, & e) point to practical ills that could be addressed by both the government and stakeholders including Nigeria Society of Engineers.


1. What is Sustainable Infrastructural Development?To lay a foundation for the discussions on the

sustainable implementation of the Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (the “Master Plan”), it will be useful to understand and appreciate the thresholds and prerequisites for sustainable infrastructural development.

The most commonly cited definition of sustainable development is the definition provided by the World Commission on Environment and Development (The Brundtland Commission): Sustainable development is development that meets

the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.


1. What is Sustainable Infrastructural Development? Cont’dThis definition contains within it two

concepts: First, meeting the current basic

infrastructural needs such as power, good roads, good schools, safe transportation, bridges, telecommunications amongst others; and

Second, inter-generational equity, which includes removing all limitations to the abilities of our children and future generations yet unborn to meet their own infrastructural needs.


1. What is Sustainable Infrastructural Development? Cont’d

The 2012 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development specifically identifies the three mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development as: (a) economic development, (b) social development and (c) environmental development.


The United Nations therefore enjoins every country to pursue, not just infrastructural development, but sustainable infrastructural development, which is infrastructure that is high performing, cost-effective, resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly. According to the UN, infrastructural development is sustainable when it leads to the production, maintaining, repairing and upgrading of infrastructure in an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable manner.


Firstly, infrastructural development is economically sustainable if it results in the growth of the economy, job creation and the eradication of poverty.

Weak infrastructure affects economic growth. Difficulties accessing markets via crumbling roads or

clogged up ports, and vast expenditure on generators required to avoid blackouts, are regularly cited as the biggest challenges to investors in this country.

The shortage of infrastructure means that a great deal of businesses are having to self-generate electricity at vast cost, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage.


Therefore, the focus of governments under this pillar must be to fund and support projects that could stimulate economic growth.

Any so called infrastructure project that does not contribute to the goals of removing barriers to economic growth or support economic productivity is, in my opinion, a white elephant project and an unsustainable one.


Secondly, infrastructural development is socially sustainable if it delivers real and measurable improvements to the overall quality of life of the public.

Poor infrastructure lowers the quality of life of millions of Nigerians.

The life expectancy rate in Nigeria dangerously sits at 52 years (compared to the United Kingdom 82 years, Australia 81 years, Canada 82 years, and USA 80 years).

Lack of basic infrastructure such as good roads, power and health amenities all mean that an average Nigeria is expected to die at 52 years.


Due to poor roads and heavy traffic, commuters spend hours commuting distances that should take only minutes. Poor infrastructure also means several Nigerians die of curable diseases.

The legitimate purpose of infrastructural policies and projects must be to deliver improved quality of life and progress in key sectors.


Thirdly, environmental sustainability warns that infrastructural projects must not affect the quality of our environment, but should rather result in cleaner solutions, pollution control measures, and improved health for the people.

While infrastructures are needed for growth, emissions from large power plants and factories, mass transit schemes, as well as railways, and electricity transmission grids will have negative effects on local air quality and could damage the serenity of our natural environment, if not well planned to be low-carbon, energy efficient and climate-smart.


Infrastructural development must therefore be based on sound blue prints that deliver balanced economic, social and environmental development and growth.

An infrastructure master plan must deliver practical and measurable gains in the three sectors: economic, Social, and environmental,

otherwise it is unsustainable, wishful, speculative and failure-bound.


As Milton Friedman, a famous US economist rightly noted:“One of the greatest mistakes is to judge

policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

To achieve sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria, government programs and policies must move beyond mere aspirational axioms, and deliver real, measurable and practical

results.ABUAD... A Vision in Motion 34

WILL THE MASTERPLAN TRANSLATE INTO REAL, MEASURABLE AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT?The issue is whether this Master Plan

can translate into real, measurable and sustainable

infrastructural development in Nigeria, or will it end up as another aspirational

policy document and a will-o'-the-wisp?


ConcernsWhile it is a comprehensive policy document, a first key concern with the Master Plan is that it does not deliver realistic projections on how government intends to fund this significant capital infrastructural development. This question is now more important in the light of dwindling oil prices that has posed a challenge to Nigeria’s primary source of income and the call for further devaluation of the naira from some quarters. The Master Plan identifies public private partnership as its primary strategy for funding these $3 trillion projected projects.


Since this policy was adopted three years ago, there is little to suggest that Government is on the path of attaining any of its investment projections in the key sectors.

While government evokes and lauds the PPP as a convenient policy approach, very little is shown in terms of government commitment to support and partner with the private sector.

The government expects the private sector to survive or perish at its own expense, without providing any support or functional climate for the private sector to play meaningful roles in addressing infrastructural deficits.


For example, despite the efforts of private Universities such as ABUAD to spearhead technological research and innovation, governments have done little or nothing to support its achievements and efforts.

Instead, what we have are the lopsided and archaic policies and fundamentally defective laws that exclude private universities from accessing University research funds.

In other sectors, private sector enterprises face harsh and discriminatory policies that limit their abilities to support and participate in government programs through a PPP model.


An example of a moribund PPP arrangement was the 105-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which, the federal government awarded under a concession to Bi-Courtney Consortium in 2009 for N89.53 billion for 25 years.

This arrangement has not resulted in better and sustainable maintenance of that highway, due to several reasons that are not unconnected with the lack of a sophisticated understanding of the essentials of a robust PPP arrangement.


This raises doubts on the seriousness of government to fund the cost intensive Master Plan through the PPP.

PPP is undoubtedly a great economic model for bridging the infrastructural gap.

The question, however, is working out how to structure it to make it attractive to both the public sector and the private sector.


Another concern with the Master Plan is that it focuses mostly on investments without addressing how the capacity development gaps that stifle infrastructural development in Nigeria will be addressed. There is the question of how Nigeria can reduce its dependence on foreign technology, goods and services to start generating local solutions aimed at achieving sustainable infrastructural development. Countries such as Singapore that have managed to achieve sustainable infrastructural development did so by adopting a bottom-up approach that strengthens the capacities of engineering institutes, societies and professional bodies such as the NSE to develop local solutions, technologies and innovations that can drive change.


We must ask ourselves today, how much energy technology do we produce in Nigeria, what qualitative professional development options are available to our engineers to increase their capacity, knowledge and skills.

The problem with Nigeria is never the lack of human resources, it is the inability of government to provide adequate support and environment for our talents to thrive and contribute to innovation.

This Master Plan fails to identify how much funding will be accessible to innovators, institutes, Universities, research centres and professional bodies to develop home-grown solutions to our infrastructural problems and to locally maintain the infrastructures when built.


Lack of proper turn around maintenance has been the most important factor contributing to the deterioration of infrastructure in this country.

Many of our structures, equipment and facilities have collapsed because we have to depend on foreigners to build, repair and maintain them.

Without adequate support for our Universities to develop home grown innovations as was done in Singapore, the Master Plan will not, in my view, deliver real, practical and sustainable solutions to our infrastructural gaps.

If we strategically fund our Universities, professional bodies and learning centres to develop home-grown solutions within that 30 pear period, they will be able to play very active roles in supporting infrastructural development, repair and maintenance.


The third concern is that the Master Plan fails to fully integrate the environmental sector. Many countries have realised the need to promote cleaner approaches and solutions while addressing infrastructural gaps, for example by investing in the construction of green buildings and with energy-efficient facilities, promotion of on-grid clean power generation and building of climate-smart infrastructure. These approaches are important to mitigate and adapt to the real and emerging challenges of climate change and to ensure that whatever we build today can survive for many generations. The Master Plan does not allocate resources to these important realities.


The fourth concern is the prevalent issue of political will to implement the policy, which raises even more complex questions. As noted earlier on, the Master Plan is not the first aspirational document released by successive Nigerian governments. Between 1960 and 1985, the Nigerian government drafted four development plans to meet the deeds for adequate infrastructure provision. These plans were followed by the Structural Adjustment Program (“SAP”) of 1986, in which Nigeria reformed its foreign exchange system, trade policies, business and agriculture regulations in order to reverse the collapse of export revenue and break the cycle of public over spending, infrastructural deficit and inflation.


Following the advent of democracy in 1999, the democratic government renewed efforts to address the infrastructure deficit with the introduction of a reform policy called the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (“NEEDS”).

During his 2007 to 2010 term, the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua also introduced a seven point agenda in his Vision 2020, aimed at making Nigeria one of the top 20 economies of the world by 2020.

One of the aims of Vision 2020 was the provision of adequate infrastructure services to support the full mobilization of all economic sectors.


Vision 2020 was very similar to Vision 2010, which was adopted in 1997 by the late General Sani Abacha to provide adequate infrastructure amongst other objectives.

These piles of governmental plans and strategies, as evidenced by the current state of Nigeria infrastructure, all either failed or their implementations have not been sustained. Furthermore, in August 2013, the African Development Bank released an Infrastructure Action Plan titled “An Infrastructure Action Plan for Nigeria -

Closing the Infrastructure Gap and Accelerating Economic Transformation”.


This document is an extensive 80-page document, which explores Nigeria’s infrastructure to date, highlights the problems and also proposes detailed and extensive recommendations for addressing Nigeria’s infrastructure issues.

Till date, it appears that most of the recommendations contained in that document have not been adopted or addressed.


The fifth concern deals with lack of continuity by successive governments.As Cassius, a Roman nobleman, said when he was talking to his friend, Brutus in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar:

Men at sometime are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

The fault is in us as a nation that we are where we are today. One reason for stunted infrastructural development in Nigeria is the frequent policy summersault and lack of continuity that results from change of government.


Lack of political will to continue or build on the gains of previous governments often mean that when governments change hands, polices and plans typically die, either instantly or slowly.

The question therefore is whether the Master Plan will make its way into the agenda of the current or future successive governments within the 30-yeartime frame of the Master Plan.

Countries that exhibit best practices for infrastructural development have decision-making frameworks embedded and woven into government.

Within these frameworks, projects move forward based on yearly forecasting and planning irrespective of a change in government.


Unless the Master Plan is institutionalized and progressively implemented, it may end up as another moribund policy document.

The foregoing comments and diagnosis are not intended to suggest that the Master Plan is of no good or should be discarded into the garbage of history.

Rather the aim is to challenge us to join efforts towards removing the barriers that may stifle its long-term practicability, relevance and sustainability.


2. Moving from National Aspiration to Local Realisation: Sustainable Infrastructural DevelopmentThe easiest thing to do is to criticize what others

have painstakingly done without offering suggestion.

In this part of my address, I will propose key strategies that could assist in removing the barriers to the successful implementation of the Master Plan to enhance its delivery, success and sustainability under four sub-headings namely: Policy harmonizationSustained budgeting and fundingInvestment in research and innovationLocalization of infrastructural development


A. Policy HarmonizationThe first strategy is for the current government to take stock of the progress made under the Master Plan and assess how it could integrate the Plan into current government programs. As earlier noted, lack of continuity in policy implementation has been a major bane of infrastructural development in Nigeria. There is therefore a need for successive governments to embrace and integrate policy prescriptions that could result in sustainable infrastructural development. The current government could, as a starting point, integrate best practices in the Master Plan and address its pitfalls and weaknesses so that the 30-year target can be carried on from one government to another.


For example, it took the Late Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore over 30 years to build Singapore into what it is today.

It is common knowledge that our current constitution does not envisage a situation whereby one government can be in power for 30 years.

Therefore continuity is key if the Master Plan is to be sustainably implemented.

The task of implementing the Master Plan should be integrated and embedded into government institutions such as National Planning Commission (NPC) to see through the Plan irrespective of the government in place.

We must build our national institutions to be able to stabilize and harmonize infrastructural development programs


The NPC should be shaped to adopt a comprehensive, multi-year implementation approach that would prioritize infrastructure projects across areas identified in the Master Plan.

The NPC would then prioritize, measure and maintain a database containing a pipeline of projects, denoted by status such as completed, under construction, funded and awaiting approval.

Under this structure, the plan would be updated at least once a year to reflect movement in the project pipeline and changes in strategy or emphasis.

By adopting this approach, there will be real opportunities to achieve the targets and timelines in the Master Plan over its 30-year period.


B. Sustained Budgeting and FundingConsidering the level of infrastructure decay and rot across Nigeria, implementing a 30-year master plan can only deliver results if it is robustly and continually funded. To rapidly catch up with the rest of the world in terms of infrastructure, there is a need to denote and dedicate a significant portion of annual budgets to infrastructural upgrades and development. For example, targeting a certain percentage of GDP each year would ensure that the infrastructure deficit is slowly reduced, while demands for new infrastructure are met.


The plan could include flexibility to accommodate accelerated planned infrastructure investment in times of economic slowdown or recession.

Nigeria must also engage with international development partners and meet its obligations under joint funding schemes.

For example the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has invested in a five-year, £95m Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility II (NIAF) programme aimed at assisting the Government of Nigeria to better plan, finance and operate infrastructure.

The Nigerian Government must be transparent, accountable and committed to the proper utilization of such funds for earmarked projects.


A combination of government funding and international development funding could deliver real and measurable financial capital base to realise and meet the expenditure required to fund the Master Plan.

Similarly, PPP initiatives still have significant roles to play in cushioning shortfalls from budgetary allocations, as well as providing new and independent sources of financing.

Governments must however provide added impetus and support for private sector players by removing archaic barriers and promoting flexible policies that can enable private institutions to thrive and prosper.

For example bureaucratic processes and participation rules should be straightforward, transparent and inclusive.

The prosperity of the private sector will deliver rapid development under the PPP model.


C. Investment in Research and InnovationThe importance of innovation in infrastructural development cannot be over-emphasised. It is not a mere coincidence that Nigeria’s glorious years in terms of good infrastructure were years when our Universities were equally known for delivering significant innovation and research. However, poor funding, brain drain, infrastructural deficiency, poor ethical standards and different levels of institutional corruption are some of the reasons why Nigerian Universities can no longer drive innovation. Unless this situation is reversed, Nigeria will continue to depend on foreign technology and goods as the foundation for its infrastructural projects.


This is an approach that has failed us for several years and will continue to do so. Countries that have achieved meaningful infrastructural development realised this and have dedicated significant national funding to research and innovation.

In several developed countries, universities are the key to spearheading research, innovation, applied technology, clean-tech industry, export and economic growth.

Take Canada for example, where aeronautical engineering departments have spurred key breakthroughs for aviation infrastructure, making Canada a leading manufacturer of air planes (the Bombardier).


Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Departments have also provided talented graduates who drive Canada’s electronics and software industry, which generates $50 billion in annual exports.

For example, the famous Blackberry phones we all carry today is a Canadian product. Architecture and civil engineering departments have also developed low cost facilities for road and infrastructure construction. And several of Canada’s professors have won Nobel Prizes in medicine, engineering and sciences.

This is the same in the United States where Harvard University, a private University, has produced some of the world’s leading innovators and engineers.


As a former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos and the Founder and Chancellor of ABUAD, I know that the depth of human and intellectual capacity locked behind the gates of our Universities.

If well-funded and motivated by Government, our Universities hold the key to unlock sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria.

The rapid development and growth of Afe Babalola University convinces me that private universities have prominent roles to play in national development and should be funded and encouraged to do so. Government should immediately amend the TETFund Law to permit the funding of research and infrastructural development, industries must also be advised to partner with universities in order to enhance research and industrial development.


D. Localization of Infrastructural DevelopmentOn a similar note, active participation of indigenous stakeholders and engineers is equally very key to infrastructural development. Examples abound everywhere of how countries such as China, Singapore, India and South Africa have been able to strengthen the capacity of their local professionals to meet the technological and infrastructural demands of their respective countries. Hardly will you find any capital project in China that is being constructed, serviced or maintained by a foreign company. Same in India where technology has been appropriately leveraged to deliver increased infrastructural development to the citizens.


The NSE must engage in an extensive internal soul searching and review to determine how engineers in Nigeria can play more active roles in spearheading infrastructural development in Nigeria.

The NSE must appraise Nigerian Local Content Development Law how much value the has delivered to indigenous engineering firms and companies.

I ask myself: How many professional engineering firms in Nigeria have been engaged to build roads, airports, refineries and oilfield equipment?

For those firms previously engaged, did their performance justify further engagement.


If not, why and how can NSE members be better equipped to provide cost-effective, qualitative and internationally comparable services to justify permanent integration and preferential engagements in infrastructure projects.

If my personal experiences with some engineers have taught me anything, it is that there is still a great need for the NSE to prepare, equip, and monitor its members for the task of meeting the significant national infrastructure challenges across the power, energy and construction sectors.

NSE must evolve a system through which the conduct of its professional members can be monitored sanctioned and improved.


The NSE must also continue to develop advanced professional development short courses and seminars for its members to further assist them to stay updated with global best practices.

Furthermore, the NSE must study the local content law and develop sound representations to governments on how local content requirements may be better expanded and improved to strengthen the participation of local engineering firms in all sectors of the economy and not only oil and gas.

It is my hope that this conference, and the Infrastructure Master Plan will serve as the needed catalyst that will spur Nigerian engineers to play more active roles in infrastructure development and in the design, construction and maintenance of safe, efficient, and sustainable structures in Nigeria.


CONCLUSION, TRIBUTE TO NSE AND THE WAY FORWARDThe rise or fall of any government or indeed of any

organization rests squarely on the shoulders of the leaders.

Once upon a time, there was a Nigeria which was ranked with Brazil and India as the three emerging world powers that would soon catch up with developed countries.

Then, Nigeria had reputable national airline, the Nigeria airways, Nigeria shipping line (all flying Nigeria flags), efficient rail-line which had in its fleet, goods trains, fast trains with first and second class compartments, currency that was stronger than the British Pounds and US Dollars,


Universities that were respected all over the world, well-equipped hospitals including the UCH at Ibadan and reputed to be the best in West Africa, engineering faculties and colleges of technologies which turned out quality engineers that were sought after by other countries, clean environment, steady electricity supply, and very few and far between violent crimes.

What happened to them is now history.Successive Nigerian governments have introduced

various policy prescriptions, visions and plans all aimed at infrastructure development and addressing Nigeria’s dismal infrastructure deficit. Unfortunately, majority of these plans and policies have failed to move from the realm of grandiose aspiration to actualization.


You all as engineers have pivotal, sacred and indispensable roles to play in addressing the huge infrastructural challenges facing this country.

The future of the Nigerian society depends heavily on the ingenuity, inventiveness, determination and skill that are innate characteristics of engineers and the engineering profession.

Nigeria undoubtedly has the human resources, demographics, natural resources and economic potential to become Africa’s infrastructural powerhouse in the coming years.


I have seen and interacted with the present dynamic leaders of Nigeria Society of Engineers including the flamboyant President/ Chairman, Engr. Ademola I. Olorunfemi and the diligent, ever-smiling iron lady, Engr. Margaret Oguntala, Chairman, Congress Planning Committee.

By way of analogy, they can be likened to the Northern Star beaming light and giving hope to all Nigerians.

Ladies and gentlemen, we do not need 170million Nigerians to come together and reform the economy. What we need is determined and committed leadership which are the hallmark of the present Executives of NSE. Example is better than precept.


When I took over as the Pro-Chancellor of University of Lagos in 2001, we would not see any light coming from the end of the tunnel.

The university was polarised. Hostels, laboratories, engineering equipment, roads and other infrastructures were in a state of decay.

We inherited the corrupt Korean outreach. It took less than five years for the leadership to turn things around. To the surprise of everybody, in five years, the University was ranked as number one in the country.

The Pro-Chancellor won the best Pro-Chancellor award in Nigeria. The Vice-Chancellor, incidentally an engineer, Prof. Ibidapo Obe won the best Vice-Chancellor award.


Again, 15 members of NSE visited Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) which was established six years ago. They were amazed at what they saw.

They returned a verdict that the University is “a template for Engineering Education in Nigeria”. Earlier, the NUC had visited the university and described it “as a model, benchmark and reference point” while UNESCO described it “as a world class university”.

There is a common ground between ABUAD and NSE. Both have men and women who are focused, determined, diligent and willing to change the status quo and create a better Nigeria.


ABUAD Engineering College is populated with modern engineering equipment needed by industries and universities for research and technological development.

Ladies and gentlemen, together, we can make the National Integrated Master Plan a success and together we can move the country into a technological age.

After six months in government, President Muhammadu Buhari has selected his ministers. We all know the importance of power to industries and technology.


We all know the relevance of roads and other modes of communication to national development.

Whether or not, a lawyer who is appointed as a Minister to oversee works and power is “a round peg in a round hole”, it is the duty of NSE to take advantage of this conference and produce an implementation paper and position paper on National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan which is crucially important to economic development of Nigeria, present them to the President and also follow up for positive implementation of your recommendations.


AppreciationLadies and Gentlemen, I thank you once again for the opportunity given to me to speak to you today; and for your time, attention and patience.

I do hope that I have not bored you with the short address.

My apologies.ABUAD... A Vision in Motion 75


Date post:	25-Jan-2017
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