The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is considering reintroducing a mandatory one-year residency programme for all engineering graduates of Nigeria’s universities and polytechnics.
Sadiq Abubakar, COREN president, recently addressed the press in Abuja ahead of the 33rd Engineering Assembly to begin on July 15.
He said the revived programme, previously known as the Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE), aims to build practical competence among graduates before their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year.
Some of COREN’s regional office heads, who spoke to TheCable on Thursday, confirmed this development.
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Abubakar said the one-year residency, to be combined with the national service year, will form part of the qualification for engineers and technologists to register with COREN.
He said the move is intended to align Nigeria’s engineering graduates with international standards.
He stated that the council is collaborating with the government to secure a monthly stipend of N75,000 for each graduate, with a task force having been inaugurated to develop a sustainable funding structure.
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The COREN president also disclosed that the upcoming assembly would address the remuneration of engineering professionals, following a review of the fee structure known as the Engineering Compensation and Professional Scale Structure (ECOPASS).
Other initiatives include enforcing annual renewal of practising licenses with mandatory professional development courses.
Also to be discussed at the conference is the joint accreditation of engineering programmes with the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
Abubakar said there are also plans to discuss emerging issues in the regulation of the admission process for engineering students.
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