Mr. Ibikunle Ogunbayo joined Association of Consulting Engineers, Nigeria (ACEN) in 1989 and has served as Secretary, council member and Vice-President prior to being elected as President in Dec 2009, a position he will quit at the end of this year. Ogunbayo, is a registered engineer, a UK chartered engineer, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, member Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and member of the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers. The soft-spoken man started his early life in Ibadan before being admitted to the University of Lagos to read Electrical Engineering. He entered consultancy practice in 1978 when he joined the firm of Oscar Faber Nigeria. He became a Partner of the firm in 1981 and in 1985 left to set up the firm of Kunle Ogunbayo and Associates, which has since transformed to become KOA Consultants Ltd. In this interview, Ogunbayo spoke to The Guardians Emmanuel Badejo on various issues affecting the construction industry and engineering profession. Excerpts:Why did you take up the presidency of ACENI felt that I had a part to play in the profession. I graduated in engineering since 1973. After thirty years in the industry, I saw a need to voluntarily contribute my quota towards the development of the profession. For so long the engineering profession has been largely involved at being at the background. So, I thought I could come to enhance the image of the profession. Also, there was not that recognition about what we do. As engineers, we have not been used to blowing our own trumpet. That was the first task I tackled.Secondly, I felt there was a need for a change of direction. The truth of the matter is that as consultant engineers, we are businessmen and women. The purpose of setting up a consultancy is to enhance your professional and business interests. For far too long, we have been shy to accept the fact that we are business fellows. Association of consulting engineers is basically a trade union. The third agenda is that I observed there are far too many young engineers, who having been trained are not coming into the profession. And I ask myself why Is it because the profession is not good enough to attract them or that they are not better enumerated Then, I decided to see to the enhancement of our profession for these young ones to come in.Another challenge on our hand is the case of incursion of foreign engineers into our landscape. For some reasons, many people still believe that unless you give your project to foreign engineers, it would not be properly done. Thats not true. Nigerian engineers can properly handle many of these projects. Yes, we agree that there are some that may require a foreign skill or equipment, and then it should be the responsibility of the local engineers to source for foreign partners. Recently, the Algerian government strengthened her rules again. The government said that no project whether consulting or contracting should be given to a foreigner. The government resolved that in the event of lack of capacity on the part of her professionals, they (professionals) can source assistance from their foreign counterparts. The good thing about this is that it aids knowledge acquisition and capacity development of the nations professionals. At the moment, we have many of Nigerian students whose parents or guardians are using our money to train them abroad. Many of them, after schooling stay abroad contributing to another nations economy at our cost. This is sad. These are some of the things I saw, which made me to take up the post of ACENs president.What are your expectations from the governmentOur expectations are not much at all. First, we want the government to protect us. Every country protects its entrepreneurs. I cannot go to US or India and set up a consulting firm. To do that, there are many hurdles to cross. Let the government create a good environment that will attract our young graduates. Another thing the government should do is to release a large chunk of money into the construction industry. For so long, we have been talking about construction bank and that is still far from reality. If you invest $100m in the banking industry, you will employ about a 100 people. If you invest that same amount in building houses you will employ 20,000 people directly and about 100,000 indirectly. The multiplier effect in construction industry is much higher than anywhere else.ACEN has been in existence since 70s, what landmark improvement can you say the association has brought to the entire nationACEN members have provided professional services as Consulting Engineers in all spheres: Infrastructure, Industry, Education, Health, Oil and Gas,you name it. There is no area of the construction industry that ACEN members have not been involved. We could have done a lot more, if only project owners and developers have used more of the services of our members.Still, provision of infrastructure continues to pose mounting challenges to the polity, in what ways has ACEN offered assistanceTraditionally, governments at the various levels have been primarily responsible for the provision of infrastructure. ACEN members provide the engineering expertise that is needed in the actualisation of infrastructural projects by ensuring these are properly designed and implemented. ACEN members are an invaluable part of the project delivery chain. However, more and more, we are now even becoming promoters and owners, especially in Public Private Partnership project delivery.Should the scope of the Nigerian Content Law be broadened to include not only the oil and gas sector but also the entire construction industryCertainly and this is not an unusual proposal. Many developing countries have laws and guidelines to protect their national industries and we believe that the Nigerian Content Law must of necessity be extended to the rest of the engineering and construction industry. This is the only way that we can ensure that we develop the skills and competencies required to develop our country.How is ACEN inculcating Local Content Bill, or is the Bill not applicable to the bodyTo the extent that ACEN members also provide engineering services to the oil industry, we are already involved in the application of the Nigerian Content Bill. However, the Nation also spends a lot more money in the provision of engineering services outside the oil Industry and these are the areas where there is no protection for the local industry. Extending the application of the Nigerian Content Bill to the remainder of the engineering industry will not only be of great benefit to the practitioners but will also build local capacity.Influx of substandard building materials has been bane of Nigeria. What can done in curbing this trendDuring the course of project delivery, ACEN members have to certify the quality of materials being used on various sites and sub-standard materials are immediately rejected. However, we have no direct responsibility for how materials are imported or how the process of importation is policed. This is left to others.However, we are now promoting an initiative in collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) where we, as an association, will partner with SON and when this partnering is actualised, we shall be able to offer our skills in the protection of the building industry from fake and substandard products.To what level is ACENs partnering with International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)ACEN is a member of FIDIC and we are also very active in the FIDIC regional group called the Group of African Member Associations (GAMA). The current Chairman of GAMA is a Nigerian and interestingly, the current President of FIDIC is also of Nigerian descent. He will be visiting the country in July this year.In time past, indigenous engineers have cried foul over the influx of foreign professionals. Are there discriminatory practices against indigenous engineers in public procurement processI would not use such a strong word as discriminatory but there are some of our compatriots who still believe that they need to use the services of foreigners in project delivery. This is very unfortunate. Nigerian professionals are just as competent as their foreign colleagues and given the right encouragement and support, will offer service that is of the same standards, as the foreigners will provide.However, we also accept that there are some specialised skills that we may not possess but the right thing to do is to ensure that when there is a need for such skills, the national engineering firms are an integral part of the project delivery. This is the only way that our engineers can build up skills in areas where such is lacking. What must not happen is a situation where the foreign firms see the National Engineers as an unnecessary burden or a necessary evil and only tolerate them because the law says they must be used. We as professionals must resist this and not sell our professionalism for short-term profits. We have to look into the future and be sure that our actions will be of benefit in the long term.How has ACEN dealt with or dealing with problem of recognition and enabling environmentThe last annual conference of the Association was devoted to the topicEngineering is Development and dealt extensively with the role of Engineering in National development and the linkages with other sectors of National developmentpolitical, Financial, Education, and Legislative etc. The conference was held in Abuja with the hope that all those in Governance and the National Assembly will be able attend and get better insights into the role of engineering and especially engineers have in national development.Unfortunately not one single member of the National Assembly came for the conference and participation from within the Government was minimal. We have however resolved not to be discouraged and will continue to shout out loud that unless better recognition is given to the Engineering profession, National development will be stultified. How does ACEN see partnership among engineering firms, the polity is filled with small-scale firms and this cannot help the nations economy and industry growthACEN continues to ask its members to form partnerships and Joint ventures in order to be better able to compete with the larger international engineering firm.In what way does ACEN tackle the challenge of capacity developmentA few years ago, we established the ACEN School of Consulting Engineering to address this problem. The school offers skilled based courses for new entrants into the professional and also offers courses suited to more experienced consultants. In addition, our members have been offering services, usually free, in institutions of higher learning with a view to giving the students the benefits of the experiences garnered over the years.What are the roles of engineers/ACEN in the development of solar energy, reduction of aggravated natural disasters, prevention of nuclear terror and providing energy from fusionI wish I could say that we are heavily involved but unfortunately this is not the case for very good reasons. Remember that such developments are usually driven by government funded research institutions. ACEN members are business persons and given the very uncertain business environment, there are not many Engineers who can afford to put aside the funds required for such ventures. However, we do have members who are able and willing to participate in such developments.
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