The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), says it will rid the council of quacks when the National Assembly amends the Act setting it up with the power to arrest and prosecute offenders.

A statement signed by Head of Public Relations of the council, Mr Gabriel Alum, said it would no longer be business as usual for quacks who have invaded the construction industry as the National Assembly plans to amend the Act setting up the Council.

It said the Registrar of the Council, Mr Felix Atume, while presenting the Council’s budget defence before the Senate committee on Works in Abuja, had raised concern on the incessant cases of collapsed buildings.

He said that though the engineer undertook the designs of buildings, the actual implementation of the designs lay with the development control authorities.

Atume told the committee that in virtually all the cases investigated, no registered engineer had been implicated in any reported case of building collapse.

“Most of the collapsed buildings belong to private developers who deliberately refuse to engage qualified professionals to supervise the construction after receiving approvals from development control authorities.

“Any engineer found to be involved in shoddy jobs is usually referred to the COREN tribunal for investigation and appropriate sanction while those that are not registered engineers are referred to law enforcement agents.”

The Registrar appealed to the National Assembly to enact a Nigerian Content Law in the construction industry similar to the one in the Oil and Gas to build a formidable indigenous capacity.

“The present situation whereby the country depends almost wholly on foreign construction companies cannot guarantee sustainable development as none is known to achieve greatness by relying wholly on the expertise of other nationals.

Atume expressed displeasure over the total neglect of the nation’s technical colleges and advised that for Nigeria to attain vision 20-2020, a renewed attention must be given to the revival of technical colleges across the country.

The release also stated that a member of the committee, Sen. Barnabas Gemade, urged COREN to do all it could to ensure that quacks were barred from infiltrating into the construction sector.

Gemade enjoined the council to device strategies to convince both the Federal and State governments to ensure that engineers were appointed to head engineering based ministries and other organisations.

It also quoted the Senate Committee Chairman on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, as expressing concern on a large percentage of the country’s road in deplorable conditions.

He, therefore, urged COREN not to leave any stone unturned in its effort to sanitise the profession to ensure that Nigerians get value for money in any projects being undertaken.