Protocol,
Presidents of Academies
Presidents of Stakeholder organizations of Engineering
Past Presidents of Academies
Distinguished Fellows of the Academy
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press
I welcome you to yet another landmark in our Academy. I am very delighted and honoured to see you all today and I assure you that the sequence of events lined up for today will be worthwhile.
Allow me ladies and gentlemen to welcome our Special Guest of Honour Alaiyeluwa Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode ADETONA, CFR, JP, Ogbagba II, Awujale, and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland. I am very pleased to see the array of dignitaries gathered here today, too numerous to mention here due to time constraints, I want you all to know that I appreciate your presence.
As we all know, Nigeria and the world at large has been plagued by the coronavirus, hence the reason why many guests have joined us virtually, thanks to advancement in technology. Nonetheless, it shall continue to be a great event, because of its significance to all participants.
Distinguished guests, I strongly believe that we should use this occasion to remind us all that our responsibility at the Nigerian Academy of Engineering is to ensure the advancement of Engineering Education and Practice throughout the engineering family; (engineering, technology, technicians, and craftsmen). This is achievable through continuous learning, advocacy, and strategic collaborations with relevant professional associations, government, academia, and industry. The goal remains the significant improvement of the lives of our people and the state of our society, nation, and humanity as a whole. It is being restated that engineering and technology help to enhance development in every aspect of human activities.
The programmes lined up for today are:
- The induction of ten new Fellows
- Honouring eight of our Fellows with the Distinguished Life Achievement Awards in recognition of a lifetime service to Engineering; and
- The privilege of listening to a stimulating lecture titled “Locating Engineering and Technology in Government Policy Framework for Growth and Development” to be delivered by one of our Past Presidents, Engr. Prof. Ayodele Francis OGUNYE, D.Sc., FNSE, FAEng.
I wish to bring to your attention some highlights of the new initiatives the Academy has embarked upon during the last one year as President in line with our Strategic Plan which seeks to RESTRUCTURE the MODUS OPERANDI and RE- ENERGISE the CONTENT of the Academy’s activities, more efficiently and effectively:
We achieved our plans to have two FELLOWS FORUMS and one Public Forum this year. Many well-researched and good-quality papers were presented by various Committees and will be published later this year in our new publication, the Proceedings of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering.
We also embarked upon a major backbone project of the Academy, the design and acquisition of the Database and Digital Platform Project using the company, Kontemporary Konsulting limited at a cost of N4.22M. It is scheduled for completion at the end of June 2021. The project was conceived during the deliberations and preparation of the 5 years Strategic Plan in 2018. It will provide for the acquisition, storage, and use of data and information, access to a digital platform for interaction for Fellows, the public, and other institutions for publication of our activities online.
Last year we participated in various sessions of the International Council for Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS) virtual Conference which was held in October 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. Also, several Fellows of the Academy are actively serving in Subcommittees of the CAETS Energy Committee, in order to prepare a report to the annual conference in September 2021.
The Academy also featured two forums. In those forums, Committees of the Academy presented papers on critical engineering issues confronting our country and made contributions to resolving them. We also featured webinars on emerging technologies like Block-chain, Broadband development and Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence.
We also held a Public Lecture titled “Engineering & the COVID-19 Pandemic Response” delivered by Engr. Prof. Babatunde Ogunnaike, FNSE, FAEng, William L. Friend Chaired Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Delaware, USA. His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Grand Patron of the Academy was represented by His Excellency Prof. Yemi Osinbanjo, SAN, GCON, Vice President of Nigeria opened the forum. In his opening remarks, he mentioned that he was proud of the Nigerian Academy of Engineers and said that our membership is made up of accomplished Nigerian engineers across all disciplines industry sectors of engineering in Nigeria and in the diaspora which provides the Academy with the depth and diversity of experience and competence to provide advice on virtually all areas of engineering in the country. The Lecture was also attended by His Excellency Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State who gave a special address on COVID-19 Management.
Today’s Lecture by a Past President, Professor A. F. Ogunye, D.Sc, FAEng is yet another opportunity for the Academy to address an issue of significant impact on our country’s socio-economic development. Specifically, the issue in focus is “Locating Engineering and Technology in Government Policy Framework for Growth and Development”. Our choice of this topic is in furtherance of our avowed commitment to positively impact our economy and the social life of Nigerians.
Like our counterparts across the world, the Nigerian Academy of Engineering has limited membership, and Fellows are nominated on the basis of their distinguished contribution to research and practice of engineering and are positioned to serve as advisers to government and the private sector alike on engineering and technology matters. Fellows of the Academy must be Fellows of NSE and registered by COREN.
Our Academy collaborates with stakeholders to promote creative and analytical technical contributions to our national culture. This is because we remain convinced that our country would more easily achieve its national aspirations with a more logical and scientific approach to solving identified challenges in all sectors of our economy.
Finally, I congratulate the new inductees and the Life Achievement awardees. I wish to encourage the inductees to be ready to serve the Academy in Committees and other critical collective assignments. I plead that we should support our collective desire to leave lasting legacies behind for our great Academy.
I thank you all for your attention and patience.
ENGR. A. O. OGEDEGBE, FNSChE, FNSE, FAEng
President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering
