The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) is a voluntary association established b

y the practitioners of the profession while the Council for the Regulation of En
gineering in Nigeria (COREN) is a statutory organ of Federal Government, establi
shed by decree and concerned with certificate of persons for the purpose of prac
ticing the engineering profession in Nigeria.

COREN being the regulatory body for the engineering family in Nigeria, it is the
refore necessary to have relevant portions of relevant COREN publications reprod
uced to serve for both emphasis and as information to all.

WHAT COREN IS
COREN is a statutory organ of the Federal Government established by Decree No.55
of 1970, as amended by Decree 27 of 1992, which empowers it to control and regu
late the practice of the engineering profession in all aspects and ramifications
in Nigeria. In this respect, amongst other duties,
COREN

i) Caters for about 65 engineering disciplines, many of which

have their practitioners greater in number than those of most professional regu
latory

ii) Registers FIVE cadres of engineering personnel, Engineers,

Engineering Technologists, Engineering Technicians, Engineering Craftsmen, and
Engineering Consulting Firms with each having its own Association, i.e.:
a) Nigerian Society of Engineers
b) Nigerian Association of Engineering Technologists
c) Nigerian Institute of Engineering Technicians
d) Nigerian Association of Engineering Craftsmen, and
e) Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN)
iii) Accredits engineering courses in the universities, polytech
nics / college of technology, technical colleges both within and outside Nigeria
iv) Organizes and supervises the post-graduate practical trainin
g of newly graduated engineering personnel.

THE EVOLUTION AND KEY PLAYERS OF ERM

The Nigerian Society of Engineers was established in 1958 with the primary objec
tive of providing a rallying forum for Nigerian Engineers to address the problem
of colonial marginalisation for an increased participation in the policy formul
ation and physical development of our fatherland. Since then, the Nigerian engin
eer has recorded tremendous achievements in the areas of science, engineering, a
nd technology. Unfortunately, the Nigerian engineer has had a cope with a very h
ostile environment occasioned by the invasion of the engineering profession by q
uacks and impostors of sorts. This has resulted in very poor standard job, numer
ous abandoned projects everywhere, structural failures, fires and outright colla
pses. The unfortunate consequences have been the colossal waste of human and mat
erial resources and the terribly battered image and morale of the Nigerian engin
eer. The devastating effect of this state of affairs is slowing down the progres
s of a young country in a hurry to develop quickly attracted the attention of Go
vernment. Thus, the Engineers (Registration, etc) Decree 55 (1970) was promulgat
ed. Unfortunately, the registration of engineers alone could not stop the contin
uing bastardization of the engineering profession by quacks and attendant conseq
uences. Thus, through further hard work and representations of the Nigerian Soci
ety of Engineers the amended Decree 27 (1992) was promulgated by which the Counc
il for Registration of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) was now renamed the Council
for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria with full powers of register contro
l, and monitor and enforce compliance.

The Engineering Regulations Monitoring (ERM) is a statutory function of COREN. H

owever, its execution includes and involves the whole engineering personnel othe
rwise known as the Engineering family. The engineering family comprises the engi
neers, technologists, technicians, and craftsmen. Several attempts to address th
e ERM has been embarked upon by COREN in the past. The most remarkable of these
efforts include the various COREN Assemblies for sensitizing members of the engi
neering family on the relevance and objectives of ERM and the various problems m
ilitating against its implementation. Of particular importance were the Abuja CO
REN Assembly / ERM Seminar of 17th October 1996 and ERM workshop of 9th November
1996.

In recognition of the urgent need for ERM as a corrective tool and tool for prof
essional protectionism, as well as the current funding inadquancies in the envir
onment, the Nigerian Society of Engineers Council approved to give maximum assis
tance to COREN in order to kick-start the programme by latest 1997. This was fol
lowed by the nomination and training of inspectors in 1996. Two COREN /NSE Works
hops were also held in the current year at which the objectives, modalities and
procedures for the ERM were fine-tuned and approved. The kick-off date for the E
RM nationwide was thus set for 23rd June 1997. The final stages in setting the s
cene included the production and testing of Inspection Questionnaires at special
training workshops held for Branch Chairman / resource persons and inspectors n
ationwide on 17th June 1997 and 19th June 1997 respectively.
At this juncture, it is necessary to state that the engineer cannot be opposed t
o non-engineer businessmen doing engineering business: in fact this is encourage
d internationally, However, given the ugly consequences of engineering failures,
there is very justification to insist that the entire technical functions from
the topmost technical management (technical director) to the artisan should be h
eaded and run by registered engineering personnel who are responsible and liable
for the maintenance of standards, code and ethics of the engineering profession
. In addition, it is necessary that at least one member of the Board of Director
s is a registered engineer in other to ensure a competent technical direction of
the board.