THE ROLE OF ENGINEERS IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA

There is a great reliance on technology to solve environmental problems around the

world today with an almost universal reluctance by governments and those who
advise them to make the social and political changes that would be necessary to
reduce growth in production and consumption; yet the sorts of technological
changes that would be necessary to keep up with and counteract the growing
environmental damage caused by increases in production and consumption would
have to be fairly dramatic.

The technological fixes of the past will not do. And the question remains: can such
a dramatic and radical design of our technological system occur without causing
major social changes, and will it occur without a rethinking of political priorities?
Technology is not independent of society either in its shaping or its effects. In the
data of human experience, our tools need to interact with every component of our
existence: physically, environmentally, educationally, psychologically, socio-
economically, politically and spiritually in order to be fully relevant to human needs.

Sustainable economic development is the challenge of meeting human needs for

natural resources, induce trial products, energy, food transportation, shelter and
effective waste management while conserving and protecting environment for future
human and capital development, when they are fully harnessed to create jobs and
generate income for the government, for the purpose of economic development and
transformation of society.

To enable engineers fully be part of the economic development, there should be

broadening and strengthening the education of engineers and finding innovative
ways to achieve needed economic development in all areas while conserving and
preserving natural resources.

Who is an engineer?
According to Oxford advanced learners English dictionary, an Engineer is a person
whose job involves designing and building engines, machines, roads, bridges, etc or a
person who is trained to repair and control engines. An engineer can be Electrical,
Mechanical, Civil, Materials, Electronic, Petroleum, Software, Chemical, etc.
Engineers are also found in military barracks because they design and build military
structures and equipments, so they can be soldiers as well. We also have Genetic
Engineers.

The profession of Engineering is similar to that of accounting, medicine, law,

architecture and so forth, as it requires a high degree of integrity and accountability.
Therefore, to strengthen the effectiveness of the engineering profession, they need to
be regulated with an appropriate Code of Conduct. Developments, whether they are
infrastructure, private, public or tourism based cannot take place without proper
input from professional engineers. It is for this reason, the profession of engineering
must be regulated.

• For Legislative Efficiency - To have a comprehensive, consistent

statutory registration system for engineers that would alleviate inconsistencies
across jurisdictions.

• For Professional Recognition- So that the set of standards and skills

expected of the engineers are maintained.

•For the Industry/consumer efficiency- To provide consumers with the level

of experience and skills that is required of the engineer

What is economic development?

Economics can be defined in many ways; the following are some of the definitions.
Economics is the human Science which studies the relationship between scarce
resources and their various uses which compete for these resources. Economics is
the study of how people choose to allocate limited resources to satisfy their
unlimited wants. Economics is the study of how society decide what to produce, how
to produce and whom to produce. Purpose of studying economics by engineers is to
learn how not to be deceived by economists.
Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or
regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. The economic development process
supposes that the legal and institutional adjustments are made to give incentives for
innovation and for investments so as to develop an efficient production and
distribution for goods and services. Economic development is a sustainable increase
in living standards that implies increased per capita income, better education and
health as well as environmental protection.

Development is economics on a social level that has evolved into a professional

industry of highly specialized practitioners normally working in public- private
partnership that are sanctioned and many times at least partially funded by local,
regional and state/ provincial tax . These economic development corporations
function as individual entities and in some cases as departments of local
governments. Their role is to seek out new economic opportunity and retain their
existing business wealth. There is intensive competition between communities,
states and nations for new economic projects. The creation and retention struggle is
further intensified by the use of many variations of economic incentives to the
potential business. These incentives vary greatly and can be highly controversial. The
measurement of success within this industry is normal job creation, economic
growth and increased or retained tax base.

How engineers can ensure a sustainable economic development

Sustainable economic development can only occur as a result of the creation of a

worldwide caring community. A Community of people who are working together for
common ends and to meet the basic needs of all our people. The concept of
sustainable economic development is central to the achievement of these key goals.
It can be taught of in terms of policies and programs designed to meet their own
needs.

The achievement of sustainable economic development requires a new and different

approach to policy making and its implementation. The Government is looking for
greater integration and co-ordination of policy making and its implementation
across the public sector and across social economic and environmental policy
portfolios. It is also looking for an approach characterized by greater partnership
between central government, local government, economic entities, private industry
and other community groups.

Engineers must lead this new industrial economic revolution. There is some
excellent leadership by professional organizations such as the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers(IEEE), World Engineering Partnership for Sustainable
Development (WEPSD), World Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO),
Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), among others to
make sustainable economic development high priority in engineering and business
both in practice and in the education of future engineers.

They are promoting codes of practice, education, mentoring programs and policy
changes that will encourage the engineering profession to lead this economic
revelation. The engineering courses being studied in higher institution of learning
should also include borrowed courses that bother on acquiring business knowledge
and skills at the first and at the second year level in order for the engineers to be able
to relate their engineering practice to the business reality on ground, in order to
contribute fully to the economic development of Nigeria. That’s one way the
engineers can be fully integrated into the running of the country. Designing a
sustainable future requires a paradigm shift towards a systematic perspective which
encompasses the complex interdependence of individual, social, cultural, spiritual,
economic and political activities and the biosphere.

The engineers of the future must be much more interdisciplinary – the lines between
the traditional engineering disciples must be much more fluid. Engineers will have to
join forces with biologist, chemist, meteorologist, economics, planners, political
scientists, ethicists, religionists and community leaders in unprecedented ways to
lead the society on a sustainable economic path.

Since it is likely that we will double the amount of housing and building construction
in the twenty-first century (and buildings utilize a tremendous amount of materials
and energy) it is imperative that civil engineers team up with architects, planners
and other engineers to revolutionize construction. Hence, there is a special role for
civil/environmental engineers in the future. Rather than being engineers that
primarily design technologies to control or remediate pollution, the environmental
engineers will be interdisciplinary, system specialists who will bring together,
coordinate and manage the entire specialist to solve complex environmental
problems and promote sustainable development.

Moreover, all engineers must play a much stronger role in the public policy process
to provide the right incentives for industry and others to move on sustainable path
so that engineers can be encouraged and supported to design sustainable technology
for the purpose of economic development that benefits society in a holistic way now
and in future. As Don Roberts advocates, we must become better informed of the
interdependence of environmental, economic, health and social issues, inform others
and become leaders, otherwise the agenda will be set by others who neither know the
benefits nor the limit of technology in a sustainable modern society.

Educating engineers for a sustainable economic development

Such a shift in the thinking, values, and actions of all individuals and institution
worldwide calls for a long term societal effort to make environmental and
sustainable concerns a control theme in all education, particularly for engineers,
economists and business people.

If we are to achieve a sustainable future, institutions of higher learning must provide

the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values that equip individuals to pursue life
goals in a manner that sustains human and non-human well-being. This is critical
since higher education prepares most of the professionals, who develop, manage,
teach and influence society’s institutions. The organization of seminars and
workshops by professional engineering organizations like IEEE and NSE will go a
long way in educating their engineer members on their role in contributing
effectively to national economic development. Several prominent engineering
schools such as Georgia Technology are making important strides by making
sustainable technology a core mission and MIT with its program in Environmental
Education and Research (PEER). Despite these effort and those of a number of
Colleges and Universities which have active environmental studies programs and
train graduate professionals, education and research about the interdependence of
and a sustainable relationship between human and the rest of the environment is not
a priority in higher education.

Conclusion

Sustainable economic development relies on technological change to achieve its aim

but will the Nigerian government take the tough steps that are required to force
radical technological innovation rather than the technological fixes that have been
evident to date? Such measures would require a long-term economic cost while
industry will readjust. It would appear that so long as sustainable development is
restricted to minimal low-cost adjustment that do not require value changes,
institutional changes or any sort of radical cultural adjustment, the environment will
continue to be degraded unless sustainable change occurs, the present generation
may not be able to pass on an equivalent stock of environment goods to the next
generation.

First, the rates of loss of animal and plant species, arable land, water quality, tropical
forest and cultural heritage are especially serious. Second, perhaps more widely
recognized is the fact that we will not pass on to future generation, the ozone-layer or
global climate system that the current generation inherited. A third factor that
contributes overwhelmingly to the anxieties about the first two is the prospective
impact of continuing population growth and the environmental consequences if
rising standards of material income around the world produce the same sorts of
consumption patterns that are characteristic of the current industrialized countries.

Even if people put their faith in the ability of human ingenuity in the form of
technology to be able to preserve their life styles and ensure an ever increasing level
of consumption for technological systems rather than continue to apply
technological fixes that are seldom satisfactory in the long term, technological
optimum does not escape the need for fundamental social change and a shift in
priorities. That was the mistake many in the Appropriate Technology movement
made. It takes more than the existence of appropriate or clean technologies to ensure
full sustainable economic development. Engineers have a leading role in planning,
designing, building and ensuring a sustainable future.

Engineers provide the bridge between science and society. In this role, engineers
must actively promote and participate in multidisciplinary teams with other
professionals, such as: ecologists, economists, medical doctors, and sociologists, to
effectively address the issues and challenges of sustainable economic development
because engineers working on a global scale will help promote public recognition of
the engineers and understanding of the needs and opportunities in today’s fast
developing world in order to ensure the engineers’ role in a sustainable economic
development in it.