Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) Begins 6-Saturday Training For Undergraduates and young Engineers. The Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers kicked started a 6-Saturday intensive physical training on Structural Design of a typical low rise building at the weekend in Lagos. The training declared opened by the National Chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) (Dr.) Jang Tanko, was witnessed by participants from various higher institutions of learning in Lagos State. Speaking at the event, Dr. Jang Tanko said that he was very impressed with the turn-out of the students. “As you can see, this is the first seminar to be organized by this administration for our student undergraduates . “In foreign countries, the students are put on a project site, and instead of paying labour or artisans, these students would be given jobs to do on a construction site, and they would be taken care of with stipends. “By that time, they would be introduced to what we call practical knowledge, because without this, we may not get it correctly as there is no efficient Engineering knowledge without hands on practical experience. Engr (Dr) Jang Tango presents award to the Head of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Unilag, Prof. Ikpomuosa Efe, ably assisted by Engr. (Mrs.) Adedo “So, what we did here today is to bring facilitators who are on the fields with good practical knowledge and exposure to good standards of practice to teach the students on practical methods. “The materials we have around are reinforcement bars of different sizes, rebar cutting and bending machines, materials for teaching how to mix concrete, how to determine the different grades of concrete, Quality Control And Assurance on reinforcements and concrete, where do we need to apply the concrete, what type of strength do we need to derive from the concrete, and for what types of structure etc “So this practical knowledge would add to their knowledge, and we aim to take this practical training all over the country. “This one that is held in Lagos is just like a prototype of the training as we continue,” he said. Tanko stated that most of the codes and standards they use for their designs are either from Britain or Europe or other nations. He said that the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) is working very hard to ensure that all its Divisions develop codes and standards that are of good practice for the country. “So, for us in Civil Engineering, we are developing codes and standards that would measure up with many of the British standards that we have been using. “Our own Nigerian Codes and standards would be in line with our local content and would be in line with available materials that could be used. “When we are done with the production of these codes and standards, we will now engage the stakeholders in the industry to discuss about the workability of the codes to suit our environment, and by the grace of God, I assure you that NICE have gone very far in the actualization of this vision” he said. The chairman explained that in some of the aspects, they have to take the codes according to the scope of their local content. Engr. Tanko said that this is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order on local content. He stated that some of these foreign codes do not really fit into our environment. He gave an instance of the construction in Lagos, saying that the state has a lot of water bodies but that when you are using a code which standard does not align with the city, just because that has been the code that one has been using for designs then there will be problem. “That’s why this local content is taking care of what we have around us that we could put into use in compliance with the President’s directive on Executive Order 3 that he has passed. “Even Executive Order 9, 11, all these are executive orders that would help to use what we have around us for the good of the nation,” he said. The National Chairman stressed that they also have packages for their registered members through professional development. He said that their members also have to be engaged from time to time, as they all come from all works of life, to sit together, discuss and come up with best codes and standard that would be best applicable for the country. He promised that they would keep their members, students, graduates and corporate members abreast of current challenges in the construction industry. Guest speaker at the seminar who is also Head of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Lagos, Professor, Ikpomuosa Efe Ewaen said that it was wonderful to have such a program to encourage the young ones to love their profession, and for them to understand what it is like to be a civil engineer. “When you go through the school of engineering and come out, there’s always a reward for hard work like that young man who was recognized for being the best student in engineering depa