Ime Akpan
The Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISE), has conferred Fellowship on the commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr. Akin Olateru.
Speaking at the investiture held in Lagos recently, the president of NISE, Mr. Adeyemi Oyedepo, said the AIB commissioner merited the honour because of his “unprecedented performance” since he was appointed to head the investigation agency.
He said Olateru was among the top 10 professionals conferred with the honour.
He said the Fellowship is not was not a frivolous jamboree, but a sacred occasion and opportunity to honour and celebrate with Nigerian and non-Nigerian members who he said had attained the highest level in engineering safety and clearly exhibited exceptional achievements in their careers and in engineering safety.
“Our screening committee has selected 10 safety icons from all engineering fields to be made worthy fellows. The selection process reminded me of the Beans Theory of Selection; when you put a handful of beans in a bowl of water, the light-weight and weevil ravaged ones float to the surface to be thrown away while the viable and useful ones sink to the bottom.
“I urge them to see the Fellowship as a call to more engineering safety service, a ladder and motive to be an engineering safety mentor, counselor, catalyst, coach, supporter, anchor and promoter.”
In his speech, Olateru praised ship NISE for the hour.
However, he frowned at a situation in which Nigeria does not punish chief executive officers for non-performance.
He vowed to uphold the ethics of the profession and offer maximum support to organisations that seek to promote safety in the sector.
He described the aviation industry as a “very dynamic one” which requires maximum concentration.
He said with dedication, the industry would move forward.
“What gives me joy is when people recognise your efforts. It is a great pleasure for me to be awarded this Fellowship. Aviation is very dynamic, while a lot of things change regularly,” he said.
He charged the NSE to collaborate with the federal government to solve power challenge in the country.
He said several factories closed shop because of lack of constant electricity supply.
He said employment generation is hinged on effective power supply, which, regrettably, he said, had taken the backseat in the country for almost four decades.
Olateru said France, for instance, generates uranium from Niger Republic to power energy and wondered Nigeria, a close neighbour to the West African country could not do the same through it engineers.
“France is one of the biggest electricity generators via nuclear energy. France gets uranium from Niger Republic. We are a next door neighbour to Niger Republic. Why can’t we benefit from this? We have been on 10,000mw in the last 20 years. Something must be done urgently to address this gap.
“A lot of organisations have left Nigeria because of lack of electricity supply. Our institutions and turning out young graduates and engineers, but they are not employed have no work to do,” he said.
NewsGazette reports that the former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, the director of highways, construction and rehabilitation in the federal ministry of power, works and housing, Mr. Oladimeji Oguntominiyi, deputy president, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Babagana Mohammed, and the executive director, engineering and technical services, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mr. Idris Abubakar, were also inducted as fellows.
Others were the director of engineering service, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Salisu Daura, managing director, Thoriums Ltd., Mr. Bayo Adio, managing director, Accord Engineering Ltd., Mr. Benjamin Olamijulo and the regional director (southwest), federal ministry of power, works and housing, Mr. Funsho Adebiyi.