By Aderogba George

A UK-based Nigerian Engineer, Dr Oluseun Adediran, has lauded the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) for finding him worthy for the conferment of award of fellowship of the Society.

This is contained in a statement signed by Adediran and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Adediran is a professional mechanical engineer with vast knowledge in research and development, air and gas treatment, water and wastewater, oil and gas industry, petrochemical and refinery, conventional power and nuclear power.

He is a registered engineer with the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and a pioneer Chairman and Founder of the NSE Glasgow in  Scotland, UK.

The NSE Glasgow is a diaspora branch of the NSE, the umbrella organisation for the Engineering Profession in Nigeria.

Adediran said he is grateful for the recognition of his commitment to technology development and service to humanity around the world, including Nigeria.

“As a British citizen of Nigerian origin, this is a significant achievement and a milestone from Britain while contributing to the development and advancement of engineering in Nigeria.”

Adediran spoke about the major challenge facing the industry as deployment of Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) Capability to face the challenges posed by the on-going globalization of the world economy.

He said government should continue to scan industrial sectors, identify technological needs, while challenging Research and Development (R and D) institutions to undertake necessary R and D for diffusion of solutions to the end users.

According to him, this must be a deliberate policy to implement in Nigeria.

Adediran pledged to continue upholding the highest standards of professionalism and making a positive impact in the field of engineering in the UK, Nigeria and entire globe where support would be required.

He said that the Society has come a long way and has been improving the capacity and capability of members to ensure sanity and professionalism in the industry.

He congratulated other fellow awardees that include academicians, captains of industries and world leaders.

He called on them to always represent the NSE and allow the mission, ethics, vision, professionalism and values of the society to guide their endeavours in all they do.

“With the 142 of us joining hands with other fellows, it will go a long way to sanitise all aspects of engineering Nugeria and by extension to other countries in the world,” Adediran said.

He urged the NSE to keep up the good work of ensuring that the issue of building collapse and low quality of buildings and road constructions across the country is checked and minimised.

He expressed optimism that the personalities whom President Bola Tinubu appointed as Ministers have demonstrated his readiness to change the narrative of poor execution of projects.

Adediran called on governments at all levels and relevant stakeholders to always carry NSE along in the different aspects of engineering in their projects to bring about durability, quality and value for money”. (NAN)

Edited by Collins Yakubu-Hammer/Vincent Obi

By Thompson Yamput

Gov Yahaya Bello of Kogi on Monday pledged adequate support to Micro Small Enterprises (MSEs) towards wealth creation and economic growth of the state.

The governor gave the assurance during the distribution of Information Communications Technology (ICT) enhancement business toolkits to Micro Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the state at Government House Lokoja.

Represented by Mrs Folashade Arike-Ayoade, Secretary to the Government, Bello said the distribution was in fulfilment of the Kogi State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (KG-CARES) programme, Result Area 3, under the ICT enhancement grants.

According to him, the programme being anchored by Kogi Enterprise Development Agency (KEDA), is also aimed at supporting benefitting enterprises to embrace technology for business sustainability and economic development of the state.

He tasked the 100 beneficiary MSEs to make prudent and judicious use of the enhancement tools to boost their businesses and pathway for more incentives.

“From my understanding, 50,000 MSEs applied for the incentives but only 100 scaled through for this phase I but with time, more will be captured in the next phase, ” he said.

He said the government would set up a monitoring committee that would go round beneficiaries to ensure that all the enhancement tools were put to use as expected.

Earlier, KEDA Managing Director/CEO, Hajiya Rekiya Onaivo-Sanni, appreciated the commitment of  the governor to strategically reposition the MSE sector for improved productivity.

Onaivo-Sanni explained that the project was in tandem with the cardinal objectives of the current administration, and that it shall go round the MSEs in all the 21 LGAs of the state.

The MD cautioned the beneficiaries not to resell or give out the tools given to them, but keep their records for monitoring agencies from world Bank and state government in order not to loose their positions.

She advised all interested applicants to ensure that they strictly applied online, else they would not be considered nor benefit from the incentives.

“We are on 3.2 IBA and 3.3 IBA of the incentives in which N23 million has been disbursed to beneficiaries. Interested applicants can benefit from both sets (3.2IBA and 3.3 IBA), ” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the tools distributed include mobile tablets, printers, projectors, Personal Computers, Desktop, UPS, Point of Sale machines, Wi-Fi devices. (NAN)

Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

By Olatunde Ajayi

An NGO, Human of Substance Empowerment Initiative (HOSEI), has awarded scholarships to no fewer than 100 indigent youths and victims of domestic violence in Ibadan.

The organisation, through its support mentorship unit, announced the names of the beneficiaries during its 10th anniversary in Ibadan on Sunday.

The HOSEI President, Ms Abiade Abiola, while presenting the scholarships, said that the current set of youths would be 10th to benefit from the initiative.

According to her, the new beneficiaries will be trained on photography, graphics designs, tailoring, baking, hair dressing and other skills of their choices free of charge.

“We have partnerships with standard organisations that teach our beneficiaries these skills.

“We also follow up the skill acquisition scheme with different mentorship and mentoring programmes.

“During the six months scholarship, they will be exposed to leadership skills through regular lectures, workshops, conferences and seminars,” she said.

Abiola said that the NGO had supported the first nine sets of beneficiaries with start-up kits and financial assistance after their graduation.

“We always watch their level of continuous seriousness and commitment and support as many as those who wish to further their education to tertiary institutions.

“We don’t want these youths, who are the future leaders of our nation, to succumb to the allure of prostitution and crime due to the economic situation of the country,” she said.

Earlier in his opening remarks, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Akinlolu Olujinmi, reiterated that a lot still needed to be done on youths’ mentorship in Nigeria.

Olujinmi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), noted that many youths, who were called leaders of tomorrow, had today dipped their hands in vices, such as cultism, drug abuse, inordinate ambition for wealth and all manners of evils.

He urged the parents and guardians to rise up to the challenges of nurturing worthy future leaders for the country.

“We must let them realise that there is dignity in labour and while we want to make them comfortable, we should do it in moderation.

“It is important for us to change our tactics of caring; we must be close to them, engage them always and let them know that money it is not everything that money does,” Olujinmi said.

One of the second set of beneficiaries, Mr Courage Afemije, said that his foundation and success in marketing industry began at HOSEI while he was given a scholarship to learn graphic design.

Another beneficiary, Esther Olaleye, said being a beneficiary of HOSEI to learn beads and jewelry making started a great journey in her life.

She stated that HOSEI also opened the door of scholarship for him to obtain tertiary education.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the occasion also featured presentation of awards to the beneficiaries’ trainers and mentors.(NAN)

Edited by AbdulFatai Beki and ‘Wale Sadeeq