To a lot of people, the word “engineering” is interpreted only as a discipline - the discipline that deals with the art, skill, profession, and technology of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes. This is the noun side of the word. Being a gerund, the word engineering is also a verb, a verb literally meaning ‘to engineer’.

Engineering (to engineer) means to design practical application of science to commerce or industry for a particular people at a particular time. “Practical application” being the keywords here. This means solving a peculiar people’s problems. Engineering (say) in USA isn’t expected to be called the perfect engineering for the China, Italy or Nigeria space. Engineering should be markedly different in different places and at different times.

The foremost engineer of the Renaissance era was Filippo Brunelleschi, who designed and built the immense dome for the Cathedral in Florence (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) in the mid 1400s overcame a challenge at that time and for that people - an earlier cathedral, an ancient building, founded in the early 5th century and having undergone many repairs, was crumbling with age and was no longer large enough to serve the growing population of the city. Great engineering for the largely Roman Catholic Florence population of Italy. The first steam engine was built in 1698 by mechanical engineer Thomas Saver. The development of this device gave rise to the industrial revolution in the coming decades, allowing for the beginnings of mass production. Another landmark achievement for the England of the seventh century.

Today, our challenges have taken on new dimensions. In Germany for example, engineering challenges may be developing carbon sequestration methods. In the US, preventing nuclear terror or to reverse-engineer the brain in Japan. These are grand challenges which if overcome would make the world a better place but are they the right engineering for Nigeria?

To say Nigeria’s most magnificent problem today is nuclear power generation will be hyper-tasking the Nigerian engineer. Focusing solely on power generation as a matter of fact has left many other problems unattended to. There are simple problems facing the man on the street other than gigantic national challenges. Most of these problems are simple and as such require simple solutions. Simple solutions which have been overlooked or slightly touched in our engineers training process.

Our engineers while in school are so lost in the euphoria of solving complex mathematical problems that on graduation can’t be trusted enough to (just) neatly weld metals, leaving us to import those metal shades at our traffic junctions. Our buildings collapse at the slightest provocation from rain. Our elevators (lifts) now fall almost as regularly as stocks price on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The ankle-length made in China rain boots no longer fit for use in our thigh reaching floods. These are only a few immediate challenges many Nigerian Engineers can help with while we wait to have the mystery behind power generation unraveled. Solving these challenges would give us the impetus to tackle even greater challenges that come afterwards.

That, sure would be engineering for Nigeria.


I am a member of an online based Network of Nigerian Engineers. The Network offers support to professional Engineers and student engineers alike with professional and academic projects. If you have a passion for Engineering, I encourage you to sign up at www.engineer-ng.net We believe Nigerian Engineers are those who should build Nigeria