My [father, mother, aunty, uncle, neighbor, or teacher] molested me as a child. Despite that, I worked hard and now work at [NASA, CBN, Toyota, Dangote...]
So people who see this molestation survivor story will conclude that molestation makes people successful?
Besides, your Norther brother story does not add up. You didn't mention the year they traveled. 1970, 1980? Cos it's gotten increasingly difficult. You also didn't how rich their fathers are. You also didn't state if they just got the job based on their Nigerian qualifications ALONE or if they went back to school.
Soyinka supposedly got 3rd class in Nigeria, went out and redid his university education. So his Nigerian schooling made him who he is today?!
Yes - you are absolutely right. The level of laziness repulses me on so many levels. The use of internet for absolute nonsense is appalling. However, people typically respond - not to words but to action and incentives.
And by this i mean, in many Nigerian universities, it's an open secret that what you read doesn't matter in the least. It's buying handouts, lecturer text books, and sending your appreciation money a.k.a. sorting that really matters.
So can we really blame the kids? I say this because I studied both here in Nigeria and Ghana. First year Nigerian students in Ghana didn't read. They assumed that they would fail regardless of their efforts. By their 3rd semester, the change was stark. They read more, listened more in class and consequently did way better than they did in this country.
Incentives like I mentioned earlier go a long way. We are in a country where your pali - the certificate is what matters the most. What's in your head is a secondary, or tertiary concern.
I'm a life long learner. You can check my previous posts, I own over 8000 udemy courses. However, employers really don't care.
I interviewed in a place at Ikeja where I told them learning was my hobby. And was flat out told, it's irrelevant to their operations. Did another interview at lekki and was told that I was lying about the number of skills I possessed - content writing, marketing, web design, fast typing, graphics design. They were unfazed even after demonstrating a bit of my web design, writing, and typing skills on the spot.
The koko is that our society doesn't value knowledge, skill - else the person who actually knows the job would earn less than someone who is useless but has a degree.
Until this changes, oga, you're preaching to the air.
Interestingly, you do not see 1st Class and 2.1 students engaging in these sort of excuses-justifying arguments. Harsh, but true.
Excuses are the most easiest thing to latch on to. Students do this very well. And I completely understand.
Thankfully, not all students do this and they have gone onto do bigger things in life with their Nigerian-education, despite how "local-class" it is. And they do not have two heads.
Dothraki: Engineering undergraduates study old theories from Way past generation, that is of little relevance to modern engineering. The university system teach so many calculation, and almost nothing on how to apply these mathematics to solve real life problems.
Many of theories learned aren't useless jargon, since we arent taught how to praticalise most of those knowledge, 99.99% of all engineering graduate would have forgotten what they learned by the time they graduate. We only remember what is useful to us, what help us get through, or things we do constantly. Everything else, our brain trashes it.
Its quiet disturbing Most of the engineering student only read to pass. Which makes one question, are we in school only to pass some paper? If so, modern technology would not have existed at all. Our primary purpose of studying engineering is to apply scientific discoveries to solve practical problems in the society. But unfortunately the system only made us to study only for grade. Without practicing what we learn our brain will eventually discard everything as useless
An average engineering graduate does not remember 90% of what he learned in five years, I tried to go through some of my jottings from 300l, i was suprised because it all seem strange to me.. i couldn't remember a thing from the calculations l did with my own hand. A friend of my who have have a very much good grade have the same experience.
Apart from the abstractions of studying engineering in nigeria, most of the curriculum is old, we spent so much time studying theories that should be thought as a mere history. No wonder there havent been any groundbreaking engineering achievement from Nigerian universities
Majority of the engineering jobs that involve applying engineering maneuver will be given to foreigners. Innoson motor employs foreigners to do All of its engineering design, our Nigerian graduate work as if they are mere technician. Engineering graduate will never apply most of the theories they learn at school. lot of our graduate who are lucky to find job in engineering companies work as a maintenance engineer. Whenever they need new designs or innovation, they hire foreigners to do the job, this is quite sad in my opinion. They have made mockery of 5 years of lifes. Quite sad
Truth be told the whole education system in Nigeria needs to be revamped because it’s not working for society.
To be a good engineer you have to be a good technician.this applies for mechanical and electrical.
Bill gates was a computer engineer started learning as a technician building hardware and software .
Most people are self taught, university will only give u a rough idea.
If u want to be an excellent engineer, learn the technician aspect of your discipline so that you can at least implement your design.
A real engineer is IRON MAN-school will Never teach that.
A real engineer is multi talented eg Iron man is an engineer +mechanic +welder+ electrician + electronic / software savvy + business man.
The problem goes beyond the selfish and lazy attitude from students, it also extent to the selfish and lazy attitude of the whole society - politicians, lecturers, parents, everybody but a very select few. Our educational system is designed towards passing exams and looking for administrative jobs. Forget the engineering tag, most Nigerian engineers are trained to be administrators, and hence search for banking and government jobs after graduation. The educational curriculum is not design to help solve problems within the society. I remember in my youth days, my friend and I used to make simple short wave and FM radio circuits. When I discussed with an electronics and engineering graduate about the topic, he said I was speaking Greek. That they never really worked with simple transistors not to talk of logic gates. Today, undergraduates have no excuse not to know how to apply theories to build practical things. The Internet has open up a whole new world. The pity is that student only know how to use the Internet to Facebook, social media and watch porn. During my time, I had to sleep in libraries to get valuable info on how things work. Google Taylor Wilson. The boy learnt though the Internet how to build nuclear reactors and built his first reactor by age 15. He is a celebrity today at age 19. At 17 Obama offered him a job. He refused saying he would prefer to sell his knowledge and reactors to government instead of working for them. He never went to the university, meanwhile we have PHD engineering graduates carrying their certificates up and down looking for administrative jobs.
will see it is heavily Maths Based.......There is no market for Design in Africa.....Have you ever wondered why Design works for most new Architectural masterpiece goes to England, France , Germany, Its because they try to solve Problems from first Principle, These works do not even go to China,
By the math Criteria, China is most qualified for engineering. Asians have consistently topped the world on Math proficiency in high school and university levels.
As for design work being a England, France, German thing. The answer is mainly politics or preference. It's the same reason why WE prefer foreign wine, clothes and shoes to locally made ones.
Another reason is simply experience - a.k.a. apprenticeship. They have firms who design all the time. Who will you give a contract to build a 10 storey building you want to live in. Someone who shows you 10 sky scrapers they have already designed or someone who just shows you paper drawings?
That's why we clamoring for practicals. And I don't mean that useless IT. Every one knows it's just a year to sit down at home or become an unpaid messenger.
The chinese do not even see themselves as Engineers now talk of Nigeria
Ikorodu road, the one done by Fashola; The road that leads to Ogun state from Iyana Ipaja. The road being Stadium side - all the over head bridges being done there, it's all Chinese guys. It's much more solid than those done by Julius berger in recent memory.
Dothraki: read my article very well brother, when you go on internship, you work as a maintenance engineer. Nigeria graduate does nothing other than to ensure that machine run smoothly.. when they need engineers to modify existing design or change the system, these companies hire foreigners... Most of the design team of innoson motors are Asians..
Nigeria system give us ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance to actually practise what we have learned. What is the point of acquiring so much theories if we are never going to use it. Isn't that a mockery of ourself?
But it's no brainer. Same disease of directionlessness of leadership bedevilling the country, our institutions are not immune. Any serious minded person who has the resources should most certainly seek good education abroad.
Dothraki: l love you bro. Its a shame people keep defending the failed system My brother just got employed by teamapt, a computer programming firm and guess what? His degree is NOT even part of the requirement.. when i asked why they dont require degree and pay such huge salary. He said, the technical know-how that we need "cannot be found in any of our professors head, most of what they teach in the university is not useful here" They pay ood salary ooo
I've always said it we're the only society that values paper over real skills and talent. Whatever your ability, if you don't possess some silly paper it's not valued.
Elon Musk was once asked what education requirements will assist one get a job in Tesla or Space X. Musk said he didn't care about degrees and stuff, only what you can do.
I agree for professional jobs like medicine and pharmacy and piloting certifications matter, but not so much for engineering and programming and graphics design and drawing and management etc.
The problem in Nigeria is, a dunderhead who went through some of our many dubious colleges and gets a 2.1 will be considered more than a 2.2 or 3rd class who's quite talented in the position. They'll promptly hire the blockhead 2.1 who'll proceed to accomplish nothing.
I myself have a third class because of emotional trauma of losing some people during college, not proud of it but I'm quite pleased with my versatility and accomplishments and I'm currently earning just shy of 700k per month (I've a promotion due next month) and I'm planning to retire into private venture to commercially exploit my natural and acquired skills and talents.
Dothraki: read my article very well brother, when you go on internship, you work as a maintenance engineer. Nigeria graduate does nothing other than to ensure that machine run smoothly.. when they need engineers to modify existing design or change the system, these companies hire foreigners... Most of the design team of innoson motors are Asians..
Nigeria system give us ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance to actually practise what we have learned. What is the point of acquiring so much theories if we are never going to use it. Isn't that a mockery of ourself?
youre right but not completely.. there are other organizations that provides opportunity for nigerians to show case their engineering skills in design, modification and even innovation. I think the problem is organizational.. innoson should ensure capacity building of indegenes in every way possible and push them into solving engineering problems..
Dothraki: l love you bro. Its a shame people keep defending the failed system My brother just got employed by teamapt, a computer programming firm and guess what? His degree is NOT even part of the requirement.. when i asked why they dont require degree and pay such huge salary. He said, the technical know-how that we need "cannot be found in any of our professors head, most of what they teach in the university is not useful here" They pay ood salary ooo
I've always said it we're the only society that values paper over real skills and talent. Whatever your ability, if you don't possess some silly paper it's not valued.
Elon Musk was once asked what education requirements will assist one get a job in Tesla or Space X. Musk said he didn't care about degrees and stuff, only what you can do.
I agree for professional jobs like medicine and pharmacy and piloting certifications matter, but not so much for engineering and programming and graphics design and drawing and management etc.
The problem in Nigeria is, a dunderhead who went through some of our many dubious colleges and gets a 2.1 will be considered more than a 2.2 or 3rd class who's quite talented in the position. They'll promptly hire the blockhead 2.1 who'll proceed to accomplish nothing.
I myself have a third class because of emotional trauma of losing some people during college, not proud of it but I'm quite pleased with my versatility and accomplishments and I'm currently earning just shy of 700k per month net (I've a promotion due next month) and I'm planning to retire into private venture to commercially exploit my natural and acquired skills and talents.
Stop talking nonsense. China had useless universities like ours for decades and 60 million of them starved to DEATH. What changed the country is practical. And by that i mean this:
Before USA brought factories to China, a family earned the equivalent of $1 per year. So the chinese people were eager to work for $1-$5 per month. Sweet deal for Chinese.
By working in factories, designing things, welding, soldering, packaging... on actual, real products, many people of them got practical skills for building their own products.
Summary, many of these inventive chinese know absolutely NO THEORY as to why and how their stuff works. It's when their companies becomes BIG enough that they hire theorists to come help out. Heck, Chinese companies simply break open competing products, look for the parts and recreate it. Zero theory involved.
absolutely true Anyone who disagrees with this is seriously mistaken
But it's no brainer. Same disease of directionlessness of leadership bedevilling the country, our institutions are not immune. Any serious minded person who has the resources should most certainly seek good education abroad.
Even abroad will not teach you engineering,it’s self taught. You have to be passionate about acquiring practical skills and not regurgitating theory.
Interestingly, you do not see 1st Class and 2.1 students engaging in these sort of excuses-justifying arguments. Harsh, but true.
Excuses are the most easiest thing to latch on to. Students do this very well. And I completely understand.
Thankfully, not all students do this and they have gone onto do bigger things in life with their Nigerian-education, despite how "local-class" it is. And they do not have two heads.
There are people that will succeed even if they don't know how to read or write. Example - the founder of coscharis motors, Dr. Cosmas Maduka left school at primary 3 (aged 7) to help his mother.
He however kept on reading anything he could find. He also underwent apprentiship and the rest is history.
Self driven people like that succeed DESPITE of their level of schooling or state of the national schooling system. In fact, schooling harms driven guys like him.
Another category of people who succeed inspite of the schooling system are those with rich parents and / or very supportive parents. Parents who absolutely will never allow their children to fail. They'll enroll them in other schools, send them out of the country, bribe, buy certificates, place them in their companies or companies of friends.
On the other hand, mass Schooling was supposed to be the great equalizer. The tool for making MANY people achieve their potential. In other words, the promise is that for those who pay their school fees, read their books, come out with a good grade, they'll be equipped for real life.
Unless you want to lie and let thunder strike you, you know this isn't the case.
All you have told me is that only a fraction - say 1% of those who go to the system make it in any reasonable way. And it's okay with you.
Studying in Nigeria and completely relying on your lecturers, laboratories, etc, is deluding yourself. Going outside the box in every course is the way to go. I know graduates of Engineering in Nigeria who are currently working at NASA, Washington D.C. Two brothers from a University in Northern Nigeria. If you rely on what you are being taught, you'll probably end up being mediocre. If you go outside the box, you wouldn't. The average Nigerian student is extremely lazy. He/she goes on the internet to chat and engage in other frivolities. It is the same internet that gives the hard-working ambitious student, Edx and Coursera free courses, which this hard-working student takes and improves his knowledge of data science and analysis to complement the theories he learns in school.
The ambitious student does not have two heads. The lazy student easily latches onto an excuse, such as describing his/her course of study in Nigeria as a "scam". No sir/ma. It isn't. You are the lazy, scamming student. It is up to you.
I love your premise of reasoning.
School, anywhere in the world, can't give all you need to be a complete product.
Dothraki: please go back and read my article. The system is fvcked up. It is impossible for anyone to implement anything. University or polytechnic You get put so much theories to your head your brain will discard everything since you are not taught how to implent it.
Its like pouring water to a basket, the moment you finish exam, everything is gone in your head.. An average graduate does not remember anything, what is the point of learning if you are going to forget it all at the end of the day? People that think like you are Nigerian problem. There is need to reform the educational system in nigeria.. We are not even talking about making innovation.. Lets just be copying what developed nation are doing.. let us be manufacturing substandard phones, tv and all. One day we will get there..just like china did.
There is need for reformation. How can anyone defend the old and outdated stuffs we learn in Nigerian universities.....
You are part of Nigerias problem. Honestly
Oga, it depends on how you obtained your degree. If you grew up with a desire to know how things worked, observed the constraints of nature and the present limitations of man and developed a passion for solving them then you will have seen in every engineering theory the seeds for solving them.
The problem with most of us is that we put the cart before the horse. We seek inspiration after education. That is completely wrong. Education is supposed to tool you, equip you for taaka yoi.are inspired to solve. Then you will not experience the 'boredom' of what is really 'pointless' education.
Studying in Nigeria and completely relying on your lecturers, laboratories, etc, is deluding yourself. Going outside the box in every course is the way to go. I know graduates of Engineering in Nigeria who are currently working at NASA, Washington D.C. Two brothers from a University in Northern Nigeria. If you rely on what you are being taught, you'll probably end up being mediocre. If you go outside the box, you wouldn't. The average Nigerian student is extremely lazy. He/she goes on the internet to chat and engage in other frivolities. It is the same internet that gives the hard-working ambitious student, Edx and Coursera free courses, which this hard-working student takes and improves his knowledge of data science and analysis to complement the theories he learns in school.
The ambitious student does not have two heads. The lazy student easily latches onto an excuse, such as describing his/her course of study in Nigeria as a "scam". No sir/ma. It isn't. You are the lazy, scamming student. It is up to you.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.--proverbs 22:29
Oga Am not trying to defend the incompetence of the Nigerian System, But Taylor's dad owns a coca cola bottling plant & he was given a whole standard laboratory alone to conduct his experiment. where would an average Nigerian engineer get such privilege
One thing I hate in life is Excuses. Nigerians are the masters of excuses on why they cannot achieve anything. The Wilsons were a middle income family and can't be said to be wealthy. We have many wealthy families in Nigeria and their children cannot achieve one tenth of what Taylor Wilson has achieved. He experimented at a university laboratory because he could not build the reactor in a garage. See the story of Taylor Wilson here;
Lol, I have met a lot of people computer engineers who could not fix simple mother issues and I begin to wonder what the are being taught at the university.
Well, the reason why most organisations will go for Indians and others is because we do a lot of trial and error in Nigeria, take our mechanics for example, in fact they will end up causing more damage to your car.
I learnt computer engineering in Nigeria and I can tell you that most of the jobs were trial and error.
After I finish learning, I had to learn more and guess who I went to? The Indians. They will teach you the theory and practicals, they will teach you the right way of doing things.
I can tell you that I'm 100% better than before in advance Iaptop chip level repair, I remember asking one of my seniors back then some questions and he was like I was just laughing. The world is evolving and technology is evolving but Nigeria is still stagnant.
A computer engineer that can build you a digital wristwatch is a great computer engineer.......Lets all stop getting Engineering confused with Technology.......Engineering deal with first principles while Technology deals with the art..............The difference betweena Nokia 3310 and an Iphone X engineering wise is little but Technology wise there is a Quantum lot
There are people that will succeed even if they don't know how to read or write. Example - the founder of coscharis motors, Dr. Cosmas Maduka left school at primary 3 (aged 7) to help his mother.
He however kept on reading anything he could find. He also underwent apprentiship and the rest is history.
Self driven people like that succeed DESPITE of their level of schooling or state of the national schooling system. In fact, schooling harms driven guys like him.
Another category of people who succeed inspite of the schooling system are those with rich parents and / or very supportive parents. Parents who absolutely will never allow their children to fail. They'll enroll them in other schools, send them out of the country, bribe, buy certificates, place them in their companies or companies of friends.
On the other hand, mass Schooling was supposed to be the great equalizer. The tool for making MANY people achieve their potential. In other words, the promise is that for those who pay their school fees, read their books, come out with a good grade, they'll be equipped for real life.
Unless you want to lie and let thunder strike you, you know this isn't the case.
All you have told me is that only a fraction - say 1% of those who go to the system make it in any reasonable way. And it's okay with you.
LOL. If you notice, when people start using curses to engage in conversations and prove their point, I quietly take my leave. Cheers, mate.
Biggest scam ever,seems it's deliberate,many things are deliberatly done to undevelop us by few Nigerian agents . electricity, education,airways,railway,roads and construction.lebanese dominate ,with just 2year vocational training.
One thing I hate in life is Excuses. Nigerians are the masters of excuses on why they cannot achieve anything. The Wilsons were a middle income family and can't be said to be wealthy. We have many wealthy families in Nigeria and their children cannot achieve one tenth of what Taylor Wilson has achieved. He experimented at a university laboratory because he could not build the reactor in a garage. See the story of Taylor Wilson here;
His story should act as an inspiration to Nigerian teenagers and not an avenue for excuses.
You keep degrading ur own people, just provide half the opportunity this Wilson kid has to Nigerian teenagers & students, am absolutely sure 30% of them will surpass his achievements. If you think Nigerians make nothing but excuses & aren't willing to learn, then you are obviously surrounded by d wrong kind of people. 3 out of every 10 Nigerian is willing to go to any length to learn. That's why immediately they leave d country, they even outshined d whites
The most painful part is being a female Engr...Everyone will be like what? A female? No matter how good you are.. Engineering is definitely a scam... Nigeria is not serious about developing with the way our leaders are handling the Sciences and Tech!
Me n you dey the same boat, I started coding immediately I graduated, I regretted ever studying electrical electronics engineering, such a waste of time, planning on how to further in computer science related course.
Exactly coding is what in my mind now......I just want to get the computer certificate from university I we learn the rest things like repairs, maintenance, website design and various type of programming out side school ....which we be thought practically.
If you can read and write, then you have no need for further education as you can basically study online and use DYI tutorials to develop your prototypes and scale up your productions.
Makes no sense wasting your years in the schools just to prepare to be a slave for a system designed to work hundreds of years ago. The education system was not designed for the 21st century. Just like religions which have not been upgraded for aeons, why waste your life cramming?
In fact, I think kids should be home-trained, instead of wasting time and money to send them to sit with other ignorantly programmed kids doing nothing but memorizing useless algebra.
Such a waste of a lifetime what they are doing to humans.
Let me see if we can, at least, have a conversation...
You see those wrists, legs and muscle movements, that is what engineering at undergraduate level should be and is helping you do. Forget your teacher, pick good old books and get grounded in the theories. Please believe me, it appears to me that I am your senior colleague. I hope I'm not wrong.
Most students just don't want to put in that time in studying and understanding the principles. They want to just pass one course at a time, not connecting the dots, graduate and put the blame on their teachers.
Your heat transfer professor knows absolutely nothing outside of heat transfer. So does your Engineering Analysis professor. It's your responsibility as a student to connect both.
After 9 years of my career in engineering simulations, I still find my MTH201 and 202 notes the most priced. They contain quick resource notes to solve analytical problems just to validate computer generated simulations.
Eigenvalues. Does that sound familiar?
Hey I can teach you ANSYS software.... 50k per month
Which university and department did you graduate from? That may help shed some light on your perspective.
Many of the things you think are wrong with the system are perfectly okay or inconsequential.
Indeed, you ought to be able to remember what you were taught, but even if you can't, it may not be the end of the world. You have probably internalized some of it, meaning that they affect the very way you think and analyze things, even if you cannot recall the equations. For example, you might have applied the concept of transforms numerous times, without needing to recall any equations.
The most important outcome of an engineering degree ought to be that we teach you [b]how to think like an engineer[/b] . The system largely fails in this, for reasons I will not go into right now. That failure is the main problem with the system. Some curricula are very good, some are just meh, but that is far less important than you think.
The op is angry, n I get it too. He thinks he doesn't know shit, but he knows a lot. D problem is that we go to school thinking we will suddenly become knowledgeable after graduation but it is far from it. It is not same in Western world too. All new recruits still have to be retrained even of they were genious in uni.
I studied engineering too, n yeah, I probably don't remember most of what I learned in undergraduate. But if I get into a problem, I know how to solve it. It doesn't mean I will get my hands dirty to fix d issue, but I will fix it directly or indirectly. This I believe is the main essence of engineering, problem solving.
Take me for example, there is a possibility I might further my education later this year. I know I will need calculus but I don't remember any calculus from University. Will it be right to say because I didn't remember calculus my uni failed me? Nope. I only need to buy a calculus textbook, watch YouTube or even pay for udemy n my brain will be back as new regarding that subject.
In truth, things can be better if we have facilities n internet n electricity. But every year, thousands of our engineering graduates go for further studies abroad. A lot r employed abroad. If our institution were so messed up as he paints it, why r those schools n companies opening their doors to our graduates?
obailala: I am a qualified and experienced engineer who studied in Nigeria for 5 years, did a 1 year masters overseas and I currently work overseas. The truth is that there's no difference between me and my colleagues who were born and who schooled abroad.
A lot of Nigerians harbour this defeatist idea that they only teach (useless) engineering principles in Nigerian universities and nothing more; this mindset also causes so many of us to lose confidence in ourselves and lose our self worth. I had this mentality also, but when I left the shores of Nigeria to work overseas, I got to realise that those so called 'useless' principles I was taught in my Nigerian university days is exactly what they teach people all over the world. Every other knowledge and skill you add to your portfolio is based on personal effort and proactiveness; you get to be a proper engineer, not by what you are taught in school, but rather by the experiences you gain on the job.
In summary, nobody is really taught to be an engineer in school, you are only taught principles; it is then left to you to make the best out of those principles.
If i may sir, what country did you get your Meng from and how has the degree gotten abroad helped your profession?
I have an ND in computer engineering and an HND in electrical electronics option. I did my one year IT in a computer manufacturing company in ikeja (where we just coupled already made parts from foreign companies ). I presently work in a manufacturing company and I have come to realize that the basics we were thought in engineering are very important and those simple principles are what are applied to the complex machineries we see today. No knowledge is actually a waste but as the OP said when we are being thought , our only aim is just to pass the course and get the f*ck out.......Most of my colleagues i graduated with either working on banks or doing something else....
By the math Criteria, China is most qualified for engineering. Asians have consistently topped the world on Math proficiency in high school and university levels.
As for design work being a England, France, German thing. The answer is mainly politics or preference. It's the same reason why WE prefer foreign wine, clothes and shoes to locally made ones.
Another reason is simply experience - a.k.a. apprenticeship. They have firms who design all the time. Who will you give a contract to build a 10 storey building you want to live in. Someone who shows you 10 sky scrapers they have already designed or someone who just shows you paper drawings?
That's why we clamoring for practicals. And I don't mean that useless IT. Every one knows it's just a year to sit down at home or become an unpaid messenger.
Ikorodu road, the one done by Fashola; The road that leads to Ogun state from Iyana Ipaja. The road being Stadium side - all the over head bridges being done there, it's all Chinese guys. It's much more solid than those done by Julius berger in recent memory.
I guess you are are a bit knowledgeble in structures..WE ARE in the digital age...Take any good Course eg STATICS and Dynamics, go online to youtube, coursera and EDx, You will be amazed with the availability of top quality free lectures from the best professors in the world..... It is not far from what is taught in the walls of IFE, Nsukka and UNILAG...........
No body pays Africans for design especially masterpieces.......No body pays Africans to solve problems[Notion out there is Africans generally cant solve their problems].......
You mentioned bridges, Do you know that some of the most beautiful problems solved in engineering are not mega structures, check out your spanner, the bolt and nut, screws, threading........This are the basics,the first principles, they are ugly and boring but they make the gigantic structures thick
Op I do believe in theories they are the foundation. I study mathematics but a web developer, as result of exposure and having access to algorithms and scripts of complex websites from their developers gave me some experience that those that started before me do not have. I have use some mathematical theories to solve programming issues, theories from real and complex analysis, understanding of the number system helps a lot.
I was just laughing.