ABUJA – Engineers have called on the Federal Government to involve private investors in development of infrastructure in the country.
They made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of World Engineering Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure (WECSI 2014) in Abuja on Friday.
Read by Mr Ademola Olorunfemi, President of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the communiqué advised government to provide timeline for the full implementation of policies.
“This will ensure sustained infrastructure development for the economic wellbeing of the country.’’
It said the government needed to provide the enabling environment to attract private sector investments into the development of infrastructure and put timeline on projects.
“There must be a time frame for the implementation of policies; there must be a time frame for completion of certain programmes; our government must start doing that.’’
The communiqué contended that there were so many policies on ground but without timelines, “and when there are, we don’t ever summon enough political will to see them to logical conclusion.’’
It recommended that Nigeria should lead other African countries to create policy-based finance for infrastructure development by dedicating 30 per cent of Federation Account to it.
It called for sustained advocacy by professionals to push for speedy passage of all the reform Bills pending in the National Assembly to ensure emergence of credible regulations.
The recommendations also included the need for African countries to strengthen higher education in the areas of science and technology to reinforce and sustain infrastructure development.
On his part, Olorunfemi pledged that NSE would take the recommendations of the WECSI 2014 to key stakeholders in infrastructure development.
“We are going to follow through all the recommendations; involve all stakeholders including the media and engage government at every level.
“This communiqué would be widely circulated officially to Mr President, all Governors, all Ministers and we would follow through’’, Olorunfemi stressed.
WECSI 2014 was organised by the NSE in collaboration with the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO). (NAN)
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