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The Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) yesterday blamed the poor
standard of Nigeria’s technology on its government and the nation’s
institutions of higher education.

Speaking at the
First International Conference of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
held in Abuja, Tunde Salihu, the IEEE chairman, Nigeria Section, said
Nigerians do not need to travel abroad to find solutions to the
nation’s technological problems, as there are experienced technologists
in the country.

“The problems start
from the policy-makers and also the training institutions, I mean the
universities, polytechnics and the technical institutions. The
governments are not funding them enough,” Mr Salihu said.

“In a country like
America, NASA and agencies of government receive the largest vote and
most of the money that goes to defence goes to research, so it’s high
time we consider doing something in this country. That is why we are
having this conference.” Mr Salihu assured that there are a lot of
cheap solutions to our country’s technology problems.

“We know we are in
a developing nation and our income is quite low. We do not need to buy
big technologies that are existing; we can look for small systems,
small principles, and small technologies.”

Indigenous engineers

Stephen Bello, the
acting executive vice chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission
said it was the desire of the commission to promote activities like the
conference, as telecom engineers have a pivotal role to play in the
country’s technology.

“Nigeria is solely dependant on expatriate workers. If Nigerian
engineers are given the opportunity, they can perform better. However,
we have a lack of adequate skill in our graduate engineers. Most
engineers lack the necessary skill for employment.”