The Urgent Call: Revitalizing Nigerian Engineering through Mandatory Post-Graduate

By Engr. Olatunde Olagunju

My second media treatise on the state of engineering training in Nigeria remains troubling. We continue to graduate thousands of engineers who are largely unequipped to address the real-world problems that confront our society—from flood management and sanitation systems to road deterioration and urban housing crises.

The evidence is everywhere. Too few engineers can interpret multilayered engineering schematics or conduct field assessments to validate design assumptions. Many struggle to present coherent technical solutions in proposals, let alone contribute to knowledge creation through academic publication or patent development. This isn’t a failure of individuals, it’s a failure of our system.

We must revisit and learn from the lessons of the Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSE). Though promising, SITSE faltered due to inconsistent funding, poor oversight, and a lack of clear professional outcome goals. Any new program must be grounded in sustainability, transparency, and accountability.

A potential path forward for improving the skills gap lies in a structured Engineering Residency Program (ERP), drawing inspiration from the successful models observed in medical residencies. This initiative would involve placing recent engineering graduates in carefully vetted industrial environments. Under the close supervision of experienced, practicing engineers, these residents would be comprehensively evaluated across a broad range of essential competencies. This evaluation would encompass practical skills like interpreting engineering drawings and conducting safety audits, as well as crucial professional capabilities such as proposal writing and fostering effective team collaboration. Such a program could serve to bridge the persistent gap between theoretical knowledge and the demands of real-world application, a challenge widely recognized in Nigerian engineering education. This program must be more than technical. It must instill ethics, innovation, and confidence. It should incorporate exposure to the global best practices, ensure proficiency in professional communication, and reinforce a mindset geared toward problem-solving and nation-building.

Let us abandon the obsolete view that a degree alone equals readiness. Real readiness is earned through struggle, mentorship, and tested skill. If Nigeria’s industrial future is to thrive, our engineering corps must be equipped not just with degrees, but with competence.