Despite the fact that ACEN has been in existence for over thirty years, some of the challenges leading to its formation have Remained while new ones have appeared. The most notable current challenges are as follow:

Government Procurement Policies

Perhaps the greatest challenges of ACEN is to persuade both state and federal governments to have policies and laws that erasure the development of engineering competencies in the country. Nigerian parents and governments spend billions of hard earned money to educate young Nigerians, only to lose them to the intentional market by not providing opportunity for their engagement. At the same time, these government patronize foreign companies with passion on the grounds that Nigerians are not competent. Competence comes from two basic sources training and practice. Without the opportunity to practice, Nigeria will Forever have to source engineering services from abroad. In the recent past, the last administration embarked on local content policy in the oil and gas sector. ACEN pleads with Present government to continue this policy and extent it to all other sectors of the economy. All Nigerian works must be Done in Nigerian, and maximum opportunity must be for the participation of Nigerians in the development of their Country.

Private Sector Perception

The private sector in Nigeria is rapidly developing. The banking, telecommunication and insurance sectors have gone Through reforms that have empowered them to improved performance. The consequence of this, however, is that those Willing to pay international rates to expatriate companies, they negotiate fees in the local practice to the point that such Industries have continued to source expertise from outside our shores on the ground of global competition. While they such Businesses are difficult to sustain, not to talk of provide quality service. ACEN advocates that's the local content policy be extended to the private sector so that local capacity for improved Performance can be developed locally.

Loss of Engineering to Other Sectors

Increasingly, engineering school are attracting less and less of first class quality students because income in the sector is Low, the course rigorous, and employment uncertain. Those Who eventually graduate sooner or later succumb to the Attraction of other sectors of the economy banking, telecommunication and multinational companies. The result is a Dearth of competent professionals in the industry There is a self fulfilling prophesy her. Poor pay leads to loss of competent engineers. This in turn leads to poor quality Work. Poor quality work leads to loss of confidence. Loss of confidence leads to patronage of foreigners, and the circle Goes on. ACEN pleads for procurement policy and laws that promote local development of the consulting engineering industry.

Number, Size & Scope of Member Firms

Although ACEN now has about 189 members, and is projected to about 200 after rationalization of projected of individual Membership, this number is grossly inadequate for a population of 140 million. South Africa, with a population of about 47 Million has about 400 consulting firms. Thus, one of ACEN objectives is to increase the number of engineering firms in its Fold. More than the number of firms, however, the sizes of utmost importance. While the firms with over 500 staff in the South Africa, there is currently no firms in ACEN that has a hundred staff. Indeed, over 90%of the firms in Nigeria have less than ten staff. The firms are thus small and difficult to sustain. While small specialized forms have their Usefulness in the industry, they are optimized when there are a few large firms that can provide platforms for general Training, leadership and engagement of the leadership of the society. ACEN is committed to ensuring standards for the small firms to ensure that the stakeholders in the built Environment get maximum value for their investments. At th same time, ACEN seeks to promote the growth of Large firms as a necessity for the growth of the private sector,loss of competent engineers to other sectors, and Standards and ethical bhaviour for its members

<< back... About ACEN