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Wa0011
Wa0011
COREN DECREE
COREN is empowered by decrees, No 55, 1970 and No 27, 1992 (amendment) to accredit
training institutions and regulate the practice of engineers, Technologists, Technicians and
Craftsmen in Nigeria.
By these decrees, it is illegal for the following to practice or be employed, except for the
purpose of training and apprenticeship, without being registered by COREN:
1. Engineers
2. Engineering Technologists
3. Engineering Technicians
4. Engineering Craftsmen and
5. Engineering Consulting firms
Engineering regulations monitoring (ERM) inspectors have been appointed all over Nigeria
to fish out offenders.
1 INTRODUCTION
(I) Functions of Regulation and Control Committee
COREN is mandated by Decree 55 of 1970 Section 1 (i)(e) to regulate and control the
practice of the engineering profession in all its aspects and ramifications. To do this Council
set up a department and a Committee of Council (the Regulation and Control Committee)
and endorsed certain programmes (as Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) through
which it can fulfill its mandate.
To ensure sanity in the practice of engineering in Nigeria, in 1997, COREN established, the
Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM). Through the machinery of ERM, Council monitors
and enforces compliance with the COREN Act. A team of COREN appointed inspectors who
are seasoned engineering personnel, move from one establishment to the other, to ensure
among other things, that engineering is practised in Nigeria in accordance with the relevant
codes and ethics of engineering practice, in the interest of public safety and for the
protection of national development and economic investment.
The ERM Management System consist of all processes, procedures, activities, instruments,
agents etc. that are efficiently and effectively related in such a manner, as to bring about a
successful ERM programme. The system has been designed to be efficient and robust
enough, to withstand the adversarial system of Nigeria. Details are as follows;
2.2.1 Inspection
Inspection activities are carried out by COREN Inspectors and coordinated by the Regulation
and Control Department at COREN Headquarters Abuja. COREN Inspectors are
experienced engineers, technologists, technicians and craftsmen, who have been duly
selected, trained and certified competent to serve as COREN Inspectors. They are usually
issued the COREN Inspectors identity cards.
a) The Chief Inspector will forward the list of Companies/Establishments (not more than four
at a time) to be visited, together with the names of Inspectors (at least four in number
including where possible one Technologists and one Technician) to visit each
Company/Establishment to the Registrar of COREN at least, six weeks before the proposed
date of visitation.
b) The Registrar will approve/modify the list and inform the Chief Inspector accordingly.
c) The Registrar will then write the Chief Executive of the Company to be visited, and copy
the Chief Inspector alerting him about the Impending visit, the exact date of which is to be
fixed by the Chief Inspector, and send him the questionnaire to be completed and returned
to the Chief Inspector, at least, one week before the visitation date.
d) The Chief Inspector, on receiving approval for the visitation will write to inform the Chief
Executive of the Company to be visited of the exact date of visitation and thereafter notify his
visitation team and get them in readiness for the visit.
e) Completed questionnaires submitted by the Companies to the Chief Inspectors should be
given to the leaders of the visitation teams, at least a day before the visitation so that the
visitation team can study the questionnaire before the visitation exercise.
f) The Visitation Team will visit the Company taking along with them the questionnaires and
cross-checking information supplied on the questionnaire with oral Interview of company
personnel.
g) After visiting the company, the team scores the company using the COREN approved
score booklet.
h) The result of the visitation together with, appropriate assessment of the Company and
recommendation of the team are submitted to the Chief Inspector who forwards same to the
Registrar of COREN.
i) The Registrar considers the reports and reports to Council through the R & C Committee
for approval as appropriate.
j) The R & C Department conveys Council decisions to concerned establishments and
copies the chief Inspector.
2.2.4 Enforcement
This is the heart and soul of the ERM programme. The outcome of Inspection activities will
be received by the Registrar in the form of reports. The efforts of the INSPECTORS would
come to nothing, if there is no enforcement by the REGISTRAR.
Simply put, enforcement as applied in this paper means to make people obey the provisions
of the Engineers (Registration, etc.) Act Cap E11, 2004 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The data bank obtained from the questionnaires and score sheets over time, will enable
COREN to establish whether any company or organization in question, is improving or
degenerating over time, vis-à-vis, the “practice of engineering”.
3.0 Instruments for Regulation and Control
COREN currently has a number of instruments in place for regulation and control of the
“practice of engineering”. More instruments will be created or put in place as the need arises
and in accordance with the provision of the Engineers Act CAP E11 (2004). The instruments
currently in use are the Board Membership Form (BMF), the Project Control Form
(PCF)/Project Responsibility form, the Questionnaire (CP11) and score sheet (CP12).
The situation report at present is that a number of persons are being investigated and
interrogated while others will soon be charged to court. The cases involving registered
engineering personnel are referred to the Disciplinary Tribunal.
This is to ensure that the standard of engineering practice is desirable and quacks are
excluded from practicing the profession and to discipline in an appropriate manner, any
engineering personnel found guilty of professional misconduct. Some engineers had been
tried by the tribunal and sanctioned.