BENIN CITY– A University don, Engr John Okovido of the department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Benin, (UNIBEN), has advised the newly sworn in governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki to restructure and challenge the state Ministry of Works towards assisting government in its thinking, projects initiation and infrastructure development in Edo State.

Engr Okovido who is the head of department gave the advice recently in Benin City when he applauded the infrastructural development of the immediate past government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the state.

Speaking on the general expectations of Mr Godwin Obaseki-led government in Edo State, the university lecturer enjoined the government to institute a system that drives and sustains infrastructure.

“The government should put in place a sound internal mechanism for projects initiation and development through the ministry of works. We have a lot of engineers there. Only few of them have requisite experience. The ministry of works should be challenged. The engineers in the ministry should be retrained and exposed.

“The government should also institute good quality management system which tells you how personnel are selected including those supervising and the active technical team in the fields, how you develop specifications, how projects are packaged. It automatically checks itself when put in place”. He stated.

He maintained that it is the responsibility of any sitting government to find and locate the resources to advance the infrastructure development plan.

Engr John Kovido who is also the national Vice President and Technical Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NIStructE), advocated the engagement of certified home grown engineers in place of their foreign counterparts who do not know much or know little about the structure and components of Nigeria soil in infrastructural projects execution.

“The government is at liberty to choose its partners, we cannot influence that, but if you exposed our local engineers to the conditions most of these foreign engineers are exposed.

“If the tendering or procurement processes for acquiring contracts are fair, I can tell you that our local engineers would do far better.

“The Nigerian engineer has the capacity to domesticate the technology, so we are not like the foreign engineers who do not understand the environment. The university don stated.