The Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW), has said Nigeria loses over $10 billion every year to expatriates who have taken over the welding and engineering sector from local professionals.....
President of NIW, Solomon Edebiri, who stated this during an interaction with newsmen in Abuja, lamented how foreign welding engineers from Philippine, China, Brazil, India and others have hijacked the sector.
He demanded immediate government’s intervention, saying such intervention should be quick considering how 80 percent of everything in our environment is made of steel.
According to him, the capability of welding in this country is too low to the extent that we still import so much iron and steel including professionals who are supposed to handle the sector.
“We lose over $10 billion annually in capital flight. When you bring these expatriates into the country, what do they do? You pay them in dollars to their home countries, you pay them in naira for their local consumption.
“The money they take, is like twenty times what the Nigerians will take to do the job. So why don’t we build capacity here and let the people who are in Nigeria take charge of the job, that is what we are saying. If government does not step in, we will have a problem,” he said.
The NIW boss added, “The capability and capacity of welding in this country is low to the extent that we still bring people into the country from Philippine, from China, from India, Brazil and all over Europe to come and weld in Nigeria.
“Welding engineers are not recognized in Nigeria. So, at the end of the day, we need a serious government intervention, to develop capability and develop capacity of the sector. Now, that is the only reason why we can take charge of our welding activities, our industrialization can completely be localized.
“What we are saying is that, let’s develop the plan that will recognize the simple fact, that our lowest benchmark will be the international standard. However, it will be carried out locally, done by the indigenous people in this country.”
He also urged Federal Government to quickly conclude its plan on revitalization of Ajaokuta steel plant, arguing that its full privatization was not going to help the country.
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