***ENGINEER IN THE SOCIETY*** PART 2

Roles of Professional Engineering Bodies in Nigeria


COREN
The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, was established by decree 55 of 1970 and amended by Decree 27 of 1992, now the “Engineers (Registration, etc) Act, CAP E11 of 2004” Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.The Act establishes COREN as a statutory body of the Federal Government empowered to regulate the Practice of Engineering in all aspects and ramifications in Nigeria.
The current President of COREN is Engr. Kashim A. Ali, FNSE, mni

The Federal Government of Nigeria empowered the Council to regulate and control the training and practice of engineering in Nigeria and to ensure and enforce the registration of all engineering personnel (i.e. Engineers, Engineering Technologists, Engineering Technicians, and Engineering Craftsmen) and consulting firms wishing to practice or engage in the practice of engineering.
*Anybody, corporate or individual employer who engages the services of unregistered engineering personnel or consulting firms commits an offence against the law of the land as stipulated in clause 13(6), page 14 of the coren decrees.


This discussion will focus on Registered Engineer's status

The COREN decree specifies that: A Registered Engineer shall use the abbreviation "Engr" before his name
e.g Engr Oluseyi Basorun

Entry Qualifications into Engineer's Cadre

Person desiring to become a registered Engineer must meet the following

1. Univeristy Route -B. Sc, B. Eng, B. Tech in Engineering must have four (4) years post-graduate experience which must be under the supervision of a senior registered Engineer.

2. Polytechnic Route - HND in an Engineering field + COREN accredited PGD in the same field e.g. HND Electrical Engineering + PGD Electrical Engineering. Must have acquired a minimum of (6) years post-graduate experience which must be under the supervision of a senior registered Engineer.

3. Membership of Engineering professional bodies e.g Corporate Membership of NSE, although recently COREN returned back to conducting interviews and test for prospective candidates.

Benefit of COREN

1. Coren keeps the register of all registered engineering personnel in Nigeria. This data can be verified on http://portal.coren.gov.ng/Account/MemberSearch
2. COREN regulates the practise of engineering in Nigeria
3. Issuance of practising license to engineering personnel and engineering firms
4. Control of quakery in the practise
etc. etc.

visit COREN website for more information www.coren.gov.ng
sources: www.coren.gov.ng  www.nse.org.ng

Engr. Oluseyi Basorun mnse

*** Next, The Nigerian Society of Engineers

***ENGINEER IN THE SOCIETY***
NIEEE Lagos Chapter Whatsapp Presentation, August 2016

* ENGINEERING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

The practice of engineering is within the domain of societal interests, that is, engineering practice has an inherent impact on society. Much of the impact is based upon that relationship the engineer has with the society.
Engineering practise is guided by professional codes of conducts put together by professional bodies e.g COREN, NIEEE and NSE in Nigeria. An engineer's conduct (as captured in professional codes of conduct)is toward other engineers, toward employers, toward clients, and toward the public. Codes of professional conduct lay out a road map for professional relationships.

* WHO IS AN ENGINEER?

From hindustantimes.com   "Engineers are people who solve problems and focus on making things work more efficiently and effectively. They apply the theories and principles of science and mathematics to research and develop economical solutions to technical problems"
Also from dictionary.com   "Engineer is a person trained and skilled in the design, construction, and use of engines or machines, or in any of various branches of engineering : e.g a mechanical engineer, a civil engineer, an electrical engineer
Bringing it closer to us.." An electrical engineer is someone who designs and develops new electrical equipment, tests equipment and solves electrical problems. They work with all kinds of electronic devices, from the smallest pocket devices to large supercomputers. Electrical engineering deals with electricity, electro-magnetism and electronics".

By manipulating basic theories in mathematics and science, engineers apply their technical knowledge to conceive, design and implement new processes, products and systems that make our everyday lives easy...
Through innovation, creativity and change Engineers provide cutting edge technology for our safety, health, security, comfort and entertainment.
As an engineer you might be on the team that develop the next generation communication gadget, or a medical device that will help doctors treat an illness, or a spacecraft that will carry humans to Mars, a satellite monitoring system to stop Boko haram insurgence and traffic robbery, or a system that can bring clean water to an underdeveloped region in Nigeria, or a new power source that is sustainable and provides clean energy for remote villages, or a device that can detect toxic agents and chemicals, an energy efficient building or an earthquake safe world, or even an electrical system for a multi-million rice processing plant. the list is endless.

Some traits of Engineers are:-
•Desire to Figure Things out. ...
•Applied Creativity. ...
•Maths Skills. ...
•Electro-mechanical Skills. ...
•Listening and Problem-Solving Skills. ...
•Interpersonal and Leadership Skills

* QUALITIES OF A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER

Some of the characteristics and qualities of great professional engineers are enumerated below:-

1.Possesses Strong Analytical Sense: A professional engineer has excellent analytical skillsets and is continually examining systems and thinking of ways to help things work better. They are naturally inquisitive, want to know whys..and whats..

2.Pays Attention to Detail: A professional engineer must pay meticulous attention to detail. The slightest error can cause an entire electrical system to fail or cause injury to people, so every detail of make of the systems must be reviewed thoroughly in the course of the project.

3.Has Excellent Communication Skills: A professional engineer is a good communicator. one of the greatest tasks of an engineer is to translate complex  technical jagons into plain English or other agreed formats of communication.He's also saddled with the responsibility of communicating verbally with clients, other engineers, technicians and stakeholders working together on a project.

4.He takes part in Continuing Professional Education: Every practicing engineer must stay on top of latest developments in the industry. Changes in technology happen rapidly, and the most successful engineers keep abreast of new research and ideas. Continuous professional development programmes must be encouraged by NIEEE, NSE and COREN and similar professional bodies. This may even form part of requirements for re-certification of membership.

5. Creativity: A great professional engineer is very creative and always thinks of new and innovative ways to develop new systems and make existing solutions work more efficiently. Finding alternative resolution and new ideas are germane quality of engineers.

6. Possess Ability to Think Logically: A professional engineer has top-notch logical skillset, largely due to background in problem modelling. They are able to make sense of complex systems and understand how things work and how problems arise. This opens up our problem solving methodology approach and our ability to figure out where the problem stems from and quickly develop a solution.

7.Is Mathematically Inclined: A great professional engineer has excellent math skills. Engineering involves complex calculations of varying difficulties, these problems can be modeled mathematically and knowledge of Algebra, Calculus, complex functions can be readily applied to solve for needed parameters.

8.Is a Team Player: A great engineer understands that he is a part of a larger team working together towards successfully delivery of projects, therefore he must be able to integrate and play well as part of that team.

9. Has Excellent Technical Knowledge: Professional engineer has a vast amount of technical knowledge. They understand a variety of computer programs and other systems that are commonly used during an engineering project. Knowledge of working tools like Autocad, Solidworks, Matlab etc. is highly essential.

>>>>Watchout for ***ENGINEER IN THE SOCIETY*** PART 2

Roles of Professional Engineering Bodies in Nigeria

Engr. Oluseyi Basorun mnse

Mobile Device Insecurity : Need for us to be at alert!!

The growth of mobile devices in Nigeria has increased astronomically. According to statistics from www.martins.com.ng, Nigeria has 93 million mobile subscribers, representing 16% of Africa total of 620 million mobile phone connections as of September 2011. This is huge, and it places a lot of challenges on the shoulders of IT and Telecommunication practitioners in the country.  In the area of IT security, we have recorded a sharp increase in vulnerabilities risk level since we have these devices around. Mobile devices are transforming quickly into a solid and viable candidate to replace our current and typical computing platforms—including the PC and laptop. Many of these new tablets have microprocessor speed of up to 1.6GHZ Quad core, 2 GB RAM, with highly enhanced graphics.Following Moore’s Law, chip makers are now on the path to deliver 32nm system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology, which will enable more powerful computing capacity in a new breed of smaller devices. These devices will offer users an enriched experience when accessing the Internet and a whole new set of multimedia applications like 3D games and video. The features are promising in terms of the applications and solutions that people think their lives are a lot easier with these more powerful and energy-saving technology.

  A lot of owners of these sophisticated gadgets work in enterprise organization and also have their corporate office information like email, client data, mounted on their devices. Because the Internet is becoming increasingly open to hackers, crackers,phishers and ransom wares, there is need for us to be careful in the way we use these devices, especially in the work places. In most cases, we have these devices permanently connected to unsecured wireless networks which are potential sources of vulnerabilities, most of such WiFi connections open our personal information to the dangers of being hacked and exposed. With the advent of CBN cashless society in some part of the country, many transactions are going to be done electronically. There is need for a more robust identity management for mobile devices when using them to make electronic transactions and other e-commerce activities. A recent research conducted by one of the BIG 4 professional services firms, affirms that 70% of WIFI in Lagos metropolitan are running on very weak security platform. With many of them implementing clearly weak 128-bit wep key security code. Certainly, this calls for caution on the part of users and the operators/security experts need to develop solutions at Application layer for these mobile devices to secure sensitive information such as emails, personal information, debit card data, or access financial services.

To minimize these risks, it is necessary to protect the user’s identity to avoid fraud against their financial assets. 3G and Network measures are already deployed for smartphones, relying on several methods to protect data in transit. Unfortunately, these standards only work at the data-link and network layers, not at the application layer, which is most commonly used by individuals to conduct e-commerce transactions.

Some possible remediation:-

1. Tokenization, this technology has being implemented by some banks within the country for inter-bank fund transactions. It's based on multi-factor authentication method. For safe mobile banking transactions, users are encouraged to sign-up for multiple-authentication factor (Password and Hard token) to access their mobile banking platform. Even when mobile devices are stolen or accessed by unauthorized user, one is assured that access to banking profile will be minimal and safe.

2. Another viable option is to encrypt external data storage cards (SD cards), where most of personal and corporate information are kept. This will surely go a long way in securing data, as access to it will be highly restricted- the data can only be viewed on the mobile device used for the encryption.

3. Mobile Antivirus/Intrusion detection, there are several mobile antivirus apps that can be downloaded to prevent data leakages on our mobile devices.These free mobile security applications prevents the devices from being infected by virus and malware and also provide the much needed alerts when anomalies are noticed on our devices. Examples are Avast and McAfee mobile security apps to mention few.

On a closing note, mobile device owners have responsibility of protecting the 'data-ware' residing on their phones and in line with the current practice in advanced countries, IT and Telecommunication security practitioners in Nigeria to step up their games in ensuring we have an intrusion-free mobile service platforms.

Thank you

Engr. Oluseyi Basorun mnse,cissp

James Prescott Joule and the Joule Apparatus

James Prescott Joule, a scientist who successfully demonstrated the interrelationship between different forms of energy.   In this article we’ll focus on one of his experiments, the Joule Apparatus.

Back in the 1840s Joule built his Apparatus, a device which demonstrated the interrelationship between different forms of energy.

The Joule Apparatus consisted of a weight suspended by string over a pulley, which in turn was wound around a winding drum.   As long as the drum remained stationary, the weight remained motionlessly suspended.   While motionless, the weight’s potential energy lay latent within it.

 But when the pressure keeping the winding drum stationary was released, the weight was set free to fall, and its potential energy began converting to kinetic.   In the process, the string begin to unwound from the drum, which caused the drum to turn and along with it the paddle wheel it was attached to.

Joule’s Apparatus followed energy through many forms.  From the quiet of potential energy to the kinetic energy demonstrated by the falling weight.   The kinetic energy in turn was converted into mechanical energy, made manifest by the interaction between the moving drum and paddle wheel.   The rotating paddles agitated the water, causing its temperature to rise.    Observing this, Joule concluded that the mechanical energy of the spinning paddle wheel had been converted into heat energy, which temperature measurement proved was transferred into the water.   Joule’s experiment thus proved the link between potential, kinetic, mechanical, and heat energies.

Joule’s work paved the way to make possible the later development of a host of modern mechanical devices that also converted heat energy into mechanical energy, or vice versa.   These devices include a car’s engine and your kitchen’s refrigerator.

Culled from http://www.engineeringexpert.net