By UGONNE UZOMA

The Imo Government has pledged to offer immediate employment and scholarships to best graduating engineering students of Imo origin.

The state governor, Hope Uzodimma, made the offer on Thursday at the Nigerian Society Engineer’s (NSE) fifth Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu annual lecture series in Owerri.

Uzodinma, who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Placid Njoku, also charged the award recipients to aspire to achieve great things in their engineering career.

He eulogised Iwuanyanwu as a seasoned industrialist and commended him for his stellar contributions to the nation’s development especially in the field of engineering.

He further commended the NSE for instituting the lecture series and for continuing with it for five years.

In his speech, Chief Iwuanyanwu expressed gratitude to the NSE for the recogniting and for celebrating his achievements in his lifetime.

He expressed pride in his profession, adding that his achievements stemed from his application of the ethics of engineering in every aspect of his life.

According to him, the love and respect shown him by the NSE was a veritable source of inspiration and assured them that he would continue to do his best.

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the Imo Chapter of the NSE, Dr Eze Ochiagha emphasized the need to develop indigenous engineering capability.

Ochiagha, said this could be done by giving indigenous engineers the opportunity to contribute their quota in bringing about overall sustainable development of Nigeria.

He added that the lecture series would always highlight the potentialities, exploits and ingenuity of Nigerian engineers and the need to develop their capability.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture was entitled “State of Infrastructure in Nigeria: An embarrassment for local content advocacy in the construction industry.

The lecture was delivered by Prof. Samuel Ejezie, A professor of Civil and Geotechnical Engineering.

NAN also reports that 16 engineering graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions received the NSE’s best graduating student awards at the event. (NAN)

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