The Engineering sector may face some challenges that may result in their skills not relevant due to demand for new skills when the 4th Industrial Revolution rave furor into the global economy.
To avoid be caught unaware in the web of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa urged engineers in the country to take advantage of the opportunities from NITDA.
According to Inuwa some jobs including Engineering will disappear and new ones will emerge and urged engineers to constantly update themselves with new trends such as Big Data, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, as the future remains unpredictable, as digitalisation has provided businesses and organisations with a better view of what the future could look like, with the endless possibilities offered by technology.
Inuwa who spoke at the 7th College of Fellows Roundtable Symposium of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said that his Agency is working with other stakeholders towards creating an irreversible transformative change in the way people live and work in the country, especially with the widespread of evolution and adoption of the 4th Industrial Revolution globally, which ushers in the fusion of the Physical, Digital and Biological works.
The NITDA boss who was represented by the Director IT Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Abdullahi, noted that 4th Industrial Revolution has created opportunities for most existing engineers and people to stand out in their respective fields, with a view to becoming drivers of innovation, creating new inventions to press global challenges.
“In the past decade, as large projects require more companies and stakeholders to work together across time zones around the world, new ways of workings are demanding more seamless connections and faster access to real time information, that ushered in the next significant transformation which is cloud”.
He added that, “Our Scientists, Engineers and Technologists are critical to solving our societal problems and challenges.
“The focus of Engineering is the making of things and work efficiently and effectively by applying the theories and principles of science and mathematics to research and develop economic solutions to technical problems” he maintained.
Inuwa also said the role of Engineers as critical to the well being of human existence, cognizance of their innovative, maintaining of products and system equipment, thereby making a country habitable for the citizenry.
He commended the resilience of engineers, architects and the construction industries in the last 41 years in changing the narrative towards attaining the accelerated Digitally Transformed sector.
“It started with Digitalisation, which is transition from paper drawings and analogue processes to digital tools and later computer system designs.
“As Digitalisation was ongoing, Architects encountered increasingly complex design problems, such as global growing population, urbanization and climate change”, he noted.
Inuwa admonished participants the imperative of keying into the current realities of the Digitalisation agenda, as the process needs holistic evaluation and approach by relevant actors, so as to make it more beneficial to the future.
“On the Digitalisation agenda, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) has been strategically set towards transforming the country into a leading Digital Economy; providing quality life and digital economies for all. And, a mission of building a nation where digital innovation and entrepreneurship will be used to create value and prosperity for all,” he added.
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