BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS

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ENFORCING CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN
ENGINEERING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA
BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS
HELD AT TRANSCORP HILTON, ABUJA ON 3RD - 7TH
DECEMBER, 2007
PRESENTED BY ENGR (BARR) J. T. ORIBUYAKU, MNSE,
MNIQS, MNBA TECHGRADE CONSULTING, 6, ASABI COLE
ROAD, AGIDINGBI, IKEJA
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Abstract

• Continuing professional development (CPD), also
  known as continuing competence, is the process
  of providing lifelong learning for practising
  professionals in order to stay current with the
  continuously changing technology, procedures and
  regulations. It has been described as the
  keystone of professionalism and it is
  increasingly gaining international importance
  with the advent of globalization. In Nigeria, CPD
  is highly emphasized in engineering profession,
  as it is a key component of the codes of ethics
  and other policies of NSE. Even among engineers
  themselves, the importance and essentiality of
  CPD is not in contention. Despite this however,
  CPD implementation is virtually nonexistent in
  engineering practice in Nigeria.

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Abstract contd.

• This irony can be severally blamed on the
  professional institutions, employing
  organizations, government agencies, and the
  individual engineers. Realizing that an effective
  CPD system in engineering profession is key to
  improving and sustaining national
  competitiveness, this writer examines the problem
  in a holistic perspective, starting with a review
  of the current position and the factors
  responsible. This is followed by an appraisal of
  the approaches adopted in some countries with
  effective and stable CPD systems. Finally, the
  paper used the collective findings from the
  appraisals and reviews to propose a CPD strategy
  that will be effective and sustainable in
  Nigeria.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

• Establishing and enforcing Continuing
  Professional Development (CPD) policy is of
  crucial importance in engineering professional
  practices all over the world, and if Nigerian
  engineers are to successfully compete with their
  counterparts in the international environment,
  the two condition must be effectively fulfilled.
• The pace at which technology changes was
  illustrated by a group of experts who estimated
  the half-life of an engineers technical skills,
  that is, how long it would take for half of
  everything an engineer knew about his or her
  field to become obsolete. They came to the
  conclusion that for mechanical engineers it was
  7½ years, for electrical engineers, 5 years and
  for software engineers, it was 2½ years(1). This
  means that engineers must update half of
  everything they knew every couple of years and
  failure to do this would result in not being up
  to date with the contemporary technology.

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• However, before a CPD policy can be effectively
  enforced, some conditions must have been met and
  these are mainly the following
• The concept of CPD must be properly understood
  including its benefits
• There must be an effective CPD implementation
  structure
• There must be effective methods of checking
  compliance and also penalty for non-compliance.
• There must be legal basis for the policy.
• There must be accredited CPD providers
• This paper will discuss these issues and also the
  expected roles of the stakeholders to CPD in
  Nigeria, which are the individual engineer, the
  employers of engineers, engineering associations,
  government and CPD providers.

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2.0 MEANING, IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF CPD
2.1 Meaning of CPD CPD has been defined in
several ways by various professional
organizations, some of which are the
following The Board of Engineers Malaysia
defined CPD as systematic maintenance,
improvement and broadening of knowledge and skill
and development of personal qualities for
execution of professional and technical duties
throughout the engineers working life.(2) The
UK Architects Act(3) adopts the same definition
as above except by substituting engineer with
practitioner.
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The International Pharmaceutical Federation (IPF)
however uses an individual focused definition for
CPD as the responsibility of individual
pharmacists for systematic maintenance,
development and broadening of knowledge, skills
and attitudes to ensure competence as a
professional throughout their careers (4) One
common thread running through the three
definitions is that CPD is for the systematic
maintenance, development and broadening of
knowledge and skills throughout the professional
life. Another is that CPD is individual focused.
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2.2 The importance of CPD in Engineering Practice
The need for continuing, life-long learning in
engineering profession is self evident.
Engineering knowledge and techniques are
constantly advancing. If engineers are to
continue to work to the high standards and
competence that are expected of each other and by
the society at large, it becomes essential to
keep professional knowledge and awareness up to
date and to develop the required skills to cope
with the continuing technological advancement.
One effective way that has been recognized
internationally as achieving this goal is through
continuing professional development.
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The importance of CPD has also been stated by
Tony Killeen that in a time where the pace of
change is being reinforced by the progressive
application of more sophisticated work practices
that are underpinned by contemporary
technological systems, standing aside from up
skilling and professional development is not
feasible or optional. (5)
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2.3 Benefits of CPD

• The UK Institute of Field Archaeologists(6) has
  listed the benefits of CPD to the individual
  professional, the profession and the employer as
  follows
• 2.3.1 Benefits to Individual Professionals
• Improved competence and flexibility
• Improved recognition
• Improved marketability
• Improved direction in the career path
• Improved self-respect
• Improved respect for others.

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• 2.3.2 Benefits to the Profession
• Assurance of skilled and competent professionals
• Maintenance and enhancement of standards
• Improvement of practices
• Improved performance
• Respect for the profession
• 2.3.3 Benefits to the Employers
• Improved ability to compete
• Assurance of a skilled and competent workforce
• Assurance of standards
• Maintenance and improvement of practices
• Maintenance of quality in advice and capabilities.

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3.0 PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF
CPD IN ENGINERING PRACTICE IN NIGERIA
Despite the importance and the advantages of CPD
as previously discussed, it is ironical that it
has no effective implementation in Nigeria. What
then are the problems causing the
non-implementation? They can be attributed to the
following
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3.1 Lack of Effective CPD Policy
The first and definitely the most important
reasons is the lack of clearly defined CPD policy
in engineering practice in Nigeria. An effective
CPD policy must provide for a. the activities
that count as CPD and which must be clearly
defined, as well as CPD scoring system. This is
not yet in place in engineering practice in
Nigeria. b. a legal basis for the CPD policy.
Again, this has not been implemented engineering
profession in Nigeria. Unfortunately there is no
mention of CPD in the entire 23 sections of the
COREN Act(7).
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3.2 Problem of Unemployment Both absolute and
relative unemployment is also important factors.
Absolute in the sense of not having any job at
all and relative in the sense of an engineer
working on non-engineering assignments in which
case there is no basis for CPD in the first
instance. 3.3 Non-Appreciation of the Importance
of CPD by Individual Engineers A large number of
Nigerian engineers do not appreciate the
importance of CPD, and so, no special effort
towards continuing training.
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3.4 The Government Sufficient attention is not
being given to continuing training of engineers
by the government. Even though emphasis is on
local content development and NEEDS, this is not
being matched with equal emphasis on continuing
professional development. 3.5 Lack of Interest
in CPD by Employers in the Private Sector The
emphasis of most organizations in the private
sector is only on profit maximization whilst
training is regarded as unnecessary costs. The
indigenous companies are even more culpable than
their foreign counterparts in this regard.
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4.0 STRATEGIES FOR ENFORCING CPD IN NIGERIA
As earlier discussed in this paper, CPD is not
being implemented in Nigeria due to some reasons
already enumerated. In order to reverse the
situation, the respective stakeholders must play
the following roles
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4.1 The Role of Engineering Professional Bodies
The major engineering bodies in this respect are
COREN, NSE, ACEN and FCI. COREN Act must be
amended to incorporate CPD, or alternatively and
easier achieved, COREN council can use its power
to make regulations under section 1(1)(d) of the
Act(8) to establish a CPD policy. For example,
the Board of Engineers Malaysia Instituted a
Continuing Professional Development Policy for
Professional Engineers(9). Also, standard 6 of
the Architect Code issued by the UK Architects
Act(10) provides as follows
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Architects should maintain their professional
service and competence in areas relevant to their
professional work, and discharge the requirements
of any engagement with commensurate knowledge and
attention. The fact that an architect has not
maintained their professional competence may
count against them in the event of that
competence having to be investigated.
Therefore with this provision, if an architect is
accused of professional incompetence or
negligence and an investigative tribunal is set
up for that purpose, the fact that such an
architect is not up to date with CPD will
establish a presumption of guilt.
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• In the case of the Nigerian Society of Engineers,
  being the umbrella body for all Nigerian
  engineers, it should be the power house and
  engine of CPD enforcement in Nigeria. In this
  regard, NSE should establish effective CPD policy
  which should contain
• Types of Activities satisfying CPD requirements
  and the scoring system.
• Log books and forms for the administration of CPD
• Penalties for non-compliance with CPD
  requirements
• Motivation for effective compliance with CPD
  requirements
• The Association of Consulting Engineers of
  Nigeria (ACEN) and the Federation of Construction
  Industry (FCI) should then implement the NSE CPD
  policy among their members.

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4.2 The Role of the Government
Government needs to appreciate the importance of
CPD in engineering practice and therefore make
appropriate laws for its encouragement. One
important area is that of funding CPD. A relevant
law for this purpose is to provide that all
capital and major maintenance projects should
contain a training component in their budgets.
This is the approach used by the International
Finance Institutions such as the World Bank, ADB,
Islamic Bank, etc. In addition, government should
use the level of compliance with CPD policies as
a criterion in the selection of consultants and
contractors for engineering projects.
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4.3 The Role of the Private Sector Organisations
The private sector organizations relevant to our
discussion include the consulting firms,
contracting firms, sales and marketing firms and
the manufacturing sector. These organizations
employ a large number of Nigerian engineers but
the attitude to their training cannot be said to
be satisfactory. The organizations should
therefore encourage and finance CPD schemes for
their various engineers.
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4.4 The Individual Engineers
CPD is actually a professional responsibility of
individual engineers as it is a part of the
obligations required of professional membership.
For instance, Canon 7 in the ASCEs code of
Ethics states Engineers shall continue their
professional development throughout their careers
and shall provide opportunities for the
professional development of those engineers under
their supervision Actively participating in
continuing professional development helps
individuals career growth, the profession
advances, and ultimately benefits the safety,
health and welfare of the public.
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5.0 PROPOSED CPD POLICY FOR ENGINEERING
PROFESSION IN NIGERIA
A CPD policy for engineering profession is
proposed hereunder. The proposal borrows much
from the CPD Policy for Professional Engineers
issued by the Board of Engineers Malaysia and the
Model Law for CPD issued by the National Council
of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
(NCEES) of the United States. The proposed policy
is as follows
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5.1 Types of CPD Activities
The activity to qualify as CPD must be related to
the career as a professional engineer. Thus CPD
activities will include exposure to core
engineering, management, finance, law, economics,
and others which contribute to the works of the
professional engineer one way or the other.
Functions that are routinely performed as part of
the employment will not be claimable. The
following six major groups of activities will be
relevant
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a) Formal Education and Training
Activities These include formal face-to-face
education, distance education, short courses,
workshops, seminars and formal on-the-job
training. Short courses are defined as involving
presenters who are external to the workplace.
b) Informal Learning Activities Informal
learning activities include on-the-job learning
that takes place because of workplace
requirements. These usually arise when the
engineer undertakes a new project and identify
areas where there are need to extend competency
base.
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c) Attending Conferences and Meetings These
include all conferences, symposiums, visits and
meetings conducted by engineering professional
institutions to provide information. Those
conducted by other acknowledged experts and
organizations can also be claimed provided that
the content relates to the development of
engineering professional career. d)
Presentation of Papers The preparation of
materials for courses, workshops, conferences,
seminars and symposiums can be claimed if these
activities contribute to the advancement of the
engineering related competencies of others. e)
Service to the Profession Service to the
profession where it contributes to the continuing
professional development of others. This includes
contributions as a member of a course
accreditation team, participation in CPD audits,
and review of technical papers prior to
publication.
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f) Industry Involvement (for academician) Engine
ers employed in academic positions are expected
to foster links with industry for the benefit of
engineering education, research and practice.
This requirement also ensures that they are
exposed to developments in engineering practice
outside their university. Industry involvement
will normally be in the form of consulting
services. However, where one has close ties with
industry, he can include supervision of
industry-sponsored research. Supervision of
design projects carried out for industry and
field trips may also be counted if they have
contributed to the above objectives.
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5.2 Scoring System
The scoring of the CPD shall be in CPD Units,
where one CPD unit shall be equivalent to one day
attendance at a short course, workshop or
seminar, or one unit of a semester course in
postgraduate study. Equivalent scores for the
other activities qualifying for CPD shall be
worked out. The minimum CPD units for registered
engineers shall be an average of 15 units in 3
years.
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5.3 Accreditation of CPD Providers
CPD providers shall be accredited on two basis.
One is the accreditation of the organisation
itself while the other is the accreditation of
individual CPD programmes. In the case of
programmes organised by NSE or its
branches/divisions, only the programmes will
require accreditation. Credits shall not be
accumulated for programmes offered by
unaccredited CPD provider and also for
unaccredited programmes presented by accredited
providers.
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5.4 Enforcement Procedures
The following process of enforcement which is to
the procedures adopted by NCEES Model law is
recommended 1. Accreditation of training firms
in addition to programme offerings by NSE and
branches/divisions to avoid the excuse of
non-availability of training events and for
standardisation. 2. Also, the programmes must be
accredited and streamlined 3. 1 random selection
of engineers to be made annually and contacted to
submit the evidence of their meeting the CPD
requirements.
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4. Sanction in the form of warning letters to be
issued to those that failed to meet the minimum
average units of 15 in any 3 consecutive years.
Also, the employers of the affected engineers are
to be informed of the lapse. In the case of
consulting engineering firms, meeting of the
requirements by the engineers in their firms
should be one of the conditions for
re-certification.
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5.5 Sample Log Forms and Calculation of CPD Units
A sample Log Form for recording and submitting
CPD units accumulated from time to time is
presented in Figure 1. The method of calculating
the units to determine if the requirements of the
proposed policy are met shall be as follows For
example, assume that the policy commences in
2008, and an engineer continues to accumulate
units as follows 2008 16, 2009 10, 2010
20, 2011 12.
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It should be noted that what is required is a
moving/rolling 3-year average, and therefore the
calculation will be 2008 16 - no
assessment 2009 10 - no assessment 2010 20
- last 3 yrs CPD units 16 10 20
Total 46 Average 15.33 2011 12 - last 3
yrs CPD units 10 20 12 Total 42
Average 14.00 From the above workshop, the
engineer met CPD requirements in 2010 but, failed
to meet the standard in 2011.
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DRAFT
Figure 1. Draft CPD Log Form
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6.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The importance and necessity of CPD in
engineering practice in Nigeria have been
highlighted in this paper. It has also been
established that CPD is now a global phenomenon
and therefore it is not a matter of choice for
engineers and engineering bodies in any country
to adopt CPD but a great necessity. Furthermore,
it has been demonstrated that there is no clear
and nationwide policy guiding CPD in engineering
profession in Nigeria and that there is an urgent
need for this. The paper has consequently
provided a draft proposal for CPD policy in
Nigeria which can be further worked on by
relevant NSE committee, or one created for that
purpose, to produce effective CPD policy in
engineering practice in Nigeria.
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Having concluded that there are no effective CPD
guidelines in engineering practice in Nigeria and
that there is a very urgent need for one, the
following recommendations are hereby put
forward 1. The amendment of the COREN Act to
incorporate CPD policies for engineers in
Nigeria, and alternatively and in the meantime,
the making of regulations for this purpose by the
Council of COREN in line with the powers under
Section 1(1)(d) of the Act.
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2. The setting up of a special committee by the
NSE to prepare a draft CPD policy for engineering
profession in Nigeria and which will be
incorporated into the amendment of COREN Act, or
in the interim, into CPD regulations to be made
by the Council of COREN. 3. COREN and NSE to
liaise with various government ministries,
departments and agencies to implement a policy of
always including training components in all
project budgets and estimates and for this to be
used for continuing professional development for
the engineers that would handle the projects at
various levels.
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4. Consulting firms as knowledge sectors should
be persuaded by the NSE to appreciate the need
for the continuing training of their staff and
principals and which will bring credibility to
their practices. However, compliance with CPD
should be an important criterion in the renewal
of practice license of engineering consulting
firms. 5. CPD factors should be incorporated into
the prequalification of contractors for
engineering projects in Nigeria by the
government. In other words, a special and
reasonable score should be allocated to
compliance with CPD. Otherwise these firms,
particularly the foreign ones, will not concern
themselves with the training of Nigerian
engineers. 6. Finally, NSE should carry out an
enlightenment campaign among Nigerian engineers
on the importance and benefits of CPD
particularly to the individual engineers.
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ENDNOTES (1) Ernest T. Smerdon, Lifelong
Learning for Engineers Riding the Whirlwind,
The Bridge, Vol. 26, Nov. 12, 1996. (2) Board of
Engineers Malaysia, Continuing Professional
Development Policy for Professional Engineers
Rev. No. 02, 23 12 2004. (3) UK Architects Act,
1972 (4) International Pharmaceutical Federation,
Statement of Professional Standard - Continuing
Professional Development, Dec., 2005 (5) Tony
Killeen, Address at the CPD Symposium 2006,
Engineers Ireland, at Burlington Hotel, 30th
May, 2006. (6) The Institute of Field
Archaeologists, Scheme for Continuing
Professional Development, 2006. p.
2. (7) Engineers (Registration, etc) Act, Cap
E11, LFN 200 (8) Supra (9) CPD Regulation No. 02
of 2004