The proprietor of Natural Eco Capital and executive director of the Africa Green Economy and Sustainability Institute (AGESI), Eugene Itua, has unveiled a new framework to reposition engineering from output-driven to outcome-based profession.

Mr Itua unveiled the initiative on Friday during the monthly general meeting of the Ibeju-Lekki branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

In his address tagged ‘Engineering beyond function’, AGESI’s executive director questioned the long-held C³ mode of thinking in the engineering sector.

The director noted that such a modular mindset is inadequate for a country like Nigeria, currently grappling with a housing deficit of about 20 million and trillions of annual losses due to infrastructure decay.

Recommending what he termed ‘FIPRE Framework’, Mr Itua urged engineers to evolve from being task executors to architects of a resilient and climate-ready country.

“Function is merely the starting point, not the finish line. Every challenge Nigeria faces today is, at its core, an engineering challenge. We must evolve from executors of tasks to economic architects of a resilient, climate-ready nation,” Mr Itua stated.

He introduced a new engineering doctrine, identified as “Function (technical excellence and operational reliability); Impact (Social and environmental value creation, aligned with the global ESG market now exceeding $35 trillion); Profit (lifecycle cost reduction and bankability, supported by the FIPRE Scorecard); Resilience (climate-ready design capable of withstanding 50-year ‘Black Swan’ events), and Equity (distributional justice and inclusive development” as a new business model for national prosperity. 

At the meeting, 40 participating professionals rejected the notion that “function-only” engineering is sufficient for Nigeria’s future, while 73 per cent of the attendees expressed willingness to obtain a formal FIPRE Certification.

Mr Itua called on the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to institutionalise the framework. 

He noted that the country’s transformation must be engineered by Nigerians, who are equipped with “the right tools, the right mindset, and the right governance standards.”