Nigeria loses $10 billion annually to welding expatriates, NIW reveals
The President of the Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW), Mr. Solomon Edebiri in January 2019 lamented in an interaction with journalists that Nigeria loses over $10 billion annually to expats who have colonized the welding and engineering sector from local professionals.
“We lose over $10 billion annually in capital flight,” he said. “When you bring these expatriates into the country, what do they do? You pay them in dollars to their home countries, you pay them in naira for their local consumption.
“The money they take is like twenty times what the Nigerians will take to do the job. So, why don’t we build capacity here and let the people who are in Nigeria take charge of the job? That is what we are saying. If government does not step in, we will have a problem.
“The capability and capacity of welding in this country is low to the extent that we still bring people into the country from Philippine, from China, from India, Brazil and all over Europe to come and weld in Nigeria.
“Welding engineers are not recognized in Nigeria. So, at the end of the day, we need a serious government intervention, to develop capability and develop capacity of the sector. Now, that is the only reason why we can take charge of our welding activities, and our industry can completely be localised.”
He demanded immediate government intervention, adding that such intervention should be quick considering how 80 percent of everything in our environment is made of steel.
With an unemployment rate of 23.1% as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria remains a country with one of the highest unemployed persons globally. Certainly, many private institutes have taken the mantle to tackle this problem and empower the local community, including and especially Gabson Professional School of Safety and Engineering.
At Gabson Professional School of Safety and Engineering, we offer fully certified courses on welding, after which students can break into the industry and achieve massive levels of success in the sector. Why wait for our government to take action when we can take action ourselves?
Enrol for our courses today, and we assure you that not only will you be respected in the industry, you’ll also contribute to saving and empowering the local community of professional welding engineers. We’re waiting for you!
News Source: Legit.ng