By Jimitota Onoyume
PORT HARCOURT — NIGERIA and other member countries of  Ecomonic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, have been advised to embrace reverse engineering and adaptive technology to enable them become one of the technologically advanced sub-regions in the world.
Minister of  Science and Technology, Prof.  Mohammed Ka ‘Oje, who spoke at the first ECOWAS welding conference in the country, said countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, India, among others, listed as technologically advanced went through this process.

Noting that technology unites and builds nations faster than any other thing, he said the sub-region should kick start the process with welding.

He said: “I urge you, from various countries of the region, to explore this option of adaptive technology to move our sub-region forward. Nothing unites like technology, nothing builds like technology and no nation industrialises without technology.

So ECOWAS should begin to think technologically and certainly, welding can be the catalyst that paves the way.”

The Minister said his Ministry would partner with the Nigerian Institute of Welding, organisers of the conference and other allied bodies in the realisation of the vision.

Earlier, the President of Nigerian Institute of Welding, Mr. Solomon Iyobosa, urged governments in the sub-region to give adequate attention to welding education.

According to him, most schools in the region offer only Diploma in welding engineering and in some cases treated it as a course in mechanical engineering, a situation he said was not proper.

While calling for welding engineering to be offered at degree levels, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Welding further stressed the urgent need to overhaul the welding curricula for  technical schools and colleges so that the su-region could produce excellent artisans and craftsmen that canhold theirs anywhere in the world.

Nigerian Institute of Welding which is a member of the International Institute of Welding, he said, was already in partnership with several institutions in the country to close up the wide gulf in the wedding sector.

According to Mr. Iyobosa, theECOWAS sub-region would need about forty thousand competent welders while Africa would require two hundred thousand before the year 2020.

He said for this to be achieved effort should be made by governments of the various member states of ECOWAS to show commitment to skill development.