The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has urged the federal government to accord local engineers more recognition and support their passion, industry and resilience.

The managing director of NRC, Kayode Opeifa, made the call according to a statement on Friday in Lagos.

He made the call while receiving the executives  of the Nigeria Society of Engineers led by Margaret Oguntala in his office.

According to Mr Opeifa, if the federal government can invest more in local engineers, the country will save billions of dollars.

Citing an with the NRC, Mr Opeifa said the corporation’s local engineers had continued to save the country huge foreign exchange as they continued to improvise in keeping the corporation’s rolling stocks moving.

“The NRC is blessed with the very best of our local engineers.

“They have a good work ethic, and despite the absence of some necessary work tools, they have continued to demonstrate capacity and show that they can build rail tracks, fix locomotive engines and do much more.

“Our female engineers are very passionate and compete with their male counterparts  to contribute to the smooth operations of the railway,” he said.

He said that from the train attack in Kaduna to the recent train incident at Asham, NRC engineers prevented the government from awarding any contract to re-rail, recover and evacuate NRC trains.

He said that beyond collecting materials from supplies, the engineers  – civil, mechanical, electrical, signals and telecommunications -had sustained NRC operations through their ingenuity.

Mr Opeifa urged the NSE to continue to draw the attention of  governments to funding gaps and the need to support local engineers since its members had continued to prove their mettle in national development.

Mr Opeifa said he was confident that, given the necessary support, Nigerian engineers would rank among the best in the world.

He added that with the amendment to the corporation’s law; which had removed railway from the exclusive to the concurrent list, NRC engineers would be in high demand.

Earlier, Mrs Oguntala, the 34th president and first female president of the NSE, applauded Mr Opeifa for transforming railway transport.

She said that Mr Opeifa re-awakened consciousness of work ethics with focus on ensuring value for money, which resulted in effective and efficient service delivery.

“Your commitment to enhancing transparency in railway administration is noteworthy, and we applaud this effort.

“This direction inspires confidence and aligns closely with our shared aspirations for a better and more accountable Nigeria,” she said.

Mrs Oguntala invited Mr Opeifa to the society’s 2025 International Engineering Conference, Exhibition and Annual General Meeting with the theme: “Engineering Innovation for a Sustainable Blue Economy”.

She said that the event would take place from December 1 to December 5 in Ibadan.

 (NAN)