Emike Ntiokiet, Head of Sales and Marketing at Metrospeed Group, has challenged Civil Engineering students from Yaba College of Technology to think beyond the industry's status quo, arguing that Lagos's expanding population and mounting housing deficit demand a fundamentally different approach to development.
She made the statement during a visit by YABATECH students to the Metro Smart City Project site, a 97 hectare lagoon front development in Lekki, Lagos State, organised by Metrospeed as part of efforts to ensure that Nigeria's budding engineers gain practical exposure to the realities of their profession.
"In the near future, it's not going to be enough to just have a structure. What will stand out are your infrastructures, not just the beautiful houses anymore. So that's why we are very big on this," Ntiokiet stated.
She framed the visit as an expression of Metrospeed's broader commitment to nurturing talent, pledging that the company would continue to open its doors to engineering students and young graduates eager to contribute to Nigeria's built environment.
"Metrospeed is big on capacity building, and it is part of the ways to give back to society, especially to engineering students," she added.
Dr Omolola Adetona, Geotechnical Engineering lecturer and Chief Executive Officer of the Engineering Resource Academy, organised the excursion to give the students firsthand experience of large scale construction projects and enable them to relate theories learned in class to real world engineering practice.
"Over the years, we've discovered that young engineers are not living up to expectations as compared with the sustainability of our profession. There is a need to expose them to the environment. They need to see that civil engineering is going far. Studying engineering is not just sitting in the class and writing on the board; they need to see what the Y and the X they're learning is turning out to be in the environment," Dr Adetona stated at the Lekki head office of Metrospeed Group before students were taken to the project site.
Engineer Abdulhameed Salahudeen reinforced the message at the project site, making the case for more frequent industry exposure among engineering undergraduates and recommending project site visits at least three times per semester.
During the visit to the expansive development, the students experienced firsthand the practical side of engineering beyond the walls of their classrooms and the pages of their textbooks.
