Omo Ettu Charges Engineers to Proffer Solutions to Post-Pandemic

Engineer Titi Omo-Ettu has tasked fellow engineers on taking up the challenge towards designing solutions for post-pandemic in Nigeria.

Omo-Ettu made this disclosure at a zoom meeting organized by Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEE) to address how engineering can help salvage lost grounds after the pandemic period.

According to him, the impact of COVID 19 on Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.

As a result, Omo-Ettu charged engineers in Nigeria to see they contribute their quota by designing solutions to problems that will arise during the post pandemic era.

On the balance, he suggested that Engineers are guided by prevention, detection and protection solution bases to make their solutions relevant and sustainable.

In his words, “For me the responsibility of the engineer is to solve human problems using the knowledge, laws, and resources of science and technology.

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“COVID-19 is one problem that caught the whole world unawares and unprepared. Engineers across the world were not also left out.” he noted.

Further more, Omo-Ettu addressed that many engineers and engineering schools have engaged in designing solutions to problems that came directly on the heels of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

“As we speak, the four most common solutions that have been presented are hand washing and sanitizer dispensers, face shields, IR thermometers and ventilators. I say this with authority, and as a strong player in the Nigerian Academy of engineering which is now mobilising such efforts across the country for rapid production.

Omo-Ettu stressed that while those efforts are relevant to address immediate problems, his real concern is the need to prescribe solutions to problems that will arise after the pandemic might have hopefully subsided or contained to safe levels.

“In other words, I want to do a forecast of the imminent condition and status of the economy at the end of the pandemic and what solutions engineers will need to provide to keep the economy relevant and sustainable.

“My take is that engineers should put their minds to designing solutions for post-pandemic Nigeria while the ongoing efforts to solve immediate problems are not ignored.

Omo-Ettu cited respiratory equipment,  personal protection equipment, early detection technologies, environmental infection control  and  personal hygiene engineering as the interest areas that engineers need to focus on.

Speaking on the sustainability of his prescription, Omo-Ettu said, “with what we’ve seen already, from the pandemic experience, there are reasonable grounds to forecast that Nigerians consumption pattern will shift to needs rather than wants.