Roles of engineering professional bodies in Nigeria 

Professional organizations and associations provide a wide range of resources for planning and navigating a career in engineering profession. These groups can play a key role in member’s development and keep them abreast of happenings in the industry. They equally promote the interests of their members and provide a network of contacts that can help them find jobs and move their career forward. 

They can offer a variety of services including job referral services, continuing education courses, insurance, travel benefits, periodicals, meeting and conference opportunities.   

The Nigerian society of engineers (NSE)

The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) is the national umbrella organization for the Engineering Profession in Nigeria. It was founded in 1958 with the objective to promote the advancement of engineering education, research and practice in all its ramifications. This is with a view to maintaining and enhancing the professional capabilities of its members so as to better equip them to fulfil the needs of the profession for the good of the public and the nation. 

Membership of the Society is open to all those who possess qualifications that are acceptable to the Council of the Society and registrable by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). There are seven grades of membership namely Honorary Fellow, Fellow, Corporate Members, Associate, Graduate, Student and Corporate Firm. The highest policy making body in the Society is the Council which is elected by Corporate Members and headed by the PRESIDENT. The Society operates a Secretariat, currently housed at the National Engineering Centre, Lagos. A full time Executive Secretary heads the Secretariat. Overall Co-ordination of the Society's activities is carried out from the Secretariat. 

The council for the regulation of engineering in Nigeria (COREN) 

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is not a society but a regulatory body established under the Federal Government of Nigeria Decree No. 55 of 1970 and amended by Decree No. 27 of 1992, to control and regulate the practice of the engineering profession in Nigeria. 

The primary responsibility of this body is to determine who can be engineers through the screening of academic qualifications; evaluation of practical experience and performance in a written examination and/or oral interview. Those found suitable are admitted as engineers and their particulars included in the Register of Engineers, which is a register that contains the names of all persons who have been considered by the Council as satisfying the requirements for registration as professional engineers. 

To be qualified for registration as an Engineer by COREN, a candidate must have attended an approved course of training in any of the branches of Engineering in an approved Institution within or/and outside Nigeria at the end of which the candidate has been successful and is awarded a certificate or degree recognized by the Council. Candidates intending to be registered as Engineers obtain relevant application forms from the Council which when duly completed are returned along with a Postgraduate engineering experience report of the candidate. Such candidates may be required to sit for an examination and an interview the successful outcome of which would determine their registration. 

As the regulatory body for engineering practice in Nigeria, it is an offence for an individual who is not registered with this Council to address himself as an Engineer, hold an engineering position in any establishment or supervise the execution of engineering projects.