Engr. Babagana Mohammed is the 32nd President of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) . Until his current appointment, Mohammed was NSE’s deputy president and had held 22 positions in the last 13 years. Talking with Saturday Sun, he said that Nigerian Society of Engineers would start the production of locally made ventilators and also give free sanitizers and face masks, to alleviate the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. He also spoke about his memories growing up and lifestyle.
What measures has the NSE put in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19?
COVID-19 is real in Nigeria, there is no argument about it. This is a crisis period and all hands should be on deck. Tackling the pandemic is not only for health workers. Engineers also have a key role to play in this pandemic because ventilators are engineering equipment and are very expensive out there.
The facemasks we are using are not made in Nigeria, we can’t even produce it in Nigeria. As I am speaking, China, Germany, France, have stopped exporting their medical equipment but now limiting it only within their countries. Nigeria should learn from this. So, we must look inward now, this is the time for Nigerians to look inward in this crisis period. Most companies are already down and might not come up in the near future. Are we going to die? The answer is No. This is our country, we must pick up and move forward.
What assistance are you giving Nigerians during this COVID-19 crisis?
I have sent money to all the branches to go round the communities and give them money and food, especially the places we built boreholes. I mandated them to look out for something extra ordinary to be done in those communities. Giving them water alone is not enough. They need to feed, so providing foodstuffs for them is key.
How should the government look inward to grow the economy?
We all agree that COVID-19 is real and so many companies are going down; so many companies are folding up. I am calling on our engineers to go out and create jobs for themselves and others. We must create jobs for everybody. Aside creating jobs, we must look at how we could pump money into the economy.
Everything is not money, for instance, the time of producing aircraft, so many people died before the aim of the inventors was achieved. In Port Harcourt, houses were built inside water, about 200 meters inside deep water. Though the lives of many people were lost in the process but at last, it came to be. Every activity has the other side. We must be ready to face the other side, if not the future will be very bleak. Engineers are serving different aspects of the economy and the government must be ready to work with Nigerians. They must look at the capacity, that is how it works. And the law must be tied to what we are doing.
How do we do that?
Engineering is the key, we are going to lead in that direction. I have already looked at the post management of COVID-19 and have set up a statoscope. The world will never be the same again, and Nigeria cannot be an exception. We will be having a zoom meeting anywhere we are.
Can you explain that?
Zoom meeting is a meeting point where you need not take a plan to travel out. As such, you have reduced the stress of travelling by air to Abuja for a meeting. You could stage a meeting for two hours from the point where you are, it will only cost you a data of N500 or more for that meeting and the meeting can last for two hours.
Are there other innovations in place?
Yes, Ilaro Polytechnic, Lagos State Polytechnic, even in Bauchi and Jos, there are innovations going on . We are assembling so many innovations because I want to congregate them and ask those who have done similar things to break down the cost. We have five people who have done ventilators, and I have given them N50,000 instead of N100,000 . For future inventors, I will keep them in a hotel room where they will think better and do better ones at a lesser price not the same price obtainable in the market. I have also told them to make the one that will service five people. We are financing it because it is our contributions to Nigeria and humanity. We need to do anything we can do locally instead of spending millions of dollars. So why should we travel out to go and buy ventilators from abroad? We can produce ventilators locally; go to Aba, they can produce anything, but nobody has recognized them. Today, I am very proud of Nigerians producing facemasks locally instead of using the ones made from China.
In the near future, what are we doing to stop expatriates from coming into the industry?
There is something we call technical transfer, things we cannot do, does not stop us from inviting experts from outside. America was not built in one day, so also Nigeria cannot develop in one day. These are government policies, government must take responsibility.
COVID-19 has come and everything will not be the same again. We must look inward. The media also should look inward and partner together with other professions, to move our country forward.
What are factors affecting the engineering world?
I am a full blown Nigerian. I was brought up from one community school to another community school, I have never been to a nursery school, that is why I say I am a Nigerian. Back then, we had the privilege to touch machines, those mechines we were using then, are all obsolete today and they are not functioning any more.
So, what are engineering students using to learn now?
It tells us that we need new ones. As engineers we have a program, whereby we go to these polytechnics to refurbish them. We are going to six polytechnics and five universities in Nigeria to refurbish their old machines.
In the six geopolitical zones?
Yes, one polytechnic and one university each to refurbish their machines, so that all their dead mechanism will come back alive and work. So that our children will be happy that they have gone to school there.
How was life growing up?
I am from Maiduguri, Borno State. I attended the University of Maiduguri. In secondary school, I held many positions: prefect, head boy, House captain and also I represented my school in different games. I was the best student in agriculture and was given the governor’s prize for that. My father was very proud of me and he gave me a brown new N100 note.
Is Maiduguri your real hometown?
There is a controversy here, because I was born and brought up in Yobe, before the creation of the state, but my house is still in Maiduguri and my parents are still there.
How do you relax?
I relax in my house with my wife
Your favourite hobbies?
I am a very good footballer.
What will be your advice to Nigerians this period?
We must be our brothers’ keepers. Those who have should come out and assist those who do not have food, so that they will not feel the pain of starvation.