This is the story of Bayero Mohammed Tukur, the person who broke the 20-year-old jinx in Ahmadu Bello University, ABU Zaria, to graduate with first class degree in Engineering.
The Civil Engineering graduate shared his story with Daily Trust Newspaper in an interview recently.
Excerpts;
What was your major field of study?
I graduated from the Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. You may wish to call me a water engineer, a hydraulic engineer or an environmental engineer. Above all, you may wish to call me a civil engineer, because they are all one and the same thing. But I wish to quickly note that we can be said to have majored in everything in the department. It is the system here where you have to read everything.
How do you feel, graduating with a first class degree?
I give thanks and glory to Almighty Allah. We are two first class graduates in the Faculty of Engineering. I emerged first and the other person emerged second. For the past 20 years before us, there hadn’t been any first class graduate. So, when we came for the orientation immediately after our admission, we took it up as a challenge, and we kept on praying to Allah. Today, our fervent prayers came to fruition. Today, by the grace of Almighty Allah, two of us have caused to happen what did not happen in 20 years.
Per-chance you proceed for higher degrees or any professional training, what would you like to specialise in?
I would like to specialise in environmental engineering as my major field because of the ever-changing climate globally now. I am really interested in this phenomenon, and I would like to make my contributions to humanity in that aspect.
Is it, therefore, right to say that you were driven by challenges bordering on the practice of engineering in the Nigerian society to venture into what you have just graduated in?
My father, who died while I was in my 100 level, may his soul rest in peace, was also a civil engineer. I have nine elder brothers. None of them saw engineering as a field they could venture into. They have never seen it as a challenge.
I took it up as a challenge. I wanted to take after my father. Secondly, I am not happy with the way Nigerians are treating engineers. When an engineering project is to be contracted out to an engineer, it is seldom contracted to a Nigerian engineer. Project executors prefer engaging, say, Egyptian engineers, and even Nigerien engineers, condemning the huge population of Nigerian engineers to frustrating joblessness.
We have over 40, 000 graduate engineers that are not even working, let alone practicing engineering. A key aspect of my reason for taking up the challenge is, I believe, engineering is more delicate than medicine. When an engineer makes a mistake, he kills millions; but when a medical doctor makes a mistake, it is only a soul that is going, and this is a fact everyone knows.
How would you assess the quality of structures designed by engineers in the Nigerian society?
I regret to say such designs have not been in good hands. You see, I have always believed that graduates of engineering have the talent to make a good difference, but the Nigerian society is not giving us the opportunity to explore our talents.
Collapse of buildings is rampant now in Nigeria. What do you observe as responsible for this situation?
Buildings collapse when preliminary surveys are not done. There should also be environmental impact assessment, which will show you how far your structure can last, and what are the economic implications it will lead to, good or bad. For example, if you are constructing a dam, you have to consider all aspects in its design, and their possible economic implications, to forestall flood displacing large populations and destroying hundreds of farmlands. Studies are not being done properly.
At the beginning, when a building collapses, the engineer is at fault, because his design is faulty. The builder just builds on what the engineer designs. Yet, I cannot say it is wholly the fault of the engineer, because he may do the proper thing in terms of the design, but someone else fails to do so, on his own part. I am saying that generally, it is a collective responsibility.
