By Ben Eguzozie
Dozens of young engineers from the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) are set to hone their skills at Zeetin Engineering Company, a precision heavy engineering firm in the Idu Industrial area of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.
Azibaola Robert, entrepreneur and founder of Zeetin Engineering Limited, also charged the young engineers to take advantage of the company’s expertise and array of machines to improve their practical knowledge in engineering, thereby contributing to the much needed technological advancement and infrastructural development of Nigeria.
He particularly took members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Abuja branch, on a facility tour of Zeetin Engineering complex in the Idu Industrial Area of Abuja.
“Our engineers have learnt a lot in schools. Now, Zeetin is the right place for our young engineers to hone their skills; they can come here and practise what they have been taught in schools,” Azibaola, a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), said.
Azibaola Robert, founder Zeetin Engineering Limited, addressing the Abuja branch NSE engineers during their tour of Zeetin Engineering complex in Idu, Abuja
According to him, once the NSE young engineers come to Zeetin Engineering, they will be made to demonstrate their ability to design and carve metals into different shapes and sizes with Zeetin machines.
With its installed machines, of most modern technology, in its factory, Azibaola told the touring engineers about Zeetin’s ongoing plans to build capacities; and is open to collaboration in engineering with Nigerian engineers across the globe, as it continues to work with its technical partners to achieve all these.
“In Zeetin, we want to make as many spare parts as possible and ultimately, make car engines – both hydrocarbon-based and electric engines – and that will change the narrative that we are not just about automobile assembly. Some of the machines we have here are the same machines that are used abroad to do your jets,” Robert said.
The entrepreneur advised Nigerians to discourage the practice of sending faulty machines, equipment abroad for repairs, instead of patronising Nigerian firms such as Zeetin Engineering, to fix them.
“We should discourage the practice of quickly sending faulty machines, and equipment for repairs to Europe or to China or to India. Despite the challenges we are facing as a country, we in Zeetin Engineering want to change the narrative by making Zeetin the engineering hub for the design, fabrication and production of OEM spares for all sectors of engineering, automobile, aviation, etc, instead of having to go abroad to either buy or repair these things. This is because we have here in Zeetin the machines that our people go to patronise in other countries abroad.”
The NSE, Abuja branch members, believe Nigerian engineers should continue to advocate for changes and re-orientation of the way and manner the engineering profession and its practitioners are perceived by the government in the development of the country.
“The government must encourage local production for the country to develop. It’s about our ingenuity and our ability to function,” the NSE group said.
They also advocate for encouragement to get a lot of Nigerians to buy cars from the local industry, as this will engender the growth of several industries in the country.
For instance, as one company starts making engine blocks for cars; some other companies will engage in making bolts; yet another gets interested in making vehicle upholstery,” Ben-Osy Osita, chairman of the NSE Abuja branch, noted.
Zeetin Engineering is a tech and precision engineering company which focuses on all types of metal works, including high-end engineering spares production.
Osita informed the Zeetin chief executive of the Abuja NSE’s resolve to send its young engineers to be trained in Zeetin.
