This Presentation x-rays the Nigerian 2016 Economic Recession from an Engineers prespective and profers plausible solutions

1. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Engineers in a Recession Economy:
Challenges and Remedies
Presented by
Engr. Emeka B. Ibeh, MNSE MNICE M.ASCE
December 2016
Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers
Lagos Chapter

2. NICE: Lagos Chapter
INTRODUCTION
Genesis of the Nigerian Recession.
Impact on the Engineering Ecosystem
Remedial Measures
Conclusion
Strategy for 2017
OUTLINE

3. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Introduction
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have officially
declared that Nigeria is in Economic Recession
and may not regain stability anytime soon. The
reality of this recession affects all strata of the
Nations productive workforce including
Engineering personnel. It is our intention to X-Ray
the issues fueling the recession problem and
recommend viable solutions.

4. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Problem Definition
• RECESSION: a period of temporary economic decline
during which trade and industrial activity are reduced,
generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive
quarters.
• ECONOMY: The state of a country or region in terms of
the production and consumption of goods and services
and the supply of Money.
REMEDIES: Solutions to an undesirable situation.
ENGINEERS: Those who develop economic and safe
solutions to practical problems by applying math, science
and ingenuity.

5. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Genesis of the Nigerian Economic
Recession
• Inability of the Productive Sector to access
FOREX
• Over-dependence on Oil(poor diversification)
• High inflation rate
• Poor Economic planing and Policy conflicts
• High Interest Rates
• High level of Unemployment

6. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Genesis of the Nigerian Economic
Recession
• Poor Economic Planning and policy
conflicts collude with high interest rates
to erode investor confidence leading to a
winding down of the productive sector
and the resultant scarcity of foreign
exchange presently gripping the Nigerian
Economy.
• A stagnating productive sector fuels the
country’s unemployment problem as
company’s seek measures to cut
overhead costs.

7. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Impact on the Engineering Ecosystem
• Increased unemployment for both practicing
and graduate Engineers.
• Credit Crunch: Banks are unwilling/Unable for
fund Large long term Engineering Projects.
• Reduced Interest in study of Engineering in
Higher Institutions: due to perceived scarce
employment opportunities

8. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Impact on the Engineering Ecosystem:
Retrenchment
Reduce fixed costs,
Narrow product offerings
Reduce staffing
Trim expenditure such as Training,
Marketing and RandD
Companies seem to be applying a retrenchment
approach to business strategy which aim to:

9. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Impact on the Engineering Ecosystem:
Resilient Sectors
Building Engineering firms,
Project Management firms,
Costing Engineering (QS) firms.
In the case of Multidisciplinary firms, the likelihood is
that the spread of activity across many construction
sectors provide better resilience to the current recession
when compared with specialist firms; these are:

10. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures
• Effective Business Strategy
• Attraction of FDI’S
• Effective Spending
• Reduction in Tax rates
• Enhanced Access To Credit
• Economic Stabilization Emergency Bill (ESEB)
• Engineering Innovation

11. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures: Effective
Business Strategy
• Retrenchment(Most Common)
Cutting operating costs
Divestment of non-core assets, closure of plants, reduction
in employment
• Investment
Expenditure in advantageous innovation
Market diversification
• Ambidextrous
A combination of Retrenchment and Investment Strategy

12. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures:Attraction of
FDI’S
• Brownfield FDI’S: Investment (in
Dollars) into existing public assets.
• Greenfield FDI’S : Investment in form
of PPP into new public infrastructure.
• Diaspora FDI’S: Investment in
infrastructural development by
Nigerian In Diaspora.
• All FDI sources require government to
create the enabling environment to
nurture and maintain investor
confidence.

13. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures: Attraction of FDI’S
“The MELES WAY”
• Meles Zenawi(prime minister 1995 to
2012) structured Ethiopian Economy
effectively to achieve a GDP above
10%; some benefits include:
• Revenue yield from coffee rose from
10% to 70% of international value
• Attracted FDI from Nigeria via Dangote
Cement using electricity guarantee of
N15/kwh resulting in 60% drop in
Ethiopian Cement Cost.

14. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures: ESEB
•
Proposed Bill to accelerate recession
recovery
Shall seek to create a coherent
investment climate
Structured to favour the public
procurement act
Economic Stabilization Emergency Bill

15. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Remedial Measures: Engineering
Innovation
• Government must actively pursue skill
acquisition by its citizenry at all levels
• The Engineering community should
make greater effort to enshrine the
innovation culture amongst its
membership.
• Engineering graduates should be
equipped with marketable skills to
arrest the increasing rate of
unemployment amongst this cadre of
Engineering Community
• Agricultural Skills acquisition should be
made free as a matter of policy

16. NICE: Lagos Chapter
Conclusion
• For Nigeria to resolve the present economic recession
Government must create a coherent investment
environment to attract FDI’S as successfully applied by
developing countries such as Ethiopia
• The Engineering Community must give Engineering
innovation its pride of place as an indispensable catalyst
to economic diversification and progress
• Engineering Companies must adopt the most effective
business strategy to ensure survival during this economic
recession.

17. NICE: Lagos Chapter

18. NICE: Lagos Chapter
1. Agriculture is the way to go for Engineers in
2017 and integrated (Zero Waste) method is best.
2. Engineers interested in forming must build in
the potential end users directly into the business model
as reliance on middle men is the best recipe for failure
3. Engineer must learn to come together into
effective partnerships.
4. Agriculture should be left to Agricultural Engineers while Civil
Engineers should remain in their profession as the opportunities
Within it a limitless.
5.The Qualities of Engineering Graduates from the countries
higher institution has to be improves to make them relevant
to their chosen profession.
Strategy for 2017:
Audience Comments

19. NICE: Lagos Chapter
6. Engineer should acquire soft skills like marketing,
Sales seek effective means of advertising their acquired
skills.
7. NSE, NICE should fashion out effective engineering
Skills acquisition programs.
8. Infrastructural development is indispensable to
The country’s drive to come out of economic
Recession as only functional infrastructure can
Drive economic growth.
9. Civil Engineers must pursue continuous professional
Development (CPD) to remain both locally and
Internationally competent.
10.The country is in economic recession partly because
The Local Engineers are not effective in infrastructure
delivery.
Strategy for 2017:
Audience Comments

20. NICE: Lagos Chapter
References
1. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 2016. “Steering The
Nigerian Economy out of Recession”.
2. Construction Industry Council, UK. 2009. “The Impact of the Recession
on Construction Professional Services”.
3. Glynn Lowth, Malcolm Prowle, Michael Zhang. 2010.“The impact of
economic recession on business strategy planning in UK
companies”
4. The Royal Academy of Engineering. 2015. “Engineering for a successful
nation”.
5. http://www.werbos.com/E/How_to_Avoid_Depression.pdf. “How to
Avoid A Second, Deeper Recession: An Engineering Approach”.
6. Wikipedia online encyclopedia. 2016. “http://en.wikipedia.org”
7. Google Definition. 2016. “http://www.google.com.ng”
8. http://educacinfo.com/economic-recession-nigeria. 2016. Economic
Recession in Nigeria: Causes and Solutions