The duo argued that Nigeria must prioritise public safety by holding engineers accountable for negligence and unethical conduct.
They spoke at the 34th Engineering Assembly of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), where they were represented by the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, and Dangote Group Chief Economist, Professor Hassan Mahmoud, respectively.
They stated that engineering failures should no longer be treated with weak oversight or reactive regulation.
Delivering his keynote address, Tinubu said Nigeria must shift from a regulatory system that reacts after disasters occur to one that prevents failures through effective oversight, enforcement and accountability.
“The responsibility before us is therefore clear. Nigeria must move from engineering regulation that is mostly reactive to engineering regulation that is preventive, data-driven, enforceable and trusted by the public,” the President said.
Tinubu described COREN as
not simply a professional register but a public safety institution, arguing that engineering regulation should primarily protect lives and national assets rather than merely administer professional registration.
He said: “Regulation should not be seen as punishment. Regulation is protection. It protects the public from incompetence. It protects clients from poor delivery. It protects the government from waste. It protects good engineers from being undercut. It protects investors from failed infrastructure. Most importantly, it protects lives.”
The President said every stage of infrastructure delivery from planning and design to procurement, construction, supervision, maintenance and eventual decommissioning must be guided by competence, integrity and public safety.
He warned that engineering failures carry enormous consequences.
“When engineering succeeds, society moves safely. When engineering fails, lives are lost, investments are wasted, public confidence is damaged, and national development is delayed. Therefore, public safety must remain the first principle of engineering practice”, he said.
Tinubu further argued that effective regulation cannot exist without enforcement, while enforcement without appropriate penalties would fail to deter misconduct.
“Engineering is the backbone of national development. But engineering without regulation is risky. Regulation without enforcement is weak. Enforcement without sanction is ineffective. Sanctions without fairness are unjust.
“Therefore, what Nigeria needs is a balanced system, strong regulation, fair enforcement and proportionate sanctions”, Tinubu warned.
He stated that roads being executed under the current administration are designed to last between 50 and 100 years.
Speaking, Dangote, who also
endorsed stronger disciplinary measures for professional misconduct, said such sanctions should be fair, transparent and proportionate to the gravity of offences.
He noted that engineering regulation should evolve beyond merely responding to failures.
According to him, effective regulation must recognise varying degrees of professional misconduct.
“There is a clear distinction between an administrative oversight, professional negligence, gross misconduct or deliberate actions. Justice and effective regulation require that these different circumstances be treated differently”, Dangote said.
He said suspension of professional licences may become necessary in cases involving reckless conduct, noting that such practices are already established in advanced jurisdictions.
“Regulation may require licence suspension, particularly where reckless conduct is involved. This is already reflected in many advanced jurisdictions. The objective is not simply to punish. The objective is to improve professional conduct”, he said.
He, however, cautioned against attributing every engineering failure solely to individual professionals, pointing to broader systemic challenges.
He stated that disciplinary actions must inspire confidence in the regulatory system.
“An effective sanction must always be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the risks posed to public safety. Enforcement must be transparent, objective and consistent, irrespective of status, influence or institutional affiliation.
“The framework should encourage corrective action. There should be zero tolerance for repeated offenders whose actions endanger lives and compromise national infrastructure”, Dangote said.
Earlier in his address, the President of COREN, Professor Sadiq Abubakar, had listed the achievements recorded by COREN to include the reintroduction of a mandatory one-year residency/ERP for engineering graduates, new digital verification and nationwide compliance inspections, creation of regional and sectoral enforcement structures, training and certification of hundreds of investigators/evaluators, and steps toward international accreditation alignment.
He warned that unregistered practitioners, enforcement gaps, funding limits, and evolving technological and climate risks threaten progress and require stronger risk-based, proactive regulation and sustainable funding.
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