NSE Threatens Industrial Action Over Killing, Abduction Of Members

Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has threatened to embark on industrial action over the killing and abduction of its members.

The society urged the Nigerian government to wade into the matter by directing the Inspector General of Police to carry out a special investigation into the ugly development.

President of the society, Engr Tasiu Wudil, made the disclosure yesterday while addressing journalists during a press briefing at its headquarters in Abuja, the president said six engineers have been brutally murdered by unknown gunmen in two years for no just cause.

The president who recalled the killing of five members who were on a supervisory visit to the one hundred and fifty million dollars Abakaliki Ring Road project, funded by the African Development Bank in 2021, added that another executive committee member, who is supervising a project site in Ebonyi is been threatened for no reason.

Wudil stated that the recent murder of the society vice chairman in Enugu, Donatus Udeh was painful, stressing that the society will no longer condone such actions on its members.

“The National Secretariat of the Nigerian Society of Engineers has been inundated with reports of abduction and vicious killings of our members from different parts of the country, especially in the South-East region.

“The most recent of such cases is the report of the killing of Engr. Donatus Ofobuikem Udeh, MNSE. He was reported to have been abducted on Saturday, April 22, 2023 in Enugu, and the security authorities were immediately alerted. Three days later, his mutilated, lifeless body and vehicle were found at different locations within 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, Enugu on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.

“Previously, in a similar brutal manner, five engineers were abducted on their way to inspect a project site in Ebonyi State on November 3, 2021. The victims – Engr. Nelson Onyemeh, Engr. Earnest Edeani, Engr. Ikechukwu Ejiofor, Engr. Samuel Aneke and Engr. Stanley Nwazulum – were abducted and until this moment, the Police has not unraveled the seeming mystery behind the disappearance of the hardworking professionals,” he stated.

He appealed to president Muhammadu Buhari, to order an immediate investigation into the killings, identify the killers and let them face the wrath of the law.

He further said that if nothing was done before the end of the current administration, they will have no option than to embark on industrial action.

“We ask that he (President Buhari) specifically directs the Inspector General of Police to carry out a special investigation on the abduction and killing of Engr. Donatus Ofobuikem Udeh, MNSE in Enugu, and to also re-open the case of the five Engineers of NELAN Engineering Consulting Limited which happened in Ebonyi State in 2021.

“Furthermore, I hereby declare that if no action is done or seen to be done as here demanded, I shall, by the powers vested on me as president and chairman-in-council of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, and by the common will of all Nigerian Engineers, initiate an industrial action to protest the insensitivity of government to the plight of Nigerian Engineers and their families, “he stated.