World Engineering Day

The University of Nairobi hosted the first ever UNESCO World Engineering Day in the country today. March 4, was set aside on Nov 29th 2019 during the 40th UNESCO general conference held at Melbourne Australia to celebrate World Engineering Day. The day brought together engineers from all fields as well as students from both secondary and tertiary institutions.  As much as the day was about celebrating engineers, it also created an opportunity to hold discussions around the role of engineering in achieving sustainable development as well as mentorship for budding engineers. The day started off with a walk around the city led by a band from the Kenya Police Service. The participants then wound up at the Chandaria Auditorium in the University of Nairobi towers. The MC of the day Eng. Tom congratulated the university on the milestones it had made especially new infrastructure and additional class spaces which was an issue during his school days.

In his opening speech, Prof, Eng. Madara Ogot who represented the Vice Chancellor emphasized on the need to absorb more engineers into the field. He noted that the financial sector in the country employs more engineers than engineering firms. He also noted the large number of graduate engineers yet there is a shortage of engineers in the country.  Prof. Madara also noted the low numbers of female engineers and encouraged them to mentor young girls to join Engineering and other stem courses.

Eng. Nathananiel Matalanga who is a member of the executive council of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) emphasized on the importance of engineering in solving the world’s problems as well as achieving sustainable development goals.

The chairman of Engineers board of Kenya Eng. Erastus Mwongera urged engineers to observe ethics and professionalism in their jobs. He scored on the importance of engineering in various sectors of the economy especially health where engineers are needed to provide support for medical equipment. Eng. Mwongera also emphasized on the role of engineering towards achieving the governments’ Big Four Agenda as well as vision 2030. He also said that the board would fast track the registration process and continue to engage with stake holders to improve service delivery.

The day ended with the various exhibitions and mentorship sessions to aspiring engineers.