The NSChE/FCT/Nasarawa Chapter of the Nigerian Society of Engineers celebrated Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua for his pioneering efforts in Nigeria’s engineering sector, as he turned 76 years old. The award was included in the first Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua Public Lecture held in Abuja, on the subject: “Artificial Intelligence as a Catalyst for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Productivity in the Digital Age.”
He was most renowned for his technical contribution to the establishment of Nigeria’s oil and gas and refining industry. Yar’Adua was respected for his technical distinction, mentoring heritage, and steadfast dedication towards enhancing indigenous engineering capability.
Event Chairman Alhaji Ibrahim Abbo, who was a former NNPC Group Executive Director, called Yar’Adua a peerless engineer, scholar, and philanthropist who built systems and people. “He changed the perception of Nigerian engineers and shunned blind adherence to foreign contractors,” Abbo continued. Taking into account the larger problems of Nigeria, Abbo lamented the vacuum in leadership in the country, warning, “Our tragedy is the failure to pass the baton of development.”.
From Katsina State, Yar’Adua began his engineering career in 1977 at the Kaduna Refinery and rose to become a Group Executive Director in the NNPC. Addressing the students during the ceremony, he spoke of the importance of diligence, curiosity, and integrity, and urged would-be engineers to prioritize national unity and ethical leadership.
Respect your teachers, question them, and never quit. Nigeria possesses all the potential needed to succeed what we don’t have is the right leadership,” he continued.
In the keynote lecture, Engr. Makama Baba Abdullahi dwelled on the potential and danger of artificial intelligence, cautioning against its unstructured use in an economically not-so-prepared nation like Nigeria. His current/former boss at NNPC, GMD Engr. Andrew Yakubu, testifying from Zoom, eulogized Yar’Adua as a visionary who built ladders for others and added to the engineering future of Nigeria.
The occasion was a celebration not merely of one person, but a legacy that is continuing to influence generations of Nigerian engineers and the industrial future of Nigeria.
