Damola Awoyokun, one of TheNEWS columnists was, on 12 February 2016, inducted as a Chartered Engineer and Member of the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). The first Nigerian so recognised was Hebert Macaulay who was inducted on 5th December 1893. In this interview, published by the Institution, Awoyokun who grew up in Ibadan, educated at Wesley College of Science, Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria, explains why he loves Civil Engineerin and why he prefers it to any other field

What does passing the review mean to you?

Passing the review has made me at least nine times better than the design engineer I was prior to passing. The standard of qualification as chartered are scrupulously high. And this is good because it is better for the society and the profession to have 100 engineers out of whom 10 are chartered than to have 100 chartered engineers out of whom only 10 know what they are doing.

What was the hardest thing about becoming professionally qualified?

First, it is the 10,000 worded technical report I wrote on my design of buttress walls for structural openings in masonry viaducts at London Bridge Station redevelopment.

Second, the intense scrutiny on my review day. My senior reviewer is a fellow and retired civil engineer, one of those rare guards committed to heightening the standards of professional qualification. He questioned me on every equation, every idea, every sketch in my report, he asked me to demonstrate in details how I translate experience into sound professional judgment and vice-versa.

Like a Geotechnical specialist, he really ‘excavated’ me. At the end of the review even though I did not know whether I had passed or not, I went to the other side of the table to shake his hand for a job well done. On a deeper level, I saw he was not reviewing me only, he was actually passing on the generational torch of what it means to be a chartered engineer and a member of this great Institution. I grabbed that torch with both hands. It was an honour to be reviewed by him.

What made you become a civil engineer? And what would you say to school students who are considering a career in engineering?

When I was young, I was obsessed with mathematics, science, technology and the equations that make gadgets work. It was the dawn of computer revolution then and I wanted to be part of the revolution by studying computer engineering. But my father warned me that computers will change so rapidly that an authority in the field in a year will become inexperienced in the same field after five years. He taught me to get interested in designing things that will be needed by the society for generations yet to come. That is why I have come to prefer designing bridges, roads, railways, underwater tunnels, dams to designing the latest mobile phones.

I will advise school students that it is only in Civil Engineering that your outputs can be grade listed and preserved for future generations. The prestige of any society is the amount of civil engineering projects they have for current use and for future generations.

When I was young, I was obsessed with mathematics, science, technology and the equations that make gadgets work. It was the dawn of computer revolution then and I wanted to be part of the revolution by studying computer engineering. But my father warned me that computers will change so rapidly that an authority in the field in a year will become inexperienced in the same field after five years. He taught me to get interested in designing things that will be needed by the society for generations yet to come. That is why I have come to prefer designing bridges, roads, railways, underwater tunnels, dams to designing the latest mobile phones

What is your career highlight and why? (A significant project you have worked on for example)

It is working on the Redevelopment of London Bridge Station. The station embodies the far-sightedness and genius of the Victorian engineers. The station proved Oppenheimer right when he said geniuses see the answer before the question.

The reason for building the station on masonry viaducts in 1836 was the concern that vehicles do not have to stop at level crossings every time a train approached or departed London Bridge Station. What vehicles were the Victorians worried about in 1836? Horse-driven carts, sedan chairs, donkeys and some bicycles. There were no cars or lorries then. Imagine what traffic situation would look like today at London Bridge if there were no viaducts for the trains but only street level crossings? To redevelop and preserve a work of genius, you have to be up to the task. This is why the redevelopment is costing £1billion and it is the most expensive train station redevelopment Europe.

I am happy to be part of the team.