The Kwara State Governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed has identified lack of maintenance culture as a major bane of Nigeria's growth and development, just as he called on the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to explore modalities for the development of middle level manpower that could derive infrastructural development in the country.

Governor Ahmed, who was speaking when a delegation of the leadership of the NSE paid him a courtesy visit on Monday, noted that "the country, in spite of its abundant high level manpower and material resources, groans under the yolk of unacceptable infrastructure decay. This is because we are yet to understand the imperative of maintenance culture as an integral part of development".

According to Dr. Ahmed, the Kwara State Government established an International Vocational Centre at Ajasse - Ipo to train high quality manpower based on internationally recognized curricular, adding that the Vocational Centre was strategically planned for its products to be international market friendly. He decried the scenario where the polytechnics that were supposed to train technical manpower shifted focus to humanities related courses.

Governor Ahmed who charged the Nigerian Society of Engineer to work for the institutionalization of maintenance culture in the country for the sustenance of the life span of infrastructure, noted that poor maintenance of infrastructure had made it difficult for Nigeria to develop and grow as a nation, adding that maintenance culture has become a bigger challenge, especially for Engineers who are critical to the development and sustenance of infrastructure in the country.

The President of the NSE, Engineer Mustafa Shehu in his remarks, said more than 3000 Engineers would gather in the State for the annual conference and award ceremony.