What is COREN?
COREN is the council responsible for the Regulation of Engineering and its practice in Nigeria. This body was established by decree 55 of 1970 and amended by Decree 27 of 1992(now Acts 110), now known as the Engineers (Registration or Act) CAP E11 of 2004 Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This Act establishes COREN as a statutory body of the Federal Government empowered to regulate the practice of Engineering in Nigeria.
The council is charged with the following duties:
- Determining who are engineers for the purpose of this act
- Determining the standards of knowledge to be met with what and skills to be attained by those seeking to become registered as engineers
- Raising standards of practice from time to time as circumstances may permit
- Securing the establishment and maintenance of register of persons entitled to practise as Engineers and to publish this list from time to time
- Controlling and regulating the practice of the engineering profession
- Regulating and controlling the training of engineers in Nigeria
- To ensure and enforce the registration of all engineering personnel such as Engineers, Engineering Technicians, Engineering Technologists and Engineering Craftsmen) and consulting firms who wish to engage in the practice of engineering
- Performing the other functions conferred on the Council by its Act of establishment.
The decree specifies the abbreviation to be used by each cadre and each category which are:
- A registered Engineer will use the abbreviation ‘Engr’ before his name
- A registered Engineering Technologists will use the abbreviation ‘Engn. Tech’ after his name
- A registered Engineering Technician will use the abbreviation ‘Tech’ after his name
- A registered Engineering Craftsman will use his full title ‘Craftsman’ with his trade in bracket under his name
Engineering Personnel Registration and Guidelines
Requirements for Sole Ownership
- This business must be owned by a COREN registered engineer who must be up to date in the payment of his practicing fee
- The firm must be registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission with a certificate of registration
Documents required to be submitted include:
Corporate Affairs Form 2 (this is the form of application)
Brochure of the firm
CV of the owner
Payment of an appropriate processing fee
Corporate Affairs form CAC 101 (Annual Returns)
Completed COREN Application form
Requirements for Partnership
- A firm to be owned by two or more registered engineers must be up to date in the payment of their practicing fees
- The firm must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with evidence of a Certificate of incorporation
Documents for submission include:
- Corporate Affairs Commission Form 2 (this is the form of application for registration)
- CV of partners
- Payment of the appropriate processing fee
- Deed of partnership
- Corporate Affairs Form CAC 10 (Annual returns)
- Company Brochure
- Complete COREN firm Application form
Requirements for Limited Liability Firms/Companies
- Directors on the board who are registered Engineers must be shareholders of the firm and must hold at least 55%
- Registered engineers must be up to date in the payment of their practicing fees
- The firm must be registered with Corporate Affairs Commission with a Certificate of incorporation
Documents for submission are:
- Copy of Certificate of incorporation by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
- Certified true copy of memorandum and articles of Associate of firm
- Certified true copy of CAC form of C07
- Certified true copy of CAC form of CO2
- Copy of current tax clearance certificate
- Copy of VAT registration certificate
- Copy of PENCOM registration certificate
- Company’s profile/brochure of the firm
- Detailed CV of partners/Directors endorsed by proposers who must be members of ACEN and up to date in the payment of practicing fees
- Comprehensive list of staff
- Brief description of office
- List of office furniture and equipment owned by the firm
- List of office facilities and computer equipments owned or made available to the firm
- List of speciality software owned or made available to the firm
- List of ACEN/COREN training courses or its equivalent attended in the last tow years (the copies of certificates of attendance must be attached)
- List of current codes of practice, design standards and specificationed owned by the firm
- Name type of contact formats that your firm has and uses such as ICE, FIDIC, JCT, NECetc.
- Copy of professional indemnity insurance
- Copy of quality assurance (QA), Quality Control(QC) and policy manual
- Copy of HSES policy manual
- A signed statement of compliance with COREN code of conduct
- Copy of the business plan of the firm
- A copy of COREN certificate of the director9s)
- Payment of an appropriate application and processing fee
Other requirements include:
- All directors of the firm must demonstrate technical expertise shown by a detailed engineering report of studies, designs and supervision of works carried out with organizations (with a minimum of 2000 words) Such work experience must not be less than five years
- All directors of the firm must demonstrate a sense of responsibility shown having worked in a consulting firm or similar organizations. It is required that the candidate lead a project team of a reasonable size. This experience must have been acquired not less than three years after initial registration with COREN or other recognized bodies.
- A statement of consultancy experience signed by the registered consulting firm as a reference letter with a copy of the firm’s COREN certificate attached.
- All firms will apply for a renewal of the membership of their firm every five years. The application for renewal must be submitted three months before the expiry date of the last membership.
- Any firm that has stayed off consulting for a period of five years or more must re-apply for fresh registration
- Expatriate engineers who have been granted provisional registration cannot register a 100% owned engineering consulting firm
- Expatriate engineers registered with COREN and who wish to register a consulting firm can only do so in partnership with a Nigerian engineer
- In the partnership agreement, the Nigerian engineer must be the major shareholder with at least 55% of the shares while the foreign partner holds a minority
- Consulting firms must indicate that they are consulting firms when registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
- Memorandum of the Association should be specified that the company is solely in the business of consultancy
Note the following:
COREN does not accept documents in hard copy for the Engineering Personnel Registration (All applications are to be submitted online)
Inaccurate information supplied by applicant will lead to automatic disqualification
Application, processing and interview fees are non-refundable
- Applicants with statements of results and professional qualification are to request their institutions to send their transcripts directly to COREN so their results can be forwarded for the approval of the council. (However, those who have certificates are exempted from the instruction above. The above instruction applies only to those writing professional interviews)
The institution can send the transcript directly to COREN via any of the following means:
Electronic delivery: This is done via the ETX-NG network
Manual delivery: Manual copies will be set to the Registrar, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria at No. 22, Addis Ababa Crescent Wuse Zone 4, P.O. Box 8461, Wuse, Abuja or sent as e-transcripts using the school’s official email address to: transcripts@coren.gov.ng
The processing timelines for the Engineering Personnel Registration is 6 months for Nigerian applicants and 3 months for expatriates.
Contact address of COREN
COREN’s official email: transcripts@coren.gov.ng
Call Head MIS for technical issues on 07088697792, only on working days, between 8a.m and 4p.m
Complaints and inquiries on issues related to payment, call 07016833173
For issues related to the status of application or transcript, call 07088697820