The Nigerian Institute of Welding is currently rocked by a leadership crisis, The PUNCH reports.

Our correspondent reports that the NIW mandate includes training, certification, monitoring, supervision and standardisation of welding and related practices in Nigeria as defined in the guidelines of the Nigerian Content Act managed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

Its interventionist agencies include the Petroleum Technology Development Fund and the Niger Delta Development Commission.

Among its members are welding professionals from various energy companies.

On Saturday, a group led by Professor Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, said to be an interim chairman of the NIW, held an annual general meeting at the Petroleum Training Institute Conference Centre in Effurun, Delta State.

However, another group identified as the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Institute of Welding dissociated the institute from the meeting, saying the AGM was held without authorisation.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Chairman of the BoT, Dr. Chudi Egbunike, and other board members, Omojafor Micheal, Engr. Moses Umuwe and Prof. Sunny Eromosele, expressed reservations about the development, labelling the other faction a “disgruntled misalignment of the core value of what the professional body stands for.”

They said a disclaimer was issued earlier, wondering why the faction proceeded with the AGM despite the disclaimer.

The Secretary of the NIW BoT, Dr. Solomon Edebiri, described the gathering as “a shambolic exercise using the cover of an institution such as the NIW”.

He said, “The NIW is a duly registered organisation by the body vested with powers to register corporate bodies in Nigeria, the CAC. The law prescribes the way and manner annual general meetings are held. We urge the public to disregard the meeting and its resolutions.

“The leadership of the NIW expressed shock that in a society, professionals would attempt to invoke law even when they themselves and the capacity in which they invoke those laws are not known to the very law they claim to rely on.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the said meeting did not emanate from the NIW. Though the said Ma’aji, who conveyed the meeting, is a member of the board of trustees of the institute, and by the NIW constitution, they do not have the authority and mandate to act on behalf of the institute or take decisions for it, neither do Clement Eribo and Michael Adegbite, who are non-members of the BOT.”

He added that officers responsible for the day-to-day running and management of the institute are the Chairman and the Secretary of the BoT.

“The said Ma’aji and Samaila decided to join non-members of the institute to form opposition in the bid to grab the authority of the institute illegally, thereby constituting themselves as renegade members of the BoT of the Nigeria Institute of Welding, and have illegally been attempting to interfere with the smooth management of the institute even against the decision of the court, which had earlier declared such meetings as illegal,” Edebiri said.

He maintained that the profound irony of the action cannot be overlooked.

“We totally disavow in its entirety the gathering of purported members bearing the flag of the NIW to host an illegal AGM on the institute’s behalf.

“These said people are not members of the institute but foreign bodies whose identity is not known to us. We stand to state unequivocally that we are a professional body and there is no crisis in the institute, and we assure you that the BoT will meet shortly and take decisive action on the issue,” he concluded.

During the said meeting on Saturday, Ma’aji was said to have listed 10 critical challenges that have plagued the institute, including governance gaps, regulatory non-compliance, misuse of funds, and erosion of public trust.

“These issues are not merely administrative lapses; they are existential threats to the survival of NIW,” Ma’aji stated.

To resolve the leadership issue in the institute, a motion was reportedly moved to dissolve the existing executive structure, replacing it with a caretaker committee tasked with organising fresh elections within six months.

A new caretaker committee was described as illegal by the BoT.