Dear EFN Members and Associates,

On behalf of the new EFN Executive committee I write to wish you peace, joy, good health and happiness in 2010. May this year bring you personal and professional fulfilment in all that you do.

The EFN Executive committee 2009-10 is excited about the opportunities that we hope to bring to the forum. Having taken office in November, we have moved quickly and held our first meeting in December. We have started building the foundations for what we hope will be a busy and exciting few years.

Through our Secretary General, Dr Sunday Popo-Ola, we propose to update our database to make sure that you are kept well informed both electronically and by surface mail. Please logon to the web site and update your contact details adding your area of expertise so that we can contact you on your specialty area if we see opportunities that could be of interest to you. The secretariat is also working to ensure improved administrative support for EFN membership.

Our Communication Secretary, Engr. Stephen Irele is planning to turn our website into a hub for virtual communication which can be accessed from all over the world. Please visit the website regularly and make contribution and suggestion as to how it can be improved to serve you better. Our next quarterly newsletter and monthly e-news are currently being prepared; please send us your news for future publication. We currently have the all previous newsletters and AGM reports on the website for you to read or download.

We have constituted 5 standing sub-committees namely:

1. Constitution Review chaired by Dr Remi Olatunbosun (immediate past president)
2. Higher Engineering Education Challenge (HEEC) Committee chaired by Dr Ade Ogunsola
3. Membership and networking committee (MNC) chaired by Engr. Emmanuel Ajayi. We have also appointed Engr. Tony Ajala as Liaison Officer to Transport for London (TfL) as there are a number of Nigerian engineers working in the organisation.
4. Financial and Fund Raising Committee (FRC) chaired by the Vice President Dr Margaret Adams
5. Spring Event Committee (SEC) chaired by Secretary for Special Duties, Engr. Femi Bolaji

Terms of Reference for all the above committee are being prepared. We hope this will be completed shortly and circulated to the committee chairperson for execution.

Programmes plan for this year are:

23rd January 2010     -  Networking seminar on the Olympic London 2012

March 2010       -            Networking seminar on Cross Rail project

June 2010        -             Annual EFN Spring Event Conference

September 2010   -      Engineering Career Opportunities event in Nigeria

November 2010    -      AGM and Charity Ball 2010

Please check our web site for updates on all of the above programmes

We will be arranging interviews for people who are seeking COREN registration. Please contact Engr. Hakeem Adelakun on how to prepare your application (h.adelakun@efn.org.uk).

Dr Kunle Onabolu (Past President) and our Nigerian Liaison Officers will be representing the EFN at the investiture of Engr. Olumuyiwa Alade Ajibola as the 27^th President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) on the 16^th January 2010 in Abuja. The personal invitations extended to the EFN represent the growing strength in our relationship with the NSE.

Finally, I would like to encourage members to please pay their annual subscription now due. The financial Secretary will be sending out a reminder. Please pay promptly.

I look forward to seeing you all at all our events this year and look forward to your continuing support.

Best wishes

Dr Bernard Obika
EFN PRESIDENT

On behalf of EFN Executives 2010
Web: http://www.efn.org.uk
Email: b.obika@efn.org.uk