Dawood Akinwale Kelani, a Nigerian construction engineer and president of the ASCE Nigeria Section – Kaduna Branch, has died. He was 61.
Kelani, M.ASCE, had just won the Safety Ambassadors Award from the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria in December.
A registered engineer under Nigeria’s Council for the Regulation of Engineering, Kelani was involved in a multitude of civil engineering projects throughout the country. Among them were construction of the Aiyepe Community Central Mosque in Aiyepe-Ogun; the Prototype Housing Scheme (Terrace Duplex) for Federal Ministry of Works and Housing at Edmond Crescent Yaba, Lagos; and the Administrative, Residential Block, and Training Centre for the North East Arid Zone Development program headquarters in Gasua, Yobe.
Over the course of his career, Kelani worked for the firms Messrs, Abdul Jalil Hajaig and Sons Limited; Tropaeds Group Abeokuta; Wondpro Construction Company Ltd., Abeokuta; Integral Nigeria Limited, Lagos; and Golden Construction Company Limited, Abuja.
Beyond his professional commitments and his leadership of the Kaduna Branch, Kelani was an ex-officio leader of the Nigeria Institute of Civil Engineers from 2019 through 2022, vice chair of the NICE National Professional Development Committee in 2021 and 2022, vice chair of the NICE Administration Committee from 2019 to 2020, a member of the Infrastructure and PPP Committee, NSE HQ from 2016 to 2017, and many other organizations.
He was a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Nigeria Institute of Civil Engineers, Chartered Nigeria Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria, and the Institute of Management Commission.
Kelani received a postgraduate degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo state, in 2001, and the National Teachers Institute Osun Centre, where he received a postgraduate degree in education in 2015.
