In his speech at the inauguration, Engr. Shehu commended the members for their dedication and the employment of their time and resources to the growth of the society.

He said the terms of reference of the committee include, to organise the 2012 annual conference and annual general meeting of the society; to identify and reserve accommodation facilities for not less than 2,500 members in Ilorin, the host city of the conference; to develop a list of dignitaries to be invited, and to articulate funding arrangement and mobilise funding for the conference.

Other terms of reference, according to the president, were to sensitise members on the need to attend the conference; to make adequate transportation arrangement for the conference; to invite for technical papers; to plan a befitting annual dinner during the conference; to provide adequate security for members; and to organise a successful annual general meeting during the conference.

Similarly, a local organising committee has been set up in Ilorin, the host city of the conference.

The conference planning committee at the national level has Engr. Ali Alimasuya Rabiu, Vice President Corporate Resources and Media as chairman while the local organising committee is chaired by Engr. B. F. Sule, a professor at University of Ilorin's Energy Research Centre.

At the inaugural meeting, the committee constituted sub-committees to handle security, venues and accommodation; technical; transportation; conference material; spouses programme; welfare and protocol. Other subcommittees are those on fund raising, programme and publicity, dinner dance and spouses programmes.

The conference which holds December 3-7 in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital has the theme: Strategies for Promotion of Sustainable Technology-based and Production-driven economy in Nigeria.

The council of the society chose the theme as a way of preparing the country to begin to think outside the box on how best to develop the nation's economy as is the case with the Asian Tigers who pursued home-grown polices towards their development and are today shining examples of how to migrate from third world economies to those of first world.