Facility managers in Nigeria have been urged to canvass for a legislation that would compel public and private institutions as well as individuals to embrace maintenance culture.

Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Managing Partner SIAO Managing Consulting, who was chairman of the 2015 Facility Management Award Dinner organised in Lagos by the Nigerian chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) last Friday, said that Nigeria deserves a well-maintained environment.

Ighodalo, who is also the Pastor of Trinity House, Lagos, said the legislation would demand that qualified professionals would be tasked with the responsibilities of facility maintenance. He then urged IFMA Nigeria to ensure that the proposed law included provisions that would require “everybody that is involved in facility management to compulsory go through this association and qualify to be a facility manager so that it will save us from the harassment and the trouble of all manner of people who just wake up and say they are facility managers.”

In his presentation, the guest lecturer, Mr Femi Akintunde, Managing Director, Alpha Mead Facilities Management, said that Nigeria would not be developed to the expected level if it continued to build structures without paying attention to maintenance.

He said that maintenance culture must be promoted whether or not the country experienced economic boom. “We must give consideration to the life cycle of those facilities, otherwise the money we spend will not translate to real value,” he admonished.

IFMA Nigeria President, Mr Richard Olatunji Okesola assured that members of the association were ready to offer their unique skills and expertise and help to redirect Nigeria’s path towards economic recovery. “Our services are inevitable in the pursuance of this desirable goal,” he further said.

On the night, awards were presented in 15 categories. They included Best Managed Residential Facility, which was won by Bella Vista Towers, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos; Best Managed Office Facility (Bank of Industry, Abuja); Best Managed Industrial Facility (Nigerite Plc, Ikeja); Best Managed Retail Facility (Spar Lekki); and Best Managed Hospitality Facility (Oriental Hotel, Lekki).

Winners also included Best Manager Events Facility (Eko Conventional Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos), Best Managed Healthcare Facility (Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja), Best Managed Educational Facility (Corona School, Victoria Island), and Corporate Membership Award (Zebrapath Technical Resources Limited). The others were: Best Facility Management Partner (Provast Limited), Best Public Stakeholder (Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency), Best Individual IFMA Nigeria Member (Tayo Oyelaja), IFMA Nigeria Honours (Jon Martens), Best Graduating Masters Student (Tolulope Rachael Olaleye) and Media Partner (Leap Communications).

Earlier in the day, stakeholders in the facility management sector had spoken in favour of global best practice, describing it as a sure way to boost businesses. At the discussion programme to mark the Facility Management Awards, participants focused on the topic, “Bridging Infrastructure and Facility Management Gaps in Nigeria.”

Chaired by Professor Timothy Nubi of the University of Lagos, the session was moderated by Dr Mohammad Kassim Balogun, Managing Director of Global PFI. The panel of discussants was made up Mr. Leonard Alexander, Facility Manager Executive, Broll; Dr (Mrs) Hiqmat Koleoso, a lecturer at the University of Lagos; Mr Peter Ewesor, Chief Inspector of the Federation, Nigeria Electricity Management Agency; and Mrs Erejuwa Gbadebo, Managing Director, Cluttons.

Giving an overview of the challenges endangering facility management, Dr Koleoso said that those who were engaged in property management referred to their practice as facility management. She explained that facility management was strategic in nature as it focused more on performance measurement.

In her words: “Facility management is proactive as it envisages problems and looks at ways of resolving them before they arise. What most of us are practicing is reactive and we spend so much time on operational activities and we don’t have enough time to do the strategic thinking and planning that require us to be more efficient.”

Mrs Gbadebo lamented that facility management in Nigeria comes at the end of the cycle, whereas it should be activated right from the very start.

Ewesor expressed the hope that the unbundling of the power sector would lead to continued improvement in supply, which would contribute largely to the maintenance of infrastructure.

Speaking on the benefit of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to bridge the gap in infrastructural development, Alexander maintained that the partnership was a way of introducing private sector technology and innovation in providing better public services through improved operational efficiency and utilising it as a way of developing joint ventures with large international firms.

An affiliate of IFMA worldwide with headquarters in Houston, United States, IFMA Nigeria is a not-for-profit association incorporated in 1997. Its core purpose is to strengthen and advance the knowledge base essential to leading the integration and optimisation of the built environment worldwide.

IFMA Nigeria is charged to lead the progress of the profession by forecasting and directing the course of facility management trends, needs and outcomes. It focuses on sustaining the progress of the profession by supporting the success of practitioners through best workplace-related education, information and interaction.

IFMA is the world’s largest and most widely recognised international association for professional facility managers, supporting more than 22,655 members in 78 countries.

•Photo shows Pastor Ituah Ighodalo (middle) with IFMA chiefs during the award dinner . . . Friday in Lagos.

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