Operators in the facility management sector in Lagos have called for synergy among built environment professionals to guarantee quality assurance in the construction sector to curb infrastructure decay and building collapse.
The call was made at a facility management and maintenance certification training organised by the Nigerian Institution of Builders in Facilities Management (NIBIFM) Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
NIBIFM is a division of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and an affiliate of the Nigeria Academy of Facility Managers (NAFM).
Olumide Adenuga, a lecturer in the Department of Building, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Lagos, said facilities management and maintenance were not being practised the right way in Nigeria hence the numerous cases of dilapidated and collapsing infrastructure.
Adenuga, who was the guest speaker at the event called on all the seven built environment professionals to work in synergy to correct the anomaly.
He said facility management must be built into every project from the beginning to ensure adequate maintenance plans for facilities throughout their lifespan.
Adenuga, who is a builder, facility practitioner and maintenance expert, called for constant inspection of facilities to ensure good maintenance culture. “We have to work together,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria did not have poor maintenance culture but usually practised corrective maintenance, which meant allowing total degeneration before undertaking action for repairs.
“This practice made the cost of maintenance almost the same as the cost of constructing a new facility,” he said.
Adenuga called on the nation’s leadership and construction experts to embrace preventive facilities management methods instead of the corrective mode, adding that no matter the quality of construction, ageing must set in.
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“Why do we allow our roads, buildings and other facilities to degenerate to such bad levels before maintenance?” he said.
Akinsola Olufemi, National Chairman of, the Nigerian Institution of Builders in Facilities Management (NIBIFM), said the training started online two weeks ago because of the volume of the coursework.
Olufemi said certificates to be awarded at the end of the training were going to have QR codes, which would prevent counterfeiting or impersonation of the real owners.
He said the association was collaborating with its international partners to bridge the knowledge gap in the field, adding that an app to capture the peculiarities of Nigeria would be launched during its Wednesday session.
He also said NIBIFM had developed a Facility Management curriculum to be adopted by YABATECH and other institutions.
Lucky Isename, Lagos State Chapter Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) reeled out infractions causing poor construction and the need to strengthen regulations to prevent the collapse of buildings.
Citing the example of the recent Banana Island building collapse, he said professionals were not engaged in the construction, hence the errors that led to the collapse during construction.
Isename advised the Lagos State government to empower professionals in the built environment to assist in the surveillance and enforcement of regulations across the state to prevent errors.
He added that Lagos State had beautiful laws that if fully implemented would end poor building production leading to collapse.
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