Experts seek collaboration to curb infrastructure decay, building collapse

By Grace Alegba

Facility management experts on Tuesday in Lagos called for synergy among built environment professionals to guarantee quality assurance in the construction sector to curb infrastructure decay and building collapse.

The experts made the call at a Facilitiy Management and Maintenance Certification training organised by the Nigerian Institution of Builders in Facilities Management (NIBIFM).

NIBIFM is a division of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and an affiliate of Nigeria Academy of Facility Managers (NAFM).

The guest speaker, Prof. Olumide Adenuga, said Facilities Management and Maintenance was not being practiced the right way in Nigeria hence the numerous cases of dilapidated and collapsing infrastructure.

Adenuga, a lecturer in the Department of Building, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Lagos, 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 plan 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.

The don said facility management was inevitable because of wear and tear on infrastructure, hence the need to build maintenance into projects from the design stage.

He said Nigeria did not have poor maintenance culture but usually practiced corrective maintenance, which meant allowing total degeneration before undertaking action for repairs.

This practice, he noted, made cost of maintenance almost the same as the cost of constructing a new facility, citing the National Stadium in Lagos.

He 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, aging must set in.

“Why do we allow our roads, buildings and other facilities degenerate to such bad levels before maintenance?” he queried.

Dr Akinsola Olufemi, National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Builders in Facilities Management (NIBIFM), said the training started online two weeks ago because of the volume of the course work.

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 knowledge gap in the field, adding that an app to capture 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.

Mr Lucky Isename, Lagos State Chapter Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) reeled out infractions causing poor construction and the need to strengthen regulation to prevent the collapse of buildings.

Citing example of recent Banana Island building collapse, he said professionals were not engaged in the construction, hence the errors that led to collapse during construction.

Isename advised the Lagos State government to empower professionals in the built environment to assist in 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.

(NAN)