IFMA Proffers Facility Management as Panacea for Sustainable Nation Building
International Facility Management Association (IFMA), Nigeria chapter has proffered Facility Management as panacea for sustainable nation building.
This theme was introduced at the just concluded maiden edition of IFMA Advocacy Day 2019, held in Victoria Island, Lagos recently.
The Planning Committee Chairperson, IFMA, Miss
Iyabo Aboaba, stated that IFMA Nigeria Chapter started in 1995, and that the aim was born out of desire to provide Nigeria with opportunity of developing a maintenance culture that will the future of our beloved country.
“We have been advocacy changes within the built space and raising a new generation of leaders within the building industry. We are delighted to say that our efforts are getting attraction and we now have stated Agencies involved in the management of various government infrastructure,” she said.
It is no longer business as usual in the Constructing Industry because our Association brings together every professional within the ecosystem. Some of our objectives include; to influence government policies related to infrastructure design, development and management, support professional development of members of all cadres, conduct surveys and research projects for a reliable industry data; and become the source, the validator for all industry data and information, she said.
The Keynote Speaker and Managing Director, Green Facilities Ltd, Engr. Olumide Aina, stated that Facility Management is the solution for building a nation. Facility management is a multiple-disciplined profession that encompasses several fields; architecture, engineering, building, safety, interior decoration, and many more.
He suggested that IFMA provides an advocacy to the younger generation, i.e. Secondary schools and Universities, to inculcate maintenance culture into them early enough.
Facility Management is defined as a multiple discipline to ensure functionality, comfort, safety, and efficiency of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology. Facility Management is about influencing people. It is also about cost, cost-avoidance, cost reduction, but it all boils down to people who will stay in the spaces, he said.
Facility Management is actually a strategy to avoid waste, which will in turn facilitate the building of a sustainable nation. It further creates more opportunities for businesses to thrive well in the economy.
Design stage takes about 5-10 percent of costs, while the remaining 90 percent is the operational cost, and a building can stay as long as 50-100 years, and even more, it is due to the professionals doing a good job by maintaining the asset value of such buildings, he said.