World Facility Management Day: Lagos advocates better maintenance culture

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In celebration of the 2019 World Facility Management Day, Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA) has pushed for a reliable and sustainable maintenance culture with the launch of ‘Lagos State is Maintenance Cultured’ initiative.

The initiative proposed at increasing the maintenance of government-owned facilities across all 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the State will be managed by officials of the agency.

Addressing at the launch of the initiative in Ikeja, LASIAMA General Manager, Mr Oladeji Williams, said the initiative was part of government plans to institute capacity, create jobs and also secure the sustainability of all government facilities within and beyond the State.

Williams stated the agency had employed global standard methodologies to ensure the direct impact of ‘Lagos State is Maintenance Cultured initiative’ on all government facilities.

“The vision is to establish a tradition of maintenance and to champion the benefits of good maintenance practices across Lagos,” he added.

While restating the government’s commitment to a holistic and aggressive approach in ensuring a better maintenance culture, he appealed to residents and stakeholders to support the initiative.

Also speaking at the event, President of International Facility Management Association, Nigeria Chapter, Mrs Abimbola Olusegun, stated that the World International Facility Management Day is set aside to recognise the professionals who had diligently worked to ensure that the global built environment is effective, productive, sustainable, safe and healthy.

“This international celebration has brought to limelight the behind-the-scenes heroes who have played a vital role in the development of global facility management standards in the world”, she added.

She lauded the “Lagos State is Maintenance Cultured” initiative as a good development, saying that Lagos is the first in Nigeria with an Agency dedicated to infrastructure management and maintenance.

In his presentation, the Centre Director, LSD&FC, Lagos Nigeria, Dr Richard Somiari stated that cultivating maintenance culture goes beyond cleaning of facilities but covers the Environmental Health and Safety, Maintenance of Facilities, Testing and Inspection, Operations and Space allocation as well as changes of the organisation’s facilities.

Somiari further explained that facility management entails the efficient and effective delivery of support services for an organisation being served, hence management of facilities and infrastructure are tailored to each organisation’s needs.

While commending the efforts of the State in its maintenance implementation policy, he urged the professional bodies and stakeholders involved in facility management to embrace global standards.