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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, August 09, 2004.
Workshop
poised to address premature replacement culture
By
Olaniyi Ola
Head,
Property & Environment,
Lagos
As a result of
the rising costs associated with replacement of assets that has eaten
deep into the fabrics of every facet of the Nigerian society, Buildwell
International Company Limited has put together an international workshop
to address sensitive issues bothering on facilities management.
Frowning at the prevalent
culture of replacement in the private and public sector of the economy,
Mr. Afolabi Adedeji, managing director of Buildwell International Company
Limited and a member International Facility Management Association
(IFMA), stated that ‘‘it has become expedient to maintain what individual
organizations have to ensure their serviceability and maintenance
throughout the designed useful life span of facilities.’’
The three-day international
workshop with its syllabus endorsed by the Nigerian Institute of
Management (NIM), will be held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria
Island from Tuesday September 21 to Thursday September 23, 2004 in Lagos.
Tagged: "Mastering
Facilities Maintenance Management," the 200 workshop participants
are expected to come from the major strategic sectors of the Nigerian
economy: Oil exploration, production and marketing, banking,
telecommunications, industrial cleaning, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the
courier services and logistics industry, stock broking and investment
houses, consulting and media organizations. “As a way to encourage early
registration for the course, the company is offering 1.5 per cent rebate
to any participant who signify intention to attend the workshop and pays
before the end of August, 2004. We also have a handsome reduction of
rates for group or corporate bookings,” the Buildwell boss said.
The practicum has also been
planned to achieve the following objectives: Assemble participants from
all walks of life to rub minds on the current state of the art on
facilities management in Nigeria; agree on the types of skills, knowledge
and attitudinal changes that are essential for the emerging field of
facilities maintenance management programmes in Nigeria; network with
other organizations, who are providing facilities management services;
x-ray problems being encountered with the emerging field of facilities
maintenance management; and provide workable solutions and make
recommendations to enhance the practice of facilities management in
Nigeria in the very near future.
Altogether 15 papers are
expected to be delivered covering the following areas: The principles of
facilities maintenance management; the relationship between human
resources management and facilities management; maintenance programmes
and techniques; sustainable development, the environment and the
facilities manager; Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) issues in
facilities management; public sector perspectives on facilities
maintenance management; the art making decisions to invest in facilities;
the economics of facilities maintenance management; executing, evaluating
and controlling the maintenance function; troubleshooting in facilities
maintenance; maintenance management information systems; insurance and
risk factors in facilities maintenance management; legal issues in
contracting and outsourcing for facilities maintenance management and
corporate facilities function.
Owing to the limited financial
resources in individual organizations in the private and public sectors
of the Nigerian economy, the workshop is also aimed at increasing the
awareness about the imperative of an effective facility maintenance
management system. The special requirement of combining technical, human
and conceptual skills for the facilities manager was amplified by every
speaker throughout the three-day workshop. The importance of planning,
programming and strategic management will be emphasized as very essential
for improved sustainability.
Occupational
hazards will also get the place of relevance it demands as accidents and
moral hazards exist in all places of work. “The enunciation and thorough
implementation of a policy of high standard on Health, Safety and
Environment (HSE) at work will go a long way in preventing or reducing
risks and other forms of hazards to employees.”
The workshop will also amplify
the role of the public sector, which has scored very low in the area of
facilities maintenance management and maintenance culture in the last 40
years. Regrettably, the plight of the nation has been a story of
replacement and project abandonment by successive administrations.
“Although replacement of
facilities can be occasioned by uneconomical cost of maintenance,
obsolescence and new technology, the decision to invest in facilities
depends on value and Return on Investment (ROI). The knowledge of
troubleshooting is gaining currency in facilities maintenance management,
most especially in the technical and plant-intensive areas such as oil
and gas and many manufacturing organizations. The service industry such
as banking, consulting firms and fast food restaurants are also not left
out in this new dispensation. Risks exist in the work place and in every
enterprise. They are particularly present in every facilities maintenance
management transaction.” The importance of taking out adequate insurance
schemes and policies to reduce the likelihood of total losses when the
unexpected occurs was advocated. “Since all facility maintenance
management contracts operate purely within a legal framework the
importance of hiring a legal adviser to provide guidance in the operation
of facilities maintenance management systems was recommended. This is
applicable even in organizations that have outsourced the facilities management
function.”
In order to provide a
practical application, some syndicate and interactive sessions were
arranged for the workshop participants from which the following
recommendations were made: The process of disbanding a culture of
disposable mentality which entails co-opting all Nigerians both in the
private and public sectors of the economy to imbibe the culture of
maintenance management; the mounting of more workshops in other parts of
the country, in addition to in-plant or in-house courses on a continuous
basis; the planning, re-organization and re-strategizing the facilities
function in our respective organizations with the support of our top
management through the introduction of appropriate Facilities Management
Information Systems (MIS); the encouragement of higher institutions to
come up with relevant courses in this new area of learning and the
stressing importance of facilities maintenance management diploma,
undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the polytechnics and
universities.
The workshop will bring
together renowned academics and human resource practitioners like
Professor Reuben Iyagba of the University of Lagos; Dr. Sola Aina, Prof.
J. K. Kofi Duncan, Prof. Kayode Familoni, Mr. A. B. O. Ajai, Ayoade
Adenrele, Ms. Ifejola Adeyemi; and Mr. Charles Attah among others.
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