Enabling economic development through facility management

By Kazeem P. Yusuf

ECONOMIC development plays a pivotal role in shaping the growth and well-being of a nation, serving as a catalyst for enhancing living standards, social stability and fostering sustainable progress. Understanding its significance requires a deeper exploration into how economic development influences various aspects of society, including employment, infrastructure, health and education, as well as providing happiness for the greater number of people, using the words of the 18th-century English philosopher and founder of modern utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham. Economic development is therefore the roadmap to a brighter future for the citizens of a country. This makes governments’ deliberate policy intervention in the economy so important. In other words, government must initiate policies to improve productivity, well-being and quality of life of the people. Government must put in place structures to reduce poverty, to provide more jobs, higher incomes, improved productivity, improved goods and services, and above all, ensure the work environment is optimally conducive. An insight into our enormous resources and level of development will convince everyone that Nigerian economy has grossly underperformed, worsened by poor working environment and lack of maintenance culture. This is where facility management comes in as a crucial factor in national economic development.

Facility Management (FM) incorporates multi-disciplinary activities within the built industry. Its key objective is to improve the quality of life of the people, increase productivity in business and the workplace, by making sure that the support services and logistics of the work environment or the organisation it serves are effectively and efficiently delivered.  Facility management is critical to national economic development. In as much as peoples’ efforts and activities, oils structure and ensures that institutions work, and ultimately drives development and the economy. It follows, therefore, that the workplace, working environment, tools, and facilities must function perfectly to enhance creativity and productivity. Good living and working environment produce the best in man. Worried by the dilapidated state of public buildings and infrastructure across the country, former President Muhammadu Buhari in year 2022 signed into law the Executive Order 11, which focused essentially on the maintenance of public buildings and infrastructure. A policy framework for maintenance of national infrastructures, the Order gives legal backing to the country’s national maintenance policy and expects the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to establish a department of federal public assets maintenance, with Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government (MDAs) directed to set up maintenance departments. The Executive Order is expected to strengthen and sustain the development and management of infrastructures in the country.

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The role of facility management in national economic development cannot be overemphasised. Building maintenance, which is an important aspect of building management is often neglected, but the Executive Order, if fully implemented would give a facelift to public facilities across the country. We only need to imbibe maintenance culture and, buildings would retain its economic life, there would be lower depreciation cost, and ultimately, there would be higher productivity and higher income and profits. In other words, proper maintenance would ensure lower expenditures on replacement, and would make more funds available for new productive ventures and investment. Proper and efficient facility management would enhance the lifespan, and ensure sustainability of buildings and infrastructure, as well as income. It would save government and organisations unnecessary expenditure on repairs, simply because facility management focuses more on preventive measures. Facility Management also ensures proper and efficient waste management or disposal, thereby preventing diseases, which ultimately ensures good environment, healthy and productive population, healthy and prosperous economy.

Unutilised public assets and abandoned buildings litter the country, though some of the assets are under litigation. It is time to identify these assets, turn them around to prevent further wastage, and enhance income and development through proper management. The buildings can be managed properly and efficiently, using Public Private Partnerships (PPP), and the right professionals, specifically estate surveyors and valuers. The arrangement would most certainly enhance the lifespan of the assets, and their optimal contribution to economic development.

•Yusuf is a Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer