Unlike what obtains elsewhere, facility management (FM) is still in its embryonic stage in Nigeria. Stakeholders are worried that except urgent steps are taken, this real estate sub-sector may remain in limbo. They, however, predict that fortune may begin to smile on the local FM industry at the forthcoming World Facility Management Day. MUYIWA LUCAS reports
It is not really be a major cash-cow for global economies for now; but, compared to its contributions to economies in more developed climes, its contribution remains a sore point for operators in the local industry, giving many a source of concern. This is the unpalatable but true situation of facility management (FM) sub-sector of Nigeria’s real estate industry.
Facility management, experts say, encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.
According to the International Facility ManagemenAt Association (IFMA): “FM is the practice of coordinating the physical workplace with the people and work of the organisation. It integrates the principles of business administration, architecture and the behavioral and engineering sciences.”
While globally, the FM sector contributes at most between five and seven percent to developed economies’ GDP, it is estimated that in Nigeria, it is just a mere 0.01 percent.
For instance, the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) valued the United Kingdom’s (UK) FM industry at approximately E111 billion, and employed almost 10 per of UK’s working population as at 2015.
Similarly, BUILDINGS.com, a community of facility managers and building owners responsible for the operation of commercial and public buildings, reports that a survey from BOMA: “Where America Goes to Work: The Contribution of Office Building Operations to the Economy, 2014,” showed that in 2013, the 10.4 billion square feet of office space within the areas covered by BOMA International’s local associations created $82.4 billion in operating expenditures to the benefit of local businesses and workers. It further explained that the study, which covered workspaces for around 46.6 million people, demonstrates that for every dollar spent on operations and maintenance, the national economy gained $2.76, resulting in a contribution to the American GDP of over $227 billion in 2013. The study further showed that the operating costs also supported over 1.8 million direct, indirect, and induced jobs, including nearly 32 per cent directly related to building operations. BOMA’s study submitted that additionally, each dollar spent in the FM process helped American workers realise an additional 87 cents in personal earnings. The study covered a wide variety of buildings, including those occupied by tenants, owned by tenants, and government facilities.
“While the construction of new office buildings is often noted as providing important economic benefits, once this construction is completed and these new buildings are occupied, the economic benefits of their operations continue for the life of the building,”says Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason University, lead author of the report.
The Managing Director of Alpha Mead Facilities (AMF), Mr. Femi Akintunde, while lamenting the low contribution of FM industry to the nation’s GDP, explained that for the nation’s GDP to reap from the sub sector, both the government and the private sector should engage in massive investment in infrastructure development. This should include but not limited to roads, bridges, telecommunications, airports, waterways and seaports. He added that investment in social infrastructure such as health, education, judiciary and legal system, among others, remain very germane.
“The number of activities and jobs generated in London’s underground; water treatment , production and distribution, road networks, electricity production and distribution has witnessed a lot of investment. But it is not like that in Nigeria,” he regretted.
According to Akintunde, the low contribution of FM to the nation’s GDP can also be traced to the low level of awareness on the part of many stakeholders, a situation he noted has left real estate management on the fringes. For instance, he said, several numbers of commercial and public buildings are without efficient fire equipment and functional lift system.
He also blamed the government and owners of commercial real estate assets for low budget for facility management. “Budget for facility management is very low, but in abroad, there is framework. We are not paying enough to allocation to security issues and asset . There is need to put structure in measuring the level of FM development in the country,” he said.
The AMF boss also identified lack of regulatory and statutory provision that would compel owners of assets to be alive to their responsibility of improving the quality of their assets, pointing out that many are without efficient fire equipment, clean toilet and functional elevator, among others.
“There are certain statutory requirements in advanced countries that make you pay more attention to the quality of your asset, especially if it is seen as a commercial and public building where people go in and out. How many times have we had fire incident in high rise buildings which do not have functioning fire equipment to fight the fire? How many offices and government’s ministries have you gone to and feel comfortable to use their toilets?” he asked rhetorically.
The Chairperson, BIFM, Nigeria Region, Mrs Wale Odufalu, agreed with Akintunde. She explained that there was a need to drive a culture of compliance through self discipline, healthy competition, knowledge sharing and benchmarking to grow the FM industry in Nigeria.
Urging professionals to adhere to standards and global best practices, Odufalu said that is the only way Nigeria as a country, and practitioners as a body, can fully benefit from the practice. Property owners, she advised, should also pay attention to maintaining their assets because doing so will guaranty them good and steady returns on their investments.
And as part of its awareness cross Africa, Akintunde said it was the reason his firm held its FM roundtable in Accra, Ghana, as part of the commemoration of 2017 World FM Day with the theme: “Enabling positive experiences.” He said the forum provided opportunities to highlight how the industry plays an integral role in positive customer, client and employee experience in all sectors.
The key highlights at the event included media interaction, social media engagement, and award of excellence and recognition for individuals and corporate bodies that has contributed significantly to the development of the profession in countries where the event has held in the past.
The keynote speaker for the event Archbishop Duncan William, noted a deep quality experience in how to create wealth from building quality real estate assets and sustaining them.
The forum also featured technical paper presentations from Akintunde; the Managing Director of NTHC Properties Limited, Mr. Jerome Eshun. It offered a viable platform for key stakeholders in the Ghana real estate sector to share ideas, strategise and deliberate on issues affecting the industry and practices in the country.
FM covers these two main areas: ‘Space and Infrastructure’, that is, the physical built environment with focus on work- space and building- infrastructure (such as planning, design, workplace, construction, lease, occupancy, maintenance, furniture and cleaning) and ‘People and Organisation’ (such as catering, ICT, HR, accounting, marketing, hospitality-that is the people and the organisation and is related to work psychology and occupational physiology.
The World FM Day is an initiative led by Global FM – a worldwide alliance of member-centered Facilities Management organisations, providing leadership in the advancement of the FM profession through institutions such as the BIFM, IFMA, Facilities Management Association, Australia; and several others around the world.
