By Aliyu DANLADI
The Federal Government has set in motion policy guidelines for infrastructure maintenance and safeguard public buildings for optimal utilisation nationwide.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola made this known on Tuesday in Abuja at a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on “Review of the Draft National Public Building Maintenance Policy’’.
The reports that the policy seeks to provide guiding principles on management framework for the maintenance and repairs of public buildings and related assets nationwide.
Fashola said that the policy was expected to serve as a guide to all stakeholders in the maintenance of public building assets under their purview.
“It will ensure that public buildings continued to serve their intended purposes for longer period; as well as guarantee safety, health and comfort of usage.
“It is equally expected to provide effective means of addressing challenges and shortcomings associated with public buildings maintenance culture in Nigeria.
“Effective management of infrastructural assets is most critical to their continuous existence and optimal performance,’’ he said.
Fashola said in the last three years, the Federal Government had invested heavily in the building industry.
He said this had led to the construction of more than 5000 mixed housing units across the country out of which 2000 were on ground.
“Government has also spent billions of naira on sites and services development with a view to reducing national housing deficits, he added.
He said similarly, six secretariats were constructed in some states of the federation where there were none before, while more than 20 others were renovated to create conducive working environment.
According to him, steps are being taken to produce an acceptable and standard document for maintenance of public buildings.
He urged stakeholders to closely examine the document and improve on it before its presentation to the Federal Executive Council.
In an address, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji Mohammed Bukar, stated that infrastructure related challenges in the country were not only limited to quantity and quality.
Bukar noted that the challenges were rather closely associated with negative perception and attitude towards public properties.
He said the huge investments by government on infrastructure over the years had been left to deteriorate due to the poor maintenance culture.
Bukar said that it was against this background that the Federal Government came up with the policy initiative towards establishing a sustainable maintenance culture at all tiers of government.
The two-day workshop will have inputs from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, state ministries of housing, state housing corporations, academic institutions, among others.
