By Omidiran Abiodun Taofeek

Public assets are vital components of the society, they facilitate the delivery of essential services, alleviate poverty, enhance the overall quality of life of the citizens and crucial for achieving rapid economic development. 

The myriad of assets owned by the public sector represents a significant portion of national wealth, and they includes real estate, infrastructure, financial holdings and natural resources. Governments at various levels across the world continuously  inaugurate public assets and infrastructure, with the aim of achieving and accelerating economic growth and development. The assets which are evident in infrastructures such as roads, bridges, flyovers airports, seaports, railways, buildings, communications facilitates mobility of people, goods, services and supply chain, and help to sustain economic development, thereby resulting in improvements in human and social development of the nation.

The management and utilization of this assets are critical for the nation’s economic stability and growth, hence the need for periodic maintenance to keep the systems running efficiently. This will guarantee the citizens access to essential services and resources, regardless of one’s economic and social status.

Unfortunately, maintenance is one of the banes of public assets, especially buildings in Nigeria. Maintenance culture which is supposed to be the bedrock of public infrastructural facilities, and which ought not be taken with levity is virtually absent in our clime. Adequate maintenance of public infrastructure has not been given the deserved attention by governments at all levels in Nigeria, and the ugly trend of poor maintenance of public infrastructure has adversely affected the life span of public utilities in the country. Poor maintenance culture is responsible for the decay of public buildings and infrastructure. Littering the major cities across the country, especially Abuja and Lagos are many abandoned government buildings, with the country losing several billions of naira, in addition to several inconveniences, and a bad image for the country. And to worsen the issue, the problem has created a haven for bandits, kidnappers, and social miscreants.   

Irked 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. The Order which focused essentially on the maintenance of public buildings and infrastructure gave legal backing to the country’s national maintenance policy and expected the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to establish a department of federal public assets maintenance. The policy framework for maintenance of national infrastructures, also expected Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government (MDAs) to set up maintenance departments.    The Executive Order is also expected to strengthen and sustain the development and management of infrastructures in the country. This simply justifies the importance of assets and facility management to national economic development. The prospects for the economy depends on the policies articulated to drive it, and the seriousness with which they are implemented. 

Building maintenance which is an important aspect of building management is often neglected, the Executive Order, if fully implemented would give a facelift to public buildings and ensure effective management of assets and infrastructures across the country. 

If only we would imbibe management and maintenance culture, public assets and infrastructures would retain their economic life, there would be lower depreciation cost, and ultimately, there would be higher productivity and higher income and profits. In other words, effective management would ensure sustainability of buildings and infrastructure, as well as income. It would save government and organizations unnecessary expenditure on repairs and replacement, and would enhance the life span of assets and infrastructure. It would also enhance income and would make more funds available for new productive ventures and investment. This is because asset management focuses more on preventive measures.

Assets and facility management also ensures proper and efficient management or disposal of waste, which ultimately ensures good environment, prevention of diseases, healthy and productive population, healthy and prosperous economy.  

Agreed, some of the public assets and abandoned buildings which litters the country are under litigation. The system should expedite action on the affected assets, turn them around to prevent further wastage, enhance income and development through proper management. 

The buildings can be better or properly managed and maintained, using Public Private Partnerships (PPP). The arrangement would most certainly enhance the assets, the economy and development.“Sustenance of the existing infrastructural facilities had suffered from neglect and poor maintenance culture. Improving the existing infrastructure to perform optimally consistently has been the most despicable aspect of governance and indeed, the bane of development in Nigeria. “

“Public institutions should periodically review the maintenance programme objectives to enable public infrastructural facilities be in good condition at all times.“Since availability of public infrastructure facilities is an essential ingredient to sustainable development in a nation, improving the quality of existing public assets and infrastructure through adequate maintenance ought to be an important national decision. To achieve an effective maintenance culture, stakeholders should focus on establishing an enabling environment, functional organizational structure, occupational standards, and competency of personnel, which would translate into sustainable assets management.