The Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN has said that government has set out measures to produce Policy Guidelines on the maintenance of public buildings within the country.
This was disclosed at a 2-Day Stakeholders’ Workshop organized by the Ministry to review the Draft National Public Buildings Maintenance Policy held in Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaji Mohammed Bukar, who represented the Minister, said the Federal Government in the past three years had made huge investments in the built Industry. For instance, over 5000 mixed housing units were being constructed across the country over 2000 units are on ground.
He added that government has also spent billions of Naira on Site and Services development schemes and also constructed six (6) new Federal Secretariats in States where there were none, and renovated twenty (20) others.
Alhaji Bukar said the resources spent on these infrastructure represents tax payers’ monies, and are over the years, left to degenerate without proper maintenance, as a result of poor maintenance culture. This he said has placed huge financial burden on the government, on health and safety issues.
According to him, “the Policy guidelines, when approved, would chart a sustainable path for the maintenance and preservation of these public assets”.
The Permanent Secretary, emphasized that the Policy document will seek to provide guiding principles for the maintenance of public buildings and other related assets in the country in compliance with extant regulations; enable periodic maintenance audit to be carried out on them and provide a well-planned and methodical process of maintenance of these buildings and other properties by professionals and competent individuals.
Also at the workshop, Adenike Bunmi, a representative of Alexander Marius Investments Ltd. the consultancy firm responsible for drafting the document, presented contents of the Draft National Public Buildings Maintenance Policy to the participants. She maintained that, it was a good start for the Ministry and, when completed, will be a milestone achievement for the nation as a whole.
The workshop was organized to engage relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, State Ministries of Housing, Corporations, Academic Institutions and other critical Stakeholders to make inputs on the proposed draft National Public Buildings Maintenance Policy, while the Ministry expedites action for onward submission to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval.
Renate Amah
PIO(Press & PR)
For: Director, Press &PR
December 5, 2018
