Stakeholders Task Federal Govt On Maintenance Routine To Avert Collapse Of National Infrastructure

Poor choices, maintenance culture and management have led to the collapse of critical national infrastructures in Nigeria, stakeholders say, even as they advocated for maintenance routines to avert the trend.

“In very brief terms, our choices, maintenance culture and management are the main reasons for the collapsing of critical national infrastructures in Nigeria, the publicity secretary, Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Architect Bola Arilesere tells me.

Recall that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said it has begun discussions with some multilateral funding agencies to secure funds for total reconstruction of failed existing quay walls and berths of the Tin-Can Island Port.

Speaking during a television interview monitored by me, the managing director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said an estimated sum of $600 million is required to overhaul the failed Tin-Can berths. According to Bello-Koko, the Tin-Can port has reached its end of life cycle and needs total reconstruction, but the NPA has been doing remedial works, which is no longer economical.

This could have been avoided if there were strict adherence to maintenance routines, Arilesere asks, adding that, “Government must enforce strict rules to ensure discipline on the side of the people who are using these infrastructures. Government officials must also do better in terms of management of our funds and other resources.”

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The news of the Lagos Port collapsing is not only frightening but unacceptable to the built environment professionals in Nigeria due to its implications to the economy, the president, BCPG, Engr. Eddy Atumonyogo states. To avoid further collapse of buildings and critical national infrastructures in Nigeria, the president,  said BCPG has set up a committee with an immediate assignment to probe critical national infrastructures in Nigeria.

He said the committee will outline critical national infrastructures that are strategic to the economic health and growth of the nation and propose ways to prevent the decay of these infrastructures based on best practices available globally.

General secretary, BCPG, Lagos State chapter, Builder Mubarak Gbajabiamila, tells me that Nigerians need to imbibe the culture of preventive maintenance. Gbajabiamila says there is preventive and corrective maintenance, adding that “In Nigeria, we do a lot of corrective than preventive maintenance, which often leads to shutdown of critical infrastructures.”

Giving an instance, the general secretary notes, “We are advised to check our vehicles every morning, which is preventive maintenance, but once we don’t do that, the vehicle will shutdown eventually, which will cost us more money to revive. ”He advised the government to desist from corrective maintenance. “Nobody has ruled out the fact that there won’t be a time when we will deploy corrective maintenance, but we should lay more emphasis on preventive maintenance.”