 The International Facility Management Association IFMA, Nigeria chapter, is commemorating the 2021 World Facility Management Day. The association says there is a gap in maintenance culture of facilities in Nigeria and calls for more awareness and education on facilities management practices. Jacinta Obuiku has more. The gathering of these professionals, experts in the field of architecture and environment is to address the loopholes in facility management. With the theme Celebrating FM standing tall beyond the pandemic which borders on the renewed importance that should be placed on human health and safety coupled with building sustainability and resilience. The Lagos State Safety Commission is tied to the mandate of ensuring the safety and health of Lagosians and we see facility managers as partners in progress in this drive. There is a need for us to incorporate and bring in at the point of inception experts in facility management that will also help you know when we are generating and formulating design. We cannot continue to design and our failures. When you want to design a space you are recommending 22 building to say where is electricity to operate the lift and I said are we going to be like this forever. It's so sad that in this part of the world in Nigeria our maintenance culture is zero and you and I are to blame. Part of the event was a panel section where the vital work of facilities manager frontline workers were recognized during the heat of the pandemic. Facility managers, architects, engineers, plumbers are all frontline workers. I mean mostly when you hear about COVID all you heard about was the doctors the nurses but trust me we had cleaners there every day we had electricians we had plumbers architects we were all at the forefront of this pandemic. The panelists also gave a way forward in tackling the issues of maintenance culture of facility management. When you're talking of maintaining the building you don't get the materials you don't get a replacement when we are specifying things or when we're using any material there's always think of local content. No one wants to do any sort of maintenance until it becomes a problem you know no one wants to clean the gutter until the gutter is clogged. You increase the lifespan of the building if you do continuous maintenance. Yes maintenance culture not too good but again there's a rise of hope there's a slight element of light at the end of the tunnel because a lot is happening and a lot will continue to happen and for us in IFMA we're not only committed to ensure that this toga is taken away through our renewed purpose which speaks to capacity building. The thrust here is that the notion that bad maintenance culture should be treated as myth and energies should be channeled towards building a good maintenance culture. Jacinta Ubuco reporting for PLOS TV Africa. Hello hope you enjoyed the news please do subscribe to our youtube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.