The Lagos State Ministry of Housing on Monday trained facility managers on modern maintenance practices and operational innovation on state-owned estates.

The facility management workshop, which was held in Lagos, had the theme, “Knowing Your Estate to Own It.” 

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Gbolahan Toriola, said that the training aligned with the establishment of a dedicated facility management unit and the introduction of standardised operational guidelines for all state-owned residential estates. 

Mr Toriola said that the workshop would solve the primary problems facing state-owned housing estates. 

He said that such problems included the proliferation of illegal structures, unauthorised building extensions, severe infrastructure neglect, and environmental challenges like flooding. 

The permanent secretary said the workshop aimed to equip facility managers with sustainable maintenance strategies, best practices, and operational guidelines for state-owned housing schemes. 

Mr Toriola urged participants to be proactive and innovative in maintaining public infrastructure, ensuring the long-term aesthetic and economic value of those state-owned estates. 

“This seminar was organised by the ministry. It is to ensure the sustainability of our estates by educating our facility managers and estate executives on how to sustain their estates in a modernised way. 

“We want them to be proactive and not reactive executives and facility managers. This is why we said “knowing your estate,” as the theme. So the facility manager’s duty is to maintain these estates on behalf of the government. This is because we have had an estate being developed by the Lagos government, but the structure is not well planned. 

“When you look at some old estates that were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, if you go to those estates today, you will see that they cannot sustain them. This means facility managers are put there to give the government up-to-date knowledge about those estates and to carry out some maintenance with respect to the service charge collected from allottees or residents of the estates,” he said. 

Mr Toriola said it was important to educate them about their responsibilities and the duty the government had engaged them to carry out. 

He said facility managers should improve their knowledge base, improve staff welfare, and train staff because trained staff is more of an asset than a liability to the organisation. 

Some prominent state-owned housing estates in Lagos include Dolphin Estate, located in Ikoyi; Jakande Estate, with multiple phases across various local government areas like Isolo and Ejigbo; and Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate, located in Ajah. 

Others include Iponri Housing Estate in Surulere, Oluwole Estate in Ogba, and Sunshine Estate in Oko-Oba, Agege. 

Also included are Alapere Medium Estate in Alapere, Ketu; Abesan Estate in Ipaja, Alimosho; and Iba Housing Estate in Iba. 

Temitope Akinbola, the coordinating director of the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA), urged facility managers to register with the authority to avoid a clampdown. 

Mr Akinbola said any facility manager operating in the state without the authority permit was operating illegally. 

The Managing Director, Green Facilities Limited, Olumide Aina, said that stakeholders, including landlords and tenants, must adhere to established rules for communal areas.‎

Mr Aina, a facilitator at the workshop, said that clear communication of rules and culture was also vital for new residents to prevent misunderstandings. 

‎He urged facility managers, however, to develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide operations and maintenance.

 Bukola Oloyede, a participant and one of the facility managers from the ministry, said the workshop educated them and estate associations in the state.

Mr Oloyede said that the workshop emphasised the importance of proper estate management and maintenance in the state.

“Based on the series of presentations we have had, I am happy that this programme is coming up, even in a time like this for us to learn, unlearn and relearn.

“Most of our estates are getting dilapidated, and this workshop with the stakeholders is to ensure that we put things in the right order in the estates,” he said.

(NAN)