Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved a new policy towards maintaining public buildings in the country.
The minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola who announced this while briefing journalists at the end of the meeting said the new maintenance policy and framework seeks to institutionalise a maintenance culture in Nigeria.
He said his ministry has carried out maintenance requirements of nine public buildings including a school, hospital and government office building which was used as a benchmark for ministries, departments and agencies and for the consideration of FEC.
The new policy, which institutionalised a maintenance culture in the country, would provide an inventory of government assets and job opportunities for Nigerians.
“We have never developed this type of maintenance economy which we are creating today.
“With what we have done now, we have started with a national pilot plan for inventory of our national assets and a maintenance procurement manual which will be made available to all the ministries, departments and agencies of government, nationwide,” he said.
“It gives us an assessment of the conditions and value, then it gives us a maintenance framework about what needs to be done after assessments and then a maintenance procurement manual,” Fashola said.
Fashola announced that FEC had approved the first contract of over N812.5 million for the demarcation of specific areas of land to be affected by the actual construction of the Mambilla Hydro Power Project.
He said the contract involved nine land surveying companies, adding that the demarcation would eventually lead to enumeration and resettlement.
Fashola said the contract was also preparatory to payment of compensation and commencement of main construction of the power project.
The minister revealed that the Mambilla project, which is expected to be completed in five years, will provide thousands of jobs to Nigerians.
He said beyond the ultimate aim of providing power, the Mambilla project is creating an economy for business to thrive. Premium Times
