The Group Managing Director of Alpha Mead, Engr. Femi Akintunde, has charged the executives of the International Facility Management Association, (IFMA) Nigeria, to tailor their activities towards nation-building and standards regularization. This call was made during a courtesy call to the head office of Alpha Mead by IFMA executives recently.
Akintunde stated that the association has metamorphosed over the years and now needs to focus its attention on actions that will be of great impact to the country at large while ensuring the national facilities management (FM) standards are not compromised as a result of new players in the industry. “The IFMA should join the ranks of professional bodies that have added some measure of innovation to their activities. One such body is the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and its National Infrastructure Scorecard it develops on an annual basis to assess the state of infrastructure as it pertains to usability, with the report presented to the presidency. I know that IFMA has the right personnel and technical competence to embark on a strategic task on this level and I urge you to take it into consideration” he said.
President of the association, Segun Adebayo, acknowledged that leadership position that Alpha Mead occupies in the sector and the association and reaffirmed some of the strategic initiatives that the body has embarked on to strengthen FM practice nationally. “I want to commend the resilience and impact of the organization on the FM industry. Also, I must state that my administration is driven by passion, and development in Facility Management is a marathon, not a sprint. It is for this reason that we are seeking to collaborate with Alpha Mead on our forthcoming silver jubilee celebration. We are also aware of the need to inject fresh blood into the association that will uphold the FM standards, so we launched a mentorship program last year that has been largely successful. The thinking here is by virtue of understudying experts in the space, there will be easier cross-generational transmission of global best practices,” Adebayo said.
On his part, the Managing Director of Alpha Mead Facilities, Wole Olufore maintained that collaboration between FM players being utmost at this time. He also charged that practitioners adopt green practices in business in line with the global trend. “There is a pressing need for a more collaborative approach amongst stakeholders in the Facility Management sector. Shared knowledge and values will go a long way to improving the sector. We know what players are capable of individually and with collaboration clients and the industry as a whole will be better for it. But while this is being done, the need to align practices with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is pressing. The need to stem the effects on global warming on the planet is key and facilities managers have a big role to play as it pertains to how these built assets are made and how people interact with them daily”.