Theft and Vandalism Control Measures on Building Sites in Lagos, Nigeria

Problems of theft and vandalism is paramount issues related to building sites. The incidence of theft and vandalism sometimes depend on the nature of construction work and these vary among housing developments, roads and highways construction, dam structures, airport, and stadia construction. This study investigates the nature of theft & vandalism and security control on building site to curb the endemic effect through diversity of security technologies. A purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study. Opinion survey questionnaires were administered to construction professionals in the three categories of construction firms; large construction, medium construction and small construction firms and literature was also reviewed. The data collected was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Study revealed that more theft and vandalism are experienced large construction firms than medium and small firms. Construction professionals agree to identify causes of losses and considered all security component/ measures to be important

Local Governance Structures and Their Role in Mobilising Community Action: A Case of Recreational Facilities in Mining Towns in the Copperbelt Province

This paper explores the role of local governance structures at community level in mobilising community action in the redevelopment of recreational facilities in former mine townships in the Copperbelt Province. These facilities are experiencing a management quandary resulting from the privatisation of the mining conglomerate, ZCCM, in the late 1990s. This paper argues that every society has a way of reorganising itself when such vacuums in management occur. Growing literature places this research agenda within “self-organising”, “co-production”, “self-managing”, etc. Underpinning these self-organising processes are local governance structures devised by communities themselves, which include various actors being involved in the decision making and management processes for community development. In modern societies, the role of these structures is often underplayed and only realised when a vacuum appears in the management as is the case for formerly mine-owned recreational facilities in Copperbelt towns. A multi-case study approach was adopted in this mixed method research to determine the communities’ ability to regenerate the dilapidated recreation centres. The research found that the communities had the social capital required to drive the regeneration process, exhibited by the benevolence shown to each other, the willingness to participate in activities at the recreation centres and the availability of self-organising associations. Additionally, the local structures were able to self-organise and participate in decision making and management required for successful community development

Prioritising Facilities Management Services for Benchmarking in Selected Cities in Nigeria

Due to the high cost of benchmarking, it is often difficult to provide required resources for it. Therefore, to benchmark successfully, it is often necessary to identify services that are most important for the efficiency of the organisation and prioritise them. This paper examines the facilities management (FM) services that are most in need of benchmarking in Nigeria. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires that were sent to 120 facilities management organisations in Lagos metropolis, 50 in Abuja and 15 in Port Harcourt. The survey achieved a total response rate of 76% in Lagos, 58% in Abuja and 87% in Port Harcourt respectively. The five services that need benchmarking the most were found to be: utilities, maintenance, security, cleaning and waste disposal, property management and Information Technology in that order. Also, repeated measures analysis of variance results showed that the differences indicated in the respondents' rating of how important it is to benchmark these FM services is statistically significant. Kruskal Wallis test showed that there was difference in the importance of FM services for benchmarking based on professional affiliation of the FM. The study provided information on how to prioritise these services for benchmarking in order to conserve resources of Nigerian organisations

South African stakeholder views of the competency requirements of facilities management graduates

The aim of this study is to evaluate South African stakeholder views of the content of the recently developed postgraduate course in Facilities Management at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. The study was done using a questionnaire survey of a cross-section of professionals registered with the South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA). It covers technical, personal, interpersonal and professional skills as well as the ability to conceive, design, implement and operate business systems. It also highlights the degree of importance of these skills. The findings of this research will enable those designing FM programmes of study to ensure that their curricula are current and relevant to the needs of the relevant stakeholders within their contexts. The paper goes beyond previous research in the built environment in specifying the requisite proficiency levels in terms of the relevant skills and competencies

Applicability of existing performance evaluation tools and concepts to the Nigerian facilities management practice

There are noticeable gaps in aspects of Nigerian facilities management (FM) education and practice. Predicated by its relative infancy, one area where this gap is more apparent is in the measurement of performance. This paper is a systematic review of at least 22 performance measurement (PM) tools and concepts that are known and in use for assessment of performance of buildings / facilities and or performance of FM as a management process. Based on the literature, the research examined the essential features, strengths and weaknesses of each method generally and their specific applicability to the Nigerian environment, in view of her peculiarities as a developing nation. It also discusses the required attributes of a PM tool that will be applicable to FM in Nigeria. A major contribution of the study is the development of a table that presents a summary of the information on the tools or concepts at a glance. The paper is an extract from an ongoing PhD research; although it does not include details of the empirical survey, it nevertheless provides background work for a possible attempt at developing a PM tool that will be contextual and applicable to the measurement of building performance and effectiveness of facilities managers in the Nigerian FM practice and by extension, to most parts of the developing world