Application of Facilities Management Practice in High Rise Commercial Properties: Jos in Perspective

The article studied the application of facilities management practice in high rise commercial properties. Convenience sampling technique was used in administering questionnaires to the 60 respondents who responded to the survey. It was found out that the extent of application of facilities management in the subject properties is better described as below average. Similarly, the most frequently tools of facilities management in use and employed in the properties were outsourcing and in-house sourcing. This was influenced by the level of their familiarity with the tools. Planned and Preventive maintenance should be taken regularly in order to enhance the effectiveness of the facilities management and to satisfy both the owner and customers of the organization. Keywords: Commercial Properties, Facilities Management, High Rise Buildings, In-house Sourcing and Outsourcing.

Impact of Facilities and Service Quality on Patient Relatives Satisfaction and Patronage in University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Borno State, Nigeria

The study aimed at evaluating the impact of facilities and service quality in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. The study assesses the level of service quality and facilities provided to the patient's relative satisfaction and patronage. The study adopted a quantitative approach, and data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 225 patients relative to the UMTH proportionately selected from the target population in the Borno metropolis. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics with mean ranking, frequency distribution and Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) to achieve the research aim. The study indicated that service quality has the most potent effect on patronage, followed by satisfaction with a significant effect and facilities provided with a small size effect. The study also indicated hypothesised path relationship between service quality and patronage is statistically significant. The study reported that hypothesised path relationship between satisfaction and patronage is statistically significant. The study demonstrated that hypothesised path relationship between facilities provision and patronage is not statistically significant. It can be depicted that service quality and satisfaction are both moderately strong predictors of patronage, but facilities provision does not predict patronage directly. The study finally recommended that management intervenes through the provision of maintenance culture, enhancing the quality of services and facilities for satisfaction and patronage

Framework of property rating practice for financing neighborhoods facilities provision in Bauchi Metropolis Nigeria

The deplorable condition of neighbourhood facilities in Bauchi metropolis persists, while the initiative aimed at raising local revenue to maintain and redevelop the local facilities has not been implemented. Property rating is one of the most stable source of local revenue, which if harnessing can finance the provision and maintenance of community infrastructures. This study has examined the existing condition of neighbourhood facilities and evaluated the most significant factors that militated against the implementation of property rating. The study has collected quantitative data, and used SPSS for reliability and exploratory factor analysis; and applied Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) for the analysis of the measurements and the structural models. The results showed that ‘Over-Reliance on Crude Oil Revenue’ and ‘Poor Taxation System’ are the most important factors hindering the implementation of property rating. And that the ‘Lack of Political Will’ is a factor that remarkably influenced the condition of the neighbourhood facilities in the study area. In conclusion the study has proposed Land area-based assessment for rating valuation, using Google Earth/Map for area measurement. The proposed framework was envisaged to be cost-effective in rating valuation. It was recommended that the government should diversify revenue sources from oil-based to harness all the avenues like property rating at the municipal level. Future studies should find out, apart from ‘Over Reliance on Crude Oil Revenue’ and ‘Poor Taxation System’, whether some other factors do militate against the implementation of the property rating in the study area

SWOT analysis of land area-based and value-based property rating

The property rating can be on Value-based rating Assessment (VbRA) or Area-based Rating Assessment (AbRA). This study examined the suitable assessment of Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. The materials used were published books and journal articles, and SWOT technique was applied to analyse the identified variables, then the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were sorted out. The facts from the SWOT matrix were assimilated into existing local scenario to strategically decide the appropriate assessment procedure for raising the local revenue for financing the provision and maintenance of municipal infrastructure and facilities. The study found Area-based Rating Assessment (AbRA) as the most appropriate rating assessment procedure for the study area

Premium arrangement in the contemporary real estate transaction in Bauchi

The premium arrangement in the real estate enables lessors to receive a lump sum of money and forfeit a part of rental income, while the lessee enjoys some profit rents. This transaction was not operational in the study area. This study investigated the position of the lessor on the awareness and practice of premium arrangement on the real estate transaction in Bauchi metropolis, using multiple regression and structural equation modelling with AMOS graphics. The analyses (both) multiple regression and structural equation modelling with AMOS revealed that the awareness and practice of premium arrangement in Bauchi metropolis have been a factor that can significantly influence the real estate transactions with corresponding benefits to both lessors and lessees in the study area. It was therefore recommended that the parties’ privy in the premium transaction to acknowledge the benefits to the lessor appeared to out-weigh the benefits to the lessee, thus the parties should be enjoined to comply with the existing rules and covenants of their leas

Impediments to the Implementation of Property Rating in Bauchi Metropolis, Nigeria

Property Rating Practice (PRP) is globally recognized as potential and lucrative source of revenue to local governments; PRP is doing pretty well in Europe, America and Asia, its performance in most African countries is not satisfactory. This paper identified the factors that impedes the implementation of property rating in Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. The methodology used includes literature and questionnaire survey; the questionnaire were administered by simple random sampling to respondents across twelve neighbourhoods in the metropolis, other respondents came from the Ministries of Lands and Housing, Environment and Sanitation as well as professionals in the field of real estate valuation and management. The descriptive and inferential statistics like frequency table and Structural Equation Modelling were used in the analysis to determine whether identified factors really impedes the implementation of property rating; and whether the factors have any relationship with provision of neighbourhood facilities and services in Bauchi metropolis of Nigeria. The results of the findings indicated that ‘Over-reliance on Crude Oil Revenue’ and ‘Poor Taxation System’ are the leading factors that hinders the implementation of PRP in Bauchi metropolis of Nigeria. Keywords: Property Rating Practice, Neighbourhood facilities and Bauchi Metropolis, Nigeria

Analyzing area-based rating assessment implementation in Bauchi Metropolis, Nigeria, testing SWOT variables

The Area-based Rating Assessment (AbRA) entails assessing the real property for rating purposes on the basis of the land area only. This study analyzed the implementation of AbRA in Bauchi metropolis, experimentally by testing the helpful factors under both internal and external variables; and subsequently, by testing the harmful factors under the internal and external variables all derived from SWOT analysis, and measuring their effects on the endogenous variable (AbRA). The study derived major themes from SWOT analyses, whose variables under each theme were used as measurement items or sub-themes for the primary data collection. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyze the impact of the variables on the implementation of AbRA in the study area. It was found that the area assessment required the limited data to conduct the rating assessment, and did not necessarily require periodic revaluation to update the valuation list with the volatilities in value, thus, making AbRA to demand less cost of administration. It was also found that, information on land area can be collected remotely without entry into the individual properties, the process did not defy the residents’ privacy, also, the remote data collection could be done using tools like Google Earth/Map which allowed the ease of reconnaissance and faster inspections and measurements, hence, this study recommended the area-based rating assessment (AbRA) for Bauchi metropolis of Nigeria

Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundFuture trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) and provide a reference forecast (the most likely future), and alternative scenarios assessing disease burden trajectories if selected sets of risk factors were eliminated from current levels by 2050.MethodsUsing forecasts of major drivers of health such as the Socio-demographic Index (SDI; a composite measure of lag-distributed income per capita, mean years of education, and total fertility under 25 years of age) and the full set of risk factor exposures captured by GBD, we provide cause-specific forecasts of mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by age and sex from 2022 to 2050 for 204 countries and territories, 21 GBD regions, seven super-regions, and the world. All analyses were done at the cause-specific level so that only risk factors deemed causal by the GBD comparative risk assessment influenced future trajectories of mortality for each disease. Cause-specific mortality was modelled using mixed-effects models with SDI and time as the main covariates, and the combined impact of causal risk factors as an offset in the model. At the all-cause mortality level, we captured unexplained variation by modelling residuals with an autoregressive integrated moving average model with drift attenuation. These all-cause forecasts constrained the cause-specific forecasts at successively deeper levels of the GBD cause hierarchy using cascading mortality models, thus ensuring a robust estimate of cause-specific mortality. For non-fatal measures (eg, low back pain), incidence and prevalence were forecasted from mixed-effects models with SDI as the main covariate, and YLDs were computed from the resulting prevalence forecasts and average disability weights from GBD. Alternative future scenarios were constructed by replacing appropriate reference trajectories for risk factors with hypothetical trajectories of gradual elimination of risk factor exposure from current levels to 2050. The scenarios were constructed from various sets of risk factors: environmental risks (Safer Environment scenario), risks associated with communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs; Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination scenario), risks associated with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs; Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario), and the combined effects of these three scenarios. Using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways climate scenarios SSP2-4.5 as reference and SSP1-1.9 as an optimistic alternative in the Safer Environment scenario, we accounted for climate change impact on health by using the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change temperature forecasts and published trajectories of ambient air pollution for the same two scenarios. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were computed using standard methods. The forecasting framework includes computing the age-sex-specific future population for each location and separately for each scenario. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for each individual future estimate were derived from the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles of distributions generated from propagating 500 draws through the multistage computational pipeline.FindingsIn the reference scenario forecast, global and super-regional life expectancy increased from 2022 to 2050, but improvement was at a slower pace than in the three decades preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (beginning in 2020). Gains in future life expectancy were forecasted to be greatest in super-regions with comparatively low life expectancies (such as sub-Saharan Africa) compared with super-regions with higher life expectancies (such as the high-income super-region), leading to a trend towards convergence in life expectancy across locations between now and 2050. At the super-region level, forecasted healthy life expectancy patterns were similar to those of life expectancies. Forecasts for the reference scenario found that health will improve in the coming decades, with all-cause age-standardised DALY rates decreasing in every GBD super-region. The total DALY burden measured in counts, however, will increase in every super-region, largely a function of population ageing and growth. We also forecasted that both DALY counts and age-standardised DALY rates will continue to shift from CMNNs to NCDs, with the most pronounced shifts occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (60·1% [95% UI 56·8–63·1] of DALYs were from CMNNs in 2022 compared with 35·8% [31·0–45·0] in 2050) and south Asia (31·7% [29·2–34·1] to 15·5% [13·7–17·5]). This shift is reflected in the leading global causes of DALYs, with the top four causes in 2050 being ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, compared with 2022, with ischaemic heart disease, neonatal disorders, stroke, and lower respiratory infections at the top. The global proportion of DALYs due to YLDs likewise increased from 33·8% (27·4–40·3) to 41·1% (33·9–48·1) from 2022 to 2050, demonstrating an important shift in overall disease burden towards morbidity and away from premature death. The largest shift of this kind was forecasted for sub-Saharan Africa, from 20·1% (15·6–25·3) of DALYs due to YLDs in 2022 to 35·6% (26·5–43·0) in 2050. In the assessment of alternative future scenarios, the combined effects of the scenarios (Safer Environment, Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination, and Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenarios) demonstrated an important decrease in the global burden of DALYs in 2050 of 15·4% (13·5–17·5) compared with the reference scenario, with decreases across super-regions ranging from 10·4% (9·7–11·3) in the high-income super-region to 23·9% (20·7–27·3) in north Africa and the Middle East. The Safer Environment scenario had its largest decrease in sub-Saharan Africa (5·2% [3·5–6·8]), the Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario in north Africa and the Middle East (23·2% [20·2–26·5]), and the Improved Nutrition and Vaccination scenario in sub-Saharan Africa (2·0% [–0·6 to 3·6]).InterpretationGlobally, life expectancy and age-standardised disease burden were forecasted to improve between 2022 and 2050, with the majority of the burden continuing to shift from CMNNs to NCDs. That said, continued progress on reducing the CMNN disease burden will be dependent on maintaining investment in and policy emphasis on CMNN disease prevention and treatment. Mostly due to growth and ageing of populations, the number of deaths and DALYs due to all causes combined will generally increase. By constructing alternative future scenarios wherein certain risk exposures are eliminated by 2050, we have shown that opportunities exist to substantially improve health outcomes in the future through concerted efforts to prevent exposure to well established risk factors and to expand access to key health interventions.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.</p