IFMA seeks facility management in schools’ curriculum

In a renewed effort to inspire the next generation of facility managers, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), Nigeria Chapter has advocated for the incorporation of facility management in the schools’ curriculum.

The association made the submission at the celebration the 2018 World Facility Management Day with the students of the Government Technical College, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos. The theme for the celebration is, “Enabling Positive Experiences: Inspiring the Technical Students for a better tomorrow.”

IFMA President, Pius Iwundu, said that the idea would help in developing a maintenance culture that will shape the future of the nation’s economy and the passion for proper upkeep of the built environment.

He stated that, the World FM Day has become a veritable platform that promotes the importance of facility managers in the overall growth and preservation of infrastructure and assets.

According to him, “This year’s celebration is geared towards developing the next generation of facility managers who will move the profession to higher heights in Nigeria. “There is a need to raise committed professionals who will advance the course of the profession. “

He said that facility management is a multi-disciplinary profession that ensures the functionality of built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.

“FM is the fastest growing industry in the world today. The practitioners must have something in common using the best practices at all times. It takes about four years to build a facility but over a 100 years to manage it. FM must be taken seriously.

“Facility management must be embraced by everyone for our built environment to reach its life expectancy and serve its purpose. Those that practice FM must be trained and certified,” he added.

The Nigeria Chapter is an affiliate of IFMA Worldwide, based in Houston, United States of America. IFMA is the world’s largest and widely recognized association for professional facility managers, supporting more than 22,655 members in 78 countries.

Since 2008, The World Facility Management Day has been institutionalized with the aim of raising the profile of facility management as a profession and once a year the global facilities management community comes together to celebrate FM on World FM Day which however provides an opportunity for global knowledge sharing, to discuss and share experiences both good and challenging, to promote our profession and celebrate successes. It is a day where facilities management professionals use to reflect on their achievements over the past year.