THINGS HOPED FOR

Acknowledgement should be made when complaints are raised about poor service and this is dealt with by the appropriate service providers. A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the problems with the Facility Management in Shopping Malls. The Managing Director of the Facility Management Company for one of the major shopping Malls called me to discuss my article and promised to look into these complaints. It was pointed out to me that the issues I raised were being managed by another sub Facility Company within the mall, but not withstanding, this would be addressed.  I visited the Mall a week later and can gladly say that all the issues raised had been dealt with and everything was back in full working condition. If only all poor service complaints were dealt with so fast and so effectively. Well done!

Nigeria is a complex country we hear all the time, but if there is accountability, a lot of things will get done very well in this country.

Are the problems at the airports so big that they cannot be easily resolved? I don’t think so. We are not talking about NEPA/PHCN or power issues here, which on its own will take up a few years worth of articles. We are talking about simple renovation of “tired” infrastructure which a good and competent contractor will take only a few months to execute. The private sector in Nigeria does it all the time. Visit some of the major international oil companies and see how well their facilities and infrastructure are maintained. If our public services cannot succeed at such a simple task, then one really wonders about their leadership. If we truly want to improve things in this country, people have to be made accountable at every single level. One person cannot do it all, but must work with other like minded persons to achieve the goals set out. Make the managers accountable for their budgets. The managers in turn should make their respective staff accountable and so on. It is called ‘distributed leadership’. 

Nigerians would like to see our airports, hospitals, schools, roads, electricity, water, etc etc, improved and maintained well. These are basics for any country interested in the well being of its people. Yet we see housing estates springing up in upmarket areas with prices that can only be afforded by those with access to loots of money or low subsidised interest rates! The average working man does no10t have a hope of affording a good home or even a plot of land? It is reported that only 10% of Nigerians earn over N5million per annum! If this is true, then only less than 10% of Nigerians have any hope of owning their own home. The rest will be renters or squatters, depending on their family and network links. A very sad state of affairs!

Even though the government widely reports on new low cost developments being built around the country, the N15-N25m costs are still very much out of the reach of the average working class Nigerian. When these developments are completed, they are snapped up by friends, relations and workers in the corridors of power, who then re-sell or let out for exorbitant amounts. The facilities are never maintained, and by the end of the second year, they are already run down. The lack of maintenance unfortunately does not only apply to low cost developments, but can be seen in some of the most up scale developments in Ikoyi and Victoria Island.