We need good maintenance culture

Our inability to maintain infrastructure, facilities and equipment that are procured with the taxpayers’ money to meet a need is the bane of the country.

Not only do we lack the desire to maintain state infrastructure and facilities, but we misuse such facilities and projects; thereby cutting short their expected lifespan.

This troubling phenomenon has been with us as a nation since independence and it has largely affected the development of the country.

Roads that citizens have demonstrated to have the government construct have deteriorated in no time either because they have not been done well with the right materials or because they have not been maintained.

We see breakdown vehicles being repaired on major roads, with all the oil and lubricants spilling on the roads. Sometimes vehicles that are not roadworthy lose their tyres and the rims and other metal parts that damage the road because the vehicles are in motion when the tyres come off – no one is surcharged and no repairs are done.

In other places sand from vehicles as well as the shoulder of the roads spill onto the roads till they become part of the road and the asphalt is subsumed under the thick sand.

Why can’t we periodically clean the roads, especially the newly constructed ones, as is done in other jurisdictions by street sweepers, so as to make the roads last long?

We have been clamouring for more roads but we are making very little progress because even the ones that have been constructed recently are deteriorating at a very fast pace because of the lack of a deliberate maintenance culture.

So, instead of getting new roads done during the government’s extended year of roads, we are redoing the old ones which have been left to deteriorate.

Roads are not the only infrastructure being run down because of the lack of maintenance. Most items and equipment procured for government business are usually treated anyhow because they are for the government.

These include museums, cultural, historical, hospital, sanitary, recreational, sports and educational facilities, among others.

The Daily Graphic finds it unacceptable that 65 years after attaining independence, the citizens of the country have lost all sense of patriotism, such that the facilities we ourselves have insisted must be provided for our wellbeing are not being taken good care of.

We need to protect equipment and other infrastructure such as buildings that provide a service to the citizenry. We have to change our attitude and rather jealously guard such facilities that have been provided at great cost to serve the larger community.

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shaani Alhassan Shaibu, hit the nail right on the head during the presentation of vehicles to six schools in the region recently, when he urged the management of state institutions to develop a good maintenance culture to protect logistics provided by the government from deteriorating.

Indeed, as he posited, the mishandling and poor maintenance of logistics affected government expenditure, as more funds were needed to repair equipment that had been left to deteriorate, whereas systematic maintenance could have prevented such waste. A stitch in time, it is said, saves nine.

Be they vehicles, work tools, equipment or other facilities used by more than one person, we must all be responsible and handle them properly so that they serve many people and for a long time.

We need to also insist on a strict maintenance regime and factor the cost of maintenance in any project that is embarked on. That way, we will not complain that there are no funds for maintenance and the replacement of parts when equipment is concerned.

We should know that so long as infrastructure and facilities are being used there would be wear and tear, which must be addressed at all cost so services can continuously be provided.

The Daily Graphic urges managers of facilities in all sectors to be proactive to ensure the speedy development of the country.