Friday, March 15, 2013

ZERO MAINTENANCE CULTURE IN NIGERIA

The other day, sixteen(16) abandoned planes were marked for destruction cum sent to a steel company for recycling. That got me thinking 'what if the Eiffel Tower was in Nigeria, probably it would have be...en dismantled and sent to a steel company for recycling by now'. Over the years, our lack of maintenance culture had led to us loosing Billions of Naira and yet we still have that proverbial 'Do away with the old wife as soon as you get a new wife' attitude. The state of our refineries is nothing to write home about as importation of refined petroleum products is now the norm in a country that is one of the major exporters of oil in the world. The problem? -Lack of maintenance culture. In his book 'The Rules of Life', Richard Templar opines "Sometimes we need an old-fashioned approach of time and attention and finding out. Like our grandparents, who didn't throw things away[or abandon them] and get a new one when something had stopped working -they patiently sat down and tried to sort out what it is that had gone wrong and if there was a way to put it right again".
Our General Hospitals could be likened to a hospital ran by a Doctor who just saved some little money working with the Government and decided to go into private practice. They are understaffed, lack functional pharmacies and proper lighting and this is supposed to be a government controlled institution. I saw pictures and read about the Police College at Ikeja, Lagos state and I felt really sorry for the country and that is still due the Government's lackadaisical attitude. How would one expect an excellent output or effort from a policeman who was trained in such an unkempt, dilapidated, smelly, rat-infested place called a police college. The numerous potholes we complain of on our roads have also found their way to our runways. A visit to any of the local airport in the country would prove this fact yet we have a functional Government. Growing up, I used to hear about NITEL, NRC, NIGERWAX and other Government owned or controlled companies but now the adjective -'Defunct' is what you would find before them each time they are mentioned or appear on the Dailies owing to embezzlement of funds meant to foster the growth of these industries or institutions. Privatisation is now the order of the day because most of our corrupt officials see that as an avenue to get richer and this is because most of these privately owned companies are owned by them and are being run by their agents yet we are complaining of not progressing. How would we progress when the country's wealth rests in the hands of few people.
Around the country, you could tell if an institution is government controlled or owned by the shape in which it is in or the nature of its maintenance. I wonder what would have become of countries like the USA, Britain, France, South Africa, Germany, China etc if their government's attitude towards maintenance is like that of Nigeria. Can you compare a public school in the US with one here in the country? Or a General Hospital here in the Country with one in South Africa? These questions are left for you -the readers to answer.
Our neighbouring country -Ghana is a testimony of how a proper maintenance culture could turn a country around for better. Malaysia collected oil palm seeds from Nigeria sometime ago, today they remain one of the major exporters of Oil palm but where is Nigeria? yet we have a working Agricultural sector.
Until the Government of Nigeria sees the need to ensure a proper maintenance culture in its institutions, industries, ministries etc, the country would remain stagnant and the only notable progress we would be recording would be those that are mentioned when the president makes a nationwide broadcast.

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