Assessment of causative factors for project abandonment in Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions
International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation
ISSN: 2398-4708
Article publication date: 10 April 2017
Abstract
Purpose
Abandonment of construction projects is still a burning issue in Nigeria. Beside the poor financing of educational infrastructure, abandonment of construction projects remains a significant contributor to the inadequacy of facilities in Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to assess the causes of abandoned projects specific to public institutions of tertiary education in Nigeria, with a view to providing empirical data that are generalizable to enhancing successful delivery of teaching and research facilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data used for the study were obtained through questionnaires administered to 47 professionals comprising 8 architects, 12 mechanical and electrical engineers, 15 civil/structural engineers, 4 builders and 8 quantity surveyors who were involved in physical development of construction projects in public tertiary educational institutions in Osun State. The data were analyzed using mean analysis, factor analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) test.
Findings
The factors most significant to abandonment of tertiary educational institutional projects were delayed payments, fund mismanagement, inadequate budgetary allocation, inadequacy of finance, inflation and bankruptcy of the contractor. Findings also showed that not all factors causing abandonment were significant to tertiary institutional projects. The significant factors clustered under stakeholders’ response capacity, poor financial management, inadequate planning and monitoring, and unexpected occurrences. The K-W test showed significant differences among the categories of tertiary institutions on the ranking of the most significant causes of abandoned projects.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to public tertiary educational institutions in Osun State. Further studies could focus on public health institution projects and private tertiary educational projects to improve the body of knowledge on the subject of causative factors for project abandonment.
Practical implications
The study provided implications for effective contract management of public tertiary educational institutional projects, which is a significant step to improving the available teaching and research facilities in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Originality/value
The study provides implications for effective contract management systems of projects for public tertiary educational institutions, thereby improving the available teaching and research facilities.
Keywords
Citation
Alao, O.O. and Jagboro, G.O. (2017), "Assessment of causative factors for project abandonment in Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions", International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 41-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBPA-07-2016-0016
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited