Search results

This study aims to analyze the effects of variations in annual real interest rates in the assessment of the techno-economic feasibility of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) for an off-grid community.

Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software is used to propose an HRES for Abadam community in northern Nigeria. The HRES was designed to meet the basic needs of the community over a 25-year project lifespan. Based on the available energy resources in the community, photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine, diesel generator and battery were suggested for integration to serve the load requirements.

When the annual real interest rates were taken as 10 and 8 per cent, the total amount of total energy fraction from PV, wind turbine and the diesel generator is 28, 57 and 15 per cent, respectively. At these interest rates, wind turbines contributed more energy across all months than other energy resources. The energy resource distribution for 0, 2,4 and 6 per cent annual real interest rates have a similar pattern, but PV contributed a majority of the energy.

This study has used annual real interest and inflation rates dynamic behavior to determine optimal HRES for remote communities. Hence, its analysis will equip decision-makers with the necessary information for accurate planning.

The results of this study can be used to plan and design HRES infrastructure for off-grid communities around the world.

Studies show that building information modelling (BIM) technology can improve construction productivity regarding the design, construction and maintenance of a project life cycle in the 21st century. Revit has been identified as a frequently used tool for delivering BIM in the built environment. Studies about BIM technology via Revit are scarce in training middle-level workforce higher education institutions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relevance of BIM technology and offer measures to promote digitalisation in Nigeria’s built environment polytechnic undergraduates via Revit.

Given the unexplored nature of training the middle-level workforce in Nigeria, 37 semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted across Nigeria, and saturation was achieved. The participants were knowledgeable about construction-related BIM. The researchers used a thematic analysis for the collected data and honed them with secondary sources.

Improved visualisation of design, effective and efficient work productivity, automatic design and quantification, improved database management and collaboration and data storage in the centrally coordinated model, among others, emerged as BIM’s benefits. BIM technology via Revit is challenging, especially in Nigeria’s polytechnic education curriculum. The 24 perceived issues were grouped into government/regulatory agencies-related, polytechnic management-related and polytechnic undergraduate students-related hindrances in Nigeria’s built environment.

This study is limited to BIM implications for Nigeria’s built environment polytechnic undergraduates.

This study contributes to the literature paucity in attempting to uncover perceived issues hindering the implementation of BIM technology via Revit in training Nigeria’s built environment polytechnic undergraduates via a qualitative approach.

The dynamic nature of the built environment and trending smart construction project complexities demand proactive needs tailored towards architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) education. It is a task for the built environment professionals (BEP) to prepare for the future, including the quantity surveying (QS) profession. Studies are scarce in preparing QS education from Nigeria’s stakeholders’ perspective regarding digital technology. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate how to improve QS education by continually updating curriculum digitalisation to meet the construction industry requirements.

Data were sourced from elite virtual interviews across Nigeria. A total of 40 key stakeholders knowledgeable in QS education, advocating a future template for the advancement of QS education in higher institutions, were engaged, and saturation was achieved.

Findings show that improving QS education through continually updating curriculum digitalisation to meet industry requirements cannot be over-emphasised in the 21st-century-built environment industry. The outcomes of the results led to the conclusion that the current QS education curriculum was not meeting the expectations of other BEP stakeholders. Thus, for competitiveness in the future, the QS education curriculum needs to infuse more related-digital technology modules/courses to assist in the sustainability and relevance of the profession within the BEP.

This paper focussed on improving Nigeria’s QS education using digital technologies via a qualitative approach. Future study is needed via a quantitative approach for broader coverage and validation.

The research revealed the need for designing QS programmes to provide for industry demands with emphasis on digital technologies modules/courses. Nigeria’s QS education stakeholders have been stirred up to embrace the curriculum review and make the profession digitalised and relevant within the BEP. The built environment sector is trending towards digitalisation, and the QS programmes cannot afford to be behind.

This research identified the current gap regarding digitalisation of the curriculum. This study will stir QS educational providers and regulators to improve future programmes via digital technologies. It would encourage the use of digital technologies with the right enabling environment. The outcome would mitigate the gap and improve Nigeria’s QS education in the future.

In the global construction industry, the concept of sustainability is not new, particularly within building projects. Against this backdrop, several studies have been conducted, mostly in developed countries, on sustainability in construction projects. However, efforts at investigating sustainability practices in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in developing countries have received limited attention. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability practices within the context of Nigeria’s PPP infrastructure projects.

A questionnaire survey, which targeted four different types of stakeholders, was conducted in this study. These stakeholders included public sector authorities, concessionaires, consultants and banks undertaking PPP infrastructure projects in the Lagos State, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation (SD) analyses and the Kruskal–Wallis test.

The findings of this study revealed that all the respondents are very much aware of sustainability principles and the vast majority of the respondents from the public sector authorities and the consultant organizations confirmed that they have incorporated sustainability requirements into their bidding documents for PPP infrastructure projects. The study revealed sustainability features in the three aspects of sustainability, namely, economic, environmental and social factors. Furthermore, the study revealed the top three–ranked economic factors of sustainability (considered to be the most important factors) were low maintenance costs, whole life costing and supporting the local economy, respectively. Similarly, the study revealed the top three–ranked environmental factors of sustainability were biodiversity, energy use during the operation stage and energy use during the construction stage, respectively. Furthermore, the study further revealed that the top three–ranked social factors of sustainability were the educational aspect, equity between stakeholders and health and safety, respectively.

The study will be of great value to PPP stakeholders involved in sustainability decision-making processes when delivering sustainable PPP projects, particularly in Nigeria. Also, the study’s findings are important as not many empirical studies have been conducted on the sustainability practices of current PPP projects in Nigeria.

The study’s findings would further inform the need for both the public and private sectors to take a more strategic approach to enhance sustainability in PPP projects.

The land is a critical resource for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure development. However, acquisition of land for PPP infrastructure projects implementation increasingly becomes problematic in developing countries. Yet, effort at investigating the factors causing a delay in land acquisition for PPP infrastructure projects through an empirical method in developing countries received scant attention. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and critically assess the factors predisposing PPP projects implementation to land acquisition delay in Nigeria using an empirical approach.

The study adopted literature review and questionnaire survey. For instance, literature review was used to identify the factors causing delay in land acquisition for PPP projects in developing countries, which was used to design the questionnaire survey culminating in data analysis. To capture a broad perception, the questionnaires were administered to three different primary stakeholder groups comprised public sector authorities (i.e. ministries, department, agencies), concessionaires and lenders/banks involved in PPP projects implementation in Nigeria. Data collected were analysed using mean score, Kruskal–Wallis test and factor analysis.

The study revealed the mean score ranking of 22 identified factors causing a delay in land acquisition for PPP projects in Nigeria. The result of factor analysis grouped the 22 identified factors into 4 principal factors, namely, resettlement issues with political interference; non-availability of land with a higher cost of land transactions; weak planning institutions; and rehabilitation issues with extensive legal delays.

These study findings have implications for both policymakers considering PPP projects and private investors seeking to finance a PPP project in developing countries. Also, the study findings would be useful for the governments in Nigeria and other developing countries to formulate clear policies framework that facilitates the smooth acquisition of land for PPP projects.

The study will be beneficial to the potential local and foreign private investors and governments by broadening their awareness on impediments in land acquisition for PPP projects in Nigeria and developing countries at large. These study findings are crucial, as not many empirical studies have been conducted in Nigeria and many other developing countries.

Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) continue to gain increased attention from the Nigerian government. However, since PPP adoption in the country not all have attained expected outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to explore PPP implementation practices and implications on contractual expectations of partner organizations. A qualitative approach using data collected from 23 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders involved in a Road Partnership and in a Transport Partnership in Nigeria was employed. Documentary evidence was also collected. The institutional nature of the PPP environment; bureaucratic practices in government institutions; disruptive actions of external actors and ineffective mitigation of project risks were main challenges faced in the implementation of the Road and Transport Partnerships. This study is based on the opinions and experiences of key stakeholders on PPP implementation practices in Nigeria, and this is most appropriate to elicit data richness. Partner organizations involved in infrastructure PPPs have the obligation to ensure that they are effectively implemented. If partnerships are poorly implemented, there is no reason to expect that the partnership objectives will be achieved, and this is likely to have a negative impact on the collaborative nature of partnership working in fulfilling the contractual obligations. This study is imperative to provide an understanding of challenges inherent in achieving partnership implementation goals in a developing economy. Findings will inform practices within the PPP policy area in the Nigerian context.

This study explores the challenges of access to finance from local financial institutions (LFIs), i.e. local banks, for public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure project delivery in Nigeria. The aim is to provide useful insights that could inform policy solutions to ease the local funding of PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria and, by extension, other developing economies.

Adopting a qualitative research methodology, the study engaged PPP stakeholders involved in securing funds for PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria. A total of 15 PPP stakeholders, drawn from the public and private sectors, were purposively selected and their views on the research problem obtained through recorded telephone interviews. The opinions of the research participants were subsequently analyzed and the results discussed with the outcome of the examination of relevant literature.

The study found that the significant factors affecting access to local finance for PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria include low capital base by LFIs, weak project viability, lack of capacity to manage PPP-related activities, inconsistent government policy, poor legal framework and public perception of PPP.

Insights from this study are useful for PPP stakeholders in mitigating the barriers that influence access to local finance for PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria and other developing economies. This study is also useful in enhancing the current policy structure in developing countries as a way of revamping the existing infrastructure framework through LFIs.

This study provides clarity on the peculiar challenges impeding access to finance from LFIs for PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria and will be useful for debt providers and policymakers in evaluating the bankability of PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Building information modeling (BIM) is vital in the performance improvement of contracting firms. Thus, there is a need to stimulate its implementation in the construction sector with a view to meeting the competitive demands of the industry. However, there have been very few studies on BIM implementation among contracting firms in Nigeria. Hence, this study aims to examine the current BIM uptake among Nigerian contracting firms, assess the barriers to BIM implementation and examine the ways of improving BIM implementation within these contracting firms.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on contracting firms (comprising small-, medium- and large-sized firms) in Lagos, Nigeria. The obtained data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. These included percentage, mean score, standard deviation, the Kruskal–Wallis test and factor analysis.

This study revealed the current state of BIM implementation among contracting firms in Nigeria in terms of their knowledge of BIM, their usage of BIM as well as the BIM software adopted. Furthermore, the study identified 25 barriers to BIM implementation in contracting firms and identified 15 ways to improve BIM implementation in contracting firms. The relative importance of both the identified barriers and the ways for improving BIM implementation was gauged among contracting firms comprising small-, medium- and large-sized firms. The result of the Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that, except for two (out of 25) identified barriers, and one (out of 15) identified ways of improving BIM implementation in contracting firms, there is no significant statistical difference in the perceptions of the three respondents’ groups. The result of the factor analysis categorized the identified 25 barriers into seven main factors.

This study provides empirical evidence on the barriers to BIM implementation and the ways of improving its implementation among contracting firms, thereby providing a better insight of the Nigerian construction industry’s BIM environment.

This study’s findings can positively inform the decisions of construction stakeholders to formulate strategies capable of improving BIM implementation in the construction industry at large.

Building information modelling (BIM) has been established in the literature as a successful platform that creates an intelligent virtual model for processing data from conceptual design through construction to operational stage of a facility. However, its adoption for facilities management (FM) provision in Nigeria has been slow due to inherent barriers. The aim of this paper is to (1) assess and categorise using factor analysis BIM for FM barriers and (2) model the barriers using stakeholders' personal/professional attributes.

Anchored on quantitative research design, 205 copies of structured questionnaire were distributed to key stakeholders and facilities managers in Nigeria's three strategic cities while 135 valid responses were received giving a response rate of 65.8%. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics while multiple regression analysis was used to model the barriers. Kruskal Wallis test was used to test the only hypothesis postulated for the study.

The study established lack of awareness of BIM for FM, poor supporting infrastructure for Internet services, and lack of education and training as the top three rated barriers militating against adoption of BIM for FM in Nigeria while corruption, widespread mistakes and errors and cultural issues were established as the three least rated barriers. Besides, findings also established eight underlying factors that explained 23 barrier factors used for the study which were subsequently used to develop eight regression models. In effect, gender, professional affiliation, organisation, experience, education, expertise, BIM for FM project type, and location were found to statistically predict the 8 extracted factors driving perceived barriers of BIM for FM adoption in Nigeria.

The study has provided a framework of barrier factors to help stakeholders identify specific barriers for which appropriate measures can be taken to ameliorate consequences of the perceived barriers. Meanwhile, an improved and rejuvenated advocacy on inherent benefits of BIM for facilities management by frontline stakeholders could potentially steer up interests and increased participation of stakeholders on BIM for FM.

The unique study developed the first ever regression model that links BIM for FM barriers to professional attributes of facilities management stakeholders in Nigeria.

Although scientific research community has shown considerable interest in identifying critical success factors (CSFs) for public-private partnership (PPP) projects, yet effort at assessing and compare CSFs within similar PPP infrastructure projects received scant attention. The purpose of this paper is to identify, assess, and compare the CSFs in PPP transport infrastructure projects.

The study adopted literature review and three PPP case studies including structured interviews and review of documentary reports in each case study. The outcome of literature review provided a total list of 26 identified success factors, which was used to design a case study protocol using failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) technique. FMEA was conducted on each 26 identified success factor to assess their criticality in the three PPP case studies.

The results of FMEA revealed a total of ten CSFs in the concession of the road; four CSFs in the concession of the airport; and eight CSFs in the concession of the seaport. Also, the cross-case analysis showed the three prevalent CSFs, this includes government involvement by providing guarantees, political support, and project economic viability.

The study findings including lessons learnt in each case study would positively influence policy development towards PPP transport infrastructure projects and the manner in which partners (i.e. public and private sector) go about the development of PPP transport projects.

This research would help PPP stakeholders to focus their attention and priorities in managing the identified CSFs in achieving long-term success in PPP transport infrastructure projects implementation.