Maintenance Challenges and Effective Facility Management in Selected Private Universities in Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The need for effective facility management is vital to ensure that the physical infrastructure of universities is functional, safe and sustainable. In higher education institutions, however, maintenance operations can be constrained by poor planning, poor coordination, lack of skilled staff, slow response to maintenance needs, weak supervision and ineffective implementation of maintenance policies. This study examined perceived maintenance challenges, and compared their ratings across selected private universities in Edo State, Nigeria, with implications for effective facility management. The study adopted a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Four private universities, namely Glorious Vision University, Mudiame University, Benson Idahosa University and Wellspring University, were surveyed using questionnaires administered to maintenance personnel. A total of 175 questionnaires were distributed and 156 were retrieved and analysed, giving an 89.14% response rate. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations) were used to analyse the data, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of maintenance challenges across the four universities, at the 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive results indicated high agreement that inadequate maintenance planning, poor coordination between maintenance units, lack of skilled staff, delayed response to maintenance problems, weak supervision and poor implementation of maintenance policies are important challenges. The grand mean across the six challenge indicators was 4.59 (SD = 0.52). The ANOVA showed that mean ratings differed significantly across the universities, F(3, 152) = 10.879, p < 0.001; hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. The findings indicate that perceived maintenance challenges differ significantly between the selected universities. Because facility management effectiveness was not measured directly, the study does not establish a relationship between these challenges and facility management effectiveness. The study recommends improved maintenance planning, proper coordination, sufficient technical staffing, quick response mechanisms and enforcement of maintenance policies in private universities.