The preparedness of any organization to minimize the frequency and severity of work related accidents, ill-health, and damage to property is demonstrated by the adoption of a health and safety management system. By its nature, a health and safety management system through its provisions and demands, not only highlights the impact of poor health and safety standards on organizational performance but also encourages greater awareness of health and safety issues and responsibilities. Quite unfortunately, in Nigeria (as in many developing economies) statutory regulation, capable of ensuring the adoption and implementation of health and safety management systems by organizations, seems inadequate or ineffective. The impact of this, as demonstrated by the outcome of survey and literature review, is a general lack of awareness on important health and safety issues among Nigerian construction workers. Equally, there is an inability and or unwillingness by organizations to pay adequate attention to health and safety management. Consequently, the overall health and safety standard, operational capability and corporate image of Nigeria's construction industry have been affected.

A link exists between the level of investment in infrastructure and economic growth. However, it has been shown that in spite of huge amounts earmarked for infrastructural projects, the desired outcome/benefits are not attained in many cases. This has been attributed to poor adherence to project management principles in the conception, design, and execution of these projects. This paper highlights poor project conception and definition, poor budget and stakeholder management, as well as inadequate monitoring and evaluation as major causes of these failures. This can be minimized through the integration of good project management principles in the planning, design and execution of projects, supported by a robust monitoring and evaluation procedure.

The extent to which a country develops is anchored around its resources; and this is evidenced in how the revenue derived from natural resources (especially the oil and gas industries) has influenced national development strategies. This notwithstanding, the existence of natural resources does not always translate to development, as these often times lead to complacency and mismanagement; Nigeria may have suffered from this. This paper establishes the impact of gas production, utilization, and flaring on the estimated monetary value of the goods and services produced in Nigeria (GDP), using multiple linear regression analysis. The result shows that while gas utilization has a positive impact on the nation’s GDP, gas production and flaring are negatively associated with GDP. The paper concludes that for these to positively stimulate economic growth, there is need to invest more in infrastructure in the industry, and review the regulatory framework guiding operations of the oil and gas industry.

The construction industry in Malaysia drives the economic growth and development of the country. However, the industry is plagued with delays and cost overrun which transforms what should have been successful projects to projects incurring additional costs, disagreements, litigation and in some cases abandonment of projects. This research studied the causes of delays and cost overrun in the industry and ranked them according to their perceived importance to the contractors, with a view to establishing those to be addressed by the contractors. Online questionnaires were used for data collection for this research. A total of 69 responses were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) (factor analysis) to identify the main causes. The result of the analysis showed that delay in preparation of design document, poor schedule and control of time, delay in delivery of material to site, lack of knowledge about the different defined execution methods, shortage of labour and material in market, and changes in scope of work were the main causes of delay and cost overrun. The identified causes if properly addressed would reduce the rate of delays and cost overrun in construction projects, thus enhancing the economic growth and development of the country.

The level of success enjoyed by an organisation is dependent on its competitive advantage over the competitors. A firm's competitive advantage is positively correlated to its level of knowledge on existing market conditions, and ability to adapt and exploit the prevailing market conditions. However, discourse in existing literature on ways through which small and medium enterprises (SMEs), often constrained by lack of resources, can acquire requisite knowledge needed to build competitive advantage and for continued existence are minimal. This paper discusses how SMEs could enhance their skills and competitiveness by leveraging on the resources and knowledge inherent in networks and partnership arrangements. Specifically, it explains how these arrangements could be utilized to develop knowledge resources and capabilities. This work is theoretical in nature and relies heavily on the review of pertinent existing literature on knowledge acquisition, competitive advantage, networks, partnerships, and performance. Organisations, especially SMEs, the paper argues, can acquire and develop knowledge resources and capabilities via networks and partnerships. The acquired knowledge and capabilities can then be leveraged to create competitive advantage for the enterprises.

This paper is the report of a study on the improvement of road infrastructure in Nigeria using the MinnaBida road as a case study. The N1.414 trillion which has been appropriated for the road sector in Nigeria since 1999 is seen as an acknowledgement of the crucial role of road transportation in national development. There are views that inadequate funding has contributed substantially to the deplorable condition of some roads, specifically the Minna-Bida road axis; which is additional to the lack of robust project management strategies capable of sustaining these investments. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Nigeria needs a sustainable framework which would ensure the preservation of her road transportation infrastructure; the attainment of which is affected by the level of funding. This paper highlights the failure of direct conventional tolling and makes a case for Public Private Partnership (PPP), by concessioning, as a means of achieving sustainable preservation of the road transportation infrastructure in Nigeria. The financial viability of both the conventional tolling and the modified shadow-toll concession (STC) models were tested using the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV). The result shows that while the STC model is financially viable, the conventional tolling model is not.

PurposeGiven the complexities in improving safety in the construction industry globally, which is exacerbated by the complex safety environment in developing countries (DCs), prevention through design (PtD) has been established to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) where applied. However, it has received very little attention in DCs and the extant literature with limitations. Using Nigeria as a case study, the current study advances the understanding of PtD in DCs by investigating the critical barriers to PtD and other potential OSH responsibilities of designers in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachTwenty-eight semi-structured interviews and e-interviews of architects, builders and civil engineers in Nigeria were analysed using the six-phase thematic analysis. To improve the trustworthiness of the research, triangulation, peer-debriefing, refining the interview protocol and thick detailed description were done.FindingsThe study's findings question the extant general knowledge and understanding of PtD among clients and designers and its technical aspect among designers where it is skewed to structural safety and omitted in universities' curricula. This explains the inconclusive findings of existing studies on why there is a high level of awareness of PtD but a low level of implementation. There is little client support for PtD, and designers have limited influence on clients in terms of it. The fear of liability from PtD is exacerbated by the limited legal system and lack of adequate legislation in the country. The demotivating attitudes of clients and contractors towards designers in terms of PtD are also reported, just as there are project delivery barriers such as traditional procurement not supporting PtD as design and build procurement does.Social implicationsFor the sustainable growth in the practice of PtD, the increased and improved quality of education and awareness of PtD is needed but this must focus on instilling a robust understanding of it among designers based on the local context. This educational requirement can be supported by statute.Originality/valueThrough qualitative data, the findings explain and offer insight into the inconclusive findings in the extant studies on PtD in Nigeria. Also, it contributes to improving health and safety by advancing the understanding of the critical barriers to PtD and other potential OSH responsibilities of designers in D Nigeria's construction using qualitative data.

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