EFFECT OF CONTRACT DISPUTE ON PUBLIC BUILDING PROJECT DELIVERY IN ADO EKITI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was based on the assessment of project management practices in Ekiti State Electricity Board, Ado Ekiti. The study examined the extent of project management tools and techniques in use in the organization and evaluated the effect of project management practices on project delivery in Ekiti State Electricity Board. A purposively determined 99 copies of questionnaire were distributed among the staff and analyzed using the techniques of descriptive and logistic regression statistical analysis. Also, chi square test was used to measure the significance of the hypotheses of the study. The results revealed that the level of awareness of project management practices including realistic schedule, collaboration with other relevant government bodies, scope specification, adequacy of contingency plan, effective contract management, effective project monitoring, effective project control, effective leadership, and conflict resolution to be “high” which stood at (4.18, 4.17, 4.19, 4.17, 4.19, 4.10, 4.18, 4.25) in that order. The findings also revealed that various level of usage of project management practices that were rated very high includes: competent personnel engagement, comprehensive planning prior to performance project activities, utilization of project management software with mean scores of (4.22, 3.78 and 3,71) respectively. Furthermore, the results also show the level of usage on the basis of highest frequency of response in favour of the corresponding usage scale revealed that progress report as a technique of project management is mostly used with highest mean score of (3.81) and cost benefit analysis which was rated second with mean score of (3.72) for mostly used. The calculated chi-square statistic of 127.600 and tabulated statistics of 79.1, alongside probability values of 0.000, shows that the study rejects the null hypothesis and accept alternate hypothesis and this implies that the extent of project management tools and techniques in use is significant.However, the study concludes that effectiveness of the utilization of these project management practices would enhance project delivery.