ASSESSMENT OF HOUSING INTERVENTIONS OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES, SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

This research assessed housing interventions of cooperative societies in federal universities, southwest Nigeria. The target population were the officials and members of the cooperative societies in the study area. There are thirty-five cooperative societies with membership strength of thirty thousand five hundred and nineteen in this study area, this constituted the sample frame for the study. One general cooperative society was purposively selected from each of the federal universities while the members of the six selected cooperative societies were randomly selected for data collection. The six cooperative societies have 9738 memberships out of which a sample size of 463 was selected and served with questionnaire. A total of 383 questionnaires were well completed and found fit for further analyses representing 85.37% response rate. The collected data were analysed using Chi-square test, Cramer’s V statistics, Kruskal- Wallis H test, DunnBonferroni Post Hoc test, One- sample t-test, Mean Effective Score, Relative Importance Index, Factor Analysis, and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Kruskal- Wallis H test with correction for ties (H= 17.63, df =5, p = 0.003) at significant level of 5% showed that there is a statistical significant difference in the strategies of housing intervention of the cooperative societies. Findings further indicated that an aggregate value of N66.069million was spent by the six cooperative societies on housing interventions within the study period. The results of One Sample t-Test on the significance of cooperative expenditure on the housing intervention strategies across the study area revealed that, outright acquisition of complete housing; accessing housing loans from government agencies/banks; provision of special loans for renovation of existing buildings; and Contributory homeownership scheme are the most affected strategies in terms of funds expended by the cooperative societies. Moreover, results of Factor analysis revealed that Cooperative governance; Housing construction cost and economy; and Government interference and funding are the 3 distinct constraints to housing interventions of the cooperative societies. Substantially, the study employed PLS-SEM technique to predict the constructs of the constraints to housing interventions of cooperative societies that impact significantly on cooperative members’ satisfaction (CMS). The findings showed that only Government interference and funding construct had a positive and the most significant correlation with CMS (β = 0.977, t = 81.979, p < 0.05). The study recommended among others, a policy change (bottomup approach) where cooperative societies are allowed to operate freely with periodic supervision from government and putting in place regulatory mechanism to checkmate their activities.