ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Maintenance generators degrade the quality standard of a building and if left unattended will definitelycause more damages and in the long–run, costly repairs. Maintenance staff are sometimes faced with thechallenges of detecting the exact source of maintenance problems in buildings, this necessitated aresearch to assess factors that contribute to maintenance problems in higher institutional buildings andpropose best practice criteria for effective maintenance management. Method of data collection was viaquestionnaire. The results from the data of the descriptive analysis were presented using RelativeImportant Index (RII). 101 questionnaires were administered with a response rate of 96.04%. Findingsfrom the study revealed human/user factors and management related factors as the most contributory tomaintenance problems of the studied higher institutions. The least considered best practice criteria wascomputerized maintenance management system (CMMS) with a mean score of 2.82. Several higherinstitutions maintenance departments lack a computerized work system. This may not be surprising givingthe phobia many people still have for computers. Almost all the maintenance departments lack qualifiedcomputer personnel to operate an effective CMMS. This study will help the higher institution managementtackle the identified major problems that results in deterioration of building facilities.