During this season, many of us have lost so much – a job, relationship, money and maybe even sanity. None of it may have been your fault. God knows how to make up for the years you’ve lost in your life. No, you can’t re-live your childhood, but God can make the rest of your life so rewarding, so fulfilling that you don’t even miss what didn’t happen in the past.
You may be sitting there thinking about wasted years in relationships that didn’t work out. But God can bring somebody into your life so great, so fun, so friendly, so attractive, that you don’t even remember the years that you’ve lost. You may have spent years in a job that turned out to be a dead end. You were working your way to the top; things didn’t turn out like you had hoped, and now it looks like it was a big waste of time. You may not see how you could ever get to where you want to be, but don’t believe the enemy’s lies. God knows how to make up for lost time. Hallelujah!
Today, God can change things in your life. He can bring opportunities back that you missed, that will thrust you years ahead of where you are. It may not have happened the first time, but God will always give you another chance. He’ll make up for the lost time and bring you out better and stronger than ever before!
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…” (Joel 2:25, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, You are my Great Redeemer. Father, thank You for Your promise to restore to me the years that have been lost or wasted – some through no fault of my own. I receive this promise by faith. God, I claim my job back, my finances back, my relationship back, my dignity back, and I put my trust and hope in You, and believe that my best days are ahead of me, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
Many of us have lost things during this pandemic – a job, house, relationship or even credibility, which may not have been your fault. I have good news, God knows how to make up for the things you’ve lost, not only during the pandemic but in life. No, you can’t re-live your childhood, but God can make the rest of your life so rewarding, so fulfilling that you don’t even miss what didn’t happen in the past. Hallelujah!
Many of us feel like we’ve wasted years in a relationship that didn’t work out. But God can bring somebody into your life so great, so fun, so friendly, so attractive, that you don’t even remember the years that you’ve lost. You may have spent years in a job that turned out to be a dead end, it was a big waste of time. You may not see how you could ever get to where you want to be, but don’t believe the enemy’s lies. God knows how to make up for lost time by a better job, or with an unexpected promotion.
Today, I declare God can accelerate things in your life. He can bring opportunities back that you’ve missed that will thrust you years ahead. Things may not have happened the first time, but God will always give you another chance. Your God will make up for lost time or things, and bring you out better and stronger than ever before!
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…” (Joel 2:25, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, my Great Redeemer and Lord. Father, thank You for Your promise to restore to me the years the locusts have eaten, the years that have been lost or wasted. I receive this promise by faith in Jesus’ Name. Father, we claim jobs back, finances back, dignity back and new relationships. I put my trust and hope in You, and believe that my best days are ahead of me, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
On the Monday, the day after Christ rose from the grave, “Jesus is Risen” were the words on everyone’s lips. For many, that was a reason to celebrate, not only on that day but every day! Because He is risen, we can rise up too in every area of life. We can have victory over sin and death, and embrace eternal and abundant life!
The main importance of Christ’s resurrection is it gives mankind a new beginning, and greater hope for the future. When we embrace the resurrection and receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, believing He died for our sins and was raised from the dead, that’s when life begins! Hallelujah!
Today, know that God loves you and receives you just the way you are. If you need a new beginning, there’s no better time than right now. Call on Him, receive Him by faith and join with us to celebrate His resurrection!
“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” (Matthew 28:6, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, today I receive the new beginning in my life that Your resurrection brings. Father, thank You for sending Your Son to die on the cruel cross and be raised from the dead, so that I can have abundant life and eternal life. I embrace and accept this new season, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
During these times it’s easy to get discouraged with so many things going wrong. Maybe covid is in your family. Maybe you aren’t getting out of debt as fast as you thought. Or, you’re experiencing some challenges in your health or relationships. We have to be careful not to give up just because it hasn’t happened on our timetable. We serve a mighty God. His ways are higher than our ways. When we believe, all things become possible!
Stop trying to figure things out. Humanly speaking there may not be a way, but that’s okay. God can do what men can’t do. Think about the children of Israel. When they left Egypt, there were two million of them. Then, Pharaoh came chasing after them, and when they came to a dead end at the Red Sea, it looked like it was over. They couldn’t see a way out, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way. God simply parted the Red Sea, and they went through on dry ground. Hallelujah!
Today, it may look like there is no way out of your situation, trust God to make a way. He’ll part your Red Sea if He has to! He’ll do whatever it takes to lead and guide you in the path of victory that He has prepared for you! Praise God!
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, good morning. I trust You, knowing with You all things are possible. Father, I will take my eyes off my circumstances and put my trust and hope in You for my victory. God, I bless You and thank You for Your faithfulness to me, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
I struggle with waiting, at times I find it very frustrating. However the saying goes “good things come to those that wait.” Are you waiting for God to do something in your life? One thing I’ve learned is that waiting should not be passive and boring. When we’re waiting the correct way, we’re on the lookout. We talk like what we are believing for is going to happen. We act like it’s going to happen. We’re making preparations.
Today, think about that first dinner date, you’re so excited you can’t sit still. You don’t wait until they show up before you decide to start cooking. You start early, you make sure the house is clean, you go to the grocery store, and maybe buy some flowers for the table. You make preparations while waiting because you’re expecting someone special. Well, that’s the attitude we need to have while we’re waiting for God’s promises to come to pass. As you put actions behind your prayers, your faith comes alive and opens the door for God to move mightily on your behalf.
“…faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20, NKJV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, today I will put actions behind my faith, trusting that You are at work in my life. Father, teach me to wait on You the right way – with expectancy – knowing that You are leading me into the path You have for me, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
The traumatic aftermath of a miscarriage, even an early one, is an empirically proven, statistically significant trend.
Miscarriage and grief are both an event and subsequent process of grieving that develops in response to a miscarriage.
This event is often considered to be identical to the loss of a child and has been described as traumatic.[
Losing a pregnancy can affect a woman – and her family – for years, research finds.
Emotional responses may be bitterness, anxiety, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust and blaming others; these responses may persist for months.
By far the most common PTSD symptoms that result from miscarriage are depression and anxiety.
Mental Illness after miscarriage is common, but women aren’t getting the support they need.
A study from the Irish Journal of Psychology found that 44 percent of women who had miscarried during their first trimester showed “clinical levels of psychological distress,” even months later. That includes depression, panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, and anxiety.
So your friend decides to forget the “12 week rule” and tells her family and social networks she is pregnant. She knows the stats — one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage — but she wants to have the support of family and friends around her in case she needs it.
Then the worst happens: she miscarries. And she discovers many people around her, including health professionals, lack sensitivity when talking about the miscarriage. Some don’t even acknowledge her loss.
So how can we support women better? What do women need from family, friends and health professionals at the time of a miscarriage?
Studies Acknowledge How Traumatic Miscarriage Is – So Why Doesn’t Society?
Dos
Acknowledge their loss.
Listen and let them grieve.
Encourage them to talk to other women who’ve had a miscarriage.
Mental illness can be a consequence of miscarriage or early pregnancy loss and even though women can develop long-term psychiatric symptoms after a miscarriage, acknowledging the potential of mental illness is not usually considered. A mental illness can therefore develop in women who have experienced one or more miscarriages after the event or even after many years later.
“There is the initial shock of finding out your child has passed, alone in an ultrasound room because partners are not allowed in with you, then there is the trauma of the abortion pill which is essentially going into labour at home without any medical professional present, and then you are expected to live your life normally for weeks, going to work, smiling, all the while knowing your dead pregnancy is inside you and could come out at any moment. I don’t think any woman finds herself on the other side of that mentally intact.”
“The study will explore the barriers and benefits of using a screening tool. Some hospitals now have early pregnancy loss clinics to which they can refer women experiencing miscarriages. This is a very new development and we hope that use of these clinics will result in better screening and follow-up for women who may have mental health issues following their miscarriage.”
There may be a link between PTSD and miscarriage
Studies Acknowledge How Traumatic Miscarriage Is – So Why Doesn’t Society?
Engel says there are very limited long-term studies related to mental health and miscarriage and that most studies tend to have been conducted in the first year post miscarriage or even within the first six weeks.
Engel also says findings of the studies are contradictory, with some suggesting that life circumstances or social support have no bearing on the experience of either depression or anxiety. Others suggest that women who have limited social support, prior losses, longer gestation, and/or existing mental health concerns are more likely to experience greater severity in depression and/or anxiety and to experience symptoms of either up to a year.
Murder by guns as of today is Two thousand two hundred and fifty, Murder by abortion stands at Two hundred seventy-five thousand and seven hundred and seventy-five as of 12 o’clock central time, March 13, 2018. They are killing a baby every 30 minutes in America.
Where has the church been for the last 40 yrs? Nowhere to be found. Everything in life is taught to you from your parents, school to the church. The church has always taught you to be meek and turn the other cheek. Part of that is true. However there has to be warriors in christianity be it women or men. Our Lord will use women when the men can not fulfill their duties.
All you have to do look at Num.25:1-5, especially verses 5, Moses told the judges to slay the men who followed the god Baal-peor.
The Israelites killed their children to the god Chemosh or you could call it Baal-peor. They worshipped the sun-god and sacrificed their children to appease a made up god. There was also cannibalism and every deviant sexual behavior you could think off.
The blood of the children flows through the altars ankle-deep and you are complicit in the murder of children. You are asleep in the pews because of the same old restaurant menu they serve you. The Lord always calls leaders to defend the Trinity of the Lord. Apparently 58 million children later your Lord has found no one righteous.
The day is going to come when the Council of Elders (pastors) are going to stand before the Father and He is going to ask, How come you did not stop the killing of my children?
What are you going to say?
To the children that want tougher gun laws maybe you should protest the killing of children by abortion.
Like it states in the book of Daniel, you will be ruled by children as knowledge increases the end will be near.
Remember God loves you and wants you to come home.
Evil never rests, it only regroups and develops a new strategy to bring about as much death, destruction, and pain as it can. It seems that the dust has hardly settled over the last suicide inducing game (The Blue Whale Challenge) that a new one has cropped up: The “Momo Challenge”.
A twelve-year-old girl from Argentina has reported having committed suicide, a suicide linked to the Momo Challenge. There are other suicides that have been linked to the challenge but have yet to be verified. Police officers all over the world are warning parents to be on the lookout for this deadly social media game and to be aware of the signs associated with it.
The way that this challenge works is by sending a number to a person’s phone and asking them to contact a Momo Whatsapp profile. Once a connection has been established, Momo will begin to send challenges/objectives to the users that escalate in self-harm as it progresses. Failure to do so will result in threats such as promising to curse the user, kill their family and appearing at night to them. Graphic and disturbing pictures are also sent to the user to further terrify them into complying with the demands of the Momo.
A father from Cutral Co has claimed that the game threatened his fifteen-year-old daughter with certain death. A Momo-connected profile sent the girl a picture of a dead person and threatened her home, family, and friends if she didn’t respond to the challenge.
The Momo is a terrifying-looking half woman/half bird creature that is weird enough to strike fear into any child (or adult for that matter) when coupled with threats of harm and promised death. The creators of the now-dubbed suicide game are using the cropped image of a bird-woman sculpture that was created by Link Factory, a Japenese special effects company. The Momo challenge has no connection to the Link Factory.
Children remain at risk for games like this because their concept of reality and fantasy can become easily blurred. Parents should keep an eye on their children and their mobile use, but take care not to appear overly controlling because that can create much frustration and distance their children from them. If a child is spending an unhealthy amount of time on their mobile, parents need to promote playing outdoor games. If parents themselves spend a considerable amount of time playing games on their mobiles, all efforts to stop or reduce the time spent doing so should result in your child having less of an interest to engage in mobile games. Having good communication with your child/ren is also vital.
The most important thing that we can do for our children is to pray for them. There is only so much that we can do in the physical realm to protect our kids, therefore prayer is the only form of action that we can take to counter all that takes place in the spiritual realm. I believe that all events that take place in the physical realm first originate in the spiritual realm, and as we do not have constant access to that realm (and should not unless by the Holy Spirit at appointed times and by the will of GOD) we need to put our faith in the Almighty to hear our prayers and petitions to keep our children safe.
Inside a railway arch in Brixton, a piece of history was brought back to life. First built in 1928 by Captain Richards & A.H. Reffell, Eric is one of the UK’s first robots. Eric’s design was relatively simple. He was automated, but the interesting thing about Eric is how much extra stuff people read into him. Ingenious electrical instruments enabled Eric to hear questions and answer in a human voice.
On September 28 1928 Eric stood up at the Royal Horticultural Hall, bowed, looked right and left and moved his hands as he proceeded to give an opening address as sparks flashed from his teeth.
The New York Press described Eric as the “perfect man,“ built less than a decade after the word robot was used for the first time, Eric toured the world with his makers but then vanished, seemingly forever.
Nobody knows if the robot was thrown out, or lost, but it’s apparent that Eric once lauded for his technical prowess became an early victim of technological obsolescence. He may have no longer been needed or wanted even though he may have still been in working order.
In May 2016, over 800 Kickstarters investors campaigned to bring Eric back to life. Roboticist and artist Giles Walker created a replica of Eric using just a handful of archived news cuttings, pictures, and video. The robot is built with the same finesse as modern robots but purposefully lacks their capabilities. Eric is controlled by a pre-programmed sequence, using software similar to that used for controlling lights in theatres.
By resurrecting Eric, Russell and Walker want to make people reevaluate the place of robots within our history and society at large.
Commissioned by the Science Museum and funded through a successful £51,000 Kickstarter campaign, Eric is on display at the South Kensington museum ahead of a Robots exhibition in 2017 and will thereafter tour the world just like he did more than 90 years ago.
The new exhibition will feature more than 100 robots, from a 16th-century mechanical monk to robots from science fiction and modern-day research labs.
In whose image are robots made?
According to Russell, Curator, London Science Museum the answer seems to be “ourselves.”
Robots are almost like mirrors, they reflect back on ourselves, tell us who we are Ben Russell, Curator, London Science Museum
As research into artificial intelligence continues, we will continue on the path of making artificial intelligence (AI) in our image. But can Christian thought provide an alternative approach to how robots are made?
The original Eric is a product of a time when an intelligent robot was still a far-off possibility. At the time, filmmakers and audiences treated these robots instrumentally; there was little sympathy for the robot dead.
Times, however, have changed. Christopher Orr, writing in The Atlantic, notes that there is a major philosophical shift in the newest version of Westworld: A shift from concern for the creators, made of flesh and blood, to concern for the created, made of steel and silicon.
The Nigerian construction industry is mostly concerned with the development and provision of projects such as roads, bridges, railways, residential and commercial real estates, and the maintenance necessary for the socio-economic developments contributes immensely to the Nigerian economic growth (Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Butcher and demmers (2003) described projects as an idea which begins and ends by filling a need. However, a project fails when its idea ends without meeting the needs and expectations of its stakeholders.
Nigeria Has Become the World’s Junk – Yard of Abandoned and Failed Projects worth Billions of Naira!
Hanachor (2013), revealed that projects form part of the basis for assessing a country’s development. However, a damming report from the Abandoned Projects Audit Commission which was set up by the Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 revealed that 11,886 federal government projects were abandoned in the past 40 years across Nigerian (Abimbola, 2012). This confirmed the assertion by Osemenan (1987) “that Nigeria has become the world’s junk –yard of abandoned and failed projects worth billions of naira”.
Abandoned projects including building and other civil engineering infrastructure development projects now litter the whole of Nigeria.
Physical projects do not only provide the means of making life more meaningful for members of the community where the projects are located, successful projects also result in empowerment and collective action towards self improvement (Hanachor, 2013).
This Issue of Abandonment Has Been Left Without Adequate Attention for Too Long, and Is Now Having a Multiplier Effect on the Construction Industry in Particular and the Nigeria’s National Economy as a Whole. (Kotngora, 1993)
PROJECT FAILURE
Project Failure might mean a different thing to different stakeholders. A project that seemed successful to one stakeholder may be a total failure to another (Toor and Ogunlana, 2008). Some stakeholders, more especially the project users and some private owners, think of failed projects as a situation where a completed building project collapsed, a situation where by a completed dam project stopped working after few days of completion, or a completed road project that broke down after few months of completion. Other experienced stakeholders, such as engineers and architects conform to the iron triangle by Atkinson (1999) which states that the most strategically important measures of project failure are “time overrun”, “cost overrun”, and “poor quality”.
Turner (1993) noted that a project fails when the project specifications are not delivered within budget and on time;the project fails to achieve its stated business purpose; the project did not meet the pre-stated objectives; the project fails to satisfy the needs of the project team and supporters; and the project fails to satisfy the need of the users and other stakeholders. Lim and Mohamed (1999) cited in Toor and Ogunlana (2009) clarified that there are two possible view points to project failure namely; the macro-level and the micro-level. They further explained that the macro view point reviews if the original objectives and concepts of the project was met. Usually the end users and the project beneficiaries are the ones looking at the project failure from the macro view point, where as the project design team, the consultants, contractors, and suppliers review projects from a micro view point focusing on time of delivery, budget, and poor quality.
In the early 1990s, the failure as well as the success of any project was determined by the project duration, monetary cost, and the performance of the project (Idrus, Sodangi, and Husin, 2011). Belout and Gauvrean (2004), also confirmed that the project management triangle based on schedule, cost, and technical performance is the most useful in determining the failure of a project. Moreover, a project is considered as an achievement of specific objectives, which involves series of activities and tasks which consume resources, are completed within specifications, and have a definite start and end time (Muns and Bjeirmi 1996, cited in Toor and Ogunlana, 2009). Reiss (1993) in his suggestion stated that a project is a human activity that achieves a clear objective against a time scale. Wright (1997) taking the view of clients, suggested that time and budget are the only two important parameters of a project which determines if a project is successful or failed. Nevertheless, many other writers such as Turner, Morris and Hough, wateridge, dewit, McCoy, Pinto and Slevin, saarinen and Ballantine all cited in Atkinson (1999), agreed that cost, time, and quality are all success as well as failure criteria of a project, and are not to be usedexclusively.
FACTORS OF PROJECT FAILURE
Cookie-Davies (2002) stated the difference between the success criteria and the failure factors. Hestated that failure factors are those which contributed towards the failure of a project while success criteria are the measures by which the failure of a project will be judged. The factors constituting the failure criteria are commonly referred to as the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Timeand Cost Overrun
The time factor of project failure cannot be discussed without mentioning cost. This is because the time spent on construction projects has a cost attached to it. Al-Khali and Al-Ghafly, (1999); Aibinu and Jagboro, (2002) confirmed that time overrun in construction projects do not only result in cost overrun and poor quality but also result in greater disputes, abandonment and protracted litigation by the project parties. Therefore, focus on reducing the Time overrun helps to reduce resource spent on heavy litigation processes in the construction industry (Phua and Rowlinson, 2003). Most times, the time overrun of a project does not allow resultant system and benefits of the project to be taking into consideration (Atkinson, 1999). Once a project exceeds the contract time, it does not matter anymore if the project was finally abandoned or completed at the same cost and quality specified on the original contract document, the project has failed. Furthermore, Assaf and Al-Hejji, (2006) noted that time overrun means loss of owner’s revenue due to unavailability of the commercial facilities on time, and contractors may also suffers from higher over heads, material and labour costs.
Poor quality/Technical Performance
The word “Performance” has a different meaning which depends on the context it is being used and it can also be referred to as quality. Performance can be generally defined as effectiveness (doing the right thing), and efficiency (doing it right) (Idrus and Sodangi, 2010). Based on this definition of performance, at the project level, it simply means that a completed project meets fulfilled the stakeholder requirements in the business case.
CAUSES OF PROJECT FAILURE
A lot of research studies have investigated the reasons for project failures, and why projects continue to be described as failing despite improved management. Odeh and Baltaineh, 2002; Arain andLaw, 2003; Abdul-Rahman et al., 2006; Sambasivan and Soon, 2007; all cited in Toor and Ogunlana, 2008, pointed out the major causes of project failures as Inadequate procurement method; poor funding and availability of resources; descripancies between design and construction; lack of project management practices; and communication lapses
The contract/procurement method
A result obtained from two construction projects which were done by the same contractor but using different procurement methods showed that rework, on the design part which occurs when the activities and materials order are different from those specified on the original contract document, makes it difficult for the project to finish on the expected time (Idrus, Sodangi, and Husin, 2011). This is as a result of non-collaboration and integration between the design team, contractor, and tier suppliers. The rework on the design portion has a huge impact on project failure leading to the time overrun. The traditional method of procurement has inadequate flexibility required to facilitate late changes to the project design once the design phase of the construction project has been concluded.
Nigerian most widely used procurement method is the traditional method of procurement (design-bid-construct) which has been confirmed to be less effective to successfully delivery of a construction project (Dim and Ezeabasili, 2015). And, the world bank country procurement assessment report (2000) cited in Anigbogu and Shwarka, (2011) reported that about 50% of projects in Nigeria are dead even before they commence because they were designed to fail.
The way the construction projects are contracted, in addition to the way the contracts are delivered, contributes to the causes of projects failure. Particularly, among the methods of project contracting is lump-sum or a fixed-price contracting method, in which the contractor agrees to deliver a construction project at a fixed price. The fixed-price contract can be low-bid or not however, once the contract cost has been agreed upon the contract award, it cannot be changed. And, contractors are expected to honor and deliver the contract agreement, failure to do so can result in a breach of contract which can result in the contractor being prosecuted.
Awarding a contract to an unqualified personnel also contributes to project failures. When a contractor places more emphasis on money and the mobilization fee after a construction project has been initiated instead of getting the right workforce and skilled professionals that will execute the project. Instead the workforce chosen will often not be base on competence and required skills rather it will be based on availability. Moreover, poor strategy and planning by contractors who have overloaded with work also contributed to one of the causes of project failure.
Poor funding/Budget Planning
A lot of public projects in the Nigerian construction industry failed as a result inadequate funding, and the difference between the national annual budget and the budget actual released. Most of the Nigerian public projects are signed even before the actual release of the national budget. The difference in budget of the contracted project and the actual budget release can get the contracted company stuck as a result of inflation of prices, scarcity of construction material at the time of the budget release and mobilization to site. Also un-planned scope of work which can be as a result of the contractor working on another contract when he is called back to mobilization to start work. Moreover, poor budget planning is a regular mistake made by some contractors by not undertaking feasibility assessments before starting the design. The construction project should be planned according to the available resources and not according to the unrealistic expectations a client has in mind.
Discrepancies Between the Design and Construction
Limited collaboration between the contractors, engineers, and the architect results in discrepancies between the project designs and construction on site, and further leads to rework. Changes on a project designs, and changing to the scope of work in the middle of construction processes on site can be dangerous, and can lead to time overrun, increase in cost, and most of all can lead to abandonment. Moreover, many cases have been seen where the designs from the architects are not buildable on site, whileIn some cases, most contractors are unable to adequately specify the scope of work for the construction processes on site. Therefore any default on the design by the architect can be an opportunity for the contractor to make more money which might cause the project duration to exceed the time specified on the contract document.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research starts with a general reasoning or theory which says that the major cases of project failure in the Nigerian construction industry are defined based on time overrun and cost overrun. The findings from the data analysis will help on the decision to accept the theory or not. The research data was collected from the progress report for the month ending of October, 2015 published by the Nigeria of Federal Ministry of works on thirty-nine on-going highway construction projects at the South-South geopolitical zone. The table 1 below shows the information on the data collected which comprises of the project title, contract Number, project description, the contractor that was awarded the projects, the date of project commencement, date of completion and the extended date if any. The scheduled time for each project was specified as follows: project commencement date labeled as “a”,project completion date labeled as “b”, and the extended date labeled as “c”.
Table 1: The analyzed data on the highway project at the South-South zone in Nigeria.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data analysis was done with the use of Microsoft excel. The analysis started by obtaining the number of days between the date of commencement of each project and the date of completion to show the duration of each highway project. And, the number of days between the project completion date and the extension date showed the time-overrun. The project duration and the extended days were obtained with the use of NETWORKDAYS function in Microsoft Excel which calculates the number of working days between two dates excluding weekends and any dates identified as holidays.
The standard deviation between the specified project duration for each highway projects and the extended days was calculated to obtain the extent to which each highway project contract failed on its time of delivery. This was denoted as the degree of failure. The table 1 above showed the projects ranking which was done based on the degree of failure of all the highway projects. The highway projects that were ranked from one to sixteen have low degree of failure and are represented with green color, while the rest are those with high degree of failure and are represented with red color.
FINDINGS
The findings made showed that the successfully completed highway projects have no extended days or time overrun, and the successful on-going highway projects are still on schedule and have no extended days unlike the on-going highway projects that have already failed as a result of the extended dates. Other projects have been abandoned because they have exceeded the delivery date as specified on the contract document, and have no extended date of completion. Thus, no work is going on.
Figure 1: Abundance of failed highway projects at south-south zone, Nigeria.
Figure 2: On-going failed highway projects
Figure 2 above showed that 14% of highway projects are still on-going projects because they have not exceeded the original date of completion as specified on the contract document. However, they are heading towards failure because they have been given an extended date of completion which can be as a result of some critical activities running behind schedule, causing delay on the critical path network of the projects. Moreover, the other 86% completely failed because they have exceeded their completion date specified on the contract document.
Figure 3: Successful on-going highway projects
The figure 3 above showed that 63% of the successful highway projects are still on-going because they have not exceed their completion dates, and they are not yet completed. However, those on-going highway projects might end up as failed projects as a result of poor funding, discrepancy between the design and the construction on site, and conflict between the construction parties or stakeholders.
“Say what you will do, and do what you said” or “Say as you will do it, and do it as you said”
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The idea of knowing what a failed project is, the factors and the causes is very important in project management. Success in project management can neither be achieved nor measured without the knowledge of project failure, its factors, and causes in the Nigerian construction industries. This work has shown that project failure is as a result of exceeded time of delivery, cost overrun, and poor quality. However, the analysis was only done based on exceeded time of project delivery because of the nature of the data collected.
This work suggested a few approaches to help reduce the number of failed projects in the Nigerian construction industry if properly implemented. Firstly, Having good collaboration between the project stakeholders involved in a construction project at the early stage of project conception is most important in order to accomplish the project objectives, and deliver the project on time, within budget, and quality specified on the original contract document (Othman, 2006).
Secondly, Adopting the ISO 9000 technique which is used for quality management will also help in achieving a successful project delivery. This technique states “ say what you will do, and do what you said” or “say as you will do it, and do it as you said”. This technique is not an indication of high quality but it promotes control and consistency which leads to specialization, and improved productivity and quality. Also, adopting the principles of lean construction will help to reduce waste within the construction and stream-line activities in order to improve the on-time delivery of projects.
Thirdly, Learning from the precedent failed projects, how those projects failed, and the reason for their failures. This will help the project manager to plan and mitigate the risks of project failures in the future. And, finally, more seminars and workshops will help to educate and enlighten clients (the federal government representatives), users, contractors, engineers, and architects on what is project failure, the factors that contributes to abundant failed projects, and their causes.
REFERENCE
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