1.0INTRODUCTION

Provision of adequate, affordable and high standardand quality housing that meets the social, economicand political aspirations of the citizen remains theprimary and major focus of all governments of the world. This is because the fulfillment of thisdesirable social objective is a key component of sustainable development (Ibem and Amole, 2010)and a measure of the well being of the people.
According to Leong (2009), housing is a major factorimpacting on the health, safety, socio-economic andpolitical life of the occupants. In fact it impacts allaspect of human Endeavour. Thus, the State ofhousing and its environment is an indicator of thelevel of development and condition and State of thecitizens.Despite the pivotal roles of housing in the socio-economicdevelopment of a nation and the life of thepeople, majority of the public housing are indeplorable condition and State of disrepair, due tolong period of neglected maintenance either by private or public agents. According to Olatubara and Fatoye (2006), public housing estates, when compared with existing private housingestates, are known to be lacking in basicinfrastructural facilities and services and theirrespective maintenances that are meant to enhancethe livability of such estates. These deplorablehousing standard and deteriorated physicalenvironmental conditions in the opinion of Blome
(2010) are responsible for the social problems, poverty, poor academic performance, poor health, riots, and high arsons and crime rates prevalent in oursocieties. A poor quality living accommodationaccording to Brennan (2000) will impact negatively onthe physical and mental health of the residents of ahousing estate. In order to increasehousing stock in Nigeria, the government had used initiatives to create diverse strategies in both Stateand Federal Housing Corporations which included direct construction, establishment of the NationalHousingFund, setting up of mortgage organization to mobilize fund etc. Despite all these efforts, theproblems of inadequate funding, quality and acute shortage persisted (Ajakaiye and Fatokun, 2000;Ibem, 2010). To address this intractable housingproblem and ensure sustainable housing in Nigeria,all the three tiers of government had been investingheavily in the construction of new housing estatesand maintenance of the existing ones as far back as1928 when the Lagos Executive Development Board (now, Lagos StateDevelopment and PropertyCorporation), under the 1928 Town PlanningOrdinance Law, Cap 95 of the Federation of Nigeriawas established. Consequently, the National HousingPolicy of 1991 charged various tiers of governmentand their housing corporations with the responsibilities of facilitating the design andconstruction of new housing units for low incomegroup; improving upon the existing housingconditions; reducing the production cost of housingunits; encouraging the manufacture and use of local building materials; providing scientifically-basedphysical plan etc, inclusive of essential amenitiesand infrastructures to support habitable environment,which shall be revised from time to time. However,due to dwindling budgetary allocation to the housingsector and resources becoming more and morelimited in the face of growing population,governments are increasingly shifting their attentionaway from new housing development towardsmaintenance of existing ones (Leong, 2009).
Maintenance primarily, is to preserve buildings intheir initial functional, structural and aesthetic Statesso that they continue to remain as such and retaintheir investment value over a long period of existence. It is therefore necessitated by deteriorationof the materials and components of buildings and itsenvironment. It is the works undertaken in order tokeep or restore every part of the buildings, itscontents and its environment in an acceptablestandard or condition. This includes but not limited tothe carrying out regular repairs of works and thereplacement of items in buildings and its environmentthat are in deplorable conditions. Odeleye (1995) has posited that in order to prolongthe economic life of property, it is necessary to have a programme of action that would be effectivelyimplemented to keep the property in top form toenable optimum returns to be received on acontinuous basis. This implies that, there is the needto look at the maintenance of existing publichousing estates in order to restore them intoacceptable conditions for habitation or at least toprolong the life-span of the buildings and othercomplimentary services through regular maintenanceactivities, more so that the intensity of buildingmaintenance becomes higher with its age, especiallyin the face of climatic change and its attendant effectson the building materials, elements and physicalenvironment for sustainable development. At the defunct of the western region of Nigeria, the Ondo State inaugurated her own housing corporation (OSDPC) in 1976, and was established under edict no 3 of 1977 ofNigerian constitution. The corporation functions were to make available service plot, dwelling houses,commercial and industrial buildings in the State. To convincingly pursue the goal and objectives of thecorporation, loans were directly granted to individuals for construction of buildings at the inception ofthe corporation.
In housing development, the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC)in Ijapo, Oba-Ile, and Oba-Afunbiowo, all at Akure. Other housing estates included those in Owo and Ondo Township. However, this study only focuses on Oba-Ile Housing Estates at Akure the capital city of Ondo. It is against this backdrop that this study attempt toexamined the strategies adopted in the past few years by the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC) for the maintenance of stock of buildings and the environment in Oba-ile housing estate with a viewto determining the effectiveness of the adoptedstrategies and evolving a good maintenance practicesuitable for the estate in particular and publichousing estate in general.

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

The main purpose of maintenance of property isessentially to retain its values for investment,aesthetic, safety, durability, with a view to ensurethat the property is continually in good condition forhabitation and to the satisfaction of theowners/users and communal prestige (Brennan,2000). However, despite the various strategies been adopted by the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC) under the State government for maintenance of Oba-ile housing estate since the creation of the Statein the year 1976 from the former western state, effect of prolong neglect and poor maintenanceculture is manifesting in various degrees in the estate.In order to evolve an effective good maintenancepractice regime for the estate in particular and publicestate in general, knowledge of effectiveness of thestrategies adopted in the past is very pertinent inthis study.

Research Questions

The following questions are very germane to thestudy:
What are the strategies adopted by the government for the maintenance of the housingestate in the past?
How effective are these strategies?

3.0OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The study explored the various strategies adopted by the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC) under the Ondo State government for maintenance of Oba-IleHousing estate in the past few years. Theobjectives of the study are to:
Identify and evaluate the various maintenance strategies adopted by the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC) under the State government formaintenance of the estate; and
Determine the effectiveness of the adoptedstrategies.

4.0LITERATURE REVIEW

Maintenance is primarily to preserve buildings intheir initial functional, structural and aesthetic Statesso that they continue to remain as such and retaintheir investment value over a long period ofexistence. According to Musa (2002), it denotes allactions carried-out on a building after completion topreserve it in its initial State, starting from the defectsliability period of the building to its disposal. Withappropriate maintenance, the building’s economic lifeis prolonged. However, a cursory look into somepublic buildings around reveals array of abandonedand epileptically functioning facilities. Themalfunctioning of the facilities in most publicbuildings is a consequence of inadequatemaintenance and/or poor management of thefacilities. Adejimi (1998) posits that theories andhypotheses are postulated and propounded daily, butmaintenance problems still remain adamantlyunyielding and so unsolved and this is why there is aserious need to look at the problem from anotherperspective. He therefore opined that maintenanceissues can be resolved together by professionals at theproject inception and planning (i.e. projectconception, design, construction to completion)stages through preventive rather than corrective or emergency approach against expected or avoidablefacility failures.

4.1Corrective Maintenance
This is the simplest type of maintenance. It is oftenadopted where the element of the building is useduntil it breaks down. It is necessitated bydeterioration of the materials and components ofbuildings and its environment. This form of failure base corrective maintenance according to Kenleyet.al. (2009) can (in certain instances) be moreexpensive for two reasons: Failure of an item can cause a large amount ofconsequential damage to other elements/partsof the building, and; Failure of an item can occur at a time, when it isinconvenient to both the user and the operator.
Significant costs can be incurred obtainingemergency manpower and very often it isdifficult to obtain spare parts at short notice.
Corrective maintenance will be applied to
Non-significant items of works;
Items of works whose conditions cannot bemonitored and
Which the cost of employing time-based preventivemaintenance is more than the cost of employingcorrective maintenance.

4.2Preventive/Planned Maintenance

Preventive, Pre-Planned Maintenance is used toovercome the disadvantages of correctivemaintenance, by reducing the probability of andlikelihood of failure of an element. Preventivemaintenance tasks are undertaken in accordance witha predetermined plan at regular but fixed intervals.
The advantages of preventative maintenance overcorrective maintenance according to Sai Kung District Council (2011) are:
(i) Maintenance tasks can be planned ahead and
Performed when convenient to buildinguser/operator; Maintenance costs can be reduced byavoiding the cost of consequential damageand use of emergency resources;
(iii) ‘Down time’ (the time that an element of thebuilding or whole building is out of service)can be minimized so the occupancy andincome of the building is maintained and canbe increased;
Health and Safety of user and operator can beimproved.
However, there are some disadvantages to considerwith preventive maintenance:
Planned maintenance will be performedirrespective of the condition of the item/element(i.e. some tasks will be performed on elementsthat may have remained in a safe/acceptableoperating condition for a longer period of time).
Planned maintenance tasks can be more costlyin terms of spare parts and labour costs if it iscarried out without control or when notrequired.

4.3Condition Based Maintenance

This form of maintenance is carried out in responseto a significant deterioration of the item. Thisdeterioration is indicated by a change in themonitored parameter of the condition and performance. Condition based maintenance is similarto Pre-Planned Maintenance in that regularinspections are made and the condition recordedhowever no work/replacement would be undertaken until there was a significant change incondition/performance of the item. Condition basedmaintenance will be applied to;
Health, Safety and significant items whosecondition can be monitored and for which ‘online’condition monitoring techniques areavailable and cost effective.
Items whose condition can be monitored and forwhich the cost of applying condition-basedmaintenance is less than the cost of applyingcorrective or preventive maintenance.

4.4Maintenance Strategy

The choice/selection of an appropriate maintenancemethod strategically depends on sound andinformative investigation and initial appraisal. Afterthe physical assessment of the building andidentification of agents and degree of deterioration inthe building, the next stage is the evaluation of meansof implementing the maintenance works. Accordingto Musa (2002), the choice of maintenance strategy isinfluenced by one or more of the following factors:
Age, character and prospective life of thebuilding;
The physical condition of the building and itselements;
Environmental conditions;
Residents (users) and clients requirements;
Government policy and
Financial requirements and available fund.
However, no matter the strategic choice adopted, Kwong (2005) opines that the maintenance worksshould:
Meet statutory obligations in relation to the maintenance of the building,
Maximize the physical life of the building,
Secure the well-being of its users/occupants,
Protect and enhance the investment value ofthe building,
Achieve value for money for all expenditure
Facilitate and encourage tenant participation in the maintenance operation.
Cause minimum inconveniences to theoccupants/users.

In view of these, Esenwa (1999) inferred that anoptimum maintenance strategy will not only engenderquality improvement and satisfy the needs of theoccupants/users but also carried out promptly at mostcost-efficient price with minimum inconveniencies tothe users/occupiers.

5.0RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

5.1The Study Area

The study area (Oba-Ile housing estate) is owned by the government of Ondo State, Nigeria. It was built inanticipation of the creation of the State in 1976 toaccommodate the Civil/Public servants transferred to and employed at the then emerging Ondo State Capital as staff quarters in Akure. It was expectedto be maintained and managed by the Ondo State Development Property Corporation established (OSDPC) established by the Ondo State government. The corporation handles the routine maintenance and themanagement of the estate when it was used purely asstaff quarters. Since its establishment till the present,there have been changes in the management of the estate at various times from the corporationstatutorily established for the purpose to theDepartment of Public Buildings of the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Bureau of GovernmentalService, Office of the Head of Service. There wasalso a brief period of involvement of private estate management consultants in the management of the estate. This idea could not be sustained as a result ofpolitical and policy changes. Themanagement/control of the estate now resides withthe Bureau of Governmental Service, Office of theHead of Service. The office does not have theexpertise to carry out maintenance. From theforegoing, it is discernible that, in a bid to keep the estate in a healthy and safe State, different strategyhad been adopted by the government for managingand maintaining the estate since its establishment in 1976. The object of this study therefore is to identifyand evaluate these strategies with a view to evolvingan effective and sustainable maintenance regime that is suitable for the estate in particular and others ingeneral.

6.0METHODOLOGY

Due to the nature of the study a questionnaire surveywas conducted on purposefully selected twenty(20) occupants who had been residing in the estate for some fewyears. A total of fifteen (15) questionnaires (representing 75% response rate) were retrieved and analyzed. The respondents wereasked to identify the maintenance strategies adoptedfor the maintenance of the estate since their tenure inthe building. In addition they were asked to rate theirexpectation as well as the actual quality (as perceived)of the maintenance works carried out when theidentified strategies were adopted. The rating was based on five-point Likert’s scale.
These scales are: very low (VL), Low (L), Average (A), High (H) andvery High (VH) and were assigned a value of 1,2,3,4and 5 respectively. The data obtained were analyzed using Relative Quality Index (RQI). The five-point Likert Scale was transformed to Relative QualityIndex for each determinant using numerical score. These were then analyzed through SPSS version 17using Wilcoxon-signed-rank test at 95% confidencelevel.

7.0RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

7.1Types of Residential Buildings and Maintenance
Strategies Adopted
The respondents were asked to indicate the type of the buildings they occupied and strategies adopted bythe government for their maintenance since theirtenure. Their responses
Analysis revealed that three major types of residential buildings exist in the estate.
And they are as listed below:
3- Bedroom Bungalow
3-Bedroom Flat
4-flat block

Figure 1: A 3- Bedroom Bungalow in Oba-ile housing estate

Coincidentally the same number of strategies is being adopted from time to time for the maintenance of the buildings. Analysis further revealed that each of thestrategies had been adopted at different times formaintenance works carried out on all of the buildingsduring the tenure of the respondents. Henceinformation obtained from them would be reliableand authentic. Obviously, the type of strategyadopted at a point in time has no correlation with thetype of building.

7.2Relative Quality Index of the Respondents’Expected and Obtained Quality of Works wheneach of the Maintenance Strategy is adopted

The respondents were asked to rate the quality of theworks expected and obtained from the maintenanceworks carried out on their residence for each of thestrategies adopted during their tenure. Their responses were converted to relative significant index for each of the adopted strategy as indicated in below.
Relative Quality Index of the Respondents’ Expected and Obtained Quality of Works when each ofthe Maintenance Strategy is adopted
1 Government Agency Maintenance Strategy{Rated 3.0/5}
2 Self/Residents Maintenance Strategy {Rated 4.7/5}
3 Private Agents Maintenance Strategy{Rated 3.8/5}

8.0SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The case study carried on the buildings in the study area (Oba-Ile Housing Estate) revealed the followings:
The estate is owned by the government of Ondo State, Nigeria. It was built to accommodate the Civil/Public servants shifting their respective services to the then emerging Ondo State Capital as staff quarters in Akure. The provision of theestate as staff quarters was expected initially toserve as a form of incentive.
The estate was built about 34 years ago, andwas expected to be maintained and managedby the Housing Corporation.
It was observed that the corporation handlesthe routine maintenance and the managementof the estate when it was used purely as staffquarters.
The residents are senior civil/public servants andhave been residents at an average family sizeand period of tenancy of 5 and 5 - 15 yearsrespectively on rental basis.
Most of the buildings are in deplorable State ofdisrepair, especially in the areas of decayingand distorted timber frames, cabinets, fasciaboards and roof-carcass; roof leakages, brokenLouvre blades, faulty and rusty Louvrecarriers; wall cracks, flaking of wall paints;growth on walls arising from precipitation dueto the effects of moisture penetration andsunlight; damages/leakages in sanitary pipesin and around the buildings; partially collapsedseptic tanks, soak-away-pits and inspectionchambers and malfunctioning sanitary waresetc;
There have been changes in the managementof the estate at various times to the Departmentof Public Buildings of the Ministry of Worksand Housing on one hand and the Bureau of Governmental Service, Office of the Head ofService on the other.
There was also a brief period of involvementof private estatemanagement consultants inthe year 2000 by the corporation to manage theestate. This idea could not be sustained as a result of political and policy changes.
The management/control of the estate now resides with the Bureau of GovernmentalService, Office of the Head of Service,especially on the allocation of quarters and receipt of rents, where payments are realized mostly through direct deductions from themonthly salary sources of the residents, who are either in the public/civil services of theFederal, State and/or Local governments. Thetrust of this is more on revenue collection. Theoffice does not have the expertise to carry outmaintenance.
There is the absence of any definite andeffective maintenance strategy put in place, inthe estate by the owner (government/housingcorporation), which led to their poorperformance at carrying out the requiredmaintenance of works on the buildings and itsenviroSnment. However, a self-maintained typeof strategy by residents/occupants emerged andwas predominantly adopted.
The frequency in the changes of themanagement/control organs of the estate,arising from policy and/or political changes ofthe government might have caused bottlenecksfor coordination and effectivemanagement of the buildings in the estate andits environment.
The past and current economic realities of theowner/corporation over time might beresponsible for the inability of theowner/corporation to engage capable hands at ensuring the implementation and enforcementof a sustainable maintenance strategy.
The poor performances of the governmentagency and tenant maintenance strategies wereattributed to lackadaisical attitude andcorruption on the part of government employees responsible for the works and lackof proper supervision of the operativesinvolved in the maintenance works whenresidents are responsible for the worksrespectively.
That only through the private agentmaintenance strategy that the expectations ofthe residents from the maintenance works weremet

9.0CONCLUSION

The study has examined the contextual and organizational issues and constraints managing oba-ile Housing Estate .The results obtained from the examined physicalconditions of the selected buildings constructed notlater than thirty years ago and its environment vis-avis the various strategies adopted in the past fewyears for their maintenance in Oba-Ile Housing Estate Akure, Ondo State, revealed that at 95%confidence level there were no significant differencesin the original quality standard and environmental condition of the buildings maintained by all the threeidentified groups (residents/occupants, public agentsand private agents) at the time of tenure and after themaintenance exercise. It further revealed that at 5%significant level, while the response period to maintenance/repair works by residents/occupants wassignificantly shorter than that of private agents, theresponse period of public agents is significantly longer than that of the private one. This implies thatthe residents/occupiers’ coordinated maintenancestrategy is most effective, sustainable and thereforeconclude that, it is a suitable maintenance strategy forthe estate in particular and public housing estatesin Nigeria.

REFERENCES

Adejimi, A. (1998). Optimizing Management of Design Process for Effective Maintenance of PublicBuildings in Lagos State. (MSc thesis). Department of Building, University of Lagos.

Akeju, A, A, (2007). Challenges to Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria. A paper presented atthe 2nd Emerging Urban Africa

International Conference on Housing Finance in Nigeria. Abuja. October 17-19, 2007

Blome, G. (2010). Profitability analysis of a Strategy to Increase Housing Quality in Socially Disadvantaged Large Housing Estates.

A paper presented at the ENHR Conference on Urban Dynamics and Housing Change, Instabul Turkey Brennan, B. (2000). Repairs and Maintenance of Dwellings. An-Taonad Tithlochta Press, Ireland.

Cambridge City Council (2011). A Report submittedto the Executive-In-Council in Respect of Strategiesfor Maintenance of Housing Estates of the Council. Chanddler, I. E. (1991).

Repairs and Refurbishment of Modern Buildings, B. T. Batford Ltd.,

London Chukwujekwu, I. E. (2006). Facilitating Low-cost Housing Scheme: Which Way Forward? Housing Today –

The Journal of the Association of Housing Corporation of Nigeria. April/May, 1(10):10-12.Davidson, A. (1999).

Alternative Models of SocialHousing: Tenure Patterns and Cost –rating in NewZealand and Sweden. Housing Studies. 14(4): 453-473

Donatus, C. O. (2005). Housing Nigerians: Trends in Policy, Legislation, Funding and Practice, 1914-2000. Global Press Limited. Owerri. Imo State. Esenwa, F. O. (1999).

Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Capital Assets.

The Quantity Surveyor, vol. 27, April/June Issue, Lagos. Fielden, B. M. (1997).

Conservation of Historic Buildings, 3rd Edition, St. Edmudsbury Presss Ltd., London Ibem, E. O. and Amole, O. O. (2010).

The Evaluation of Public Housing Programmes in Nigeria: A Theoretical and Conceptual Approach. The Built andEnvironmental Review Vol. 3Jiboye, A. D. (2009a).

Evaluating Residents’ Satisfaction with Public Housing in Lagos. Nigeria. Urbanist ikaIr Architectural. Town Planning and Architecture 2009.33(4): 239-249 Jiboye, A. D. (2009b).

The Significance of Households’ Characteristics on Housing Quality in Osogbo. Nigeria. Journal of Geography and Planning Sciences. 2(2): 1-10 Jiboye, A. D. (2010).

The Correlations of Public Housing Satisfaction in Lagos. Nigeria. Journal of Geography and Planning Sciences. 3(2): 017-028.February 2010. retrieved 24th August 2010Kadiri, W.A. (2005):

Housing Ownership: PracticalWays to Own Houses.Kothari, C. R. (2009).
Research Methodology- Methods and Techniques (Second Revised Edition).New Age International Publishers. New Delhi. p.376-379 Kwong, A. K. C. (2005).

The Renaissance of Quality Maintenance. Accessed at www.docstoc.com/ on 2nd February, 2012.

Leong, K. C (2009), Sustainable Housing and Community Development – Opposite Sides of the Same Coin. EAROPH 42nd Regional Seminar, Parliament House, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.Musa, N. A. (2002).

Analysis of Intervention Strategies for Rehabilitation of Tertiary Educational Institution in Southwestern Nigeria. M.Sc. Thesis Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife