Impact of Maintaining Public University Buildings on Occupants and the Legal Consequences on Management of the Universities in Cross River State, Nigeria

Building maintenance is a very important aspect of every nation's infrastructural development and when properly maintained will preserve the condition of building and other facilities which will in turn reduce the rate of interruption in occupants' services and productivity. This study centered on the impact of maintaining public university buildings and the legal consequences on the management of the university with a population of 56.251 occupants. The author used qualitative and quantitative methods and stratified random sampling techniques for the study. Structured questionnaires were administered as instruments for data collection. 382 questionnaires were sent out, and only 268 copies were returned representing 70% respondent rate; the remaining 30% 114(30%) of the copies produced were not returned and unaccounted for. The return rate is well thought-out as satisfactory for the analysis (Kathari, 2011). Consequently, the 268 copies returned were used for the analysis. And from the qualitative study, physical inspection revealed 14 building elements that were in a state of dis-repair. Hence, finding from the study reveal that regular and periodic maintenance of building element and other facilities will enhance continuing viable improvement of occupants activities and further help them achieve their goal that will usher sustainable growth in the university. The implication of this finding is that, while keeping the public universities on the part of development remain primary in the policy objectives of successive government, one can state that these conditions appear to be a leaning that has been deeply rooted into the system by demonstrating the pervasiveness and systematic nature that lack of regular maintenance has remained a major set-back to the productive development of the Nigerian public university.