DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjss.v19i1.

GLOBAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES VOL 19, 2020: 35-47

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GOVERNMENT PROJECT FAILURE IN DEVELOPING

COUNTRIES: A REVIEW WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO NIGERIA
KING MATTHEW EJA AND MANU RAMEGOWDA
(Received 10 September 2019, Revision Accepted 26 September 2019)

ABSTRACT
Governments and organizations, especially governments in developing countries, have witnessed
project failures in their project implementation, although there might be some differences in the causes,
effects and consequences of such failures among governments. This study aimed at investigating the
causes, effects and consequences of project failures in developing countries with particular reference to
Nigeria, through literature review. Information on project failures in Africa, Asia and little in Europe were
sourced through journals, books and newspapers. It was apparent that project failure is very frequent in
developing countries and in particular, Nigeria, with several causes, effects and consequences. Some
of the causes established were poor financial capacity; inaccurate costing and corruption; incompetence
and lack of knowledge; poor planning and estimation; poor communication; poor contracting and
contractor practices; frequent design scope changes and errors; socio-cultural and political interference;
poor leadership and corruption. The effects of project failure were found to be loss of revenue to the
state; project cost overruns; loss of revenue by citizens; substandard infrastructure and low
empowerment to community. The resultant consequences were slow economic growth; sector-centric
underdevelopment; loss of foreign aid/grants; tougher donor regulations; loss of elections to incumbent
leadership and lack of confidence in state from financial institutions. It is recommended that Nigerian
government should overhaul its policy architecture to mitigating the causes of project failure, and in
particular, stemming down corruption.

KEYWORDS: Government projects, project failure, poor implementation, corrupt practices, inadequate
planning

INTRODUCTION According to PMI (Project Management Institute

PMBOK) guide (2013), a project is a temporary
Government projects of any nation are of endeavour which is aimed at creating a unique
immense importance to the citizens and residents result. Note (2015) however, defines a project as
of that nation as it forms part of the building a series of unique and related activities with a
blocks that support national growth. The goal that must be achieved at a set time, within
successful execution of projects serves as a its cost constraints and in accordance with set
visible indicator of development in a country specifications. There is no clear cut definition for
(Hanachor, 2013). Despite this, in developing project failure, and there seems to be differences
countries such as Nigeria, majority of projects in its acceptable definition. Amachree (1988)
embarked on by the government are classified as defines project failure as the incapability of a
failed projects (Hanachor, 2013).
King Matthew Eja, School of Science and Engineering Teesside University Middlesbrough, UK
Manu Ramegowda, School of Science and Engineering Teesside University Middlesbrough, UK

© 2020 Bachudo Science Co. Ltd. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
36 KING MATTHEW EJA AND MANU RAMEGOWDA
project to be completed within its set time, cost delays are design and finance-related problems.
and quality specifications. Nzekwe et al. (2015) Damoah (2015) looked at delays in Zambia’s
however suggest that regardless of a project’s road construction projects and identified the
completion time and cost, it can still be causes of these delays as poor supervision,
considered as failed if the project does not fulfil contract modification, construction mistakes,
its required purpose. In addition, many studies inadequate or unavailable equipment, poor
agree that cost overruns, time overruns and procurement practices, difficult financial
substandard quality are the primary causes of processes, etc.
project failure (Turner, 1993; Atkinson, 1999; At present, the menace of project failure has
Belout and Gauvrean, 2004). Other causes prompted researchers to look into the underlying
include: poor planning, variation of project design factors leading to these failures. A rather generic
and scope, inflation, contractor competence, approach has been taken by some researchers
inadequate cost estimation, just to mention a few (Liu et al., 2011; Aziz, 2013; Taherdoost and
(Cousillas et al., 2010; Nzekweet al., 2015). Keshavarzsalele, 2016) or have researched on
The causes of project failure are numerous both project failure with regard to specific projects in
in developed and developing nations, and studies certain industries (Oloruntobi, 2013; Patanakul,
have indicated that large amounts of funds have 2014; Kog, 2017).
been lost by governments as a result of failed Despite the numerous causes and effects of
projects (Fabian and Amir, 2011; Damoah, 2015). project failure known, studies on these causes
These factors which lead to project failure and effects and consequences of project failure
consequently lead to stagnant growth in national on the development of developing countries, are
development (Nweze, 2016). In order to curb going on. The aim of this study was to review the
these menace, various authors have causes, effects and consequences of project
recommended more investigation into the causes failure in developing countries, especially Nigeria.
and effects of projects failure especially in
developing countries (Damoah, 2015; Taherdoost Overview of Project and Project Failure
and Keshavarzsalehc, 2016). The delivery of successful projects involves the
Globally, of course, project failure has resulted in use of tools and methods to achieve its
the loss of large amounts of funds. Information objectives during the execution phase (PMI,
system projects in the UK, power generation 2013), therefore, projects must be executed
projects in Africa and construction projects in using a systematic and organised process in
Asia are few examples that have experienced order to achieve success. In spite of the fact that
failure (Heeks, 2006; Fabian and Amir, 2011; the goal of every project is to be a success, Allen
Okereke, 2017; Shahhossein et al., 2018). An et al. (2014) suggest that project failure has
example is the Home Office where £750 million attracted more attention. The impact of project
e-boarder scheme whose contract was awarded failure when taken into account is regarded to be
in 2007 and terminated as a failed project in 2010 harmful. When referring to failure, it is not only in
(Alami, 2016). terms of abandonment, other aspects such as the
The rate of project failure in developing countries goals of the project are considered. Various
has been found to be higher than the rate in studies consider failure to have occurred when a
developed countries (Ogwueleka, 2011; Damoah, project does not achieve its goals (Hoang and
2015) thereby creating the need to embark on Rothaermel, 2005; Mirza, Pourzolfaghar and
more development projects. These projects Shahnazari, 2013).
however, experience several challenges such as In recent years, governments and organisations
inefficient planning (Akande et al., 2018a), cost have experienced project failure globally (Nelson,
variation (Aziz, 2013), difficult stakeholders 2007; Abbasi, 2014; Patanakul, 2014; Damoah
(Rajablu et al., 2015). Currently in Nigeria, the and Kumi, 2018). This failures directly translates
rate of project failure is alarming and these failed to the loss of huge amounts of money by the
projects have high financial implications (Akande government. For example, Solon (2015) reported
et al., 2018b) which consequently reduce the rate in the mirror that the UK has wasted over
of development. £100million on cancelled or failed IT projects
Different causes of project failure have been from 2013-2014. Additionally, Innotas, which is a
identified. For example, Soliman (2010) portfolio management provider conducted a
identified 29 causes of failure as a result of research from January to March 2015, in which
delays in Kuwait’s construction projects. He went 126 IT project professionals were polled, and the
ahead to state that the major causes of these results indicated that 55 percent of respondents
GOVERNMENT PROJECT FAILURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: 37
had experienced project failure (Florentine, and the awareness of project management
2017). As a matter of fact, the cases of IS/IT professionals of the presence of different
project failure are numerous and this has spurred stakeholders in a project (Pantanakul, 2014), has
researchers and practitioners to examine the caused a change in the definition of project
reasons responsible for these failures (Patanakul, success and failure towards post-delivery stages.
2014). In the construction industry, the issue of Although, changes in the definition of project
cost overruns have become more common both success and failure have been acknowledged,
in developed and developing countries (Cheng, several authors ended their studies on the
2014). For Instance, the government of Egypt premise that cost, time and quality should be the
announced that it was abandoning the second indicators used to assess project success or
phase of its $90billion Toshka new valley project failure (El Emam and Koru, 2008), therefore, it
which was aimed at aiding the country deal with means that failure has occurred if one or all of the
its increasing population. The project was project constraints, time, cost and quality are not
reported to have failed at meeting any set targets met.
with higher cost incurred (Okereke, 2017).
Furthermore, reports show that over $100million Causes of project failure globally
was lost by Ghana from 2009 to 2011 as a result In recent years, a lot of discussions have been
of inadequate execution of projects (Alagidede et raised on the topic of project failure by project
al., 2013). As a final point, Zuofa (2014) management professionals globally, and a
highlighted that IT projects embarked on by the number of studies have focused on this topic.
Abuja Investment and Property Development These studies show that there are several
Company (AIPDC) in Nigeria experienced failure reasons projects fail globally (Long et al. 2004;
and cost approximately N3.8billion. Ahsan and Gunawan, 2010).
These projects indicate that there is a high rate of Due to the diversity of projects and industries
failure; however, what constitutes the term involved in project delivery, each project is
project failure largely depends on who defines it unique, hence, no two projects are completely
(Ika, 2009; Mar, 2012; Carvalho, 2014) or who similar. As a result of this, the factors that affect
defines the scale for measuring success (Mir and project delivery and eventually lead to failure are
Pinnington, 2014). An instance of this is shown in different across industry and location etc. (Ahsan
an analysis of five cancelled software projects in and Gunawan, 2010). However, previous studies
which the customer in one of the projects classed show that some causes of failure are similar
it as a failed project because the new system was across different projects. The similar causes are
never used by the customer, and however, the further discussed in the following sub-section.
supplier classed it as successful because the
project’s baseline was met (Ahonen and Project Resource
Savolianen 2010). This implies that different According to literature, resources can be further
stakeholders in a project will have different views classified into tangible and intangible resources
of what is considered as failure or success. (Das and Teng, 2000; Teigland and Lindvist,
Regardless of who defines project failure, a 2007; Damoah, 2015). Examples of these
project can be classified as a total failure if it is resources are: material, human, space and
abandoned before its completion stage (Heeks, financial resources, etc. (Teigland and Lindvist,
2006). An example of this is the Abia State road 2007; Damoah, 2015). The lack orinadequacy of
construction projects in Nigeria which resources have been found to cause projects to
commenced in 2010 and abandoned before fail. One of such resources is the human
completion in 2013 due to paucity of funds resource. For example, reports on the 2010 world
(Amade, et al., 2015). Evidently, the term project cup in South Africa showed that insufficient
failure can have a varied or unanimous meaning. labour during the construction phases of the
From previous literature, a unified agreement has stadiums was one of the major causes of delays
not been reached on the constituents and and cost overruns (Baloyi and Bekker, 2011). In
definition of project failure. Majority of the addition, a study conducted on Malaysian
orthodox definitions revolve around the projects construction projects showed that insufficient
constraints which (Atkinson, 1999) terms as the labour (skilled and unskilled) are major causes of
“Iron Triangle”. Abednego and Ogunlana, (2006) failure (Sambasivan and Soon, 2007). According
suggest that these definitions restrict the to Rahim et al. (2016), a report by Grant
performance solely to the managerial part of the Thornton international recorded a 39% global
project. Despite this, the increase in information shortfall of skilled workers with more than 60% in
38 KING MATTHEW EJA AND MANU RAMEGOWDA
Malaysia. This inadequacy of skilled workers in during its execution. However these changes are
the country created an increase in foreign not often accomplished at the expected date of
workers (Salleh, et al., 2014) and, although this completion. Ahonen and Savolianen (2010)
rise in foreign workers aids to reduce the suggest that evidence of this is predominant in IS
shortages experienced, the problems that may projects.
arise due to multicultural workers and varying Although changes in project scope are generally
work principles are also a major concern (Muriithi considered as a characteristic of projects, they
and Crawford, 2003). usually have a huge effect on the project. Ayal
Another resource from literature which commonly (2005) stated that changes in project scope
results in project failure is the material resource. significantly affect project cost.
These materials are the tangible products
required to execute some projects. Damoah Communication
(2015) suggests that projects which need Various past studies have shown that efficient
physical deliverables cannot be executed without communication is a key element in a project as it
material resources. Material related factors are aids in providing relevant information to all project
one of the major causes of delays. Likewise, participants, which is mandatory for delivery of
studies into Nigerian projects have shown that successful project (Zulch, 2014; Ikechukwu, et
inadequacy and delays in supply of materials al., 2017). Hence, poor communication while
needed for executing projects were causing planning and executing projects is likely to cause
project delays (Kog, 2017). failure.
Furthermore, as finance is considered a resource According to Zulch (2014), communication is the
during project execution, problems associated process of collecting vital data, processing it and
with finance is regarded as one of the major distributing the information to who and where it
factors that lead to project failure. Studies show will be needed. Additionally, information can be
that many projects have failed globally as a result defined as processed data which are presented
of poor management, inadequacy or lack of in an understandable and meaningful format
finances (Pourrastam and Ismail, 2011; Abbasi et (Bowen and Edward, 1996). Evidently, effective
al. 2014; Zuofa, 2014). Some construction communication is the bond which aids a project
projects experience delays caused by financial team to achieve its goals while
issues. These issues are also experienced in miscommunication poses a threat to project
Nigeria where studies show that clients’ financial success. Hussein, et al. (2018) identified the
difficulty is one of the major causes of delays and causes of poor communication in the construction
abandonment of projects (Zuofa, 2014). industry as: linguistic barriers, cultural barriers,
poor feedback and unclear communication
Project Planning channels amongst others. The first two causes
Undeniably, planning is a crucial part of any listed are dominant in projects that involve
project and in order to achieve success, a proper multicultural collaboration. Feedback shows how
plan must be made. Poor project planning is a project participants react to certain information
common cause of failure. Pinto (2013) suggests and task, and it is essential to complete
that in an event that clear outlines of deliverables communication. Emphasis on the quality and
in a project are not stated while planning, the timing of the feedback is therefore very essential,
project might fail. This simply means that projects especially when it requires immediate attention
which commence without a proper plan and (Gunhan, Senol, and Dogan, 2012). Lastly,
knowledge of the constraints involved is at risk of communications channels which are not clear
failing. Studies show that poor planning is a root can pose a problem to the parties exchanging
cause of many project failures in Iran information, therefore an acceptable
(Pourrastam and Ismail, 2011). Similarly, this communication route for every project needs to
same problem was found in the Nigerian be established (Zulch, 2014).
construction projects (Okwandu, 2010).
Causes of Government Project Failure in
Change in Project Scope Nigeria
According to previous literature, one of the Various reasons have been attributed to the
primary factors that lead to project failure is the causes of government project failure in Nigeria.
change of project scope (Taherdoost and These identified causes include, poor financial
Keshavarzsalehc 2016; Sudhakar, 2016). Many capacity, inaccurate cost estimates, corruption,
projects face changes in requirements before or incompetence and lack of knowledge, poor
GOVERNMENT PROJECT FAILURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: 39
planning and monitoring, political instability accountability create room for corrupt practices.
(Ogunmola, 2015; Nweze, 2016), amongst Furthermore, contractors exploit the process and
others. The following section discusses the produce false reports that are in their favour.
identified causes. According to Damoah (2015) the issue of
corruption has been cited in favour of those
Poor financial capacity perpetuating it with reasons such as poverty
As is generally known, projects cannot be being the primary cause.
executed without the required funds. However, The effects of these practices on Nigeria are
reports show that many Nigerian projects have numerous and range from the inadequacy of
experienced issues such as delays and basic infrastructure such as access to clean
abandonment as a result of financial problems water, to increasing unemployment and poverty
(Akande, et.al. 2018a). In Nigeria today, the rate (Ijewereme, 2015). Although attempts have
practice of returning unexhausted budgeted been made to stop these practices, the problem
funds to the national coffer at the end of each still lingers and contributes to the menace of
financial year by government ministries and project failure in the country.
agencies have left projects with inadequate funds
during this periods, and in turn, increasing the Incompetence and lack of knowledge
likelihood of project failure. In Nigeria today, despite the high population,
On a different note, the problem of poor financial most projects suffer from inadequate skilled
capacity is not limited to the government. professionals to execute the project (Kuroshi and
Contractors involved in government projects are Lawal, 2014; Okuntade, 2015). Nweze (2016)
also a major contributory factor to project failure cited reasons such as migration of skilled
as many contractors are not financially capable of professionals to other countries as part of the
executing these projects. As contained in the contributory factors to the issues of
Nigerian procurement act, every contractor must incompetence in Nigerian projects, thus, causing
have the required capital outlay to execute the an increase in the adoption of foreign
project before a bid is submitted. Regardless of professionals at high cost.
this principle, contracts are awarded to Undeniably, a sound knowledge and application
contractors who lack the capacity to execute the of project management significantly improve
required project, hence, increasing the problem project success rates. However, government
of project failure. projects in Nigeria suffer from failure as a result
Budgetary detriments have been linked to a high of poor project management practices. For
rate of project failures in Nigeria. Ubani and example, a study conducted by Olateju et al.
Ononuju (2013) established that the slow or non- (2011) on project management practice in the
disbursement of funds from the government Nigerian public sector showed a lack of core
towards the implementations of projects due to knowledge of project management tools such as
corruption, toxic bureaucracy, zero allocations Gantt charts among project professionals.
made to projects, has seen a high rate of project
failures of roads, buildings, energy and other Poor planning, and estimation
infrastructural spheres within Nigeria. Dim (2018) As a result of the inadequacy of knowledge of
established that indeed a high number of road project professionals in Nigeria, most projects
construction projects in Nigeria are failures. become afflicted with issues of planning and
monitoring. According to literature, project
Inaccurate costing and corruption planning, control and monitoring is extremely
The ability to accurately estimate project cost is important in order to execute successful projects
vital to achieve success (Botchkarev, 2015). (Adebayo et al., 2018).
Majority of government projects in Nigeria suffer Lack of skilful planning, estimation and
from the problem of inaccurate cost estimations scheduling in the implementation of projects has
which is caused by several factors amongst been established to cause significant failure in
which is corruption. Nweze (2015) states that projects across Nigeria. Poor contractor
ministries and Agencies responsible for delivering estimation, time horizons for their implementation
projects in Nigeria are handed the power of and cost estimations have closely been
starting and monitoring their projects, thereby established to cause failures in projects in Nigeria
creating room for unchecked manipulation of (Dosumu & Aigbavboa, 2017). The planning
project cost. Gyimah/Boadi (2002) state that shortcomings arise in poor development of
systems that have weak monitoring and objectives and clear-cut roadmaps to attaining
40 KING MATTHEW EJA AND MANU RAMEGOWDA
them. Thus projects have been embarked upon designs push forward for implementation have
haphazardly devoid of structured progressions been established to be closely impactful on the
which have altogether caused significant failures failure of projects in Nigeria (Dosumu &
in most of the projects undertaken in Anambra Aigbavboa, 2017). Similarly, design changes and
State, Nigeria (Nzekwe, et al., 2015). errors increase the costs of the projects, delay
implementation and impede on the successful
Political instability implementation of building projects in Nigeria
No country has ever had any successful project (Onungwa, et al., 2017; Dosumu & Aigbavboa,
under political instability. A case in point is 2017). These ‘design change’ related impacts
Nigeria which witnessed several military regimes have led to project failures in several public
which were acquired through force of arms. projects across Nigeria. Anigbogu and Shwarka
Even a democratic system of government as it is (2011)further said that up to 50% of all projects in
now in Nigeria, witnesses several project failures Nigeria fail before commencement due to design
because of instability in the running of issues.
government. Several government projects such
as Aluminium Smelting Company at Ikot Abasi, Socio-Cultural and Political Interferences
Akwa Ibom State, Ajakuta Iron Company, etc., Socio-cultural interferences through conflicts and
have failed due to unstable government in incessant opposition to public projects have been
Nigeria. established to confer impediments to project
completion in Nigeria. Similarly, the lack of
Poor Communication continuity in projects established which has seen
Poor communication between the various succeeding governments fail to allocate funds for
stakeholders in public projects within Nigeria has completion of projects started by their
been affirmed to be a leading cause to project predecessors (Nweze, 2016). Such a lack of
failure in Nigeria. Poor communication could be coherence in the political class towards
between the Federal government and State development more so, the implementation of
governments, government and the private projects has seen projects fail across Nigeria. For
stakeholders enjoined in the projects, the instance, the Gas Revolution Industrial Park,
government and the local communities, and Ogidigben in Delta State and the Gelegale
project implementation parties (Ogundelea & Seaport in Edo State, have both failed to start
Somefunb, 2008; Dim, 2018). The aspect of poor despite the preparedness of the foreign and local
communication has also been linked to delays in governments towards the projects (Yusuf, 2018;
the implementation of projects in Nigeria which in Okoromadu, 2019). This is because of the
turn results in project abandonment and failure conflicts and sabotage caused by them on the
altogether. implementation of these two projects.

Poor Contracting and Contractor Practices Poor Leadership and Corruption

Contractor-related causes of project failure have Poor leadership and corruption in the design,
also been linked to the growing number of project contracting, estimation and implementation of
failures in Nigeria. Poor contracting practices projects have seen projects balloon in costs, rack
linked to poor contracts agreed upon with up time overrun become too costly for
contractors, contractors’ deliberate non- governments across Nigeria which have led to
performance on awarded contractors, and abandonment and failure (Sonuga et al. 2002).
embezzlement of allocated budgets to Corrupt public servants who embezzle funds,
contractors have seen sub-par delivery of engage in dubious contracts for self-gain have
projects, late deliveries and the all-dreaded led to financial issues which have caused
abandonment and failure of public projects failures, stalling of projects, delays and
across all states within Nigeria (Uyo, 2019). The abandonments across infrastructural projects.
contracting challenges that contribute to failures
have been linked to nepotism and tribalism in EFFECTS OF PROJECT FAILURE
awarding of contracts in a rather biased manner Loss of State Revenue
which has led to high failures. Loss of state revenue has been established to be
a leading effect of project failure within Nigeria. It
Frequent Design Scope Changes and Errors is important to understand that less than 16% of
On the other hand, persistent changes made to projects in road construction alone in Nigeria end
the established design, errors and defective up successful despite the heavy investment from
GOVERNMENT PROJECT FAILURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: 41
the government towards this sector (Dim, 2018). compel project implementation teams to present
Loss of revenue throughout the designing, sub-standard work to fit the meagre budget
contracting, and implementation processes of allocated or to embezzle the accorded revenues
these infrastructural projects is evident in for personal benefits (Olufemi, 2013).
Nigeria. Sahara Reporters (2019) puts the Collectively, these aspects of leadership and
wasted revenues at 2 trillion Naira ($5.517 billion) financial management failures have seen the
between the years 2000 and 2019. These huge local Nigerian grapple with sub-standard
revenues cannot be recovered and thus, such infrastructural projects with the bulk of the
wastages lead to huge losses in resources to the resources allocated to them being embezzled.
Nigerian community.
Low empowerment to Community
Project Cost Overruns It has been established that disempowerment of
Project failure has also been found to cause the local communities is a resultant effect to local
project cost overruns to stakeholders enjoined in communities in regions where these projects
the agreed-upon contracts. Inherently, with the failed. Low empowerment has been established
failure of a project, the government as a in loss of employment opportunities which
stakeholder will be required to compensate the develop capacity with the community within which
local community displaced to give room for the the projects are undertaken. Alternatively,
project’s implementations in addition to costs economic deprivation of the local community of
incurred in the concomitant delays (Nweze, the vital infrastructural development has been
2016). Conversely, contractors will have to pay established to be a resultant effect of these
up for their credit facilitations in undertaking the project failures within these communities.
projects. Therefore, with the failure of projects, Therefore, through the failure of these projects,
stakeholders are tied to honour the agreements the local Nigerian community intended to benefit
of their contractors with the greatest burden from them gets to lose its intended empowerment
being economic/financial effects. enshrined in the aims of these projects which are
inherently structured for altruistic reasons.
Loss of Revenue by Citizens
Project failure has a close impact on local CONSEQUENCES OF PROJECT FAILURE
citizens’ life because it leads to a loss of Slow Economic Growth
revenues. This is because, project Project failure has been linked to slow or derailed
implementation opens up local citizens and economic growth in the community within which
communities to employment and commercial the projects were to be implemented in Nigeria. A
opportunities in labour supply, material supply case in point is the $20bn Ogidigben Gas
and procurement gains as the contractors Industrial Park in Delta state which was
outsource locally. These investments in Nigeria positioned to be a game-changer in the oil
confer a widespread impact on the local refinery. Yusuf (2018) reports that the failure in
community and by closing a project, the revolving kick-starting this project has seen the Ogidigben
revenue streams tend to be cut. Moreover, with community still languish in economic
the closure of these projects, local communities underdevelopment despite the readiness of
lose out on the economic gains these projects financial support from stakeholders. Therefore,
would have had on their business activities which project failure has been established to
have been aggregated into revenue loss (Tell, significantly hamper the exploitation of economic
2008). Hence, there is a resultant loss in revenue opportunities that could have arisen from the
for the local community as a result of project implementation and operation of the specific
failure. project across Nigeria. Thus, the overall economy
of the country has suffered reduced growth levels
Sub-standard Infrastructure owing to the failure of essential projects.
It has been established that project failure and
incomplete projects have resulted in the ‘handing Sector-Centric Underdevelopment
over’ of substandard infrastructure to the local It has been established that the failure of projects
community. Project failure has been established leads to low development rates in the associated
to be fuelled due to financial and leadership- sectors within Nigeria. For instance, the
related challenges across Nigeria owing to Ogidigben oil refinery project portrays a model of
corruption and financial issues (Eneh, 2011). an expansive refinery in the Delta region in
These challenges have been established to Nigeria which was positioned to open up
42 KING MATTHEW EJA AND MANU RAMEGOWDA
opportunities to industry-players. However, the of accountability and poor efficiency in the
failure of the refinery to take off since 2015 has process of implementing these projects have
seen the regions slow down its progression to the resulted in low confidence accorded to
refinery of crude oil extracted from the region government. As a result, failure to secure credit
(Yusuf, 2018). This has resultantly led to the low facilities from these institutions has also been
development of the oil sector which is the leading established as a detrimental consequence to the
foreign exchange earner in the economy. economic development of these communities in
Nigeria.
Loss of Foreign Aid/Grants
A grave consequence which has been noted with CONCLUSION
the rising number of failed projects in Nigeria is Nigerian government needs a national policy, and
the loss of foreign or donor support in the local if necessary, legislative approach, to address the
projects undertaken in the country. Naturally, problem of project failure in the country. The
development partners to Nigeria offer both impacts of project failure on individual citizens
technical and financial support to the and the national economy are extremely negative
implementation of infrastructural projects that are and require mitigation.
deemed vital economically (Adeyemo & Amade,
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