Motivations, Success Factors and Barriers to the Adoption of Offsite Manufacturing in Nigeria

Despite several mitigation attempts, Nigeria is still facing a deficit of 17 million houses. Seminal literature argues that this problem is predominantly due to a myriad of issues, including high construction costs, skills shortages, the slow pace of construction, lack of infrastructure and logistics, poor quality of available housing stock etc. Given these issues, offsite manufacturing has been proffered as an innovative method for addressing these challenges. This paper reports on the findings of a feasibility study which investigated the Nigerian stakeholders’ perceptions on the needs, promises and barriers of adopting offsite manufacturing in Nigeria. To achieve this, in-depth interviews were conducted with experts directly involved in housing delivery. Data gathered from the experts were analysed using thematic analysis, and Nvivo software was used to transcribe and analyse the research data. Findings from the in-depth interviews highlighted that the housing deficit in Nigeria is on the increase and nothing significant was being done at the moment. Stakeholders also posited that although OSM could improve housing delivery efforts in Nigeria, the prevalence of this is still considerably low; and that this was influenced by many factors, such as negative local perception about OSM, client resistance, lack of infrastructure and skills shortage. This study concludes that for OSM to be adopted in Nigeria, there is a need for greater awareness, collaboration, training and encouragement from Government. This study presents additional understanding of OSM in Nigeria based on expert opinion, the results of which were used to develop a framework for the effective adoption of OSM in Nigeria. It is contended that the adoption of OSM could help support housing delivery efforts in Nigeria, and may also leverage wider benefits to the construction industry and associated supply chain.