A STUDY OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF NIGERIAN RAILWAY CORPORATION

Abstract

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) which is a major public organization in Nigeria is one the largest corporate land and landed property owner in the country. The strategies employed in managing NRC landed properties have been threatened in the thrust of maximization of revenue accruing from the commercialization as well as protection of NRC landed properties against encroachment. The study therefore examines the performance of the strategies employed in managing NRC landed properties with a view to proffering sustainable solutions for effective property management. It is on this basis that the study analyzed 240 closed ended questionnaires to occupants of NRC properties and 26 questionnaires to the NRC Property Managers administered through simple random sampling technique. The study utilized both descriptive and inferential methods to analyze the responses. The result revealed that the performance of the existing strategies employed by the NRC in managing its landed properties falls below 50% mean performance index level. Furthermore, the study further analyzed the constraint factors to these strategies, and the study therefore employed factor analysis in order to reduce the factors. The result revealed that six of the most important factors (financial and technical factors, professional factors, administrative factors, intrinsic factors, negligence factors and management factors) were identified and constituted about 62.75% variance in the original factors affecting performance of management strategies in Kaduna Zone of NRC. The Study concludes that the existing management strategies has not fully resolved the lingering management challenges of encroachment on NRC landed properties, accumulation of rental debts, obsolete property records as well as underutilization of NRC landed properties. The study recommended an improvement in the existing property management strategies employed in the management of NRC landed properties by improving the professional competencies of the property managers, digitization of property records, and implementation of modern property management software’s so as to ensure the effective management of NRC land and landed properties