The study area used for this research was Rivers State which is located in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria (See Figure 1). The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger Delta region is located in the South-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria that is made up of nine states; namely Rivers, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Imo, and Cross River [14]. Most of the oil fields in Nigeria are mostly

found in this region and is the heart of oil exploration in Nigeria. The region is known to be the oil producing region in the country as numerous oil wells are drilled in this region. River’s state is one of the nine Niger Delta state. It is bounded to the North by Imo state, to the East by Abia and Akwa Ibom, to the South by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the West by Bayelsa. The geographical coordinate of Rivers state lies between longitude 6˚22'58.88"E and latitude 7˚35'6"E and latitude 4˚21'N and 5˚43'12"N. Port Harcourt is the capital of the state and it is considered to be the commercial center of the Nigeria oil industry. The colonial administration of Nigeria created the port to export coal from the collieries of Enugu to which it was linked by a railway called the Eastern Line, also built by the British [15].

The study adopted a descriptive research design method which is a quantitative research design. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the hospitals and schools to be used in the study while simple random sampling was used in selecting the respondents. The instrument used in obtaining the primary data was a questionnaire survey of workers mainly in the maintenance unit of the selected hospitals and schools. Questionnaires were physically distributed to the respondents and the instrument was collected by the researcher. The data collected were analyzed using Both SPSS version 26 and Microsoft Xlstat to obtaining the mean response and the frequency distribution of the responses. The instrument reliability was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha while the validity of the instrument was done using face validity. The mean and standard deviation were computed in other to understand respondents’ view on the facility present condition of the school and hospital buildings. Z-test was used in ascertaining if there was significant difference in respondent’s view of FPC in their place of work.

The population of the study for this research was State-funded hospitals and schools located within the state and the buildings would have been in existence for nothing less than 20 years. The hospital for the study should fall under the category of secondary health facility i.e. general hospital. While the schools are to be in the category of tertiary institution located within the state capital, Port Harcourt. 3 schools fell within this category. The schools were administered questionnaires out of which only 2 schools responded. The general hospital is located in each local government of Rivers state making a total of 23 general hospitals, 23 being the number of local governments in River’s state. Maintenance of the general hospitals has been long neglected. A renovation and rehabilitation exercise are been undertaken by the present government to resuscitate the hospital. As at today, 14 of the 23 hospitals are functional.

The number of respondents that participated in the survey was obtained through sample size calculation. Cochran (1975) sample size for proportion was used in obtaining the adequate sample size that would be representative. Cochran equation for sample size calculation is presented in Equation (1)

n o = Z 2 p q e 2 (1)

where n_o = sample size, e = margin of error, p = estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population, q = 1-p and Z = abscissa of the normal curve that cuts off an area α at the tails (1 - α equals the desired confidence level, e.g., 95%).

Due to the fact that just a finite number of respondents would have a sense of the maintenance management practices in the building Cochran sample size equation was modified to accommodate for smaller population. The equation for the finite population correction for proportion (modified Cochran) is presented in Equation (2)

n = n o 1 + n o − 1 N (2)

where n = sample size, N = population size, n_o= Cochran sample size.

The calculated sample size n, gave 208 questionnaires. While 44.23% applied attrition rate gave 300 questionnaires, as to account for questionnaires that would be wrongly filled or not returned.

The two principal method of data collection were administering of questionnaires to workers that work in the maintenance department or work with a good sense of how the maintenance is been carried out for the building. The questionnaire survey was conducted for duration of five months beginning from November 2021 to March 2022. Also, checklist was used to obtain information about FPC of the schools and hospitals. Obtaining the data through the checklist was carried out by the researcher. Each facility was visited and the FPC were evaluated by the researcher.

The validation of the instrument was done by face validation. The project supervisor who is considered an expert in the area of civil engineering, environmental engineering and management ensured that each of the items in the various constructs actually measure the characteristic or trait of interest. Only after validation of the instrument where the instrument distributed to respondents.

The reliability of the questionnaire was done using Cronbach Alpha which measures the internal consistency of the questionnaires. The internal consistency concerns the extents to which the items in a construct are actually measuring the same thing. Internal consistency is also the extent to which the individual items that constitute a test correlate with one another or with the test total. Cronbach Alpha reliability was adopted as it does not require testing the instrument in different time frame like test and re-test reliability method. Cronbach Alpha was calculated using Equation (3) by Allen and Yen 1979 [16].

a = [ n n − 1 ] [ 1 − S u m   V a r ( Y i ) V a r ( X i ) ] (3)

where a = Cronbach alpha, n = number of items, S u m   V a r ( Y i ) = sum of items variance, and V a r ( X i ) = Composite variance.

Both SPSS version 26 and Microsoft Xlstat were used to obtain the mean response and the frequency distribution of the responses. Comparative analysis was also conducted to understand the maintenance management practice between the schools and hospital. Z-test was used to ascertain if there is significant difference in the FPC between the two institutions. The checklist was used to confirm the maintenance management practice observed in the questionnaire and also reinforced finding or disproved finding found in the questionnaires.

Some schools of thought hold the view that there is a correlation between a facility’s condition and optimal result achievement for service-oriented organization. The result from the study on facility present condition showed that schools had better facility conditions than hospitals and therefore, are expected to operate close to an optimal service level. Empirical studies have proven that good facility condition is key to optimal service delivery. Corroborative to this study, it was found that school facilities are the physical and spatial enablers of teaching and learning which will increase the production of result [18] [19]. It was also alluded that conducive school environment could enhance student’s school attendance, involvement in academic activities and academic performance positive [11]. Furthermore, opinions still had it that schools that planned and maintained their facilities had higher student’s retention and is more effective than the others [20]. The situation of Schools in Delta State, Nigeria is dilapidated due to inadequate funding and timeliness at approving maintenance budget [11]. The significance of this finding is that maintenance and keeping of a facility in a good working condition has a lot with timeliness. For the hospitals that failed the assessment test for a good facility working condition as at the time of the assessment might be that the budget for the maintenance may have been awaiting approval. Another significance of the finding is the correlation of timeliness in maintenance and cost. Timely maintenance saves cost. The more delayed a maintenance need is kept, the more that building element needing maintenance degenerates and even leads to the damage of other previously good elements that are connected to it. This finding is corroborated by the research in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia undertaken to access the condition of buildings, it was found that many buildings faced maintenance problem that need urgent attention in order to preserve them from further deterioration and decay [21]. If the school and hospital in Rivers State must boost service delivery, then the facility present condition must be kept at an optimal working condition.