CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Construction sector is an integral and essential part of infrastructure development which gives tremendous boost to Nigeria’s economy. Materials management is an important element in construction project management. Construction materials management process effect is a key to success of a construction project. Materials management was treated as cost centred since purchasing department spends enough money on materials while store was holding huge inventory of materials, blocking money and space in the past(Ramakrishna, 2015). But recently it has evolved and changed with respect to the ever growing complexity of projects. It is a thing of importance to understand the origin of materials management procedures and how they differ from those of other industries. Materials make up a major cost component for construction Industry. The total cost of materials may be 60% – 80% or more of the total cost incurred in construction project depending upon the type of project and the extent of mechanisation and plant used (Patel et al. 2011). However, with the process of liberation of global economy, there has been a drastic change and evolution in the business environment, resulting in construction organizations exposed to intense competition in marketplace. Therefore, ineffective material management can cause unavoidable loss for a construction project. Material management can be considered as a prime uncertainty in a construction project. Materials management functions which include planning and material take o, vendor evaluation and selection, purchasing, expenditure, shipping, material receiving, warehousing and inventory and material distribution. As material management is interrelated to other processes and stages of the construction project and is dependent over various other factors it has high uncertainty. Especially the nature of construction project being fragment basis with unstructured communication and no clear responsibility between the parties, increase the challenge of implementing effective material management. Although material management problems highly affect the construction professionals all over the world, they are more critical for construction professionals. Acquisition of materials is very important in construction projects since the materials are incorporated into the works to form the structure of the project. It is therefore important to study the influence of acquisition of materials on the performance of projects in Nigeria. Performance of construction projects is the depending on the acquisition of material