Practices and challenges of supply chain management by building contracting firms in the Lagos metropolitan area

Nigerian building construction companies face enormous challenges in the management of supply chain which lies at the heart of successful construction project delivery. This paper investigated the challenges of supply chain management by building contractors in the Lagos Metropolitan Area. One hundred building construction companies were sampled out of which seventy two responded to a structured questionnaire. Simple descriptive statistics and factor analysis were the statistical tools used to analyse the data. The result indicated that most building contractors in the Lagos area buy material more locally, they don’t have any formal relationships with suppliers, they keep suppliers at close proximity and maintain large inventory of material. The use of modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in tracking supplies and inventory management is practically nonexistence. Factor analysis of the major problems of material supply chain indicated six important factors, factor I (import tariff & security agent) factor II (foreign exchange, sharp practices & late delivery) factor III (long lead time & inflation) factor IV (damages & highway robbery) factor V (bad roads) and factor VI (freight cost). The paper recommended that contractors should take more active interest in the material supply end through suppliers' certification and backward integration, apply concept of leanness and modern technology in the management of material supply chain.