Abstract: Overtime, cost management of construction projects in the Nigeria oil and gas sector has been branded inadequate with critical stakeholders standing aloof from offering requisite expertise to achieve efficiency. Based on pertinent lack of critical literature narrative about the practice of cost management in the oil and gas sector generally and in Nigeria specifically, this study evaluated the issues inhibiting cost management of oil refinery. Using a purposive sample size of 36 construction professionals in the oil and gas sector obtained through snowballing in Rivers state, Nigeria, structured questionnaire was employed to collect data that were analysed using mean item score and Chi-Square. The result revealed that issues dealing with low education, skills, estimating efficiency, non-involvement of core cost management professionals and change in scope as critical issues for affecting the efficiency of cost management in oil refinery construction projects. All the 25 factors evaluated were significant mean item scores (3.01 - 3.94) and the null hypothesis was rejected (p-values < 0.000) to show the consistency of the mean ranking. The study buttresses that inadequate cost management practice in the Nigerian oil and gas sector is due to this range of factors. Recommendations towards improving the state of cost management practice in the sector are directed towards the need to improve the validated barriers as precursors of inefficiencies in the sector.Abstract: Overtime, cost management of construction projects in the Nigeria oil and gas sector has been branded inadequate with critical stakeholders standing aloof from offering requisite expertise to achieve efficiency. Based on pertinent lack of critical literature narrative about the practice of cost management in the oil and gas sector generally and in ...Show More
Abstract: Water shortages are a critical issue in the agricultural sector. An experiment was conducted in the field to evaluate the effects of deficit irrigation on maize yields and water productivity. There was a significant (P<0.01) effect of deficit irrigation levels on yield and yield component parameters. A maximum grain yield of 5346.9 kg/ha and a lowest grain yield of 3061.5 kg/ha were obtained with 100% ETC and 50% ETC, respectively. It was found that 50% ETC produced the maximum irrigation water use efficiency (1.08 kg/m3) and 100% ETC produced the minimum irrigation water use efficiency (0.94 kg/m3). According to the economic analysis, applying 75% ETC under conventional furrow irrigation systems is economically feasible for small-scale farmers. As a result, applying 75% ETC to conventional furrows allowed for a water savings of 1288.8 m3/ha, which was then used to irrigate an additional 0.33 ha that could be used for downstream irrigation users in irrigation scheme.Abstract: Water shortages are a critical issue in the agricultural sector. An experiment was conducted in the field to evaluate the effects of deficit irrigation on maize yields and water productivity. There was a significant (P<0.01) effect of deficit irrigation levels on yield and yield component parameters. A maximum grain yield of 5346.9 kg/ha and a lowest grain yield of 3061.5 kg/ha were obtained with 100% ETC and 50% ETC, respectively. It was found that 50% ETC produced the maximum irrigation water use efficiency (1.08 kg/m3) and 100% ETC produced the minimum irrigation water use efficiency (0.94 kg/m3). According to the economic analysis, applying 75% ...Show More
