Theoretical Framework For Managing Corporate Real Estate In Nigeria

This research sought to develop a framework for managing Corporate Real Estate (CRE) in Nigerian universities in particular and private or public corporate organizations in Africa in general. The purpose of the research was to understudy Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) frameworks, critically examine the nature and organisational structure of CRE units in the universities, and develop a CREM framework for managing the real estate of universities. In this research, the Cross-sectional study design was applied. This was done in combination with purposive sampling technique. That is to say only universities with dependable funding sources for example federal universities, universities with sizeable quantity of corporate real estate and located within the south eastern region were chosen to use as samples in this research. A sample of sis universities was selected from among the 36 federal universities in Nigeria for this research. The interview schedule developed and used for this study covered several themes including the following: corporate real estate unit objectives and strategy which comprised Inventory of Real Estate, Assets and Real Estate Decision-making. About 75% of the CRE executives in the selected universities were of the view that the Universities did not have a formally and well organized CRE Unit. 100% of the respondents were of view that the real estate units were structured as more or less a decentralized department of the university. A careful study of the other frameworks developed for CREM by other researchers were understudied and modified and a framework for CREM in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general was developed. Though it is discussed here with respect to the university system in Nigeria, it can be applied to all corporate organizations be it private or public.