Causes of time overrun of education trust fund building projects in north central Nigeria

The study surveyed Education Trust Fund building projects in some tertiary institutions in north central Nigeria with the aim of ascertaining the causes of time overrun of these projects. The survey was carried out with the help of a structured questionnaire administered to clients, consultants and contractors’ alike. Oral interview was equally conducted to clarify some gray area identified. The data collected were analysed using descriptive, analysis of variance and chi-square methods of data analysis. The results shows that 73.91% of forty six(46) projects surveyed in this zone had cases of time overrun and four major factors were identified to be responsible which are: design changes, poor contract management, poor financing and mis-management of mobilization fee by the contractors. The paper concludes that time overrun can be prevented by given due consideration to design and planning at the inception of the project by the parties involved.Keywords: Time overrun, building projects, client, consultant, contracto