Interviews with 48 stakeholders in Nigerian public higher-education facilities identified fire-readiness barriers involving policymakers and design-approval agencies, contractors and consultants, fire operators, institutional management and students. The authors propose using Nigeria's 2025 Insurance Industry Reform Act as leverage, but the study did not inspect buildings or test whether any measure reduces incidents or losses.
Key findings
- Barriers span regulation and the building lifecycle: standards enforcement, design and construction, operator readiness, university budgeting and management, and student knowledge and behaviour. The authors connect safe learning facilities with SDG 4.
Why this matters globally
Universities in resource-constrained settings often combine ageing buildings with dense occupancy. The multi-actor framework can support audits and joint drills, but insurance law cannot substitute for building standards, electrical inspection and response capacity.
Thai researcher contribution
Mohamed Ahmed Hafez of Shinawatra University's Faculty of Management and INTI International University joined a six-country team. Thailand contributes facilities-management scholarship; the field evidence is Nigerian.
Limitations to consider
Convenience-sampled perspectives are not engineering inspections. The abstract does not state stakeholder composition or institutions, and includes no drill observations, incident data or readiness scores. Malaysian practices may not transfer directly.