Relationship between housing condition, soldiers social life and morale in Coral Barracks, Nigeria

Abstract

Housing is one of the trio basic necessities of all human beings that comprises of homes in neighbourhoods whose characteristics can affect people‘s life chances and outcomes in many ways, including health, education, work outputs and access to wider resources. Despite the numerous empirical studies that have been conducted on housing condition, there is still very little conducted on military barracks life, the impact of barracks‘ accommodation condition on soldiers‘ social life and morale. Accordingly, this research aimed to assess the relationship between housing condition, soldiers‘ social life and morale in Coral Barracks and covers only the non- commissioned officers‘ quarters. Quantitative method using questionnaire survey was used and the population size was 774 apartments with a sample size of 260, while the data were analysed using descriptive statistics as well as parametric measurements. A total number of 194 questionnaires retrieved from the respondents were used in the analyses. The findings from the physical condition attributes showed that the number of bedrooms, wall and floor were in fair condition, while roof, kitchen and toilet/bath were in poor condition. Neighbourhood attributes of hospitals, worship centres, sport facilities and schools were in fair condition, building services attributes of security, water supply, fire protection, sewage & solid waste disposal and road networks were in fair condition, while laundry, internet and drainage are in poor condition. The correlation result showed a positive, weak but significant relationship between physical housing attributes and community life, while neighbourhood attributes and community life had significant positive but moderate relationship. Building services attributes had strong and significant positive correlation. Moreover, neighbourhood and soldiers‘ life correlate significantly, negative but weak, while physical housing attributes and neighbourhood attributes correlate significantly but negative and weak with children life. Neighbourhood attributes and soldiers‘ morale recorded significant, negative but weak correlation. The study recommends that a standard strategic plan for an efficient barrack housing construction, management and maintenance is designed.