**2. Literature survey**

The study reviews related literature in the following areas: Nigerian construction industry, Information sharing among the project participants, Poor Communication between Client and Contractor, Communication in Construction Projects, Practice of communication in construction and Effectiveness of communication within construction teams.

Olaniran [5] asserted that the Nigerian construction industry contributes to the country's economy in numerous ways. Among them is the provision of employment for the country labour force [6, 7]. According to [8] the Nigeria construction industry remains the largest employer of labour considering the fact that over thirty percent (30%) of the country's workforce is employed by it. Samuel [9] on his part, posited that, above 69,749 workers were somehow employed by103 construction firms in the country, in the year 2018 alone.

This employment is usually by direct engagement of construction professionals and or by indirectly engaging Suppliers while purchasing construction materials [10].

The global construction industry has a value of 4 trillion dollars while the Nigeria construction industry makes up to 0.2% of the global total. Aside employment provision, [9] indicated that in comparison to other developed countries the Nigeria construction industry is relatively small.

In terms of size, [11] and [12] assert that rise in growth of the Nigeria construction industry has made it so large that same can be considered the largest in West African

*Client Type and Communication Practice during Pre-Contract Phase of Construction Project… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113210*

countries. Anny et al. [13] however opined that the growth recorded in the Nigeria construction industry is informed by the Government's continued investment in infrastructural development.

The positive impact of these sustainable practices on construction projects in developed countries, [14] elicited the sustained interest of construction professionals and academicians within the Nigerian construction industry [1].

Unfortunately, sustainable construction practice is yet to be firmly rooted in developing countries; including the Nigeria construction industry [7, 15]. Ogunde et al. [2] and Nwokoro and Onukwube [16] affirmed that sustainable practice is still a developing concept within the Nigeria construction industry. The idea behind sustainable construction emerged around 2006 following the development of the national building code in 2006 [17]. The national building code in 2006 provided an advantage for creating awareness regarding sustainable construction practice within the Nigeria construction industry, [18].

Despite the creation of the national building code, the construction industry in Nigeria still experience a lot of fragmentation [19, 20] noted that fragmentation in the Nigeria construction industry is caused due to the increasing demand for specialization.

Two major types of fragmentation namely; internal and external are rife in the Nigeria construction industry. The former which is the problem of integrating construction project team members and the latter which is attributed to the problem of integrating external bodies such as public authorities to the construction project.

Olatunji [21] however asserted that regardless the nature of fragmentation, same is responsible for the poor information sharing among project team members in the Nigeria construction industry. Abubakar et al. [22] similarly revealed that the separation of design and construction during the project development phases is informed by the fragmentation experienced within the industry. Same is responsible for project delays, poor performance, low productivity, cost overruns, disputes and many others, [23–25]. This problem, therefore, creates a paradigm shift in ensuring better communication process of construction projects' life cycle.

Yang et al., [26], asserted that building, project management requires effective collaboration and coordination between all the stakeholders in order to realize the project objectives; including successful delivery of project.

It is however pertinent to note that in procurement; whether or not it's outright project implementation, information flow continues to play a profound role in the construction environment [27]. Anything to the contrary, Wikforss and Alexander [28] declared, will affect the performance of the construction industry.
