Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) Dispute on Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria

Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) Dispute on Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria

Mrs. A. A. Alfa Ph. D, Ochai Godwin O. Ph. D, Mrs. A. O. Ogwuche Ph. D, Agbulu Christiana, A. Ph. D

Department of Educational Foundations, College of Agricultural and Science Education, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi

DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8120014

Received: 02 November 2024; Accepted: 07 November 2024; Published: 27 December 2024

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) disputes on the management of public universities in North Central Nigeria. The study was guided by two specific objectives, two research questions, and two hypotheses. Survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 4,238 academic staff in public universities in North Central Nigeria. The sample size for the study was 270 academic staff. The sampling technique used in this study was multistage sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled, “Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) Dispute on Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria (IASUUDMPUQ). The instrument consisted of 10 items. The items of the instrument were validated by three experts two in the area of Educational Administration and Planning and one expert in the area of Measurement and Evaluation all from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha Statistics. The reliability coefficient for the entire instrument was 0.82, which indicated that the instrument was reliable. The research questions posed in the study were descriptively answered using mean and standard deviation. The hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance using chi-square test of goodness-of-fit statistic. The findings of the study indicated that the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ disputes on universities have significant impact on the management of public universities in the area of proliferation and revitalisation. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that past incessant strike actions by Academic Staff Union of Universities have positive significant impact on university proliferation and revitalisation in public universities in North Central Nigeria.

Keywords: Proliferation, Revitalization, and Management of Public Universities

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria’s ability to realize her vision of becoming one of the largest economies in the world is largely dependent on the capacity to transform her population into highly skilled and competent citizens capable of competing globally. The education sector is consequently special to the actualisation of the current national and global policy objectives. Nigeria wants to use education as a tool for fostering developments of all Nigeria’s citizens to their full potential in the promotion of a strong, democratic, egalitarian, prosperous, indivisible, and indissoluble sovereign. Dispute refers to workers’ refusal to work as a protest for inadequate service or poor conditions of service (Edinyan & Ubi, 2013). Amadi and Precious (2015) state that strike is an aspect of industrial conflict used by workers to express their grievances. It is a collective, organised, cessation, or shutdown of work by employees to force acceptance of their demands by the employers. According to Badekale et al (2016), the causes of industrial dispute in Nigerian universities with the staff unions include factors related to university autonomy, poor funding, poor working conditions, proliferation of universities when the existing ones are not adequately taken care of. Other factors are deterioration of academic facilities and failure on the part of the Government to renegotiate the 2009 agreement to attainable terms. This journal will however focus on proliferation of public universities and revitalisation of public universities. In addition, Mukoro (2013) reported that since the advent of democracy in 1999, funding of education dropped from 11.12% to 1.81% in 2003. UNESCO (2000) reported that unlike Nigeria, which spends an average of 1.1% of its GDP/GNP on education, other countries like Ghana spend 3.6%, Kenya 6.2%, and Zimbabwe 9.5%. The effect of poor funding is evidenced in the brain drain, a phenomenon that has depleted universities in Nigeria seriously. The country has lost most of its experienced academics to even smaller African countries, such as Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, South-Africa, to mention a few. However, there seems to be a persistent and widespread loss of confidence in private educational institutions due to proliferation (Tunde & Kevin, 2018).

Proliferation of universities is a rapid increase in number or rapid growth of universities across the country without first taking full responsibility of the existing ones (Ibrahim, 2015). After independence in 1960, there was further private participation in the educational enterprise as a result of social pressure and demand for knowledge. Unfortunately, many of the private and even the newly established federal universities were not well structured to follow strict regulations. As a result, the standard became questionable. Analysis by The Punch revealed that while ASUU embarked on strike sixteen times since 1999, it continually blamed its decision on the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands. Due to the failure of the Federal Government to approve funding to revitalise the university system, increase the budgetary allocations to the education sector to 26%, among other demands, led to another industrial action (Mukoro, 2013).

Revitalisation is the act of bringing the university system back to life or restoring its health (Idoko, 2017). The author further defines revitalisation as the action of bringing the university system with new life and vitality through adequate funding. The gross underfunding of the education sector in the country has been rendering the university system incapacitated (Idoko, 2017). According to Mukoro (2013), without adequate financial resource, standards of education at any level shall be tantamount to a mirage that is, building castles in the air. Even when enrolment continues to increase from 325, 299 in 1999/2000 session (Ugar, 2018) to 433,821 in 2000/2001 session (FRN, 2013), the level of funding has been going down.Money is very important in this respect because by it, all other vital elements in the school can be obtained such as school buildings, purchase of equipment, payment of teacher’s salaries and allowances and running expenses (Mukoro, 2013). So far in 2022, the union has been on strike for close to three months, despite several interventions from pressure groups, protests by students, the union and the government have yet to find a common ground as this has continually affected the effective management of public universities across Nigeria (Ijôv, 2018).

Management, on the other hand, is the guidance or direction of human and material resources for the attainment of organisational goals (Olayemi, 2019). Olayemi defines management as the coordination of all the processes of planning, organising, directing, and controlling in order to attain organisational goals. University management, according to Onuselugu et al (2017) behoves around the Vice Chancellor, University Librarians, Bursar, and the Registrar. It has been observed by relevant stakeholders such as educationists, students, and the general public that Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute may be impacting either positively or negatively on the management of federal universities in North Central Nigeria in the area of proliferation of universities and revitalisation of universities. Hence, the rationale for this study.

Statement of the Problem

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) aim at assisting the stake holders in achieving its high profile in education and in development and promoting sustainable management of university education by providing high quality services. In addition, the union also supports the struggle for the improvement of the social, economic professional situation of the members, safeguard their interests, and work for their success. In Nigeria, trade unions such as ASUU, usually embark on various actions over agitations for improvement of their welfare, teaching and research facilities, and university autonomy.

The problem of this study, therefore, is that public universities across the country and North Central States in particular, have no degree of autonomy or freedom from external control which is necessary if the public universities are to perform effectively and efficiently. Fund, which would have helped in the provision of infrastructural facilities; the condition of service in public universities in North Central States is also poor, staff salaries are not paid as when due especially contract staff, inadequate fund for staff training and development are not provided. Other problems include proliferation of public universities when the existing ones have not been adequately taken care of and lack of Government political will on the issue of renegotiation which would have helped to change the terms of an already existing agreement so as to avert dispute in order to improve administrative effectiveness of any given system. These are the persistent problems, which ASUU intends to solve to improve the management of public universities in North Central States, Nigeria.

Despite the importance of stability on school calendar on education, the incessant ASUU strikes action in the country has become worrisome and destabilised the programme of educational sector. The national body of the union had embarked on several disputes. Abdulsalam (2013) reported that ASUU organised strike in 1988, 1992, 1994, and 1996. ASUU had organised strikes in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011/2012, 2013, 2016, 2020 and 2022. Beside these, local Chapters also do organise their branch strike actions from time to time. Unfortunately, failure of the Federal Government to always implement previously signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has often led to strike actions, which have disrupted the activities of public universities for decades.

The persistent disputes have definitely affected the stability of university calendar in Nigeria. The persistent ASUU disputes in Nigeria have disrupted school academic, left academic activities of universities disrupted, and distract the normal learning process. Disruption in academic program resulting from strike led to closure of universities for a period of time thereby affecting the academic activity of universities. Instability in school calendar through disputes elongate study period and hamper their academic activities.

Considering the impact of disputes on school calendar and academic activities, the researcher examined the impact of ASUU disputes on university proliferation of universities, working conditions and revitalization on the management of public universities in North Central Nigeria. The problem of this study is therefore, put in a question form as: what is the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ disputes on management of public Universities in North Central Nigeria?

Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) dispute on management of public universities in North Central Nigeria.

Specifically, the study sought to:

• examine the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on proliferation of public universities
• ascertain the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization of public universities

The following research questions were raised to guide the study:

• What is the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on proliferation in public universities?
• What is the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization in public universities?

The following hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance:

• Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute does not significantly impact on proliferation in public universities
• Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute does not significantly impact on revitalization in public universities

LITERATURE REVIEW

Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on proliferation of public universities

Proliferation of universities can be defined as the act of establishing more universities without first catering for the already existing ones (Jacob, 2012). Proliferation of universities according to the researcher, is the act of creating more universities especially when the existing ones are not being properly funded and regulated. By virtue of Section 4 of the NUC Act, the role of the Commission is merely to advise the President and the Governors on creation of new universities. The power of the States to create universities as they deem fit remains unaffected and extant. Interestingly, the full effect of the powers of the NUC in relation to the establishment and location of a university are only felt in the case of private universities. As a result, therefore, most State Governments establish universities with little or no regard for the provision of adequate infrastructure and facilities (Aare, 2022).

Universities are established by the States and sited based on political rather than educational and logistical considerations, in often obscure and undeveloped locations with little or no facility to accommodate the take-off of the universities (Oyetakin, Alabi, & Kayode, 2012). In order to make themselves popular in their constituencies, some establish universities and multiple campuses in their hamlets or villages, which lack infrastructure like electricity, water, and accommodation. Some use abandoned modern school buildings as universities, while some have little or no provision for accommodation, leaving students to fend for themselves in that regard (Oyetakin, et al., 2012). Universities in Nigeria are, in the words of Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, “constituency projects.” Despite the fact that the NUC is statutorily responsible for the licencing/accreditation of universities and their programmes, many State Governments and indeed the Federal Government, mostly establish universities based on political rather than educational considerations.

A university is often established with multiple campuses in undeveloped and extremely rural communities simply to reward a particular community or politician deemed as favourably disposed to the Government in power. The effect is that some State universities are often sited in villages or hamlets with little or no facilities for proper impartation of knowledge (Araga, 2014). The contention by Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), against proliferation of Universities in Nigeria that, “If care is not taken, we will soon have the ‘University of Road Safety’ or the ‘University of Civil Defence’ has again brought into the front burner of public discuss on the desirability and/or otherwise of the establishment of more universities especially when the existing ones are not being properly funded.

Of course, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike because of deplorable conditions resulting from poor funding of existing universities, yet new ones are being created with impunity and going by the prevailing unenviable situations of Nigerian Universities. Unfortunately, these scenarios are against the background of poor performance of Nigerian universities in global rating of universities. Current Webometric rankings of Universities for January 2022, for instance, revealed that none of the universities in Nigeria made the list of 1,000 universities in the world and only six were listed among 200 best universities in Africa with best in Nigeria occupying a distant 42^nd position. This is clearly not impressive and a sad commentary on a country that hosts the largest black population in the world. Also, many academics that left the country to metropolitan universities in Europe and North America are doing very well. This ugly and unacceptable development is not only worrisome and unacceptable but one that requires urgent interventions to reverse the embarrassing trend. Of course, this does not attract their attention and action but will continue to create glorified secondary schools called universities.

Despite the poor ratings and crises in existing universities, Nigerian governments especially the State Governments, have continued to establish new universities and upgrade Colleges of Education and Polytechnics to universities as if Nigeria no longer requires these types of education and manpower. The consequence has been tacit destruction or encapsulation of the national policy on education that created 6-3-3-4 system in the country. Where this will lead the country to, no one can tell because like the extermination of middle-income earners in Nigeria, where only the poor and rich exist, the middle level manpower is systematically being wiped out of our system. This will contribute to limiting the growth of the economy of the country by eliminating middle level manpower essential to small and medium-scale businesses critical to development (Sommer, 2014).

Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization of public universities

Revitalisation of public universities is the act or process of giving new life or fresh vitality or energy to departments or units that have suffered decapitation in time past (Nwajioha, Achilike, Egwu, Ede & Agwu, 2021). Revitalisation, according to the researcher, is the process of making the various units in the university system grow, develop, or become successful again after years of deterioration. Revitalisation is renewal or revival of the university educational system for advanced educational attainment. National Universities Commission (NUC) unveiled its set goals for the revitalisation of university system in the country. Part of the goals includes 20% increase in students’ access to university education and 20 percent reduction of manpower deficit in the university by 2023. Other targets designed for achievement are 30 percent upgrade of resource input for teaching, learning and research to meet international best practice. NUC also noted that by 2023, the Commission would introduce enforceable minimum standards in university governance and reduction in the incidence of academic corruption in Nigeria universities by 10 percent and progressively decline thenceforth. Speaking on revitalizing university education in Nigeria, in the content of triple helix, NUC said they are working tirelessly to improve quality assurance and transformation higher education in Nigeria.

Malaysian leaders with foresight realized that higher education and international students can be a source of foreign exchange besides the human capital development for the country, and they invested heavily in education. For example, international students are a key source of funding for UK universities and source of revenue to the country. The Government estimates an income of over £5 billion excluding tuition fees from international students. International students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Meanwhile, Nigerian government under President Buhari has been shouting diversification of the economy since 2015, but so shortsighted to realise that education is a potential source of foreign exchange. They are paying a lot of money for their kids to study abroad but not willing to create Nigerian universities that will attract international students.

Over the years, universities have played dominant roles in the development of the whole world and Nigeria in particular (Nwajioha, et al., 2021). Universities are usually in the forefront in combating socio-political cum economic challenges; especially with the power of research being focused on areas that will promote human development and solving existential societal problems (Admad & Basheer, 2012). Universities no doubt, have the broad vision of serving as pace-setting institutions in terms of learning, character building and service to mankind with a mission to producing competent and resourceful graduates of high intellectual standards and societal development through appropriate teaching, research and other services to humanity. The university is the brain box of the nation as it provides higher education that restores to mankind its sanity and increase adaptability. Interestingly, education is a social good and not just a commodity for sale. The provision of education is therefore one of the social responsibilities of any government to her citizens. Nwajioha (2016) posited that education be it formal or informal constitute the engine of growth, development and transformation of any society. Thus, education is considered a necessity for the survival of man, it suggests development of valuable knowledge and skills in a society, it brings about in the persons submitted to it, certain skills and attitudes that are adjudged useful and desirable not only to the recipient, but also to the society.

It is, however, disheartening and really ironical that education, the process that involves all round development of cognitive, psychomotor and affective ability of individuals towards the advancement of the society, is mostly relegated to the background in Nigeria (Akuh, 2016). There is no doubt whatsoever that, for the university system to function as efficiently and effectively as expected, the stakeholders need to work harmoniously, in collaboration with the academic staff union of universities (ASUU) and other labour unions of universities; with a clear sense of focus in line with the vision and mission of establishing ivory tower in the world and Nigeria in particular. It is the vision and mission that guide the university in its development processes as well as its services to the society. In the same vein, the society needs to be in good condition and under the control of leaders who understand the worth of education for the desired objectives to be realised. However, this is not the concern of the stakeholders in Nigeria. Therefore, ASUU as a trade union, in order to fight for their rights, good working conditions in the universities and better living standards for the masses in society have been engaging in incessant strike actions so as to press home her demands (Akuh, 2016).

Review of Related Empirical Studies

Nwajioha, Achilike, Egwu, Ede, and Agwu (2021) investigated the implications of industrial unrest of academic staff union of universities in Nigeria. The main purpose of this study was to determine how revitalisation of public universities affects the economy and security of Nigeria. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was used. The population comprised all Dean of Faculties, Head of Departments, Heads of different Units and lecturers of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. A stratified random sampling technique was used, while the sample size was two hundred (200) respondents; comprising of seven Faculty Deans, twenty HODs, and one hundred and seventy-three lecturers drawn from various faculties of the University. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument was made up of 18 items, with six in each of the three clusters addressing the respective research question. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity using three experts, while a reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Estimate. The instrument was administered personally by the researchers while data was analysed using mean and standard deviation. A mean score of 2.50 constitute a benchmark for affirmative response. The findings reveal among others that incessant ASUU strike constitutes threats to literacy campaign in Nigeria as it distorts academic calendar and breeds haphazard implementation of curriculum contents amongst other negative educational implications.

Eric and Urho (2015) investigated the effects of strike actions on educational development management of Universities in Rivers State. The purpose of this study was to investigate how collective bargaining and involvement of third-party during renegotiations could help to reduce incessant strike. It is a survey design. The study randomly selected seventy-five (75) non-academic staff and sixty (60) academic staff from each population of the university, which total one hundred and thirty-five (135) respondents randomly and independently sampled. The data collected was gathered using structured questionnaire and oral interview and it was synthesised with the sample percentage (%) method. The data collected were analysed and presented in tabular form. The results obtained showed irregularity of academic programmes, examination malpractices and cultism amongst students, certificate racketeering, erosion of dignity and respect of higher education are the effects of strike actions. The measures to eradicate strike actions in Universities in Rivers State include stifling all aspects of collective bargaining, both employees and managers to allow third party in negotiations and both labour and management to base subsequent negotiations on the rules and regulations binding labour matters.

Abiodun-Oyebanji (2015) examined the Academic Staff’s perception of strike actions in Nigerian universities. The descriptive research survey design was used for the study. The study population comprised all the academic staff of the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. The sample was made up of 120 academic staff selected through the use of simple and purposive random sampling techniques. A self-designed questionnaire tagged, “Lecturers’ Perception of ASUU Strike Questionnaire (LEPASQ),” was used to collect data for the study. A reliability coefficient of 0.72 was established for “LEPASQ” through test-retest method of testing reliability. Data collected for the study were analysed using frequency counts, simple percentages and t-test analysis. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study showed that many factors among which are inadequate funding, interference with university autonomy, poor condition of service are responsible for strike actions by academic staff of Nigerian universities. The study further revealed that there was a significant difference between junior and senior members of universities academic staff, and between male and female members of universities academic staff, and likewise between old and new members of universities academic staff on their perceptions of strike actions in Nigerian universities.

Adamu and Nwogo (2014) examined the effect of ASUU strike on quality of education in Nigeria (Revitalisation of public universities). The study has five objectives and five null hypotheses. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The researchers targeted 450 undergraduate students from three federal universities in the North-West geo-political zone in Nigeria, namely: Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Bayero University Kano, and Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, located in the in North-West geo-political zone in the country. The researchers randomly selected 150 students from each university. Four rating scale structured questionnaire titled, ASUU Strike and Quality of Education in Nigeria (ASQEN) was used for data collection. The researchers assisted by two research assistants distributed the instruments. Three hundred and eighty-four copies of questionnaire were properly completed. Data collected were coded in to SPSS; the package was used to run multiple regression models to determine the five null hypotheses. In all the tests of the hypotheses, the .05 confidence level was used for determining statistical significance. The result revealed that, ASUU strike has negative effect on the quality of university graduates that the country produces.

METHODOLOGY

The study adopted a survey design. The area of the study comprised of Benue, Jos, and Kwara States in North Central Nigeria. The total population is four thousand, two hundred and thirty-five (4,235) academic staff from the following universities; eight hundred and thirty-four (834) academic staff from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, two thousand, seven hundred and four academic staff from University of Jos, and six hundred and ninety-seven academic staff from Kwara State University. The choice of this category of staff as population of the study is that they are better informed as ASUU members to give valid information on the study. The sample size for the study comprises two hundred and seventy academic staff. This size was determined by using Taro Yarmen formula. Multistage sampling was used to select the sample at different stages. First, purposive sampling was used to select the sample at different stages  three states in North Central Nigeria: Benue, Jos, and Kogi. Proportionate stratified random sampling was adopted to select the number of academic staff from each of the universities. One hundred and fifty-three (153) from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Kogi State University (11), and University of Jos (106), making a total of two hundred and seventy (270). Simple random sampling was used to select the number of respondents from each of the respective universities. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled, “Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) Dispute on Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria (IASUUDMPUQ)” developed by the researcher. The instrument comprised two sections: proliferation and revitalisation. The instrument was based on a four-point rating scale of Very High Impact (VHI), High Impact (HI), Low Impact (LI), and Very Low Impact (VLI).

The instrument was face validated by one expert in Measurement and Evaluation and two experts in Educational Administration and Planning from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State. The completed questionnaire was analysed using Cronbach Alpha Statistics. An overall cluster reliability of 0.86 was established for the items of the instrument. Mean () and standard deviation was used in answering the research questions.Any mean score of 2.50 and above was accepted as determination and vice versa. Chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Any computed significant level above .05, the null hypotheses was not rejected, which is an indication of no significance. On the other hand, when the significant level is below .05, the null hypotheses of significance was rejected.

RESULTS

Research Question 1: What is the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on the proliferation of public universities?

To answer this research question, responses on the Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on the Proliferation of public universities were collected and analysed as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Mean score on the Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on the Proliferation of public universities (N = 270)

Source: Field Survey, 2024 (N = Sample size,  = Chi-square, SD = Standard Deviation)

In table 1, ranging from item 1–5, the Mean () scores are 3.68, 3.57, 3.42, 3.45 and 3.51 with Standard Deviation (SD) of .60, .61, .60, .67 and .58 respectively. The result revealed that the mean score of each item above the anchor point of 2.50, which indicated highly impacted. Therefore, the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on the proliferation has positively impacted on public universities.

Research Question 2: What is the impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization of public universities?

Table 2: Mean score on the Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on Revitalization of Public Universities (N=270)

Source: Field Survey, 2024 (N = Sample size,  = Chi-square, SD = Standard Deviation)

The result in table 2 shows that high mean scores were obtained from 6–10 items with the Mean () values of 3.55, 3.67, 3.66, 3.40 and 3.43 with Standard Deviation (SD) of .57, .51, .54, .67 and .61 respectively. The mean values were up to 2.5 and above which was interpreted as highly impacted. Therefore, Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization has highly impacted in public universities. However, harmonizing the prerequisite national curriculum objective indicated negative on the effectiveness of university administration.

Hypotheses

Research Hypothesis 1: Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on universities’ proliferation has no significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria

Table 3: Chi-square Analysis on the Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on the Proliferation of Public Universities

Source: Field Survey, 2024, (P<0.05)

Table 3 shows the result of chi-square of 40.667 with degree of freedom of 3 at 0.05 level of significant out of 384 respondents (N= 384). The Asymp sig. (P) value of 0.000 was obtained. Since P-value of 0.000 is less than 0.05 level of significant (P< 0.05), the null hypothesis (H_O) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H₁) is accepted. This implies that, the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on universities’ proliferation has significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria.

Research Hypothesis 2: Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization has no significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria

Table 4: Chi-square Analysis on the Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on Revitalization of Public Universities

Source: Field Survey, 2024(P<0.05)

Table 4 shows the result of chi-square (x²) analysis with SPSS with the outcome value of 361.936 with degree of freedom (df) of 3 at 0.05 level of significant out of 384 respondents (N= 384). The Asymp sig. (P) value of 0.000 was obtained. Since P-value of 0.000 is less than 0.05 level of significant (P< 0.05), the null hypothesis (H_O) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H₁) is accepted. This implies that, the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization has significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The first findings of the study showed that the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on universities’ proliferation has no significant impact on the management of public universities in North Central Nigeria. The result of the analysis showed that the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on universities’ proliferation has significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria. This finding of hypothesis one was confirmed by Abiodun (2015) that many factors among which are inadequate funding, interference with university autonomy, proliferation, poor condition of services are responsible for strike actions by Academic Staff Union of Nigerian universities. The ASUU dispute on new established universities that Government should cater for contemporary students’ enrolment explosion, main accredited unified admission standards, and end of part-time teachers to ensure quality in the administration on new public universities. Many universities established are still having residential buildings within the communities, which are not approved by university administration. Abiodun (2015) also confirmed that leadership problem is one of the issues that affects the condition of service and proliferation of universities in public institutions. Further, poor motivation of the staff in the aspect of salary, promotion, training programmes, leave allowance, and job security reduce their performance in the workplace. This is a major concern that ASUU seeks to persuade Government on unified standard of choosing a leader that influences the administration of new established universities.

The second research hypothesis stated that Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization has no significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria. The finding of the analysis showed that the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ dispute on revitalization has significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria. This finding was confirmed by Adamu and Nwogo (2014) who found out that the ASUU strike has negative effect on the quality of university graduates that the country produces. This finding was also confirmed by Nwajioha, Achilike, Egwu, Ede, and Agwu (2021) who found that incessant ASUU strikes distort academic calendar and breeds haphazard implementation of curriculum contents among other negative education implications. ASUU strike is the means to notify the government and it has a significant impact on the management of universities in North Central Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that past incessant strike actions by Academic Staff Union of Universities have perceived positive significant impact on university proliferation and revitalization in public universities in North Central Nigeria. It can therefore be concluded that institutionalisation of strike as a means to gain Government attention be sustained as it has greatly improved university funding, university autonomy, staff condition of service, proliferation, and revitalization in the study area.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:

• Government should fund, build new structures, and pay more attention on newly established public universities for effective administration
• Government should reconsider their position on the disputes by ASUU on revitalisation of public universities for effective administration.

CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

The findings of the study have contributed to the existing body of knowledge by revealing that Academic Staff Union of Universities Strike on proliferation and revitalisation have positive significant impact on the management of public universities in North Central, Nigeria. The study has also shown that the dispute, if duly utilised, might boost the productivity of Staff and change of Academic Staff Union of Universities’ payment platform

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