Influence of Security Challenges on the Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Influence of Security Challenges on the Management of Public Universities in North Central Nigeria.

Dyege Clement Akpenpuun, Agbe, J. I. (PhD), Idoko Alphonsius A. (PhD)
Department of Educational Foundations and General Studies, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Nigeria

Abstract:- The study investigated the influence of security challenges on the management of public universities in the North Central Nigeria. Three specific objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study was 9,708 academic and senior administrative staff in seven Federal Universities in North Central Nigeria. The sample size for the study was 384 academic and senior administrative staff who were drawn using purposive, proportionate stratified and convenience sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Security Challenges and Management of Public Universities Questionnaire (SCMPUQ)”. The questionnaire was validated by experts and its reliability was established using Cronbach Coefficient Alpha Method which yielded a coefficient of 0.87. Data collected for the study was analyzed using Means and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions and Chi-Square Goodness of fit to test the hypotheses at 0.05level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that armed banditry and cultism have significant negative influence on the management of public universities in North Central Nigeria. The study also revealed that ethnic crisis does not significantly influence the management of public universities. The study concluded that security challenges such as armed banditry and cultism in North Central Nigeria pose a great challenge to the management of public universities. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended among others that the Federal Government and university management should be proactive in creating and sustaining a peaceful, threat-free environment by providing sufficient surveillance vehicles that will be very useful in timely fighting and containment of armed banditry activities in university environment and the university management should tighten up measures to check cult activities on campuses and all identified cultists should be rusticated from the institution by the university management.

Keywords: University Education, Security Challenges, Armed Banditry, Cultism and Ethnic Crises and Management of Public Universities.

Introduction

Universities are unarguably the highest institutions of learning in the world. University is a fascinating institution with many faces: academic, scientific, social, cultural, economic, political, religious and commercial activities. As an important level of education around the world, university avails every nation of high level manpower necessary for national development. It helps to instill good attitudes and engenders attitudinal changes that are necessary for the socialization of the individuals, thereby, leading to the modernization and overall transformation of the society. It is also clear that a functional university system helps through teaching and concise research, in the creation, absorption, dissemination and application of knowledge. The welfare of citizens of any nation is closely tied to the quality and outreach of their university systems.
As a country, Nigeria has made heavy investment in university education. To Nyamngee (2020), the aims and objectives of university education in Nigeria are to: contribute to national development through high level relevant manpower training; develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the individual and society; develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and appreciate their local and external environments; acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society. Others are to promote and encourage scholarship and community service; forge and cement national unity and promote national and international understanding and interaction. In order to achieve the aims and objectives for which these universities are set-up, each of the universities have a Governing Council tasked with the responsibility of management. Hence, of paramount importance in the realization of the objectives of university education in Nigeria is management.

Read More