Abstract

Politics in Federal and State universities in the North Central, Nigeria has become a thing of serious concern to scholars, policy makers, educational administrators, academic and administrative staff, parents, students and researchers. This is because the area is multi- cultural, multi-religious, multi- ethnic and multi-linguistic thereby making universities in the area vulnerable to political manipulations and influence. This study investigated staff perception of the influence of political factors on personnel matters which have affected staff and students’ morale, their productivity, and the effective management of personnel matters in federal and state universities in the area. Eight research questions and hypotheses guided the study. A sample of 1120 made up of 767 staff of federal universities and 353 staff of state universities was used to collect data for the study. The Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The instrument used was a 56 – item structured questionnaire titled Influence of Politics on Personnel Management Questionnaire (IPPMQ). This was used to collect data from 1120 respondents comprising767 staff from five federal universities and 353 staff from five state universities in the North Central, Nigeria.  Mean scores and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study showed that partisan political, ethnic and sectional considerations, religious affiliation, favouritism, the quota system and catchment area policy, significantly influenced the appointment of members of governing councils, vice chancellors and other principal officers, staff employment, trade union activities and students’ admissions in federal and state universities. However, the findings also showed that political factors do not significantly influence staff appointment to positions and staff promotion in both federal and state universities. There were however, significant differences in the mean rating scores between staff of federal and state universities on the influence of political factors on the appointment of council members, vice chancellors and other principal officers, staff appointment to positions, staff employment and promotion, trade union activities and students’ admissions. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others, that a Congregation Committee (CC) made up of impeccable characters be established in each university to screen prospective members of Governing Councils before their appointment and that Vice Chancellors of federal and state universities should be elected by a Senate Search Committee (SSC) of each university.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Education may be defined as a process of teaching, training and learning, especially in schools, colleges or universities, to improve knowledge and develop skills. In the modern society, education is no longer seen solely as a set of skills, attitudes and values but as a service or a product to be sold by academic institutions that have transformed themselves into service providers Misha (2008). Consequently, educational institutions have to be effectively and efficiently managed. The art of good governance in higher institutions, particularly in federal and state universities, therefore calls for the effective balancing and manipulation of the internal and external political factors that tend to influence their management. Politics and education are therefore closely interconnected and this can be seen in the management of education. Denga (1999:37) consented to this statement when he said “no one can take education out of politics neither can anyone take politics out of education”. In North Central Nigeria, education is regarded as an instrument for social, economic and political development. Educational agencies, institutions, communities and individuals in the area to a large extent, influence the management of educational institutions.

Dzurgba (2008) sees politics as a platform for planning, controlling, organizing, coordinating, and managing orderly interactions between individuals and social groups. He explains further that as a process, politics performs the functions of adaptation, integration, allocation of human and material resources, resolution of conflicts and promoting mutual understanding and cooperation. This definition implies that politics is all about guiding or influencing policy or decision–making. This means that politics influences decision-making whether at individual, organizational or government levels.

Dzurgba’s definition also implies that politics involves the allocation of scarce human, material and financial resources to individuals, groups, regions and classes. The appointment of members of governing councils and vice chancellors, employment and appointment of staff to positions, promotion of staff, methods and tactics of handling trade union activities, admission of students, and determination of salaries, wages, and pensions, are all the results of this function of resource allocation in the process of managing universities. Since federal and state universities make and take decisions in terms of the allocation of scarce resources and since politics in a sense is decision making, universities make and take decisions that are influenced by political variables or factors that tend to shape personnel matters in the institutions. In the context of this study, politics is defined as the use of ethnicity, partisan political considerations, sectionalism, tribalism, religion, quota system, catchment area, and favouritism, to gain values, power and scarce resources. 

Ethnicity means the fact of belonging to a particular race or tribe that shares a cultural tradition and taking decisions that tend to favour that tribe to the disadvantage of others. According to Ogbonnaya (2009), in most of the Nigerian universities, appointment of members of the governing councils and vice-chancellors, staff employment, appointment, and promotions, are usually done on the basis of ethnic considerations. He contended that as a result of this development, most governing councils hardly succeed in achieving their statutory responsibilities in university governance. Similarly, Ajayi and Ayodele (2004) pointed out that in Nigeria, ethnicity is a major political factor in the distribution of the national wealth among the various ethnic groups in the country. They contended that as a result of abject poverty among the people in the land, each ethnic group tries to out-wit the other in the sharing of the national wealth so as to improve their socio-economic and political status and the overall development in their communities. This perhaps explains why in North Central Nigeria, it is speculated that each ethnic group struggles to be represented in the appointment of members of governing councils of higher institutions, in staff employment, appointment, promotion, trade union activities and students’ admissions in the universities.

Partisan political consideration is the act of taking decisions on the basis of party politics. Schmidt (2001) observed that most state governors handpick members of governing councils and boards of higher education on the basis of partisan political considerations so as to bring their campuses under partisan control. Corroborating Schmidt, Mclendon and Hearn (2003) maintained that the implicit politicization of the appointment of council members and other principal officers of universities has made personnel management in particular and universities’ management generally, exceedingly difficult and much more susceptible to entirely non- academic intervention from outside.

Sectionalism is loyalty to the interests of one’s own state, region or section of the country rather than the nation as a whole. Babalola, Jaiyeoba and Okediran (2007) observed that sectionally and ethnically conscious vice-chancellors and other principal officers of the universities use their positions to favour their state, regional or sectional backgrounds in terms of staff appointment, recruitment, and promotion to very sensitive and lucrative positions in the universities. Anifowose and Enemuo (2008) believed that most trade union elections on campuses are influenced by sectional and religious considerations.

Tribalism is the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separates one member of a group from the members of another group. Thus, groups with a strong sense of unity and identity in a university can benefit from kith and kin selection behaviour in terms of appointment, employment, promotion, trade union elections and admissions.  According to Ehimikwai (2005), in many universities, staff appointment, employment, and students’ admissions are, to a large extent influenced by tribalism. 

Religion is the belief in the existence of God and the activities that are connected with the worship of the God. Ojedele and Ilusanya (2006) pointed out that in most universities in some parts of Nigeria, religious considerations significantly influence election, appointment, and recruitment of staff as well as students’ admissions. Corroborating this, Ogbonnaya (2009) asserted that staff and students are sometimes denied appointment, employment, promotion and admission because of religious and tribal sentiments

Catchment Area is the area from which a university draws its students and from which a number of people are given special preferences by virtue of the location of the institution in the area. Oka (2005) and Mgbekem (2004) observed that in many universities today in Nigeria, majority of the staff that are recruited and appointed, as well as the students that are admitted, are from the areas where the institutions are located because of the so called “catchment area” policy instead of qualifications and merit.

Quota System  means a percentage of people that should come from each state or local government, in terms of appointment, employment, promotion, and admission irrespective of whether such people are qualified for such positions or not. According to Dzurgba (2008), the Aptitude Tests being used in addition to JAMB scores for the purpose of students’ admission into the universities, is a political ploy to legitimize the ‘quota system’ in some universities. Similarly, Enemuo (2004), reported that it is used in terms of staff appointment, recruitment, promotion, student admission and other areas of personnel matters in federal and state universities while Onwuka (1991) regarded the application of the quota admission policy as the enthronement of injustice in the education sector particularly in federal and state universities. The need therefore arises to examine how political factors influence personnel matters in federal and state universities in North Central, Nigeria.

Personnel Management,according to Lunenburg and Ornstein (2008) is the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the recruitment, development, compensation and integration of people into the organization for the purpose of contributing to the organizational, individual and societal goals. Lussier (2009) maintained that as a process, personnel management involves human resource planning, attracting, developing, retaining workers, and trade union relations. Personnel management is therefore very critical to the efficient and effective management of universities. This is because the human factor is the most significant one, since it is the people who have to use all other resources (Mgbekem, 2004). Without the productive efforts of the workers, the materials and resources in the university would be of no use. Personnel issues such as appointment, employment, promotion, trade union activities and students’ admission are aspects of personnel management that are critical to the overall success of federal and state universities in North Central Nigeria. Therefore, politics and personnel management refers to how political factors influence personnel issues in federal and state universities.