PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDENTS’ PROTEST CONTROL MEASURES BY STAKEHOLDERS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA
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Date
2019-08
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UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN
Abstract
Student protest is a global phenomenon which has disrupted educational activities of some developed and developing countries. In Nigeria, students’ protest often leads to breakdown of law and order, closure of universities, expulsion of students from institutions, destruction of lives and properties among others. Several studies have focused on the causes, effects and management strategies of dealing with this menace, universities stakeholders’ perception on the effectiveness of the control measures need to be studied. The study investigated the perceived effectiveness of students’ protests control measures by stakeholders in public universities in South-west, Nigeria. The purpose of the study were to investigate: (i) control measures used against students’ protests by public universities; (ii) effectiveness of students’ protests control measures as perceived by students’ leaders; (iii) effectiveness of students’ protests control measures as perceived by academic staff; (iv) effectiveness of students’ protests control measures as perceived by administrative staff; (v) difference in the perceived effectiveness of students’ protests control measures among stakeholders; and (vi) difference in the stakeholders’ perceived effectiveness of students’ protests control measures by state and federal universities in South-west, Nigeria.
The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprised 298,706 participants from 15 public universities in South-west Nigeria. The sample for this study was 1,227 participants selected using a multistage sampling procedure involving simple random, purposive, and proportionate stratified sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire which was validated and yielded reliability coefficients of 0.88, 0.78 and 0.88. Research questions were answered using percentages and all hypotheses were tested using Chi-Square Statistical Technique.
The findings of the study were that:
i. negotiation and bargaining, problem solving, communication network and violence and coercion with percentages of (100%), (99.2%), (94.7) and (83.5%) respectively were used as students’ protests control measures in the public universities in South west Nigeria;
ii. student leaders perceived participatory decision making, problem solving, communication network and violence and coercion with percentages of (98.7%), (78.7%), (73.9%), (73.2%) and (64.8%) respectively were very effective students’ protests control measures;
iii. university academic staff perceived participatory decision making (99.2%), problem solving (85.4%), negotiation and bargaining (77.3%), violence and coercion (76.5%), and communication network (70.0%) as very effective students’ protests control measures;
iv. university administrative staff perceived participatory decision making (95.6%), problem solving (89.0%), violence and coercion (77.0%), communication network (74.1%), and negotiation and bargaining (68.3%) as very effective students’ protests control measures;
v. there was a significant difference in the stakeholders’ perceived effectiveness of students’ protests control measures in public universities in South west Nigeria, χ 2 =17.37, df=6, p= .008; and
vi. there was a significant difference in the stakeholders’ perceived effectiveness of students’ protests control measures by State and Federal Universities, χ 2 =283.58, df=3, p= .000
The study concluded that stakeholders in public universities perceived protest control measures in their universities as effective. The implication is that stakeholders in university system could maintain effective use of the measures for orderliness. It was therefore recommended that university stakeholders should ensure effective use of protest control measures for maintenance of friendly learning environment devoid of rancour and friction.
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Keywords
PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS, STUDENTS’ PROTEST CONTROL MEASURES, STAKEHOLDERS, PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA