ABSTRACT

This study was designed to evaluate staff personnel administration in Universities in North Central Nigeria, with a view to finding out the extent to which the guidelines on staff personnel administration are adhered to. The instruments used included; Staff Personnel Administration Questionnaire (SPAQ), oral interview and examination of documents. The SPAQ was used to collect relevant data from 358 university officers sampled from 6 out of 15 of the universities in the region. Standard deviation and means were used to answer the research questions while analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe test were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed among others that to a large extent, universities adhered to the approved guidelines in staff recruitment, staff training, motivation and welfare and retirement practices; and to a low extent in orientation practices. This situation cut across Federal, State and Private universities. Some of the implications of the study are that the universities should not be blamed for any unrest or job dissatisfaction since they complied with the regulations governing staff personnel administration. It seems that any problem arising from staff dissatisfaction should be traced to other reasons. There may be a need to review the current conditions of service in universities as it has lasted for many years and might have become obsolete in view of the global economic changes. This might help to reduce brain drain. Also, the need for proper orientation becomes apparent as new staff might have very high expectations. Some recommendations were made to the effect that Universities should produce and make guidelines available to all staff, and incorporate orientation practices in the guidelines. It was also recommended that universities should ensure a balance growth through the training of their administrative staff.