Interrogation of the Dichotomy Between Academic and Non-Academic Staff in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

In Nigerian universities the relationship existing between the academic and the non-academic staff appears to be characterized by mutual suspicion and often unexpressed rivalry. It is in the context of the above that the study examined the dichotomy existing between the academic and the nonacademic staff in Nigerian universities. It is a descriptive and analytic study which utilized secondary sources of data from journals, text books and newspapers. The systems theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the study. The study identified the causes of friction in the academic and non-academic staff interface to include unequal treatment, dominance of the decision making apparati, narrowed apex, poaching of administrative offices and disdain by some members of one group for the other. The study recommends the broadening of the apex for nonteaching staff through the creation of directorates, the stoppage of the bifurcation of administration and the appointment of academics into purely administrative positions, and the need for synergy between academic and non-academic staff and their various unions on campus.