Conflict Management in the Nigerian University System

Abstract

Conflict is an attendant feature of human interaction and cannot be eliminated; however, its proper management and transformation are essential for peace and progress in human society. It has been observed that Nigerian universities has for decades been faced with so many crisis ranging from conflict between academic staff and university administrators, students versus academic staff, students versus university authorities , non-academic staff versus university administrators. The conflicts have given rise to distrust and hostility among professionals and academics, thus, contributing in hampering smooth, effective and efficient administration in the universities. It also appeared that despite this situation, stakeholders in education seemed to develop non-challant attitude towards these conflicts. If this role conflict is not checked it can be descriptive and negative as people involved will often see one another as enemies. This is unwholesome for the University community and Nigeria educational system as a whole. This paper examined conflict management in higher institutions of learning with specific reference to Nigerian Universities. Some causes of conflict were identified as well as ways these conflicts could be managed. Well-fashioned recommendations on how conflict could be more effectively managed for the achievement of the system's mission, goals and objectives and in particular the pursuit of industrial harmony in the system were also made.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n8p17