¹Ogunode N, J., ²Abubakar Musa

^1,2Faculty of Education,Federal University Wukari, Nigeria

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ABSTRACT

Universities by nature are to operate in a fully autonomous system. University autonomy is a principle upon which the university system normally operates and through which operational stability and actualization of goals of the university education are achieved. When autonomy is enthroned in the right perspective, it then facilitates academic freedom and accountability (NOUN, 2012). Unfortunately, public universities in Nigeria are politically influenced and their autonomy is not guaranteed. This paper examined the effects of political influence in the administration of public universities in Nigeria. The paper concludes that political influence is manifested in the administration of public tertiary institutions in the following ways: employment/recruitment of staff, the appointment of school administrators (VCs, Bursar, and Registrar), planning and establishment of public universities, location of universities, appointment of council members, expansion of National Universities Commission powers and admission of students into the various public universities. The paper also identified corruption, overconcentration of public universities, poor leadership, uneven development of public universities, and poor ranking of public universities as effects of political influence on the administration of Nigerian public universities.

KEYWORDS:

Administration, Political influence, Public Universities.

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VOlUME 01 ISSUE 01 APRIL 2022