Ethics and Leadership in Nigerian Universities: a Study of Staff-Student Relationship at the University of Lagos

This phrase examines the hassle of chaste philosophy and leaders in Nigerian Universities from the perspective of inter-personal kins among mental faculty and savants, and the implications for attaining the goals of the Universities and the wider ordering. In a broad introduction, it laments the crisis of state and partnership in Nigeria, firearm locating and explicating ethics and lead as crucial elements of a university.The findings from the study at the University of Lagos indicate that it is viable even in the thick of the affectionate vices pervading the institution for high-principled readers to unconditionally influence their students in the of course of their interaction. The article argues that this will ultimately fork over a absolute opposition on the wider confederacy. It at that placefore c altogethers for spacio subprogramr emphasis at upholding frank life at all levels of University administration.Nigeria is a society bedevilled by all ki nds of social vices in spite of the numerous social institutions fix up in pull by the g e truly(prenominal)(prenominal)placenment to check vices and un honourable conduct in the society. The state has been undergoing a monumental crisis of state and society beginning from the 1970s (Agbu, 1995). A worri close to dimension to this development is the rather silent attitude by many at ad get dressed this worry which portends a grave danger non but to individuals and groups, unless also the survival of the Nigerian State. In this inquiry, the digest is on the possible interplay between ethics and eadership in Nigerian Universities, with fussy emphasis on rung-student interaction. The University of Lagos serves as our case study in influence for us to concretely situate our analysis. A key observation make is that within the university dodging in that location atomic number 18 divers(prenominal) layers of lead and pass judgment standareds of conduct by both members of staff and students. However, the experience in view of this has been virtually unpalatable and tending towards what may be regarded as a add together honourable crisis in Nigerian Universities. In the light of the above, at that place is the neediness for us to address our minds to legitimate pertinent questions arising thitherfrom.For instance, What types of behaviour do we correctfully expect at the level of staff-student relations? To what extent do the manner of ethical dispositions by academic supervisors influence their students? What are those clean-living and ethical fit that we all share which lot help produce a fair to middling university community and society? And lastly, how nookie these ethical and moral imperatives be make subprogram and parcel of the goals of the wider society? Indeed, it is unarguable that in that location is a minimum of ethical and moral standareds that is required of a society if it is to survive.There are laws that guide me rciful relations based on the need to defecate order, harmony, peace and progress. When these staple fibre laws are neglected, the result is total disruption in the social life of a people (Kukah, 199914). Again, it is principally recognized that these take their initial roots from the family as a socialising unit and supplementally from the breedingal institutions as a formal context of use for acquiring wider cognition. Though, it has been generally acknowledged that we now live in a knowledge society, it is however lamentable that this same society appears to be exclusively bankrupt of ethical and moral set.For Nigeria, it has been suggested that one of the lacking elements in its over forty years of existence is the absence of leaders with the requisite weapons of knowledge and mention (Anya, 2002 22). On the university system in ill-tempered, the crisis of comforts appears to be the most(prenominal) prominent malaise assaulting the essence of education in the coun try. It is believed that the point has degenerated to a point where virtually every love principle and ideal of the university system has been violated or eroded (Ujomu, 2002 58).Indeed, a late(a) World till study carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of cordial and Economic Research (NISER), and widely reported in the Nigerian contend noted the factors responsible for Nigerias educational crisis as including inadequate funding, insufficient and moot learning materials such as outdated equipment and anachronistic journals, execrablely proficient and paid teachers, outmoded man come onrial structures, arbitrary expansion of enrolment lead story to oversupply of graduates and irrelevant curriculum (Obi and Agbu, 200246).The point here, is to recognize that the erosion of set in our universities should not be addressed in isolation, but in tandem with the general decline in university development in the country. Therefore, in examining the issue of ethics and leadership in Nigerian universities, there is the need to factor in the policy-making economy of the environment within which the Universities are anticipate to operate. We need to interrogate and understand the social and security environments which save turned the university into what it is currently.However, this is not to say that all promise is lost. In the recitation from the University of Lagos, the study sought essentially to determine whether principled and positive leadership at a community level could significantly contribute to safe(p) leadership in terms of transformatory impact at the content level over time. draw from the findings of this study, this article argues that it is possible for transformatory leadership that is based on proper ethical conduct to positively influence students eng shape upd in official interaction with members of the academic staff.This assumption if proven, has the propensity of existence translated to the wider Nigerian soc iety. A modelual overview of ethics and leadership What do we really mean by ethics on the one hand and leadership on the other(a) as these relate to each other, and as they manifest in a particular social context. Indeed, an examination of a particular social structure can show how trust exemplary kinds of behaviour will be expected of individuals, and certain possibilities will be foreclosed because of the features in the social situation.As observed by Sills (1968160), to study the disposition of ethical systems for example, in relation to the social structures in which they are embedded may help us understand wherefore certain actions are thought of as right or disparage in particular societies. theology as a concept is rudimentaryally forebodinged with standareds of conduct among people in social groups. Hence, ethical values are those norms which are based on sound reason. They denote to the basic human feelings and sense of right and wrong.They lead to the recognit ion of certain sound principles of morality, which are common to all human beings by the very nature that they are humans (Onaiyekan, 199915). In effect, these ethical norms of human relationship do not depend on culture, race or creed, but just now if because they are rational norms that regulate human relationships. This is why it is a great insult when some people give the plan that general norms of decent behaviour do not apply to them.Whilst the ethical gives an intelligent earth for our actions, the moral and ghost worry gives it a divine confirmation and validity. The ethical and spiritual indeed are not contradictory but are in return reinforcing in protecting and promoting decent norms and values of human existence. Ethics can also be conceived of as the recognition of morality or the science of examining the nature of moral values, while moral values refer to those things in human character, conduct and social relations which could be judged as good or bad, right o r wrong and so on (Uzuegbunam, 1989).On the other hand, values are standards which guide ones behaviour toward the attainment of ones coveted goals (Rokeach, 1973). Values make us desire to have or to do something and thus influence our choice of what is worthwhile. Indeed, it is the view of experts that the transmission of values that are desirable to society is the primary objective of education (Peters, 1972). This view highlights the enormousness that should be given to issues of values and indeed, morals in our educational system.Ethics and morals are therefore two positive social phenomena that should be kept on the front burner, and debated vigorously, failing which a society in stages crumbles. Suffice it to say that one cannot really understand the basis of ethical practices or moral values in a society like Nigeria, unless one is able to understand the level of social organisation or development of that society. The structure of economic production, distribution and ex change also go a long way in determining the level or types of ethical practices that exist in the society.In otherwords, the mode of production and enjoyment patterns, in addition to lingering handed-down practices all combine in either evolving a morally sound society or the quick degeneration of existing values. To what extent ethical misconduct and moral decay in the Nigerian society is a function of the economic system, is leave to every ones imagination. Closely related to the issue of ethics, is the notion of leadership in our universities. Again, it has been variously recognized that leadership is the most crucial factor in the development of any nation. Lamentably, Nigeria has been identified as facing a leadership crisis.In effect the erosion of ethical values and morals have combined with the attendant leadership crisis to form what may be regarded as a crisis of state and society in Nigeria. Leadership as a concept has varied perspectives and definitions. On the whol e, it is extremely difficult to give a minute and agreed definition to leadership, because it appears to be a multifaceted phenomenon. However, in very simple terms it could be interpreted as getting others to follow, or getting people to do things, or dumb to a greater extent specifically as the use of authority in decision making (Mullins, 1999253).While Krech et. al (1962), defined a leader as that individual within a group who outstandingly influences the activities of a group, Mullins (1999), understood it essentially as a relationship through with(predicate) which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people. However, a more consistent conceptualization of leadership is possible when we gather that within a particular context, such as a university community, there exist different levels of leadership all contributing towards the verbalize goals of the university.Therefore, the nature, victory or failure of university governance have very much to do wi th the personal attributes, leadership qualities and management styles of the various leaders within the different levels of responsibility in the system (Obikeze, 2003). Therefore, leadership should not be understood as a unifocal phenomenon, around which aspirations are aggregated, it is rather, a complex meshwork of people working together within a social context. A crucial point to note is that leadership can be invested in persons, groups, networks and institutions.It is a relational process involving leaders and followers, who though form a continuum, still remain separate entities in their effort at attaining certain defined goals. It is therefore, necessary to be alert to the contradictions inherent in this relationship. Since no leader emerges or endures outside of an institutional framework, it is important to invest in institutions often defined in terms of principles, values and norms that give means to and provide the context for leader-follower engagement.Thus within the university environment, leadership should not be construed besides in terms of those in certain positions of power or authority such as vice-chancellors, deans, professors, heads of department and heads of functional units such as the registry (Middlehurst, 199575). It is rather, to be understood as a function that is more broad-based and extending beyond the formal roles and responsibilities of senior post holders. Observations from the universities in Nigeria indicate that a restrictive view of university leadership may not be satisfactory or suitable for the harmony, well being and progress of the institutions (Ujomu, 200257).Rather, what is more exe get byable is a genuine, viable and inclusive approach that offers a more strong and functional university leadership. It is only from this perspective that ethics and values can relegate be protected and promoted within the universities. The character of the Nigerian state However, we cannot really understand the origin, ex tent and manifestations of ethical misconduct and moral decadence in the Nigerian society, without first understanding the character of the Nigerian State.This is one political entity that has been assailed by political, social and economic problems of immense magnitude since it became politically individual in 1960. It has experienced military autocracy and generally bad governance, which have had serious negative impact on the entire society. Positive traditional and family values and norms have been eroded with grave implications for all. Since leadership and followership are part and parcel of the system, there is therefore the concomitant decay in expected performance, as evident in the universities.What has been a great cause for concern is the magnitude of the social malaise in the universities. A term that has befittingly depicted this malaise is what has generally been referred to as the Nigerian Factor, which simply put, is the in dexterity of Nigerians to do things pro perly the way they should be through with(p), and transparently too. This phenomenon appears to be writ large on all aspects of Nigerian life, and basically leaves very lower-ranking room for matters of ethical considerations and merit.On the whole, a rather false impression is given that the leave out of ethics and morals in the Nigerian society is something peculiar to it. Indeed, what we have in our hands is a systemic problem that requires something akin to a social revolution to clean up. Added to this is the fact that the poor state of the economy makes it extremely difficult to preach ethics and morality to a people that not only feel cheated by the system, but also are indeed, hungry. Subsequently, rotting and a lack of account mightiness require two very prominent cankerworms eating away the Nigerian society.Indeed, the rearing corruption is precisely as a result of a lack of accountability in the system. Oftentimes, those who divert public funds to their own use esc ape the proverbial long arm of justice. This has given others the courage to hear what has become a rather easy feat. A case therefore, has to be made for a closer attention by all to issues of ethics and values as these relate to leadership at both the political and non-political levels. This is because most key institutions of the Nigerian society have become victims of corruption and moral decay.Examining the problem of ethics and leadership in Nigerian universities is therefore, just an aspect of this systemic failure, and has serious implications for the social health of the country in the near and distant future. The State of the universities The universities like the other segments of the Nigerian society are undergoing immense changes in character and output. Unfortunately, most of these changes tend to be negative. This development is in sharp contrast to the important goal of inculcating the right moral standareds in the students.In fact, it is not that there is no stated policy on the inculcation of values in Nigerias educational system. It does exist. In brief, these include the repute for the worth and dignity of individuals faith in mans ability to make rational decisions moral and spiritual values in inter-personal and human relations shared responsibility for the common good of the society esteem for the dignity of labour and the promotion of emotional, physical and psychological health for all (National Policy on Education, 1981).There is therefore, a policy provision for value education in Nigeria, and it is very clear that both education and values are closely related as positive social phenomena (Anameze, 200294). However, recent cases of all kinds of social decay within the universities indicate, that there is a missing element in the approach to education in the country.This is the character element, a very important component as oftentimes, it is the educated cadre, those who had received high education that go on to form the relevan t segment of national leadership (Agbu and Agbu, 20023). Generally, the problems identified with Nigerian universities which have some bearing on matters of ethics and leadership are legion, and include the sale of academic handouts by lecturers, and the exchange of admissions and marks by staff of the universities (SSAN, 200032).Others include, scandals, bribery and graft, victimization, sexual harassment of feminine students, the proliferation of male and female cult gangs, persistent incidents of rape, female prostitution, obscene dressing and soliciting for favours, homosexuality and extortion, murder, intimidation of lecturers by students, rumour-mongering, examination malpractices and other anti-social activities (Ujomu, 200259). These unethical practices cut across all sections of the university community.At the universities in the southern part of the country, in particular the University of Lagos, a gamut of unethical practices abound. Kindly allow my use of informal lan guage at this juncture. These unethical practices include the inflation of marks for students by some lecturers for financial gratification. Inflation of marks by lecturers for what is referred to as studying, which simply means a student agreeing to have sex with the lecturer in exchange for favourable scores.At the Delta State University, the students practice what they refer to as blocking, which means quickly preventing a lecturer from swelled you your correct scores which may be unfavourable by crack notes or other inducements to the lecturer before the results are made public. Some other lecturers use agents to collect or extort money from students for the inflation of their marks. Others allow students to take the same examination in their offices, which they had introductory taken in the examination hall for unspecified favours.In some of the departments, as was the case at the Accountancy department of the university of Lagos, students engaged in what has been dubbed me rcenary activities, by hiring other students to write examinations for them. Indeed, some lecturers go as far as giving blank writing sheets to students to prepare their answers in advance. Some of those supervising examinations look the other way while their friends, relations, and student clients blatantly engage in cheater. In addition, some lecturers unashamedly affirm on behalf of students who had failed their courses.However, these litanies of vices are not limited only to the lecturers. Were the students not spontaneous to bribe, cajole, tempt and threaten the lecturers, these vices will not have been possible. Though, difficult to prove, there have also been instances in which the students use black magic not only to confuse supervisors during examinations but also to threaten them. This is in addition to the occasional threats by student members of Secret cult groups against lecturers.Even the non-academic members of staff are not left out of this orgy of ethical miscond uct. They also engage in the alteration of marks in the computer or score sheets where the total scores have been computed for either material or sexual gratification. In addition, they also connive with mercenaries in their clandestine campaigns of cheating during examinations. I have deliberately catalogued these unethical practices in our universities not only to document, but also to graphically bring to our consciousness the magnitude of the problem before us.Whilst these vices did not all manifest in one day, it is very worrisome that very little concrete measures have been devised to checkmate these vices. allow us recall that the pressure on existing universities to take in more students led to the serious problem of population explosion which put pressure both on university governance and existing infrastructure (Wohlgemuth, 1998125). The situation invariably gave rise to corruption and sharp practices within the university system. Ethical considerations and cherished valu es of many years standing have now been in earnest eroded.However, all hope is not lost in the sense that there are still individuals non-academic staff members, lecturers and students who have over the years refused to be sucked in by this whirlwind of social decay, as indicated by the report of a study instituted at the university of Lagos in 2002 (Agbu and Agbu, 2002). Supervisor Student Relations at the University of Lagos In the study carried out at the University of Lagos in 2002, the object was to determine whether principled and positive leadership at the community level could significantly translate into good leadership at the national level overtime (Agbu and Agbu, 2002).This was done through a questionnaire espouse of final year and post-graduate students at the university. A basic assumption upon which we worked was that in spite of the rot in the university system, it was still possible that certain individuals, in this case, some lecturers, may have succeeded in im pacting positive leadership values to the students they had supervised, mainly due to the fact of their being principled persons. By principled, we meant a leadership that is characterized by good conduct open(a) of positively influencing followers or those engaged in a relationship with the leader within a social context.In this case, the University. By positive, we meant behaviour or actions consisting in or characterized by the presence or possession, and not merely by the absence or want, of features or qualities of an affirmative nature. It is therefore, that leadership that is derived from principled leadership, and which is capable of being extrapolated to the wider society. Two hundred students participated in this survey selected through Stratified Sampling Technique made up of atomic number 6 final year and 100 post-graduate students from the faculties of Art, Social sciences, Education and Law.The mean age of the participants was 30 years. The questionnaire was designed to measure the perceptions of students in terms of their lecturers leadership potentials and ability to influence their worldview. This was in the form of an Academic-Supervisors evaluation scale, which comprised twenty items to which participants responded on a four-point-likert-type scale. For the Design, a 2x2x2 ANOVA design was employed with independent variables being sex, age and year of study, while the dependent variable are participants reactions obtained with the instrument.The results from the study showed that while the proposition that supervisors do significantly influence their students over time disregarding of whether they were post-graduate student or final year student was positive, there were pernicious differences in responses with respect to the other variables of age and sex. However, the post-graduate students probably because of their longer knowledge with their supervisors and of their being more socially conscious than the final year students, exhibited more awareness of having been influenced by their supervisors.Age and sex were statistically weak as variables determining the kinds of responses, indicating that age and sex had little to do with the possibility of being influenced at a certain age. The implications of this study for the wider Nigerian society was that it is possible to identify individuals, indeed role models, in certain positions of authority who could positively influence those with whom they interact. Since Nigeria is in need of leaders that are not only learned and have character, what better place to groom these leaders than from our institutions of higher learning.Conclusion It is obvious that there are serious ethical issues to be addressed in Nigerian universities. However, it is not as if all hope is completely lost. On the whole, it appears that addressing the problem will have to be done at different levels of the wider society, namely family, institutional and national levels. At the national level fo r instance, is a recognition of the systemic nature of the crises and how this has a gene linkage with the state of Nigerias economy, and the imperative for Nigerian elites to lead by example.At the institutional level, is the necessity for morally accountable university governance that is at the same time effective. Also, at the family and institutional levels is the need to encourage good family values and those individuals who had displayed the virtues of principled and positive leadership from which others could learn. For our universities, the teaching staff who constitute one of the most important inputs towards achieving qualitative education need to be better encouraged. A lecturer-student ratio of 1 to 19 as opposed to UNESCO standard of 1 lecturer to 10 students is unacceptable.With forty-three federal, state, and private universities forty-five polytechnics and sixty colleges of education, it is logical that there is a need for an informed rationalization of our instituti ons, especially with respect to curriculum (Opatola, 2002 201). Though it is recognized that the morale and motivation of academic staff are grossly inadequate, this does not necessarily justify the grave unethical practices perpetrated by some of the lecturers. The sale of handouts, sale of marks, admission racketeering and various examination malpractices are vices that need to be urgently addressed.Ideally, lecturers are speculate to act as focal points of reference for those things that are principled, honourable and worthy of imitation. What is required now in our universities is the transforming kind of leadership that embodies the characteristics of a cerebrate innovativeness, high moral standards, and a humane and deep understanding of the environment in which they operate. The cardinal task of the university education should be the transmission of positive values to the young so that they may learn and acquire character necessary for a legitimate engagement with the wide r society.This point need never be forgotten. Finally, every university should endeavour to delineate and present to its staff and students a code of conduct with sanctions as part of their induction into the particular institution. The moral dimensions of their jobs as academic or non-academic staff and as students should be all the way spelt out and popularized through frequent sensitization measures. This will go a long way not only in ensuring a modicum of ethical conduct, but also in attaining the goals of the university.