An Appraisal of Labour Unrest Management Strategies in Public Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

Labour unrest is a frequent occurrence in Nigerian Federal and State-owned universities as a result of inabilities of the stakeholders to reach a compromise on the subjects of their disagreements. Labour unrest has been a major obstacle to the smooth running of the universities' academic calendar and good academic performances of the students who are at the receiving ends. This study examined an appraisal of labour unrest management strategies in government-owned universities in Nigeria. The paper reviewed relevant literatures and adopted conflict theory as the theoretical framework to guide the study. The study was a position paper. The study revealed that incessant labour unrest in the universities was associated with failure of the universities management and governments to find permanent solutions to its root cause. Thus, the strategies adopted to address the phenomenon were found to be ineffective rather than meeting the demands of the workers under the auspices of their unions. The study established that failure to redeem the signed agreements between the both parties; poor strategies and greed were responsible for unabated labour crises in Nigerian Universities. It was, therefore, recommended that the management should always endeavour to implement any agreement signed with the union leaders to prevent recurrence of labour unrest in Nigerian universities.