Abstract

Conflict situations in Nigerian universities are result of the grievances expressed by staff or students. In both cases, grievances are directed against either the government, university administration, the host communities or a fellow. Studies have examined conflict related issues on different platforms; this study used institutional governance approach by embracing all parties (institutional Stakeholders) in conflict management. The survey of 720 students and staff (non-academic and academic) in sampled institutions was conducted with instruments titled Institutional Governance and Conflict Management Questionnaire” (IGCMQ) r=0.83 which was designed for members of ASUU, SSANU and NASU and Conflict Management Questionnaire for the students (SPCMQ) r=0.86. The result reveals that trade unionism made the highest contribution to the conflict management (β=0.577, t=17.902, p<0.05), followed by management accountability (β=0.124, t=3.189, p<0.05), committee system (β=-0.108, t=-3.298, p<0.05), participative leadership (β=0.108,t=2.283, p<0.05) and student participation (β=0.099, t=2.746, p<0.05). These all made significant contributions to conflict management in the sample Universities but the contribution of communication is not significant (β=0.041, t=0.846, p>0.05). In addition, the result reveals that the institutional governance indicators considered in the study are reliable predictors of the conflict management in the sampled Universities (F = 93.792, P < 0.05). Therefore, it was concluded that adequate dialogue, cooperation and required communication should be allowed to play very significant roles when discussing issues of common interest, which should be taken into consideration in the university to ensure stability. Hence, it was recommended that University administrators should remain accountable to stakeholders as regards the allocation and utilisation of resources at their disposal.