Democritising the Process of Recruitment into Key Academic Offices in Selected Nigerian Universities

Because of its enormous attributes (i.e popular participation, guarantee of freedom, accountability and good governance), many undemocratic governments have collapsed. In contemporary practice, recruitment into key positions in most organizations, whether private or public, therefore follows a democratic procedure. Curiously, the existence of a deviation from the modern norm by tertiary institutions in Nigeria, which enjoy the accolade of monopolistic trusteeship of intellectual endowment, remains confounding. This study is instituted to examine the factors in the observed duality in recruitment practices adopted by selected universities. In the survey design, data collected from top ranking employees were analysed using percentages, while Chi-square analysis was performed to examine the discrepancy between the observed and expected recruitment practices. Theoretically, the study is underpinned by a hybrid of Democratic Participation Hypothesis and Democratic Participation Management Theory. The study revealed that, away from any legal or statutory dictates, preference for the appointive alternative adopted in recruitment into the offices of Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Head of Department is cultural, and had resulted in apathetic reaction by academic staff to exclusion and governance issues in universities. Accordingly, it is recommended that recruitment into all key offices in Nigerian universities should Tbe democratized, for wider participation and improved governance