Town and gown interface: assessment of Nigerian federal universities and employment of indigenes of host communities

Abstract

In addition to the traditional role of teaching, learning, research, community service and extension, universities in many countries such as Nigeria are increasingly becoming major employers of labour. The objective of this paper was to ascertain the views of host communities on the employment of natives in Nigerian federal universities located on their land. The concept of town and gown was situated in its historical context. Host communities of the University of Jos (UNIJOS) and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) served as case study. A sample size of 277 respondents was selected from six host communities of the two institutions. The survey research design was adopted while descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis of the data. The result revealed that while the host communities of UNIJOS affirmed that the university was adequately employing their indigenes, those of FUTO indicated that the institution was not sufficiently employing natives of host communities. The paper recommended that the National Universities Commission (NUC) should monitor and ensure that federal universities comply with the employment guideline which requires federal establishments to give preference to host communities in the employment of junior staff especially.

Keywords: Town, Gown, Employment, Host, Community, Nigeria