Evaluating effects of Nigeria's economic recession on undergraduate students' academic performance in Northwest Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of economic recession on academic performance of  undergraduate students in the Northwest Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The sample consisted of 5,586 Part 3 undergraduate students selected from federal and state universities in the Northwest. A self-developed instrument tagged Economic Recession and Academic Performance Inventory (ERAPI) was used to collect data. Data were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results revealed a non-significant relationship between students' inability to satisfy academic needs due to economic recession and academic performance. There was no significant relationship between students' inability to satisfy daily needs and their academic performance. However, there existed a significant effect of  socioeconomic status on students' academic performance. Thus, work-study programmes should be resuscitated as a way of sustaining students and cushioning effects of economic recession on campuses in the Northwest Nigeria.

Keywords: Recession, Economic recession, Economic crunch, Socio-economic status, Academic performance.