CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Staff and students in some universities in Nigeria are occasionally discouraged, perturbed, and dissatisfied as a result of delays in receiving needed information, inconsistency, redundancy, and inaccuracy of data, lack of sufficient storage facility to maintain accurate records of both staff and students, and incapacity of the various universities to deal with the enormous amount of data that are produced annually (Lawan, 2022).

The technique used to collect, compile, process, and preserve data may be one of the causes of the aforementioned challenges. Other possible causes include the protocol for obtaining the necessary information, economic, political, and human considerations, among others. To overcome the aforementioned issues, however, all test and record units at Nigerian colleges should be digitized.

Ebijuwa, (2022) defines computer as the instruments utilized for information gathering, processing, storage, transmission, and dissemination.

The computer is a vital tool for scientific expression, formulation, and communication. For any university community to develop socially, politically, and economically, to have easy access to information when it is needed, to overcome inaccuracy, inconsistency, and redundancy of data, inadequate storage infrastructure, to maintain adequate records of both faculty and students, and to manage the large amount of data produced annually, the exam and record units should be automated.

Computerized record keeping is geared toward the use of computer systems and sophisticated programmable machines for the handling of information associated with a process, as well as the actual control and activation of mechanisms that facilitate or complete that process with minimal human intervention (Ebijuwa, 2022).

Rowley (2022) provides four justifications for computerization, including:

- i. increasing workload - computerization might be useful when there is a consistent decrease in workforce.

ii. the demand for improved efficiency; computerization may be viewed as a way to save money and time.

iii. need services - the computer may provide the chance to provide new services in addition to existing ones at minimal additional expense and collaboration and centralization

The use of a computer in record-keeping in Nigerian Universities will enable employees and students to access the massive database through the internet, cable television, or some other remote electronic link. It will make it feasible to store and retrieve a huge number of university staff and student records.

According to Bassey (2022), the application of computer in the collection, collation, processing, storage, retrieval, use, transmission, dissemination, and maintenance of records has a prominent place in every aspect of life and work in Nigerian universities, as it is used to compute the grade point average of students, for on-line registration, examination, and admission processing, to keep an accurate record of both staff and students, and for accounting (financial management, procurement, etc). In addition, the application of computers in record keeping in Nigerian universities will prevent unauthorized personnel from gaining access to staff and student records, enable data to be updated quickly and easily without redesigning and rewriting systems and programs, eliminate redundancy, repetition, and inconsistency in data, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of record keeping, and provide lecturers, students, and administrators with additional services. Because of the computer's great speed of operation, precision, diligence, adaptability, high storage capacity, software compatibility, and consistency in its mode of operation, several applications were made feasible (Bassey 2022).

The computer, a priceless creation of the modern era, has numerous uses in all areas of human endeavor. In the education sector, for instance, the computer is used to evaluate and grade students' test results, for administrative purposes, online registration, e-examination, remote learning, and the maintenance of personnel and scholar data. In addition, the computer is utilized in the engineering, agriculture, medical, legal, finance, transportation, security, police, armed forces, and communication sectors, among others, to perform a variety of activities.

Omojuwa (2022) opined that a well maintained school record is a tool for constructing the history of the students and faculty. In the interest of the state, the professors, and the students, we must maintain correct records in our university system in Nigeria as the complexity of the globe increases.

As a sociotechnical organization, the university consists of a technical goal, a human subsystem, and a structural subsystem, each with its own suprasystem that creates the environment. Survival of the university system depends on its ability to maintain consistency in its processes and relationships within and outside the system, and in order to maintain a state of equilibrium in the system, the university must receive adequate feedback regarding the quality of her output from the surrounding environment (Omojuwa 2022).

University education in Nigeria follows the completion of secondary school. Its length ranges from four to seven years. Teaching, research, and community service are the primary objectives of higher education.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Staff and students in Nigerian universities are concerned about the problems associated with the manual system of record-keeping. For example, students seeking their academic transcripts, results, NYSC call up letters, and certificates may not receive them on time. If all these deficiencies are not detected and corrected, the University may have failed to fulfill its obligations and provide adequate services to its citizens (Omojuwa 2022). This study focuses on the issues that plagued the conventional way of record keeping in Nigerian universities in order to determine the root causes and appropriate solutions. In addition, this study will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of using computers for record keeping.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The broad aim of this study is to examine the use of computers in record management in Nigerian universities. To achieve this broad objective, this study seeks to:

i.          Determine the extent computers are used for record management in Nigerian universities.

ii.        Determine whether the use of computers improve record management proficiency in Nigerian universities.

iii.      Examine the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities.

iv.      Proffer solutions to the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will be answered in this study:

i.          To what extent are computers used for record management in Nigerian universities?

ii.        Does the use of computers improve record management proficiency in Nigerian universities?

iii.      What are the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities?

iv.      What are the solutions to the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will contribute to improved performance, overcoming redundancy, inconsistency, and repetitiveness of data, bolstering educational leadership and achievement, and overcoming the loosely coupled conditions of Nigerian universities by supplying the Universities decision makers with vital and sufficient information regarding ill-structured and complex decision phenomena.

It will provide students and faculty with unrestricted access to educational materials, enabling them to conduct in-depth comparative studies and research in all domains of knowledge. The automated method will result in the development of new approaches, techniques, and styles for processing and publishing university staff and student records.

This study will also reveal that despite the importance of computer use in record keeping at Nigerian universities, constraints such as inaccessibility of the user to use the computer, inadequate knowledge and skills-based for computer planning, erratic power supply, low level of computer literacy among the staff and students of the university in question, attitude, administrative, and organizational problems, and prohibitive cost of computer and its accessories, have impeded the implementation of computer use in record keeping.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is focused on the use of computers in record management in Nigerian universities. Specifically, this study is focused on determining the extent computers are used for record management in Nigerian universities, determining whether the use of computers improve record management proficiency in Nigerian universities, examining the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities and proffering solutions to the challenges of using computers for record management in Nigerian universities.

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