Evaluation of the Effect of Fuel Subsidy Removal on Academic Staff Productivity in Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State.

Abstract:

The study evaluated the effect of fuel subsidy removal on academic staff productivity in tertiary institutions in Rivers State. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. This study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of 3,154 academic staff from the three Universities in Rivers State. The sample size for this study was 340 respondents. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire titled: “Effect of Fuel Subsidy Removal on Academic Staff Job Productivity Questionnaire (EFSRASJPQ)”. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient method established the yielded reliability index of 0.89. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while ANOVA was used to test hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the removal of fuel subsidy affects the commuting costs of academic staff, demotivates academic staff and affects staff punctuality in Rivers State University, University of Port Harcourt and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Nigeria. The study recommended that University managements should establish a transport support system or give allowances to academic staff to offset the increased commuting expenses.