POLITICS OF SUCCESSION PLAN ON THE MANAGEMENT OF AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA – NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the politics of succession plan on the management of Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria – Nigeria. Two objectives and two research questions were formulated to guide
the study. The objectives are to identify factors of successors at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria –
Nigeria and determine respondent’s opinion on the appointment of external successors at Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria. The research questions and significance of the study were in line with the objectives.
The researcher used the case study design because of its qualitative nature. The target population of the
study consists of 267 respondents from the level of heads of department up to vice chancellor, and non-
probability sampling techniques were employed. The selection of respondents was based on
conveniences in line with the recommendation of Crouch and Mckenzie (2006), who proposed that less
than 20 participants in qualitative research help a researcher build and maintain a close relationship
and thus improve an open and frank exchange of information. The sample size used was 20 respondents,
where the data saturation was achieved at 17 respondents. The researcher used an interview method to
generate data. Both content validity and reliability were determined according to the procedures of
qualitative research. The researcher used thematic content analysis and Nvivo 14 software to analyze the
generated data. The results revealed that the respondents perceived that competency, academic
experience, and leadership capacity were the factors in the successor’s identification and respondents
have rejected an external successor, and recommended internal successor because of his familiarity with
environmental culture, politics, and the university climate. Based on the findings, it was recommended
that, other factors of successors identification such as personal capacity, proven integrity, track record, wisdom and human relations and external successors with enormous experience may be useful rather
than utilizing people within who may have very limited, narrow and shallow administrative skills.