Educational Management Crisis Under the Post Covid-19 Pandemic Realities in Nigeria

This research is a study of the situational realities Nigeria has been plunged into in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic which translate into educational management crisis, following the decline in the surge of the global pandemic. The study investigates the present situation of systemic academic declension caused by the ripple effect of the pandemic in the educational sector. It forelays the ground for a plethora of chain-reaction of endemic crisis of educational management witnessed under the post-COVID-19 pandemic realities in Nigeria. The cyclical crisis that began with the recent nationwide strike action indulged in by the Association of Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) together with the organized labour union (Nigerian Labour Congress) over the simultaneous increment of the electricity tariff and fuel pump price by the Federal Government, culminated in the 2-week EndSARS protest by the Nigerian youths against police brutality and bad governance. The educational system of Nigeria with its chequered past has seemed to totter under the crushing weight of the post-pandemic lustreless outcome and harsh realities in the aftermath. The totality of the harsh outcome of the realities has been conspicuously expressed in the glaring adversities and hardship with which the economy crouches. Causal research or explanatory research design is applied to determine the causality (cause-and-effect relationships) which essentially observes variation in the variable assumed to cause the change in the other variable(s), and then measure the changes in that other variable(s). The Educational Management theory is used to lay foundation for the theoretical framework of analysis employed. The study bases its sources of data collection partly on specific secondary materials from the National Bureau of Statistics and general statistic (UN Executive Summary) on the area of research which is the Nigerian educational sector in entirety. Regression Analysis is the appropriate statistical analytical tool chosen for measurement, inference and interpretation of causal relationships between the independent variable of the Post-COVID-19 pandemic realities and the dependent variable of Educational Management in Nigeria. Results portray a significant causal relationship between the two variables of research which reflects that a change in the independent variable definitely causes a proportionate change in the dependent variable in turn. Findings reveal the need for a total systematic-overhaul and a more sincere, holistic approach towards revamping the educational system by the various levels of government, both at the Federal and State level, with intent towards changing their attitudes positively for the benefit of the educational sector and other sectors.

Keywords: Educational management, educational sector, post-COVID-19 pandemic, systemic crisis, Nigeria.