PERCEIVED EFFECTS OF ICT USAGE ON JOB PERFORMANCE OF LECTURERS IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES IN NORTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine the perception of Agriculture lecturers in universities in North western Nigeria on the effect of ICT usage on their Job performance. A Purposive sampling technique was used to select five out of eight public Universities that offer Agricultural Science as a programme of studyin the area. A Simple random sampling procedure was used to select 287 out of 367 Agriculture lecturers while a Questionnaire was used to collect the data for the study. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that a good proportion ( 40.77 %) of the lecturers fall within the age range of 41–50 years, 89.90% were male .The result revealed that 53.31 % of the lecturers were holders of MSc. Degree, and 28.22% possessed Doctorate degree.A greater proportion indicated above average perceived effect of ICT usage on Job performance (83.62 %).The results from the Pearson correlation analysis revealed a weak positive correlation between perceived effects of ICT usage on Job Performance and ICTs adoption(r = 0.194, P< 0.01). Similarly, the lecturers reported a lack of technical support, unstable power supply, affordability, lack of Computer spare parts, and low level of ICT readiness, poor economic conditions, and mismanagement of ICTs facilities as some of the constraints to ICTs adoption. The study recommended that Universities should provide more ICT facilities, support to lecturers for further studies, technical support to their staff, and support to ICT units to be organizing on the job training on ICT for all interested members of staff, encourage the lecturers to make use of the provided e-learning facilities ,develop and maintained their complementary sources of power.