CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The global Technological developments have eroded some of the natural monopolistic aspects of traditional public utilities. For instance, electricity generation, electricity retailing, telecommunication, public transit and postal services have become competitive in most countries of the world and the trend towards liberalization, deregulation and privatization of public utilities have grown by the day. However, the infrastructures used to distribute most utility products and services have remained largely monopolistic. Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Publicly owned utilities are non-profitable Private utilities, also called investor-owned utilities, are owned by investors, and operate for profit, often referred to as a rate of return, (Wikipedia).
Public utilities provide services at the consumer level, be it residential, commercial, or industrial consumer. In turn, utilities and very large consumers buy and sell electricity at the wholesale level through a network of Regional Transmission Organisations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) within one of three grids, the eastern grid, Texas, which is a single Independent System Operators (ISO), and the western grid. The concept of ‘services of general interest’ usually employed within the European Union to refer to essential services subject to specific public-service obligations, also finds its counterpart in the United States (Defeuilley, 1999). In particular, the availability of affordable utility services (services of general economic interest, such as electricity, drinking water, wastewater collection and treatment, urban waste collection and treatment and urban transport) with an acceptable quality is a legal requirement in both jurisdictions (Clifton, 2005).
In Africa, the transference of general-interest services to local governments, driven by the subsidiary principle, has been broadly documented (Baker, 2011). In Nigeria, in addition to providing drinking water, wastewater, urban transport and waste services, cities are also responsible for many other types of services. Even the smallest cities may provide services that are unfamiliar to most municipalities in other countries (e.g. electricity, communications and police services). The broad range of competencies required for delivering these services and the growing budget restrictions facing local governments pose an important challenge to local decision-makers everywhere: ‘how to curb costs while meeting public-service obligations?’ Utility services are particularly problematic since they involve large investment outlays in specialized infrastructure and, quite often, local governments struggle with the economic sustainability of the systems (Pendovaska and Veljanovski, 2009). Furthermore, pressures towards resource conservation and environmental awareness represent new challenges to utility managers around the globe. We know that organizations matter, Menard (1996) and that governance structures ‘must arise for some reason’ (Arrow, 1999: vii). Hence, to cope with these requirements it is important that local political leaders make thoughtful choices regarding the utilities’ governance models.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There is no gain saying that, educational system in Nigeria has contributed in no small measures to support the Nation‘s economy through the provision of qualitative manpower and acquisition of knowledge, skills and values. But unfortunately, in the 21st century, there has been a tremendous growth in students‘ population without corresponding growth in the number of facilities as a result of economic depression and corresponding rise in the costs of goods and services. This has put much pressure on existing facilities. For any institution to function effectively, active public utilities should facilitate such institution. Thus the general public has expressed concern over the insufficiency of public utilities in schools, colleges and even tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State, particularly in Akwa Ibom State University. In-spite-of this concern and demand for a change, it appears that the management of facilities in Akwa Ibom State University leaves much to be desired. However, it is not uncommon these days to see some classrooms full of potholes on the floor comparable to the scenes on our local roads; students scarcely find space to sit or move about; lack of ceilings makes classrooms extremely hot for learning activities especially during hot weather; some buildings have sagging roofs on them, while others have caved in totally; seats are broken down; the so called white boards have becone black as a result of the use of permanent markers instead of the markers assigned for white boards; some of them have completely broken down; there is poor ventilation in the class rooms and lack of electricity in the facilities. When facilities are not maintained, they constitute health hazards to the users. Lecturers on their parts will not perform effectively or optimally due to this poor working environments. As a result of
these, the Students‘ academic performances will be affected negatively. The tone of the institution will be at its lowest well as human and material resources.
The impact of electricity, water, classrooms, dormitories, libraries, laboratories on the one hand, instructional materials such as textbooks, blackboards and furniture on the other on students’ performances constitutes the basis upon which many patrons make their initial judgment about the quality of the institutions and the educational programmes. The absence of these facilities often leave a lot of doubt in the minds of stakeholders, parents, students and the general public as to what type of teaching and learning condition could be found in such a situation. Appearance and general condition of facilities in these institutions are the striking basis upon which many parents and friends of any educational institution make the initial judgment about the quality of what goes on in those facilities.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study will be divide into two segments, namely; main objective and subsidiary objectives.
Main Objective:
The main objective of the study is to examine the Impacts of public utilities on the students’ academic performances in Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU).
Subsidiary Objective:
The subsidiary objectives of the study will include the following:
To ascertain if public utilities do exist in Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU).
To determine the quality of public utilities, if at all they do exist in Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU).
To find out the impact of those public utilities on students’ academic performances in Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU).
