Security Management in Nigerian Secondary Schools: Focus on Ebonyi State

The study investigated security management in secondary schools in Nigeria with particular reference to Ebonyi State secondary schools. The design of the study was descriptive survey research design. Included in the study's population are 1,519 secondary school principals and teachers from Ebonyi State. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select 300 respondents for the study. The instrument for data collection was a 20-item researcher developed questionnaire on a four-point scale; with Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) response pattern weighted 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. The questionnaire was duly validated by one experts in Educational Administration and Planning and two from Educational Measurement and Evaluation all from Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. Using the test-retest procedure and applying the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient analysis, the reliability of the instrument was established at 0.97 using schools in Enugu State. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviations, t-test statistics was used to test the hypothesis at 0.0.5 level of significance. Agreement was defined as mean scores of 2.50 or above, while disagreement was defined as scores below 2.50. Findings of the stud are that there are no security devices available for security improvement in Ebonyi State Secondary Schools; there are ways of improving staff security and measures for security of school plants. Based on the findings, some recommendations such as government should provide security devices and that government should encourage individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to beef up the security measures in managing the school plants in secondary schools in their area.