Evaluation of Internal Audit Operations and the Efficiency of Educational Performance in Nigerian Universities (A Case Study of Ekiti State University, Nigeria)

Abstract

This project was designed to investigate the relevance of internal audit operations in Nigerian universities to find out the extent to which an effective internal audit role has benefited the performance of the university system and how it could be used as an instrument to improve the management of the university. This was generated off by an unprecedented line up of corporate failures in the university system and how internal auditors have been belittled in the time of policy formulation and project implementation. The research employed survey research design by which data were generated through an administered questionnaire on the staff of the Internal Audit department as well as the review of available documents and records of the Ekiti State University. The data analysis used descriptive statistics and percentage analysis, and the hypotheses were tested using the t-test statistic. The research employed statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 17.0 in the analysis of data and test of hypotheses which showed that internal audit operation has a relationship with the performance of the university system (t-cal = 17.306 > t-crit = 2.353 at 5% level of significance). The research is to contribute to new knowledge by describing the internal audit profile of the Nigerian Universities to assist the university management in policy formulation and execution of projects that will lead to a better chance to maintain world-class educational societies. The research conclusion was based on the findings that there is a significant relationship between the internal audit operations and the performance of the university system, and that the management must always seek the opinion and indulgence of the internal audit department before they engage in the formulation and implementation of any policy and execution of any project.