Technology Innovation and Database Administration Skills Required By Computer Technicians for Effective Computer Systems Maintenance in Federal Universities in South-South Nigeria

The study investigated technology innovation and database administration skills required by computer technicians in maintaining computer systems in Federal Universities in South-South, Nigeria. Two specific objectives, two research questions and two hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The Survey Design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted 357 Computer Technicians and Lecturers who are currently employees in the six selected Federal Universities in South-South, Nigeria; University of Uyo, University of Calabar, University of Benin, University of Port Harcourt, Federal University of Otuoke and Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun. The sample for the study consisted 189 comprising 131 Computer Technicians and 58 Lecturers drawn from the total population. The sample was selected using simple random sampling method. The instrument titled “Technology innovation and database administration Skills Required Questionnaire (TIDBASRQ)” with 80 items was developed by the researcher and used to elicit data from the respondents for the study. The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by three research experts; subsequently a reliability co-efficient of 0.89 was obtained using Cronbach alpha reliability formula. The data obtained were analyzed using mean to answer the research questions and independent t-test to test the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that, there was a significance difference in the mean responses of Computer Technicians and Lecturers in Technology Innovation and Database Administration Skills. However, lack of innovation skills among Computer Technicians led to not being reliant enough on advance technology to maintain, secure, and optimize IT infrastructure effectively in the University settings. It was recommended that Computer Technicians in Federal Universities in South-South, Nigeria should endeavour to update their knowledge in various technology innovation and database administration skills required for modern computer maintenance, the management of universities should give concern attitude to the provision of emerging IT infrastructure resources in the areas of computer maintenance to enhance skills system maintenance, the National Universities Commission (NUC)in collaboration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) should create and implement a national framework for ICT technical skills development across Federal Universities in the region and the commission should partner with institutions such as Cisco Networking Academy and decide whether to make it mandatory requirements for all university ICT support staff and technicians to undergo professional development every 2 to 3 years in order to key into the IT advanced era.

Keywords: Emerging Technology, Skills, Computer Technicians, Computer Maintenance.