By Igwe J. Ngozi
This study assessed the Personnel and Personnel development programme of Distance Education Institutes in Abia State. To carry out the research effectively, five (5) research questions and two (2) null hypotheses were formulated. The population for the study consist of 386 people, who are the 313 teaching staff and 73 non-teaching staff of Distance education institutes in Abia State as at August 2004. The major instrument used for collection of data was the questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using simple percentages, weighted mean to analyse the research questions, while t-test statistical tools was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The major findings of the study were: most of the personnel were available; most of the functions were performed; most of the staff development programmes and training needs are not found available; most of the problems are not solved. The above findings cut across the teaching and non-teaching staff of distance education institutions. The major implication of the findings of this study is that the point of using distance education methodology to increase access to education in Nigeria will be overcome if distance education facilities are supplied in our distance education universities. The major recommendations include, distance education institutes should undertake training and retraining of their technical staff. Distance education universities should encourage their personnel, so that they can carry out their functions very well. Allocation of more funds to institutions running distance education programmes by the government. Distance education universities should introduce staff development programme to help personnel to keep abreast with recent developments. Distance education universities should address the training needs of their staff.