Sickness absenteeism in a Nigerian polytechnic.

Statistics on sickness absenteeism are very scanty in Nigeria. This paper describes a case study of the Ibadan Polytechnic workers. The result has shown that the prevalence rate is roughly 25% per annum and the frequency of sickness absence is highest among junior workers, females and the unmarried group. Frequent illnesses are infections and parasitic diseases, with malaria fever being the commonest. The duration of sickness absence was found to be, on average, 3 days, and the implications of the findings on the management and economic climate of the institution are discussed.