The Dynamics of Ideology, Ethnicity and Nationalism in Nigeria’s Democratic Experience, 1999-2019

Tags : EthnicityIdeologyNationalism

National integration and development has defied purposeful programmes initiated by successive Nigerian administrations, resulting in a dysfunctional relationship between the federating units. The absence of a clear-cut national ideology or tradition may be responsible; however, not all nations today had assumed true national cohesion at inception of statehood. It is a product of evolution and reform of the imperfections that make up the national structure. That any administration will emerge in Nigeria without a narrow nationalist agitation appears dreadful, because trends from independence indicate consistent agitation, in form of minority rights protection, defence of religious rights and ethnic mobilisation. The Fourth Republic and emerging dynamics and lexicons attest to this endless trend.Thus, leaders from one geopolitical or ethnic direction witness dissention from other native areas as a form of rejection or protest against marginalisation. As it were, protest against failure or non-performance is admissible, but it remains unresolved whether the trend is driven by genuine national motives, if not, the end appears not in sight. This paper therefore examines the rationale for this ‘trending nationalism’ with a view to determining the prospects for national development.The study relied to a good extent on data from secondary sources, with a dint of evidences from living sires and eye witnesses. Descriptive method was adopted to investigate the how of every phenomenon. The Instrumentalist theoryis adopted for explanations. It was observed that the trend of protest in the present pattern may not attenuate soon, indicating that citizens still remain attracted to their ethnic sources as resort. Sincere democratic processes by which everyone is involved, can assuage the intensity of the problem.

Determination of Water Quality Index (WQI) of Joda Dam in Gabasawa Local Government Kano State, Nigeria

Tags : Joda DampHwater quality index (WQI)

Water quality index (WQI) is a mathematical expression used to transform large quantities of water quality into a single number which present water quality level. This research titled “Determination of water quality index of Joda dam in Gabasawa local government area of Kano State Nigeria” aims at determining the water quality index of Joda dam in Gabasawa local government area of Kano state. This is to ascertain its suitability for human consumptions. The samples collected were assessed for thirteen (13) different parameters. These parameters were PH, electrical conductivity, total hardeners’, nitrate sulphate, chloride, calcium, magnesium, dissolved oxygen turbidity chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solid and sodium. The calculation of water quality index (WQI) was done based on weighted arithmetic index method (WAI). The value of WQI was found to be 51056. The people of the area that depend on the water for their daily lives should treat the water by boiling, sedimentation before use.

Effect of Capital Flight on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Tags : Capital FlightEconomic growthNet foreign investment

The study examined the effect of capital flight on economic growth in Nigeria and the study proxies capital flight using net foreign investment and gross domestic product. These methodologies are superior to the OLS for many reasons. The study employed a descriptive and time series research design, which is a very important in determining the relationship between time-series variables. The population of the study consist of all data on capital flight and economic growth from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. For the purpose of the research, a sample size from 1981 to 2019 is selected from the CBN Statistical Bulletin in order to determine the relationship between the variables. The Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Matrix and Fully Modified Least Squares regression technique were adopted to analyse the relationship between the variables. The results reveal that the effect of NFI on RGDP is negative and across all the estimations and significant in DOLs at 5% and FMOLS at 10%. Based on the findings of the study, the recommendation is to keep an eye on net foreign investments, make sure that more investments are brought into Nigeria, and make sure that these channels for foreign investment are not used to transfer capital to other countries.

Comparing Different Symmetric and Asymmetric GARCH Models in Three Error Distributions Using Nigerian Crude Oil Export Prices

Tags : Asymmetric effecterrors distributionmodellingoil pricetime seriesvolatilityvolatility persistence

Volatility modelling has always been an important subject of inquiry and research in Financial Markets (such as crude oil markets). However, the review of relevant literatures showed that Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) model and its various extensions are being applied for modelling the volatility of Financial Time Series to capture the stylized facts incorporated in these series, but less attention has been given to the contribution of the error distribution assumptions while modelling the volatility. Accordingly, this study examined the monthly series of the Nigerian Crude Oil Price (NCOP) with a scope of January, 1982 to March, 2019 by employing simple GARCH, GARCH-M, EGARCH, TGARCH, GJR-GARCH, and APARCH models each in three main error distributions which are normal error, student’s t error and General Error Distribution (GED). The Log-likelihood function, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) were used to compare the performances of the estimated models. The results indicated the existence of volatility clustering, leptokurtic behavior, leverage effect and high volatility persistence in the Nigerian crude oil price and that the asymmetric EGARCH model in Student’s-t distribution and GED has the best specifications for explaining Nigerian Crude Oil Price conditional volatility than the normal error. It was concluded that the ARCH/GARCH models are suitable for dealing with volatility in oil price market and that, GARCH models with normal errors are not capable to fully capture the leptokurtic in empirical Time Series. Furthermore, the asymmetric effects are indeed present in empirical data and the asymmetric GARCH models perform better than the symmetric GARCH model in explaining conditional volatility. The work recommends that more credence may be given to asymmetric models for modelling oil price volatility, and thus investors to react to bad news than good news.

The New Phenomenon of Urban Crime in the Northeast: A Focus on the Emergence of Arms Groups and the Spread of Firearms

Tags : Armed GroupsFirearmsNortheastProliferationUrban Crime

Half of the world’s population now lives in metropolitan regions. This development has undesirable side effects, which are part of this study’s focus. Urbanization, population expansion, the introduction of new crimes, and the proliferation of small guns have led to global communities’ concern. The study focuses on the metropolitan regions of Borno and Yobe states in northeastern Nigeria. These locations have been hit by the Boko Haram conflict, which has spread small arms. Such a profusion of weaponry may have intensified urban crime. The study aims to understand the causes of violent crimes in northeastern Nigerian cities; the contributions of firearm proliferation to the emergence and expansion of urban crime; the implications of engaging civilians in supplementing security efforts in relation to small firearm proliferation and urban crime growth; and the necessary measures for crime control. Based on these objectives, researchers conducted survey research to answer research questions. Urban areas of Borno State (Jere, Konduga, Damboa) and Yobe State (Damaturu, Potiskum, and Geidam) where non-state armed groups increased urban crime were sampled. Some respondents were interviewed, while others were given questionnaires. We also interviewed important informants to learn more. SPSS was used to analyze the data.

Investigating the Analgesic Property of Petroleum Ether Extract of Pipterdeniastrum Africanum (Mimosacea) using Formalin-Induced Pain Model

Tags : analgesic activityFormalin-induced pain modelphytochemical screeningPiptadeniastrum africanum

Pain is a very common symptom and it indicates that something is wrong in the body and may give a clue to the nature of disease. Thus, this study was done to determine if there is analgesic activity present in the bark extract of Piptadeniastrum africanum and hence future usefulness in the management of pain.

The extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. The extract showed the presence of flavonoids, sterols, and glycosides.

The analgesic activity of the bark extract was analyzed using Formalin-induced pain model in which the subjects used were adult male mice with an average weight of 24grams. Different doses were administered to the mice with positive control as Aspirin 100mg/kg, negative control as vehicle (emulsion: since petroleum ether is not soluble in water) and other doses of 250mg/kg, 500mg/kg and 1g/kg.

 The results from the graph of duration of paw licks against the different dose groups showed that the duration of paw licks reduced drastically when aspirin was administered to the mice when compared to the other doses, but the duration of paw licks was highest with the vehicle. So it may be concluded that the bark extract has little analgesic activity. But further studies on the P-values show that most of the values were not significant (values have to be significant to indicate the presence of analgesia). From this, we can deduce that the petroleum ether extract of Piptadeniastrum africanum has little or no analgesic activity.

Assessing the Impact of Corporate Governance on Financial Performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Tags : Audit CommitteeBoard CompositionBoard SizeCorporate GovernanceFinancial Performance.

Corporate governance is the system by which business corporations are directed and controlled. In banks, quality corporate governance is critical to winning and retaining customer confidence and patronage. This study investigated the effect of corporate governance on the financial performance of some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria from 2010-2019. Ex-post facto design was adopted in the study. Using secondary data from the annual reports and accounts of the sampled banks, the independent variables were board size (bods), board composition (bodcomp), audit committee (audcom), while the dependent was financial performance proxied by net interest margin (nim), return on assets (roa) and return on equity (roe). Multi-regression model was employed in the analysis. The findings showed that corporate governance has no significant effect on the reported figures for NIM, ROA and ROE. Thus, the study recommends among others, that board size should be monitored closely for better performance. This study expanded the quest for the influence of corporate governance on firms’ performance especially as it relates to Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

Impact of Programme Duration and Staff Commitment on the Effectiveness of ADAPTI in Colleges of Education in Cross River and Ebonyi States of Nigeria

Tags : ADAPTICapacity buildingIntervention

This study was executed to find out how the time allotted to the Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI) and the commitment of the staff of colleges of education in Cross River and Ebonyi states of Nigeria are affecting the effectiveness of the programme. The descriptive survey research design was adopted in conducting the study. Five approved colleges of education in Cross River and Ebonyi states of Nigeria formed the population of the study out of which a sample of three was purposively drawn. Subsequently, three hundred and sixty Academic and Non-academic staff were randomly drawn from the three colleges. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. The data for the study were collected using researchers’ constructed instrument called Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions Evaluation Questionnaire (ADAPTIEQ). The instrument has a Crombach Alpha reliability coefficient of .86. The collected data were analyzed using both the descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of the analysis showed that the short period of time allotted to this programme was a factor militating against its effectiveness. Consequently, it was recommended among other things that a period of not less than one month be allotted to this programme in order to enable the facilitators cover the course content.

Corporate Governance Structure and Organizational Competitiveness of Deposit Money Banks in Rivers State

Tags : Board IndependenceBoard SizeCorporate Governance StructureOrganizational competitiveness

This study examined the relationship between corporate governance structure and organizational competitiveness of deposit money banks in Rivers state. A sample of 122 managers and supervisors were adopted as the sample size since the number is manageable and accessible to the researcher for the eleven deposit money banks in Rivers state. Three testable null hypotheses formulated, tested and rejected, and the alternate hypothesis accepted. Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze association between the variables and the regression statistical tool was used to examine the causal effects of the dimensions of corporate governance structure on the criterion variable (organizational competitiveness). Hence, there is a significant relationship between corporate governance structure and organizational competitiveness of deposit money banks in Rivers state. It was thus recommended that the Management of deposit money banks should make policies that would enhance board independence of such firms as this would enhance organizational competitiveness. Deposit money banks should come up with policies that would predict accurate board size to enhance competitiveness of the organization. Deposit money banks should enact procedures that would enhance organizational competitiveness through an effective corporate governance structure.

Prostate Cancer Screening in Nigerian Men: Perceived Barriers and Recommendations

Tags : Barriersdigital rectal examinationprostate cancerprostate specific antigen

Prostate cancer has been described as the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men aged 40 years and above, especially in developing countries including Nigeria. By 2030, the global burden of prostate cancer which is currently the fifth leading cause of death worldwide is expected to hit 1.7 million new cases and 499,000 new deaths. The exact causes of prostate cancer are unknown, it is thought that aging, family history, lifestyle, genome changes and race are among the significant risk factors. Routine screening for prostate cancer by prostate specific antigen and digital rectal examination can lead to early detection of the disease, thereby optimizing incidence, minimizing prevalence, and reducing the mortality rate. Studies have shown that Nigerian men are less likely to engage in screening practices due to fatalistic beliefs, lack of knowledge about prostate cancer and risk factors, misconception about screening, and no encouragement from the service provider among others. This review recommends the establishment and maintenance of institutional frameworks and policy guidelines that would create awareness programs on prostate cancer and the benefits of early screening for all men in Nigeria.

Effect of Family Ownership on Dividend per Share of Conglomerate Firms in Nigeria

Tags : Dividend per shareFamily ownershipFirm size

The study determined the effect of family ownership on dividend per share of Conglomerate firms in Nigeria. Ex Post Facto research design was adopted. The population of the study consists of the seven Conglomerate firms quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study covered nine years annual reports and accounts of these firms from 2012 to 2020.Using regression analysis, the result stated that family ownership has a negative significant effect on dividend per share of quoted Conglomerate firms. According to the study, companies may adjust dividend payouts in response to a country’s economic climate, highlighting the controlling shareholders’ motivation.

rTMS in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A Literature Review

Tags : adolescentchildneurostimulationnoninvasiverTMS

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an emerging neuropsychiatric tool with therapeutic and research applications. The three most common types of TMS delivery include single-pulse, paired-pulse, and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

The largest trial to date was a multicenter, doubleblind, sham-controlled trial of 301 subjects with MDD which involved high frequency stimulation of the LDLPFC, five times per week at 120% motor threshold for 4 to 6 weeks. In 2008, this culminated in US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for rTMS treatment of adults with MDD who have failed one previous medication trial of an adequate dose and duration. Previously, rTMS has been approved for treatment refractory depression in other countries such as Israel and Canada.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of rTMS research in child and adolescent psychiatry. Literature was reviewed and collected with Sciencedirect, CAIRN, Google Scholar, NCBI and PubMed searches.

Effect of Capital Flight on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Tags : Capital FlightEconomic growthExternal reserve

This study examined the effect of external reserves on economic growth in Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive and time series research design, which is very important in determining the relationship between time-series variables. Data were on capital flight and economic growth from inception to the 2020 period in the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. The Descriptive Statistics and Least Squares regression technique were adopted to analyze the variables. The results show that external reserve has a negative and insignificant effect on gross domestic product. It has the expected theoretical sign as debt servicing acts as a drag on economic growth because it diverts the availability of public funds for investments purposes to payments of debt. In light of the study’s findings, the study also recommended that reserves be encouraged at this time because they are important for macroeconomic stability and must be addressed in order to improve Nigeria’s economic growth.

Environmental Accounting and Caliber of Financial Reporting of Nigerian Quoted Firms

Tags : Environmental accountingFinancial reportingService companies

This study therefore examined the environmental accounting and the caliber of financial reporting of Nigerian quoted firms. The study employed survey research design. The entire number of service companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) made up the population of this study. Data were generated through questionnaires distributed to respondents. Pearson’s Chi-square method was employed to test the hypothesis. The result shows that capitalizing environmental resource expenses including those for hiring, choosing, training, education, welfare, contributing to a pension fund and subsistence allowance allows for better accounting of these costs. As a result, they must be capitalized and reported as assets. When this is done, listed service businesses in Nigeria can be more accurately valued, and their financial reports can more reliably convey important financial data for use by different report users. Based on the result, it was recommended that backup plans for dealing with unusual and unintentional discharges as well as programs for reducing waste should be required of businesses.

PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND THE CHALLENGES OF NATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA