Enhancing the Performance of Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria via Internal Control System

The study evaluates internal control system and performance of Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria. To achieve the objectives of the study, primary and secondary data were used. The secondary data include journals, textbooks and the publications of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the primary data was collected using a well structured and tested questionnaire from one-hundred and twenty (120) respondents in three (3) Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria. The respondents were selected through random sampling technique. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of the study suggest that weak internal control system can reduce the overall performance of Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria. The analysis also showed that effective internal control systems have significant impact on the companies’ service delivery and that effective internal control systems have significant impact on the companies’ revenue generation. The study concludes that lack of effective internal control system in Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies is one of the major causes of poor service delivery to the members of the public and as a result of this; the revenue they obtain from the services cannot sustain them. Key words: Internal Control System, Performance, Internal Audit, Corporate governance,  Enterprise Risk Management

School Environmental Factors and Mathematics Teaching Effectiveness: Implication for E-Learning

Mathematics occupies a central position in the school curriculum. It is a core subject from the primary through the junior secondary to the senior secondary school levels of the educational system. This important position occupied by the subject in the school curricula is borne out of the role of mathematics in scientific and technological development, a sine-qua-non in national building. However, the teaching of this important subject is beset with problems of societal values for it, there is the problem of inadequate and substandard learning materials and general attitudes among others. Therefore, the study investigated the pre-professional mathematics teachers’ beliefs about factors that could contribute to the mathematics teaching effectiveness in secondary schools. A non-experimental study was carried out on the pre-service postgraduate students in Lagos State. Self constructed questionnaires were administered on sampled 115 postgraduate students. The sample consisted of male = 42.6%, female = 57.4%. Two instruments were used for data collection; mathematics teachers effectiveness scale (a= 0.782) and the likelihood for the occurrence of effectiveness factors happening in schools scale (a = 0.806). The collection of data lasted three weeks. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test and analysis of variance. The pre-professional mathematics teachers were identified with factors contributing to their teaching effectiveness, there was significant difference in their perception of effectiveness. The respondents were not wholeheartedly disposed to effectiveness factors occurring in their place of work but were of the opinions that some might happen in their schools on the long run. There was a significant composite effect of predictor variables to pre-service teachers’ views of mathematics teachers’ effectiveness and the likelihood for the factors occurring in their schools. There was a significant composite effect of predictor variables to pre-service teachers report (F (3, 112) = 3.245, P\u3c0.05). Therefore, there is the need to increase the level of awareness of society on the relevance and importance of mathematics. The teachers should put up the reasons for making the mathematics recognised in the society and across the globe in order to increase the students’ achievement in the subject

Effects of Citric Acid and Methanol Extracts of Banana and Plantain Peels on Stability of Refined Soybean Oil

Refined Soybean Oil (RSBO) was freshly obtained before adding any additive from a local Vegetable Oil factory in Owo, Ondo- State, Nigeria. Ripped peels of banana and plantain were removed from their fruits, cut, sun dried, ground, sieved and separately extracted with methanol. The methanol extracts were dosed at varying concentrations (0.02%-0. 10%) into RSBO. RSBO containing 0.02% and 0.04% of citric acid (CA) were also set up for comparison. The stability effects of methanol extracts and citric acid of RSBO were evaluated by monitoring the Free Fatty Acid (FFA), Acid Value (AV) and Peroxide Value (PV) of the oil sample monthly for a period of six months. The results indicated that RSBO containing both extracts (0.02%-0. 10%) and citric acid were more oxidatively stable than RSBO that contained no additive. Oil samples containing 0.08%-0. 10% banana peel extract, 0.08% plantain peel extract and citric acid (0.02%-0.10%) were more hydrolytically stable than oil sample that contained no additive. Plantain peel extract in RSBO competed more favourably with citric acid than banana peel extract in terms of oxidative stability of RSBO. The plantain peel extract had higher antioxidative activity than banana peel extract against oxidative deterioration of RSBO. Both extracts had optimal performance against oxidative rancidity of RSBO at 0.06% concentration

Effects of Adolescents Exposure to Sexual Contents on Social Media in Nigeria

The study examined the effects of adolescents’ exposure to sexual contents as available in the social media. Data was gathered among 305 literates adolescents using quantitative structured face-to-face interviews. They were distributed using Nigerian age-sex ratio of 51 and 49 between male and female respectively. The study locations consist of densely populated urban areas in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria. The locations were chosen due to high proportion of adolescents in the areas according to the country’s census results. Data were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses. Common social media identified among the respondents includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram and LinkedIn. The result also revealed that users of social media in age group 10-14 years are 4.614 times more likely to be exposed to sexual activity at P-value = 0.000. Adolescent users of social media with primary education are 26.953 times more likely to be involved in sexual activity (P-value = 0.000). Those who use social media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are 6.932, 4.630, 3.566 and 2.682 times (respectively) more likely to be exposed to sexual activity compared to their counterparts that use other forms of media. The paper posits that it is inimical not to monitor adolescents’ exposure to sexual contents and censor the scenes available on social media gadgets. The study recommends that sexuality education must be popularised in order to stem the risk of HIV/AIDS among the group studied

Modelling thermophysical effects of heat and mass transfer in unsteady magnetohydrodynamics viscoelastic fluid flow in inclined porous media

Paper presented at the 5th Strathmore International Mathematics Conference (SIMC 2019), 12 - 16 August 2019, Strathmore University, Nairobi, KenyaThis research presents the study of thermophysical effects of heat and mass transfer in unsteady Magnetohydrodynamics viscoelastic fluid flow in inclined porous media. The modelled results in form of nonlinear and coupled form of partial differential equations were transformed into Ordinary Differential Equations and were solved by using embedded fourthorder Runge-Kutta integration scheme with Newton-Raphson shooting method. Numerical computations were carried out for the non-dimensional to study the effect of different physical parameters. Physical parameters such as viscos-elasticity, permeability of the porous media, magnetic field, Grashof number, Schmidt number, heat source parameter and chemical reaction parameter on the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics were discussed.Federal University Wukari, Wukari, Nigeria. University of florin, florin, Nigeria

POWER MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR WIRELESS TELEPHONY SERVICE PROVIDERS

The relationship between the mobile phone service providers and their service consumers since the about seven years ago when mobile phone became fully integrated into Nigeria society is to say the least rough. Accusations of poor services coupled with high charges are levied against the service providers and in defense the service providers blame it on high running cost especially fuelling and maintenance of generating sets for power supplies. Hence, for mobile phone service providers to provide satisfactory service to their customers, there is need for efficient power management system. This work finds the average power supply per day, cost of the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) generating set, cost of installing the generating set, fuel consumption of the generating set per certain periods based on BTS equipment data provided by one of the service providers, routine maintenance cost of the generating sets, etc and compare these with Photovoltaic (PV) system. The findings reveal that an environmental friendly renewable energy technology, a photovoltaic system is a potent alternative power source especially when life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is invoked and the site management scheme proposed is adopted. PV system has been found to be cost competitive with the conventional system

Substance use among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background. In sub-Saharan Africa, substance use among adolescents has continued to be a major public health concern, albeit poorly documented across many settings. Objective. To estimate the prevalence of substance use among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods. We searched Pubmed, EMBASE, AJOL and Google Scholar for population-based studies on adolescents (age 10 - 19 years) and reporting on the prevalence of substance use across sub-Saharan Africa. Search dates were from January 2000 to December 2016. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted with pooled prevalence rates (and 95% confidence interval (95% CI)) of estimated substance abuse among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Results. Twenty-seven studies across sub-Saharan Africa including 143 201 adolescents (mean age 15.6 years) were selected. The overall prevalence of ‘any substance use’ in sub-Saharan Africa was 41.6%, with the highest rate in Central Africa at 55.5%. The use of caffeinecontaining products (including coffee or kola nut) was most predominant at 41.2% (95% CI 24.3 - 58.1) but limited to West Africa. These were followed by alcohol at 32.8% (95% CI 26.0 - 39.5), tobacco products 23.5% (95% CI 17.7 - 29.3), khat 22.0% (95% CI 12.5 - 31.5) and cannabis 15.9% (95% CI 12.2 - 19.1). Other abused substances included depressants at 11.3% (95% CI 6.5 - 16.1), amphetamines 9.4% (95% CI 6.0 - 12.9), heroin 4.0% (95% CI 3.5 - 4.5) and cocaine 3.9% (95% CI 1.4 - 6.5). Conclusion. Our study reflects a high use of psychoactive substances and drugs among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. It is important that interventions and rehabilitation programmes are comprehensive and targeted at adolescents and parents in these settings

Psychosocial Health of Adolescent living in Urban Slum Nigeria

The paper examines association of neighborhood characteristics with psychosocial statues of adolescent living in urban slums. Data for the study were obtained from a cross sectional survey among adolescent age 15-19, living in urban slums in Lagos State. Adopted a measuring scale for adverse environment and psychosocial attributes, data were analyzed using univariate and binary logistic regression analysis. Results revealed that neighborhood characteristics were associated with low self-academic performance rating. Both parental process and neighborhood factors such social disorganization was able to predict psychosocial wellbeing such subjective academic performance rating. The findings revealed among others that adverse neighborhood characteristics in urban slum were associated with unhealthy subjective wellbeing which reflects wide personal and social contexts and have implications for public health and social wellbeing. This paper calls for programmes that are tailor to addressing rapidly developing slum settlements in low income area, to secure the future generation

Evaluation and comparison of the Amino acid composition of three varieties of Lagerena siceraria melon seed flours

Amino acids of three varieties of Lageneria siceraria seed flours were determined using standard methods of analysis. The three varieties are rich in essential amino acids needed for human health and growth, with a mean of 53.15%. Sulphur amino acid and aromatic amino acid              of the seeds ranged from 17.06 mg/g protein to 24.10 mg/g protein and from 80.22mg/g protein to 89.00 mg/g protein respectively. The varieties of these melon seed flours are closely related; however, there are significant differences (P?0.05) in Cystine, showing that the varieties have some genetic differences. Key Words: Lageneria siceraria seed flours, Essential amino acid, Genetics, Aginine,  Cystine