Modern-Day Slavery? The Work-Life Conflict of Domestic Workers in Nigeria

Purpose – The trend of domestic employment thrives almost in every society. It is most common in developing countries, and Nigeria is no exception. This article examines the nature of the role of a domestic worker in Nigeria and the work-life conflict issues involved in such work. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study uses a qualitative research approach to examine the nature of the role of domestic workers and the associated work-life conflict issues. Findings – The findings show that the nature of the jobs of domestic workers in Nigeria gives rise to a situation of modern-day slavery in which an employee works without a formal employment contract, with little or no rights to private time. Long and unstructured working hours, employers’ perceptions about domestic workers, and an enormous workload fuel and exacerbate work-life conflict among domestic workers in Nigeria. Research Limitations/Implications – The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited and selected sample of the research and the research context. Practical Implications – The primacy of the employer over the employee in domestic employment means that both time and work-based conflicts continue to buffer work-life conflict if domestic workers’ working hours remain unscheduled and their employers’ perceptions about them remain unchanged. This invariably has a negative impact on the domestic workers’ health and productivity. Therefore, domestic employment should be regulated by law, and domestic workers should be treated like other formal employees. Originality/Value – This research contributes to the debates on work-life conflict by highlighting the nature of the role of domestic workers in a non-western context, Nigeria, and provides a nuanced insight into the work-life conflict issues involved in such work. The findings add conceptual thought and empirical evidence to the debate on work-life conflict

Forensic Accounting, Tax Fraud and Tax Evasion in Nigeria – Review of Literatures and Matter for Policy Consideration

Tax Fraud (TF) and Tax Evasion (TE) has become an alarming situation in most developing countries. It has become a focus of attention in recent times by scholars and policy makers because of its impact on the economy. In Nigeria, the recent worldwide economy downturn through COVID-19 pandemic and decrease in price of crude oil and sales quantity in the global market has contributed to difficulties in the implementation of annual budget. This called for a shift to tax revenues (TR) but the major challenge is the high rate of TF and TE. One way of reducing this menace and to instil Tax Compliance (TC) is the application of Forensic Accounting (FA) techniques. Therefore, this call for better understanding of the concepts and ways of using FA to promote TC. It is against this background that the study examined FA, TF and TE in Nigeria. The study adopts exploratory research design with literatures from materials on taxation and accounting. The study concluded that since the traditional auditing techniques has failed to curb TF and TE because of its inefficiency and ineffectiveness of operation, therefore FA will expose, control and deter fraudulent practices on TR, and this will enhance good TR for the government. The study recommends that government should develop interest in FA, enforce tax laws and regulations on TF and TE with strict appropriate punishment on tax evaders, ensure transparency and accountability on TR, and further create forensic unit in tax offices with modern FA techniques equipment

CHARACTERISATION OF THE ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF SOILS IN SOME PARTS OF LAGOS WETLANDS FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES

The results obtained from the evaluation of elastic properties of some part of Lagos Wetlands were presented for the determination of the competent soil for engineering structures. The study area falls within the reclaimed part of the Lagos wetlands signifying the presence of unstable geological materials. The study area is characterized with alluvium sediments which comprises of materials of low shear strength. Five (5) seismic profile lines were established via the ground rolling technique of Multi-Channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW). The data acquisition was carried out with twenty-four (24) channels 4.5Hz vertical geophones connected to the ABEM Mark 6 Terraloc Seismograph. The acquired MASW data were processed using SeisImager to obtain the two-dimensional (2-D) shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles which gives the contrast in the distribution of the velocity along each profile. In addition, dynamic parameters such as rigidity modulus, poisson ratio were estimated for further classification of the geo-earth materials in the study area. In the study area, the shear wave velocity (Vs) values obtained ranged between 94 – 1320 m/s representing different sediments such as saturated loose sand (163 – 204 m/s), loose silty sand (165- 225 m/s), medium – dense sand (220 – 350 m/s), medium dense sand (400 – 700 m/s) and dense-coarse sand (900 - 1380 m/s). However, based on these classification, it is found that saturated loose sand and loose silty sand are not competent for founding layer of engineering structures. Therefore, deep foundation inform of piling system is recommended for engineering structure that will devoid unexpected collapse and partial and differential settlement. The study has revealed that the area is generally comprise of problematic soil(s) that are inimical to construction of engineering structures

Antibacterial and Morphological Studies of Electrospun Silver-Impregnated Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibre

Silver-impregnated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibre was prepared through electrospinning process. Infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermo gravimetric analyses (TGA/DTA) were used to characterize PAN and PAN/Ag composites. The XRD results reflects decrease in the crystallinity of PAN as it is been modified with Ag. Antibacterial activity of PAN/Ag was also investigated

COMPARISON BETWEEN KAOLIN AND QUARTZITIC CLAY PERFORMANCE IN THE EFFECT OF WOOD ASH ADDITION ON THE MECHANICAL AND OTHER PROPERTIES OF PORCELAINISED STONEWARE TILES

Porcelain represents the foundation of the ceramic discipline and one of the most complex ceramic materials. Composed primarily of clay, feldspar and quartz, porcelains are heat treated to form a mixture of glass and crystalline phases. This focuses on raw materials with the addition of wood ash processing and mechanical behaviors. The use of wood ash as in manufacturing ceramic tiles can increase the utilization, as well as reduce the cost of raw materials in the tile industry and provide a competitive edge to Nigerian tile Manufactures against foreign competitions. Ring was taken ensured completion of the pozzolainic reactions instituted by the wood ash and the production of dense compounds acting as filler within the pores of the porcelain mass. It was also found that the higher the wood ash content in the porcelainª¤? the lower their strength and density, the permeability 5-10 % cow dung un clays is the best ratio that gives the desired combination of opposing qualities and density, thus the ratio that gives the optimum mechanical and other properties. It was noticed from this research work, clay with kaolinitic content is better used than clay with quartzitic content in formulating porcelainised stoneware tile specimenª¤? consisting of the mixture of both quartizitic and kaolinitic clay has better performance than ordinary quartzitic clay sample.ª¤

Synthesis, Antibacterial And Toxicology Study Of MN(II), CO(II) AND NI(II) Metal Complexes Of Sulfadoxine Mixed With Pyrimethamine

ihree mixed ligand metal complexes of Sulphadoxine and Pyrimethamine were prepared by using Mn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) metal chloride hexahydrate and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility measurement, AAS, IR and UV-Vis. spectroscopy. Some physical parameters were obtained using molar conductance • measurement and melting point determination. Based on the analytical and spectroscopic data, the complexes were proposed to have the formulae: [ML1L2](Cl)2 (where M = Mn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II); L1 = sulphadoxine, L2 = pyrimethamine). The spectroscopic data proposed that L1 and L2 coordinated through N ofNH2 groups in L1 and through N atom of NH group in L2• Thus, pyramethamine was proposed to be a tridentate ligand, while sulphadoxine was proposed to be a monodentate ligand. Micro-analysis further supported the proposed structure for the complexes. The antibacterial activity of the metal complexes were compared with their ligands by screening them against isolates of some strains of g(-) Escherichia coli, g(+) Proteus sp., g(+) Pseudomonas aureginosa and Salmonella typhi by using diffusion method. The results obtained showed the metal complexes to be more potent antibacterial than the parent drugs against the four species used. Toxicology tests against some tissues of albino rat (Rattus novergicuss) revealed toxicity of the complexes in the kidney as compared to the parent drugs. However, ALP values for metal complexes were found to be non-significantly different from the ALP values obtained for livers and the sera. This indicates that the metal complexes are not excessively toxic

Development Of Biodegradable Polyetheramide-Urethanes From Castor Seed Oil

Castor seed oil (Ricinuscommunis) is a vital renewable base material for industrial production of lubricants, brake fluids, soaps, inks, pharmaceuticals, pla stics, perfumes etc. The presence of reachricinoleic acid (about 87.5%) content in its fatty acids profile confers on its essential use for coating purposes. This paper presents the synthesis, characterization and antibacterial evaluations of polyetheramide-urethanes (PETAU) prepared from Ricinuscommunis seed oil. N,N'-bis (2- hydroxyethyl) Ricinuscommunis fatty amide (HERA) was synthesized via aminolysis. Upon reacting HERA with bisphenoiA, polyetheramide (PETA) resin was form ed. The polyetheramide subsequently undergo urethanation to form PETAU. The synthesized PETAU was characterized by FT-IR, 'H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopic analyses. Selected physico-chemical parameters of seed oil, HERA, PETA, PET AU were measured. Coating performance, thermal stability and antimicrobia l properties ofthe cured resin were also evaluated

BASIC ANALYTICAL EXAMINATION OF SELECTED STREAMS AND THEIR WATER QUALITY IN ADO-EKITI (SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA) AND ITS NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES.

Water samples were collected from ten (10) streams at different locations within Ado-Ekiti and its environ in Ekiti State, South Western Nigeria. The samples were evaluated for their physico-chemical properties. The samples under investigation has pH within the range 7.6 to 8.2; total hardness 8.0 mg/l to 196.0 mg/l; Calcium and Magnesium hardness 1.6 mg/l to 76.0 mg/l and 0.49 mg/l to 19.93 mg/l respectively; total solids 0.2 mg/l to 1.2 mg/l; total suspended and total dissolved solids 0.00 to 0.06 mg/l, 0.14 mg/l to 1.16 mg/l respectively; free carbondioxde 3.74 × 10-3 mg/l to 5.72 × 10-3 mg/l; phenolphthalein acidity 9.0 mg/l to 15.0 mg/l; conductivity 4.0 μScm-1 to 570 μScm-1. The metal analysis results from atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) are as follows: Sodium (2.7 mg/l to 60.1 mg/l), Potassium (4.0 mg/l to 52.0 mg/l), Zinc (0.80 mg/l to 1.51 mg/l), Calcium (1.60 mg/l to 76.0 mg/l), Iron and Lead were not detected in the sample considered

Comparative Study of Microwave-assisted and Conventional Synthesis of 3-[1-(s-phenylimino) Ethyl]-2H-chromen-2-ones and Selected Hydrazone Derivatives

In this study, 3-acetylcoumarin 1, used as the essential precursor was synthesized by the reaction of salicyaldehyde with ethyl acetoacetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of piperidine in solvent-free medium. Schiff bases 2-9 were obtained by the condensation reaction of 3-acetylcoumarin, 1 with various aniline derivatives while reaction of 3-hydrazinoquinoxalin-2-one with four different 6-susbtituted 3-acetylcoumarins afforded the corresponding hydrazones 10-13. Both Schiff bases and hydrazone products were synthesized under microwave irradiation method and conventional synthetic strategy for comparative study. The microwave assisted reaction was remarkably successful and gave both Schiff bases and hydrazones in higher yields at shorter reaction time compared to conventional heating method. The characterization of the synthesized compounds were structurally confirmed by analytical data as well as spectroscopic means which involved 1H-and 13C-nmr, ir, UV-visible and mass spectra