The Facebook President: Oil, Citizenship, and the Social Mediation of Politics in Nigeria

On June 28, 2010, Nigerian President Jonathan announced that he had set up a Facebook page. Within a few days, his first post garnered 1,344 likes and more than 2,139 comments. This article examines how Nigerians use social media to interact with the state. It asks: How does social media facilitate conversations on what constitutes a national resource? How is social media creating citizens who are simultaneously anonymous and visible? It suggests that Facebook and other sites on which Jonathan established online presences were constructed as political spaces to interact with the youth of Nigeria, molding that constituency into loyal social media citizens ready to align with his aspirations. It also describes social media as sites on which the politics of claim‐making produce the social mediation of oil as a commonwealth in Nigeria. The use of the term “social media citizens” is anchored in the fluidity of citizenship. Jonathan’s use of Facebook as both public and political spaces elevated the site to a national forum on a resource whose distribution must benefit all Nigerians: oil. The article suggests further that social media can serve as a site on which social media citizens can critique how the state manages and distributes oil.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139910/1/plar12217_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139910/2/plar12217.pd

Environmental Consequences of Poor Housing Development in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

This work examined the environmental consequences of poor housing development in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Housing generally refers to the social problem of ensuring that members of a society have a home in which to live, whether this is a house, or some other kind of dwelling, lodging, or shelter ( Ananya,2009). Data for this study were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources of data collected were from physical survey and the administration of three hundred (300) questionnaires, through multi-stage random sampling techniques. Results from this study shows that so many housing units in the study area were devoid of modern /adequate housing facilities, many of which were built with mud materials, poor housing and environmental condition. This study therefore recommends that since scarcity and high cost of land is a major impediment to the growth of proper housing in urban areas like Ado-Ekiti and as such, the Government at all levels should regulate the price of land in the area to enable developers build adequate and modern housing facilities at affordable prices Keywords; Adequacy, condition, consequences, environmental management and poor housing

Environmental Evaluation of the Existing Road Traffic Planning Implication in Benin City, Nigeria

This study examined environmental evaluation of the existing road traffic planning implication in Benin City, Nigeria. Transportation is integrated with urban life as an action paving the way to reach economical, social and cultural resources. Transportation planning is a decision-making process that develops through the interactive influence of different sides and their exchange of ideas. These sides consist of individuals and benefit groups, planners and decision-makers. Data for this study were collected from primary sources, through the random administration of two hundred (200) questionnaires and the physical survey. Results from this study revealed that there is a significant impact of the existing road traffic planning implication on transportation land use in Benin City metropolis. This study therefore recommended that the untarred roads within the study area should be tarred, and that government should provide adequate funds to redress the already initiated and future environmental problems on transportation land use in the study area. Keywords: Environmental Problems, Roads, Traffic Planning Issues and The Way Forward

Resources for Reform: Oil and Neoliberalism in Argentina Elana Shever (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111153/1/plar12100.pd

Mythic Oil: Corporations, Protests and the Politics of Claim-Making in Nigeria

Presented by Omolade Adunbi, Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan

Uma proposta de letramento crítico para o ensino de língua inglesa na EJA: em busca de uma educação lingüística transformadora.

This work aims at presenting my initial teaching experience in a class of Youth and Adult Education, through the participation in the Institutional Program of Initiation to Teaching Scholarships (PIBID) - English Teacher Education Course subproject at Federal University of Paraíba, reflecting about the pedagogical work developed, which has adopted the prospects of national and local legal frameworks (BRASIL, 2006; PARAÍBA, 2007), the post-method pedagogy (KUMARAVADIVELU, 2001), and the perspective of multiliteracies, emphasizing the development of critical literacy in the classroom and the promotion of the empowerment of students through language, aiming a problem-posing, liberating and transformative process of education. This work is a qualitative and interpretive piece of research, making use of 10 reflective diaries written by 3 teachers in initial education, members of PIBID, and 6 lesson plans. Data analysis allowed us to verify that a pedagogical approach using concepts originated from Popular Education, Paulo Freire's work and Critical Literacy might facilitate the English language teaching/learning process for that specific audience of young and adults, providing a new and positive relationship with the English language.Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar a minha experiência de iniciação à docência em uma turma de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), através da participação no Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação à Docência (PIBID), subprojeto Letras-Inglês da Universidade Federal da Paraíba, refletindo sobre o trabalho pedagógico desenvolvido, que adotou como base os referenciais legais nacionais e locais (BRASIL, 2006; PARAÍBA, 2007), a pedagogia do pós-método (KUMARAVADIVELU, 2001), a e a perspectiva dos multiletramentos, destacando o desenvolvimento do letramento crítico em sala de aula e a promoção do empoderamento dos educandos através da linguagem, objetivando uma educação problematizadora, libertadora e transformadora. O trabalho é uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e interpretativa, utilizando 10 relatos reflexivos de 03 professores em formação inicial participantes do PIBID e 06 planos de aula. A análise dos relatos e dos planos de aula permitiu constatar que uma proposta pedagógica utilizando conceitos oriundos da Educação Popular, do trabalho de Paulo Freire e do Letramento Crítico podem facilitar o processo de ensino/aprendizagem de inglês para o público específico de EJA, possibilitando uma nova e positiva relação com a língua inglesa