Interests, Preferences, and the Realization of Goals: Nigeria and Vision 20:2020 (A follow-up to Eddy Erhagbe’s Position)

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Knowledge of Financial Management Guidelines as a Correlate to Store Custody, Store Control, and Financial Accountability in Local Government Administration in Anambra State, Nigeria

The Local government system in Nigeria is facing a lot of problems. The most disturbing of these problems is that the local governments cannot engage in any development project due to several factors. One of such factors that is of interest to this paper is the question of financial management and the knowledge of the guidelines for financial management. This is why this study assessed the extent to which the knowledge of financial management guidelines can be considered as a correlate to financial accountability in Anambra state local government. Three hypotheses were proposed and tested. A quantitative research design was used for the study. The population for the study was made up of 9,881 staff working in the 21 local governments in the study area. The proportional stratified sampling technique was used to select six out of these 21 local governments. From a total of 2,803 staff working in the sampled local governments, 280 were sampled using purposive random sampling. Two instruments were developed for the study, namely, a questionnaire containing structured and unstructured items, and an interview guide. From the 280 staff sampled, four senior staff from each of the six local governments were interviewed. A total of 24 senior staff were interviewed while the remaining 256 staff responded to questionnaire items to generate data for this study. Data collected from the responses to the structured questionnaire were coded into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 16). The remaining data from the questionnaire, and the whole of the interview responses, were subjected to content analysis to identify emerging themes. The three hypotheses were tested at the significance level of 0.05 using Pearson Product Moments Correlation Coefficient (r). The study revealed the following: (a) the stores officers’ adherence to the guidelines in the Financial Memoranda is not dependent on their knowledge of these guidelines (r = -0.488); (b) the loss of funds observed in stores custody in Anambra state local governments is significantly related to non-adherence to the instructions and guidelines in the financial memoranda (r = 0.354); and (c) the level of adherence to the guidelines in the financial memoranda is positively related to the level of accountability of officers charged with stores in Anambra state local governments (r = 0.350). Keywords: Financial Management, Store Custody, Store Control, Financial Accountability, Local Government Administration, Nigeri

The Contemporary Roles of Architect And Other Building Professionals “Panacea To The Menace of Quacks And Quackery In Building Construction Industry”

Quacks and quackery from the time immemorial has continued to constitute a serious menace that is so worrisome in construction industries especially the building construction industry. These problems variantly occur but not completely dissociated from failures of different kinds. More so, several efforts in the past and even at present put in place to checkmate or curb these menaces associated with quackery in this industry has yielded little or no result and many a times proved abortive. However, this paper aimed at looking into the quacks and quackery activities and the menaces associated with it, enumerating the contemporary role of Architect and other related professionals in the building industry with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem bedeviling the industry. Key words: - Quacks and Quackery, Building Construction Industry, Menace, Architect and Other Building Professionals

Electricity sector reality, economic security and national development in Nigeria: an elite theory dimension

The electricity sector is an immensely critical component of the equations in a 21st century economy. Economic security on the other hand is the essence of national development. The crucial question in this study therefore borders on the extent to which the electricity sector in Nigeria positively relates to economic security and how these variables ultimately link with national developmental dreams in this nation-state. We have made use of secondary sources of data and the elite theoretical framework in the conduct of the study. The methodology of the study is the critical mode of research. Our findings indicate that there are immense weak-linkages between Nigeria's electricity sector reality, economic security and national developmental aspirations in the country. And this is principally (un) driven by elite insensitivity. The paper emphasizes that a critical leadership challenge in Nigeria hinges on the appreciation of the import of these linkages by current and subsequent generations of national development planners in the Nigerian state

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Maintenance Strategy in Housing Estates in Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria

This paper examines the effectiveness of the adopted maintenance strategy in Igala and General Abdulsalam Housing Estates in Gusau, Zamfara state of Nigeria. The study reviewed existing works on Maintenance and utilized a structured questionnaire, which was administered on the residents of the two (2) housing estates, built by the state government and given out on owner occupier basis. Data analysis shows that out of the three (3) strategies mapped out for consideration in the estates, 61.5% of the respondents went with corrective maintenance strategy. The results further revealed that 38.4% of the respondents maintained their buildings whenever fault is detected. And also about 59.6% of the respondents used more that N53, 000 on maintenance of their buildings on yearly basis; hence the level of maintenance was high with 38.5% when compared with the percentages of the other variables. This paper concluded that the corrective maintenance strategy was effective but requires more augmentation. Keywords: Assessment, Effectiveness, Maintenance Strategy, Housing Estates

Nigerian government and oil subsidy regime: a horn of dilemma

Virtually all modern independent States have, as their fundamental goals, the pursuit of the welfare and well-being of their citizens. To achieve these goals, the Nigerian State is required to harness its huge human and material resources for the development of the country. The paper examines the nature and politics of oil subsidy in Nigeria with the aim of identifying the forces behind subsidy removal. To scientifically analyze the issues raised, the study utilized political economy and public choice theories, an eclectic approach. The paper argued that the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government in 2012 violates the fiduciary responsibility of the State as exposed in the preamble to the 1999 constitution. It showcases the insensitivity of the government to the social concerns of the citizenry and attempt by the oil cabal to privatize Nigeria. Given the catalogue of challenges facing fuel subsidy, it recommends among others, that institutions and institutional rules should be strengthened, be accountable and made autonomous of cabals and individuals who might want to manipulate them for group or personal interests. It concludes that unless the government predicates its legitimacy on the peoples‘ support and obedience derived from better socio-economic performance, the country might experience another democratic reversal.Key Words: Economy, Oil, Politics, Removal, Subsidy, Nigeri

Organizational Effectiveness for Effective Transformation of Sub-Sahara Africa: An Empirical Review of Anambra State Civil Service, Nigeria

The public sector in Nigeria has suffered series of setbacks which were attributed to ineffective and inefficient management which immediately calls for transformation of the sector in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency in the performance of the sector for national development

Organization Governance and Performance of the public sector in Nigeria: The Nexus

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Entrepreneurial curriculum in African universities: A panacea to graduates’ unemployment if?

Background: University education is a prerequisite for the production of highly competent experts which, in turn, contributes to economic growth and national development at large. For these to be achieved, the right entrepreneurial (content) curriculum and qualified teachers must be in place to perform this varied function. Aim: Within the framework of human capital and cognitive theories - an eclectic approach - this article examines the nexus between entrepreneurial curriculum in Africa and graduates employability with specific reference to Nigerian universities. To interrogate the issues raised, this article employed descriptive survey design and content analysis. Setting: This study was carried out using qualitative desktop method in deriving data for answering the question. Over 50 literature were consulted and analysed in order to establish the nexus between entrepreneurial curriculum and graduate employability in Africa. Methods: This research employed the descriptive survey method and content analysis with the researchers setting out to illustrate the association that exists between the dependent and independent variables. Results: This article argues that the extent to which entrepreneurship education curriculum inculcates entrepreneurial skills among Nigerian undergraduates, is very poor. Also, the quality of resource persons employed to teach entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian universities appears not to possess the requisite knowledge to impart entrepreneurial spirit in students. Conclusion: It concludes that the university authorities should ensure a ‘fit’ in the recruitment of entrepreneurial education lecturers as well as an adequate provision of teaching and learning aids

Impact of temperature difference on the features of spray deposited yttrium doped cobalt selenide (YCoSe) thin films for photovoltaic application

In this investigation, spray deposited yttrium doped cobalt selenide (YCoSe) thin materials were synthesized in soda lime glass and the impact of substrate temperature (140 oC, 160 oC, 180 oC and 200 oC) on their elemental composition, surface morphology, structural, electrical and optical properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy-SEM X-ray diffraction –XRD, four-point probe and UV-VIS spectrophotometer respectively. The EDX plots of the deposited undoped and Y-doped cobalt selenide revealed the major elements: cobalt, selenium and yttrium. This confirms the deposition of CoSe and Y-doped CoSe thin materials. The morphology of undoped CoSe thin materials was very rough containing randomly oriented non-uniform thin particles while addition of Y dopant (0.1 mol%) at substrate temperature of 140 oC gave a homogenous distribution of compact rectangular-like nanograins. The XRD result shows that the films are cubic polycrystalline in nature and the film grown at substrate temperature of 180 oC was seen to give the most excellent crystalline quality and a preferential orientation along (111) direction. From electrical results it was observed that increase in substrate temperature increased the film thickness with decreased resistivity and increased conductivity. The optical properties were found to vary with substrate temperature despite the fact that the variation was not totally linear, as the film deposited at substrate temperature of 160 oC deviated from the linearity in all the optical properties. The energy band gap of the deposited samples ranges from 1.25 eV–1.75 eV. The materials produced could be used in the production of photovoltaic devices