Manifestation of Contemporary Leadership Issues and its Relevance to Diverse Leadership Methods and Contingency Models: A Review of Literature

Wren 1995 explains that leadership remains an ambiguous amorphous and frequently misunderstood topic p ix Therefore isolating and discussing a limited number of leadership models may suggest one is more significant than the other This paper purposefully lacks the attachment of special significance and instead offers a limited focus on certain contingency theories The present paper reviews the literature of studies conducted by using diverse leadership methods the similarities and differences in these leadership model

Perceptions as Influencer of Consumer Choice Behavior: The Case of Tourism in Nigeria

Consumers will form opinion(s) on a particular product based on information at their disposal, which will determine whether such product is selected. Destination images influence a tourist's travel decisionmaking, cognition and behavior at a destination as well as satisfaction levels and recollection of the experience (Jenkins, 1999). A survey was conducted in the United States, of potential tourists aimed at understanding the role perceptions of potential American outbound tourists to Nigeria and how consumers choose their destinations; based on information at their disposal. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the distribution of variables. All statistics were two-tailed at 0.05 significance level

Unfairness in Reward Allocation in the Nigerian Public Sector Organizations: A Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis

The paper is a conceptual and theoretical literature review of articles and works that are relevant to reward allocation in public sector organizations. The paper reviews literature on organizations nature and characteristics; unfairness and fairness in reward allocation and notable theories of reward allocation. The paper reveals some of the unfairness in reward allocations to employees in public organizations and the unfairness of the factors in the performance appraisal used for reward allocation to employees in the public sector as: religious affiliation; ethnicity; corruption; intimidation/threat by superior officers; sexual harassment of female employees by superior officers; political pressure; God-fatherism and Federal Character Principle (FCP). The paper recommends that (1) States and Federal Government should address the unfairness and close the wide gap across hierarchical levels in their reward allocation to employees. (2) The Federal Government should increase its supervision on the States’ Governor in order to prevent them from their present inhuman practices of diverting to elections campaigns and their personal use, civil servants and teachers’ salaries and allowances that are statutorily allocated to them from the federation accounts

Development of visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants and the disinfection of microorganisms

In this research, several visible-light driven photocatalysts were developed and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated in the removal of organic pollutants. Wastewater containing pathogen carriers such as total coliforms, and E. coli was tested for disinfection using the synthesized visible-light photocatalysts. Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN or g-C3N4), a visible-light driven photocatalyst, was synthesized from different precursors. Also, different composites of GCN such GCN/Ag2CrO4, and GCN/ZnO-Cu were synthesized. The purpose of these GCN composites is to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the GCN. Several characterization techniques were used to understand the physicochemical properties of the photocatalysts. The initial photocatalytic experiments, detailed in Chapter 3, were on degrading 4-CP under a royal blue LED (450 nm) using precursor-derived GCNs and GCN composites. The results show that the GCN/0.3Ag2CrO4 performed well with over 95% degradation of 4-CP. The second set of photocatalytic experiments, detailed in Chapter 4, were on investigating the degradation of 2,4-D and MCPP, BSA protein, SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) spike protein, cATP, and total coliforms/E. coli using the best performing GCN/0.3Ag2CrO4 in the first photocatalytic experiments and royal blue LED. Over 85% of 2,4-D and MCPP were simultaneously degraded, 77.5% of Covid-19 spike protein was achieved, and over one log reduction of cATP, total coliforms/E. coli was achieved in wastewater treatment. In Chapter 5 (third set of experiments), new sets of photocatalysts were synthesized. GCN/0.1ZnO-Cu3% performed best with over 65% of 4-CP degradation under royal blue LED. A complete 5.5 log reduction of coliforms-containing wastewater primary influent was achieved with the same photocatalyst. In Chapter 6, the best-performing GCN/ZnO-Cu nanocomposite in observed in chapter 5 was coated on a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) substrate and the performance was evaluated under a 5000K LED (400 – 700 nm). The result shows a 2-log reduction of the coliform-containing wastewater treatment on the self-disinfecting coated surface. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research to investigate the comprehensive use and practical application of self-disinfecting coated surfaces under commercial and industrial light (5000K LED) irradiation. All our results demonstrate that compositing GCN with metals can degrade pollutants and disinfect wastewater under visible light irradiation

Capital Investment Decisions on Entrepreneurial Agricultural Projects in Kwara State

The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of the capital investment decisions of Youth Integrated Agricultural Project in Kwara State. The project has two parts: Youth Integrated FarmTraining Centre and Farm Settlements. The Youth Integrated Farm Training Centre has produced 650farmer-graduates, who are now working in the three locations where Farm Settlements are. The sixthbatch consisting of 66 farmer-graduates provided the population of the study. From this population apurposive sample of 46 potential respondents was selected. These people filled a researcher-developedquestionnaire. Thirty six correctly filled copies of the questionnaire were collected from therespondents. The responses of the thirty six framer-graduates were analyzed based on four researchquestions derived from the four objectives of the study. The major findings from this analysis were: (i)The Kwara State Government has invested a total of N65, 408,129 on the Youth Integrated AgriculturalProject in the last ten years; (ii) Seventy two percent of the respondents disagreed with the statementsthat the allowance paid to the trainees was sufficient. Moreover, ninety two percent of them disagreedwith the statement that the empowerment packaged given to them to work in the Farm Settlements wasadequate. In the same vein, seventy six percent disagreed that infrastructure in the Farm settlementswere adequate; (iii) But the respondents agreed that infrastructure in the Farm Training Centre wereadequate. In sum the State Government’s capital investment decisions were not enough to make theYouth Integrated Agricultural project an unqualified success

Capital Investment Decisions on Entrepreneurial Agricultural Projects in Kwara State

The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of the capital investment decisions of Youth Integrated Agricultural Project in Kwara State. The project has two parts: Youth Integrated Farm Training Centre and Farm Settlements. The Youth Integrated Farm Training Centre has produced 650 farmer-graduates, who are now working in the three locations where Farm Settlements are. The sixth batch consisting of 66 farmer-graduates provided the population of the study. From this population a purposive sample of 46 potential respondents was selected. These people filled a researcher-developed questionnaire. Thirty six correctly filled copies of the questionnaire were collected from the respondents. The responses of the thirty six framer-graduates were analyzed based on four research questions derived from the four objectives of the study. The major findings from this analysis were: (i) The Kwara State Government has invested a total of N65,408,129 on the Youth Integrated Agricultural Project in the last ten years; (ii) Seventy two percent of the  respondents disagreed with the statements that the allowance paid to the  trainees was sufficient. Moreover, ninety two percent of them disagreed with the statement that the empowerment packaged given to them to work in the Farm Settlements was adequate. In the same vein, seventy six percent disagreed that infrastructure in the Farm settlements were adequate; (iii)        But the respondents agreed that infrastructure in the Farm Training Centre were adequate. In sum the State Government’s capital investment decisions were not enough to make the Youth Integrated Agricultural project an unqualified succes

Some Adverse Effects of Used Engine Oil (Common Waste Pollutant) On Reproduction of Male Sprague Dawley Rats

AIM: Used oil is contaminated not only with heavy metals but also with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are insignificant in the unused oil. In our study we determined possible reproductive effects of used engine oil on male rats.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty eight male Wistar rats were used for the study. The rats had average weight of 181.5 ± 10 g, animal feeds and portable water was provided ad-libitum. The rats were assigned to 4 groups (n = 7) including control. The treated groups orally received 0.1 ml/rat, 0.2 ml/rat and 0.4 ml/rat of the used engine oil every other day for 28 days using oral canulla. The spermatozoa were collected from epididymis for sperm analysis and testes were removed and preserved in Bouin’s fluid for routine histological analysis.RESULTS: Our results showed that there was progressive weight increase among the control group of rats that received distilled water. Meanwhile, rats that received 0.4 ml/rat of the used engine oil showed significant (P < 0.05) weight loss in second and third week of administration while rats that received 0.2 ml/rat and 0.1 ml/rat of the used engine oil showed non-significant (P > 0.05) weight reduction. The spermatozoa number was decreased with significance (P < 0.05) at 0.2 ml/rat (2.38 ± 0.29) and 0.4 ml/rat (1.98 ± 0.08) when compared with the control (5.00 ± 0.89). However, the percentage of motile sperms was reduced significantly (P <0.05) at 0.2 ml/rat (52.86 ± 3.59) and 0.4 ml/rat (45.71 ± 2.94) except at 0.1 ml/rat where the reduction (64.00 ± 7.5) was not significant (P> 0.05). The percentage of head deformity been 41.43 ± 2.61 and 42.00 ± 3.74 at 0.2 ml/rat and 0.4 ml/rat respectively, also significant increase of middle piece deformity was observed only at 0.1 ml/rat (45.71 ± 2.02) while tail deformity significantly decreased (15.71 ± 2.02, 20.00 ± 4.36 and 20.00 ± 4.47) when compared with the control (30.00 ± 1.29). The testicular seminiferous tubules were slightly degenerated with absence of Lumen. The germinal cell layer consisting of necrosis of spermatogonia and interstitial (Leydig) cells with affected Sertoli cells at different maturation stages.CONCLUSION: Hence, it can be said that there is a negative relation between used engine oil and male reproductive parameters. And it can be concluded that used engine oil should be  prevented from leaking, spilling or improperly discarded as through medium it may enter storm water runoff and eventually affect the environmental health receiving water bodies

Patterns and predictors of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in Ile Ife, Nigeria

Background: Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) is a cost effective intervention in saving under-five children’s lives in the resource poor settings. However, EBF rates have been shown to be low in these regions with variation in the duration of EBF.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess pattern and predictors of EBF among mothers attending well infant clinic at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) Ile Ife.Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out between October and December 2014. A total of 250 eligible mothers were selected by simple random sampling among women attending well infant clinic OAUTHC, Ile Ife.A semi-structured selfadministered questionnaire was used.Results: The prevalence of EBF in this study was 23%. The pattern of EBF seen was in the duration of EBF. About 60% gave breast milk alone to their children only in the first month of life. Only 23% was breastfed exclusively for four to five months, while 5% breastfed exclusively for at least six months. About 40% practiced mixed feeding right from the first day of life.The predictors of EBF identified include; ANC attendance, a birth interval greater than or equal to 2 years, husband's positive attitude, giving breast milk as the first feed in life, and vaginal delivery.Conclusion: The practice of EBF within 4 to 6 months of life is still very low. Strategies that target improving access to quality ANC, and emphasize husbands’ roles in encouraging EBF should be giving priority.Keywords: Pattern, predictors, exclusive breastfeedin

Outbreak of measles in Sokoto State North-Western Nigeria, three months after a supplementary immunization campaign

BackgroundWorldwide, measles infects about 20 million people with about 200,000 deaths annually. On February 12, 2016 an outbreak of measles was reported from Sokoto state, Nigeria.AimsA team of Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (NFELTP) Residents was sent to confirm the existence of the outbreak, describe the socio-demographic characteristics and identify risk factors for the outbreak.MethodsWe defined cases according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. We conducted an unmatched case-control study and descriptive study. We actively searched for cases across local government areas (LGAs) of the state, and administered questionnaires to parents of affected children. We analyzed the data using Epi-Info 7 and Microsoft Excel 2013.ResultsA total of 979 cases were recorded. Median age was 36 months with age range of 3–168 months. Ten deaths were recorded with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 1.02 per cent. About 76.51 per cent of cases were under-five years of age. The outbreak spanned over a period of 10 weeks. Twenty-two out of 23 LGAs were affected. Eighty-nine cases (9.1 per cent) had their blood sample taken for laboratory confirmation, where 21 (23.6 per cent) tested positive for measles.A total of 238 respondents were interviewed; 128 cases and 110 controls. Mothers’ education (OR: 2.9, 95 per cent CI: 1.4–5.9), immunization status of children (OR: 2.0, 95 per cent CI: 1.1–3.4), and fathers’ occupation (OR: 0.2, 95 per cent CI: 0.1–0.5), are the factors that affect measles infection among children in the state.ConclusionOur investigation confirmed a measles outbreak in Sokoto state. Though with a low CFR, the majority of deaths occur in children are factors that adversely affect development of measles in Sokoto state