Governance and Under-Development of Sub-Sahara Africa

Sub-Sahara Africa SSA countries have generated vast literatures from many authors and corporate bodies. What accounts for this interest is the persistence of government inflicted tragedies, that have caused avoidable mass poverty, illiteracy, low political culture, escalation of preventive killer diseases, grinding hunger, economic and political crisis, terror, civil wars, insurgency, preponderance of weak institutions, insecurity, low industrial absorption capacity, rising human frustration, abuse of human rights, endemic corruption, and all manners of unimaginable human induced miseries. Endowed with abundant natural resources and bail out aids from the west, one is piqued at the reason and explanation for continuity of under development and deplorable living conditions in SSA countries. This paper attempts at factoring the causes for the persistence of under-development in SSA, and its attendant unstoppable rise in mass poverty, insurgency, civil war and socio- economic unrest. The methodology used is historical empiricism. What emerged from the finding shows that weak institutions, purposeless and inappropriate leadership, politicization of the diverse human population, abuse of electoral process, absence of well articulated development policies, corruption, all of which are indices of poor governance, account for the retarded economic growth and peace necessary for nation building and sustainable development. Keywords – Sub-Saharan Africa SSA, governance, development, dependency and debt crisis.

Insurgency Ecology of Africa

The rising tide of insurgency in the 1990s in many parts of Africa is a new development in African political history. Sadly also, several regions in Africa are still under the threat of insurgency attack. Questions have been raised to decipher why insurgency still persists in Africa. The more the questions, the more elusive the answers on the reason for insurgents taking up arms against the state. Some Scholars argue that only extreme condition of frustration could tempt people to take such a risky venture. If the present trend of insurgency remains unchecked, the burden of its socio economic distress will be disastrous for the already weak states of Africa. The paper contends that in Africa, regime, government, and political party are intertwined, Thus, creating room for personalization of the state, itself a source of insurgency.  It concludes by indicting the state for being responsible for the creation of insurgency ecology, now assuming an ugly face in Africa’s political theatre. Key words: Contested State, Regime Challengers and insurgency ecolog

Quantitative Technique: A Missing Gap in Africa’s Contemporary Historiography

Historiography, as a technique of writing history is a combination of art and the sciences. The over – ridding objective is to present history with commitment to truth and objectivity. To achieve this, the African historians working on Africa rely on a number of sources. However, in their presentation, they have over – used the traditional conservative historical method, which is a combination of the narrative and unit analysis with focus on qualitative technique.Over the years, the qualitative approach has become the norm in African historical research. This trend still persist unbroken till today. The position of this study is that the over – reliance on qualitative approach to the utter neglect and apparent under – use of quantitative method has created a missing gap in historical research. This is because contemporary burning issues in Africa can no longer be adequately understood and addressed without the use of innovative multidisciplinary mix, integrating politico – economic social, institutional sectors with quantitative analysis, in order to achieve an evidence based research for the solution of Africa’s multifaceted challenges

Slave-Trade, Christianity and European Imperialism In Nigeria: A Study of the Ante and Post Abolition Periods

The approval of Christian founding fathers for African enslavement may be the slave -trade and their active involvement in the trade has vast literatures. They were as beneficiaries of the trade and slave institutions as nations of Europe. What is of paramount concern to this work is the usefulness of African slaves to the missionaries in economic terms, and in the evangelization of Nigeria, in the ante and post abolition periods. This paper argues that African slaves before and after the abolition of slavery/slave-trade were baked into utility resource for European imperialism and proselytizers of Nigeria into Christianity.This development had far reaching consequences on westernization of black personality and image spiritually, socially and culturally. These combined in undermining African resistance to European exploitation, and paved unhindered road for European colonialism and imperialism. The methodology adopted for this work is unit analysis, using the historical method for its presentation

Gender and Scientific Literacy Levels: Implications for Sustainable Science and Technology Education (STE) for the 21st Century Jobs.

Thriving in the 21st century knowledge-intensive, technology-driven economy requires that students be equipped with the pre-requisite life skills such as those of critical thinking, cognition, information technology, problem solving and entrepreneurship. These skills are also attributes of scientific literacy. Attainment of scientific literacy at reasonable levels is therefore important. In line with the 21st century global demands, existing Science and Technology Education (STE) curricula in Nigeria were reviewed and restructured. The Basic Science Curricula at the primary and junior secondary school levels are examples of such curricula. These emphasize adequate acquisition of scientific literacy as their primary objective. The significance of scientific literacy therefore demands that their levels of attainment among pupils exposed to such Basic Science Curricula be investigated. In the present study, extent of attainment of scientific literacy at its various levels by male and female Basic Science students was investigated, using an instrument - Test of Scientific Literacy Levels (TOSL) - on students from four schools randomly selected from co-educational schools in Abia State of Nigeria. Results indicated very low performance in the attainment of aggregate scientific literacy attributes as well as in the four various scientific literacy levels. However, male students significantly performed better than their female counterparts. These findings imply that the competencies needed for thriving in the 21st century competitive global market and which are also attributes of scientific literacy  and entrepreneurship development are not being adequately acquired. Inquiry oriented/problem solving - interactive pedagogical approaches that will enhance scientific literacy attainment by youths should be implemented. Keywords: Literacy, gender, Science educatio

Effects of Practical Instructional Guide and Teaching Naked Technique on Students’ Achievement, Interest and Retention in Electronics Engineering Technology in Polytechnics in Rivers State

This research study is focused on effects of Practical Instructional Guide (PIG) and Teaching Naked Technique (TNT) on students’ achievement, interest and retention in electronics engineering technology in Polytechnics in Rivers State. Two research questions and hypotheses each were formulated to guide the study which was answered using means and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted quasi-experimental research design where the researcher randomly assigned intact classes to groups. The population for the study is 232 Electronics Engineering Technology students in the Polytechnics comprising ND II students of 2019/2020 academic session from two State owned Polytechnics in Rivers State namely: Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rumuola in Obi-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State with 122 students and Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori in Bori Local Government Area with 110 students. There was no sampling because the population can be managed by the researcher. The instruments for data collection were TNT and PIG lesson plans, Achievement Test (PIG & TNT) of 20 objective test questions, developed practical assessment guide of 35 items and an interest inventory of 20 questions. These instruments were content and face validated by three experts from the Department of Industrial Technical Education (Electronic Technology option), University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The reliability of the instrument was tested using cronbach alpha which has an overall value of 0.79, an mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions and ANOVA was used to test the formulated hypothesis by applying IBM SPSS version 20. The results of this research support the propositions of instructional theories in the application of two practical instructional techniques with the selection of an appropriate delivery medium of instruction promotes learning. Hence, it was suggested that polytechnic lecturers should be encouraged to employ Practical Instructional Guide (PIG) and Teaching Naked Technique (TNT) Instructional techniques in delivering their lessons, since it enhances academic achievement, interest and retention of students

Bridging Theory to Practice: Utilizing the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) to Address Gaps in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Processes

The purpose of this study is to provide recommendations to bridging the theoretical with the practical in developing community-based participatory research (CBPR) health communication projects. As illustrated through a review of several case studies from health campaigns using CBPR, often times the theoretical orientations of CBPR become secondary to its praxis, with unspoken motives and agendas become motivating factors in guiding the initiatives. These motives may come in the form of funding organization priorities, funded grant proposal constraints, and the desire to continue relationships that are fostered in the development of CBPR projects. In response, this essay reintroduces the culture-centered approach (CCA) as an additional metatheoretical lens that can be utilized in linking theory to practice. The use of specific reflexive exercises are recommended to draw out unseen power differentials within project partnerships, calling into question the fundamental objectives guiding the decision-making processes within CBPR projects. This essay aspires to compel and strengthen CBPR health communication in practice to become more authentic to the orientation’s original conceptualization

Re-Engineering Technical Vocational Education And Training (TVET) Towards Safety Practice Skill Needs Of Sawmill Workers Against Workplace Hazards In Nigeria.

The study was carried out to identify safety practice skill needs of sawmill workers against workplace hazards in Nigeria. Survey research design was used for study. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The population of 96 comprised 54 sawmill workers and 42 woodwork teachers. The instrument was face validated by three experts in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Cronbach Alpha was used to establish the reliability which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.88. The data collected were analyzed using mean to answer the research questions and t-test to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that all the safety practice skills identified are needed by the sawmill workers for effective and functional operations against workplace hazards. It was recommended that the safety practice skills identified be put to use by sawmill workers through enforcement by Forestry Services Department in Nigeria. The safety practice skills should be integrated into the curriculum of woodwork in Technical Colleges. KEYWORDS: Safety, Skill, Sawmill, Workplace Hazards, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Re-engineering

Risk Factors Related to School Shootings

School shootings have become a major issue in the United States for over the past 20 years, contributing to the resurgence of the debates surrounding gun control policies. However, further research is needed to better understand the risk factors of school shootings. The FBI constructed the Four-Pronged Threat Assessment Model, a risk assessment specifically applied to school shooters (O’Toole, n.d). Within the current study, the Four-Pronged Threat Assessment Model will be applied to five school shooters: Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold (both Columbine school shooters), Seung Heung Cho (the Virginia Tech School Shooter), Adam Lanza (the Sandy Hook School Shooter), and Nikolas Cruz (the Stoneman Douglas School Shooter). Five separate case studies will be conducted for each school shooter, aiming to answer the following three questions: (1) What are some of the possible risk factors of becoming a school shooter across the cases? (2) Can the Four-Pronged Threat Assessment Model be effectively applied to the five school shooters? (3) What are the possible policy implications that could be considered? The results of the research should provide a greater understanding of the common predictors of school shootings and policy suggestions that may help in addressing such a major concern