The State, Bureaucracy And Corruption In Nigeria

The transformation of societies to capitalism has introduced complexity into activities of man. Once capitalism transformed the traditional way of life, factors such as effectiveness of competition, freedom of movement and the absence of any system of social security compelled the state to assume responsibility for the protection and welfare of the individual (Jacoby, 1973:147). To help the state achieve this, it has become imperative to have a seeming standing power evolving from, but placing itself above, the society. Such power that alienates itself more and more from the society is being exercised on behalf of the state by certain institutions, structures and agencies, the bureaucracy being the most important (Arowolo, 2004:2)

Ethics, Motivation and Performance in Nigeria’s Public Service

Performance of Nigerian public service has been a major concern to policy makers and researchers as well. This is because despite all measures put in place to arrest the performance failure, the service, it seems, has defied all approaches towards tackling the problem of inefficiency and capacity collapse. The paper, therefore, looked at how ethics and motivation of public servants can enhance public service performance in the area of service delivery by linking strict adherence to ethics and motivation to performance. It adopted content analysis as a method of data gathering and analysis. It suggested viable options for effective and efficient service-oriented public service. Keywords: Approaches, Capacity, Delivery, Measures, Polic

Virtual Teams: The Impact of Varying Levels of Virtuality on Project Team Performance

Although virtual teams have existed for over two decades, in recent years the Covid-19 pandemic led to a wider adoption and transition to virtual teamwork by most organizations. Virtuality is operationalized as the proportion of work done remotely or virtually on a project. This research studies the moderating effects of virtuality in project teams on communication frequency, leadership effectiveness, and project team performance. Using the theoretical frameworks of Adaptive Structuration Theory and Transformational Leadership Theory, a survey was carried out that informed this cross-sectional study. Respondents were project team members and managers who were involved in AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and Finance/IT projects before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study showed that the inverted-u relationship between communication frequency and project performance was preserved in only low virtuality teams, while the shape of the curve was different for high virtuality teams. AEC project performance was also found to be more sensitive to communication frequency, as these projects exhibited inverted-u relationship with performance compared to Finance/IT projects which was more linear. Regardless of the levels of virtuality in project teams, transformational leadership leads to significantly better performance in both types of projects. This study contributes to the body of literature in project management and information systems by measuring one of several dimensions of virtuality in the proposed model and provides insights for project managers in industry to better lead their virtual project teams

Oversight functions of the legislature: An instrument for nation building

The legislature is an institution which represents the common and collective interests of the citizens through the enactment of laws and the exercise of oversight functions on the activities of the executive arm of government. The legislature in a democracy exists as an independent institution which deepens democracy and ultimately strengthens the polity.1 Nation building that will be likely to contribute to stable and sustainable international peace requires building the society, economy and polity so as to meet the basic needs of the people. It means not only producing the formal institutions of democracy but building a common identity for the people. It means development of education, human rights, (political, civil, economic, social and the rule of law). It allows participation of the civil society in developing democratic state institutions that promote welfare.1 In the quest for nation building in a democratic set up like Nigeria, the exercise of effective legislative oversight function remains crucial. Its purpose is to provide a powerful check on the executive authority, enhancing accountability where a dominant executive branch might operate with impunity2. It also aims at ensuring that all relevant societal groups are included in and benefit from the nation building and development exercise and that government policies and budgets are implemented in an effective, efficient, transparent and accountable manner.3 The power of oversight is conferred on the Nigerian legislature by the Constitution4 to enable the National Assembly to expose corruption, inefficiency, or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement and administration of funds appropriated by the Acts.5 Nigeria, being a developing country, the legislature’s capacity to carry out its oversight functions remains weak because legislative role and culture is at its infancy6 and therefore often confronted by many challenges. The focus of this paper is to examine the important role that oversight play towards nation building and make recommendations on how the capacity of oversight can be strengthened so as to curtail the impediments

Infertility treatments and counselling in the context of patriarchy among Ijebu, south western Nigeria

Infertility, as a social and cultural problem affecting individuals and  families, makes People Living with Infertility (PLWI) to seek solution through different pathways, but with little or no information on patriarchal barrier(s) militating against counselling in the course of treatment. The study, therefore, investigated infertility treatments and counselling in the context of patriarchy among Ijebu, south western Nigeria. The study  utilized Ecology Model as theoretical guide and cross-sectional survey design was adopted for data gathering. Two local government areas were purposively selected: Ijebu North and Ijebu-Ode LGAs. Infertile females were purposively selected in the churches and other care centres.  Questionnaires were administered on snowball basis. Eight in-depth  interviews (IDIs) were conducted for two medical doctors, two Traditional  Birth Attendants (TBAs), two opinion leaders and two clergy. Quantitative  data were analysed with simple percentage. Content analysis was used for qualitative data. Assisted reproductive technologies - ARTs were not  acceptable. 62% agreed that government should intensify legislation,  health education; legal and medical counselling centres that would provide level playing ground for PLWI. PLWI to have easy access to the  treatments, social and financial costs should be de-emphasized and the need for counselling should be emphasized in case of ARTKey words: Patriarchy, Infertility, Health-seeking behaviour, Counselling, Gender inequality

Counsellors’ Perception of Problems Facing Guidance and Counselling Services in Nigerian Schools

The study investigated problems facing Guidance and Counselling services in secondary schools as perceived by the Schools’ Counsellors. The design for the study is descriptive of the survey type.         The population was made of all the practicing Guidance Counsellors in Nasarawa state secondary schools .All the participatory School Counselors in an annual congress held at the state capital constituted the sample for the study. In all 100 Counsellors were used for the study. A researcher designed questionnaire titled “Counsellor’s problems Perception Inventory” , validated for face and content with reliability coefficient of  0.74 by test-retest method was used to collect information from the respondents. Two hypotheses were raised at 0.05 level of significace. Result  showed that the problems perceived by  Counsellors were  in the following order of intensity as follows; wrong idea of counselling by Principals and other members of staff, assigning counselors to duties other than counselling, lack of counselling office, lack of fund to purchase materials for counselling and non-exposure to in service training . There was no gender difference in counsellors’ perception of problems facing the practice of counselling in the state. There was no significant difference in the perception of counselors’ problems in schools based on Counsellors’ years of experience. It was recommended that counselling should be a full-time job for Counsellors and they should be exposed to workshops and seminars

PHYTO-REMEDIATION OF LEAD-CONTAMINATED SOIL USING AMARANTHUS CRUENTUS

Previous studies have shown that some vegetables have the ability to absorb metals from soil. Since they are early maturity species, they possess the potential to be used as phytoremediating agents. Also, synthetic chelates have been found to induce lead desorption from soil matrix, thereby enhancing uptake into plant tissues. Therefore, a study was carried out to determine the potential of Amaranthus cruentus as a soil lead remediating plant. The experiment was carried out using a randomized block design. Soil samples were subjected to five levels of lead contamination namely control, 600ppm, 600ppm + EDTA, 1800ppm and 1800ppm + EDTA, each treatment had five replicates. Three plants each were carefully transplanted from nursery to experimental pots and grown for 32 days. Ethylenediaminetetra acetic(EDTA) (3.0 mmole EDTA/kg soil) was applied to EDTA amended treatment 8 days before harvesting. The result showed that EDTA has some effect on lead solubility in soil as well as lead absorption by A.cruentus. However, there were variable increases in lead uptake from the contaminated soil to the plants. Lead contamination did not have significant effect on growth and yield parameters of A cruentus. Since the transfer factor (TF) of the plant is greater than one, it may be a promising species for phytoremediation.Amaranthus cruentus, Lead, phytoremediation, soil, Land Economics/Use,

Protecting the Rights of Migrants: The Challenges and the Prospects

Migration is a fundamental human process often involving the precarious movement of people across borders. This has implications for human rights. Under the various international human rights laws, human rights are inherent to all human beings and are not tied to one’s citizenship or nationality. Therefore, the very presence of all categories of migrants within a State's jurisdiction imposes obligations on the State to acknowledge their presence, and allow them to claim their human rights. Apart from the general human rights laws, other international laws were enacted to specifically protect the rights of many groups of migrants. Despite this, migrants encounter various challenges in the process of migration and in destination countries particularly the migrants that are of irregular status (undocumented migrants). Towards this end, this paper examines the major global international instruments for protecting the human rights of international migrants and the challenges that the migrants often encounter with the aim of identifying the factors responsible for the inadequate protection of migrants' rights. The article proposes that treaty bodies should systematically mandate States' Parties to integrate the specific rights of migrants into national plans of action on human rights, enforce immigration laws in line with the principles of human rights and the rule of law, and provide effective border security and regional engagement so as to discourage illegal migration. Keywords: Migration, Human Rights, Protection, International Framework, Challenges, Prospects. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/105-12 Publication date: January 31st 202

Critical Analysis of Abolition of Death Penalty in International Law: An Analysis of Death Penalty under the United States and Nigerian Laws

The death penalty has been an issue of debate for decades and several reasons have been given that make recourse to the death penalty appears necessary, such as, that it serves as a deterrent, it meets the need for retribution and that of public opinion demands its imposition. Conversely, more convincing arguments have been raised for its abolition, amongst which is the argument that it is a violation of human rights. Africa is seen as one of the “death penalty regions” in the world, as most African states still retain the death penalty despite the growing international human rights standards and trends towards its abolition. Further, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights makes no mention of the death penalty. The death penalty in Africa is therefore an issue that one has to be particularly concerned about. During the 36th Ordinary Session in 2004 of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, for the first time, the death penalty was one of the issues discussed by the Commission. This article examines the death penalty in some states especially the United States and Nigeria and concludes that joining the international trend for the abolition of the death penalty ought to be universal, considering that the justificat ions for the retention of death penalty are fundamentally flawed, and that alternatives to the death penalty exist. It concluded with a number of recommendations geared towards the abolition of the death penalty in Africa

Globalisation, Good Governance And Democracy: The Interface

Globalisation has been an important factor in accelerating democracy’s growth in recent decades. In this globalised world, rapid development and global proliferation of new technologies and telecommunications, and integration of the world economy through trade and investment, have increased the role and power of regional and global institutions (Cheema and Maguire, 2004). This promoted and strengthened the spread of democracy while also providing the leverage for good governance. Globalisation impacts on the mode of governance that a country operates either as a symbol of universality or for uniformity. This unstoppable trend has homogenised governance on a global scale while depicting authoritarianism as unproductive political modernity