The social sciences and knowledge production in Africa: the contribution of Claude Ake

"Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die Stärken und Schwächen der Beiträge Akes zu den Sozialwissenschaften und der Wissensproduktion in Afrika. In diesem Artikel wird die Relevanz der Arbeiten Akes für die Anpassung des intellektuellen Erbes marxistischer Analyse an die Politische Ökonomie und die Sozialgeschichte des gegenwärtigen Afrika thematisiert. Dabei werden gleichermaßen die Unzulänglichkeiten in Akes Haltung gegenüber externer Wissensproduktion im Allgemeinen und gegenüber der Westlichen im Besonderen diskutiert. Angesichts seines Eintretens für eine Umstrukturierung der wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen unter Berücksichtigung afrikanischer Kritiken und Interpretationen stellt die Studie ein Korrektiv zum Eurozentrismus dar. Ake befürwortet einen 'nichthierarchischen', interregionalen Dialog, in dem weder der Norden noch der Süden als Paradigma gelten sollte, an dessen Vorbild die 'andere Seite' gemessen und als unzulänglich beurteilt wird." (Autorenreferat)"This article examines the strengths and weaknesses of Ake's contribution to the social sciences and knowledge production in Africa. It discusses the relevance of Ake's works for adapting the intellectual legacies of Marxist scholarship to understanding the political economy and social history of contemporary Africa. It also highlights the shortcomings noted in his orientation, and dispositions to expatriate knowledge generally, and the Western social science in particular. Given his advocacy of the need to reconstruct existing disciplinary fields following uniquely African critiques and interpretations, the study presents Ake's works as a corrective intervention to Eurocentrism and advocates the practice of 'non-hierarchical' 'cross-regional' 'dialogue', in which neither the North nor the South is taken as the paradigm against which 'the other' is measured and pronounced inadequate." (author's abstract

Access to Justice and the Challenges of Inter-Courts Transfer of Cases in Nigeria: The Way Forward

This article interrogates the extent of access to justice in Nigeria on the premise that access to justice is indispensable to the attainment of a just and sustainable society. Drawing from international comparative sources, it posits that striking out of cases by courts in Nigeria on the basis of lack of jurisdiction makes mincemeat of the constitutional guarantee of right of access to justice. It examines the remedial efforts at curing this ill by the legislature through the grant of powers of inter-courts transfer of cases to superior courts in Nigeria. It investigates the negative impacts of the conflicting decisions of the nation’s superior courts on these powers. It finds that failure to take cognizance of the distinctions between the hierarchies of Decrees and the Nigerian 1979 and 1999 Constitutions during military interregna and during civilian regimes, coupled with failure to appreciate the divergence between the extant constitutional provisions and the provisions of the defunct 1979 Constitution relied upon in the erstwhile cases, are a part of the causes of this problem; and that, the absolute inherent powers conferred on the superior courts by section 6(6)(a) of the extant 1999 Constitution, completes the other part. It establishes that, the powers could only be validly conferred and exercised during military interregna, but not under the present democratic constitutional framework; and that, until section 6 of the 1999 Constitution is altered, courts in Nigeria cannot validly exercise these powers. The work relies on both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are made up of the Federal High Court Act, the National Industrial Court Act, the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions, and municipal judicial decisions. The secondary sources consist of journal articles, foreign decisions and statutes, newspapers, books and the Internet. The research adopts an analytical approach within a socio-legal context. Keywords: access to justice, inter-courts transfer, jurisdiction, inherent powers, and sustainable society. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/100-05 Publication date:August 31st 202

Enforcing Foreign Judgments in Nigeria: Any Role for the National Industrial Court?

The Third Alteration Act altered the Constitution to make the National Industrial Court NIC a superior Court In spite of this jurists have continued to deny the NIC the right to enforce foreign judgments on labour matters The arguments are that because the NIC is not listed in S 2 1 of the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement Act FJA it lacks jurisdiction in this regard and that enforcement of foreign judgments does not involve exercise of jurisdiction but mere exercise of power Consequently the NIC has handed down a decision divesting itself of jurisdiction However the research finds that the arguments are fallacious and that the NIC has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce foreign labour judgments in Nigeria The research opines that the gestating controversy must be nipped in the bud for the nation to reap the benefits of the bounties of the globalized labour market It recommends deletion of the problematic part of S 2 1 of the FJA the overhaul and merging of the two cognate statutes to bring up the Nigerian law in tune with international best practices The research being doctrinal relies on cognate statutes case laws and journal article

The Desirability of Conferring Criminal Jurisdiction on Industrial Courts: An Appraisal of the Nigerian Experiment

The conferment of jurisdiction on industrial relations courts has often faced stiff oppositions in many jurisdictions, Nigeria inclusive. This paper appraises the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria conferring the National Industrial Court of Nigeria with criminal jurisdiction within the context of the controversies trailing them. It finds that the controversies are informed by a combination of misapprehension of these provisions, the defects inherent in them, and sheer subjective bias. It employs the principles of interpretation to show how to correctly interpret these provisions. It identifies some pitfalls and suggests measures to rectify them. Drawing from international sources, it posits that conferring industrial courts with exclusive and composite civil and criminal jurisdiction better promotes the ideals for which they are established. Primary and secondary sources are used. The primary source is made up of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, local statutes and cases, while the secondary source is made up of journal articles, books, the Internet, foreign statutes and cases. These materials are subjected to textual and comparative analysis. Keywords: industrial court, labour court, industrial relations, employment, criminal jurisdiction,         exclusive jurisdiction

Air pollution exposure assessment in sparsely monitored settings; applying machine-learning methods with remote sensing data in South Africa.

Air pollution is one of the leading environmental risk factors to human health – Both short and long-term exposure to air pollution impact human health accounting for over 4 million deaths. Although the risk of exposure to air pollution has been quantified in different settings and countries of the world. The majority of these studies are from high-income countries with historical air pollutant measurement data and corresponding health outcomes data to conduct such epidemiological studies. Air pollution exposure levels in these high-income settings are lower than the exposure levels in low-income countries. The exposure level in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries has continued to increase due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. In addition, the underlying susceptibility profile of SSA population is different from the profiles of the population in high-income settings. However, a major limitation to conducting epidemiological studies to quantify the exposure-response relationship between air pollution and adverse health outcomes in SSA is the paucity of historical air pollution measurement data to inform such epidemiological studies. South Africa an SSA country with some air quality monitoring stations especially in areas classified as air pollution priority areas have historical particulate matter less than or equal to 10 micrometres in aerodynamic diameter (PM10 μg/m3) measurement data. PM10 is one of the most monitored criteria for air pollutants in South Africa. The availability of satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) at high spatial and temporal resolutions provides information about how particles in the atmosphere can prevent sunlight from reaching the ground. This satellite product has been used as a proxy variable to explain ground-level air pollution levels in different settings. This thesis main objective was to use satellite-derived AOD to bridge the gap in ground-monitored PM10 across four provinces of South Africa (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape). We collected PM10 ground monitor measurement data from the South Africa Weather Services across the four provinces for the years 2010 – 2017. Due to the gaps in the daily PM10 across the sites and years. In study I, we compared methods for imputing daily ground-level PM10 data at sites across the four provinces for the years 2010 – 2017 using random forest (RF) models. The reliability of air pollution exposure models depends on how well the models capture the spatial and temporal variation of air pollution. Thus, study II explored the spatial and temporal variations in ground monitor PM10 across the four provinces for the years 2010 – 2017. To explore the feasibility of using satellite-derived AOD and other spatial and temporal predictor variables, Study III used an ensemble machine-learning framework of RF, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and support vector regression (SVR) to calibrate daily ground-level PM10 at 1 × 1 km spatial resolution across the four provinces for the year 2016. In conclusion, we developed a spatiotemporal model to predict daily PM10 concentrations across four provinces of South Africa at 1 × 1 km spatial resolution for 2016. This model is the first attempt to use a satellite-derived product to fill the gap in ground monitor air pollution data in SSA

Techniques for Division of Legislative Powers under Federal Constitutions

This article appraised the techniques employed for the division of legislative powers under federal constitutions generally and under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 in particular. In doing justice to the topic, the paper examined the two models for dividing legislative powers namely, the integrated or interlocking model and the dualist or classical model of which it was discovered that the latter is the model largely followed by the CFRN 1999. It also considered the method of dividing legislative powers by enumeration and by allocation of residual power; rationale or criteria for division of powers and symmetrical versus asymmetrical distribution of legislative powers. The author among others discovered that while the division of legislative powers under the CFRN 1999 is largely symmetrical, the rationale for the division could hardly be generalised in comparison with other federal constitutions. Keywords: Federalism, Legislative Powers, Division of Powers, Constitution

Navigating Jurisdictional Turbulence on Maritime and Civil Aviation Labour Claims in Nigeria: Federal High Court Versus National Industrial Court Controversies

Controversies have trailed the frontiers of the civil jurisdictions of the Federal High Court FHC and National Industrial Court NIC since the bifurcation of the FHC s civil jurisdiction in favour of the NIC over labour matters by S 254C of the Constitution such that both courts have been asserting rival jurisdictions on the same subject matter with the consequence that the purposes of conferring exclusive civil jurisdictions on both specialization and efficiency are being thwarted While some of these controversies have been settled with the acceptance of the appellate decisions on them the controversies regarding the frontiers of their mutually exclusive civil jurisdictions on admiralty aviation labour causes have however remained intractable With the recent Court of Appeal s decision in Bains case 2021 confirming the NIC s exclusive civil jurisdiction on merchant shipping civil aviation labour matters it was thought the contest had been rested but it has instead become more ferocious as legal writers have joined the fray majority of who vehemently disagreed with the Court of Appeal s decisio

The Down-Stream Petroleum Sector And National Development: An Analysis Of The Deregulation Policy As A Strategy

The Nigerian economy has had a very rough ride for a long time due partly to government policy of regulation and partly to red-tape in government administrative processes. To address the challenges resulting from this, there has been some visible dforts at rapid deregulation in virtually all major economic sectors in the last five years. This paper examines the political implication of the deregulation policy in the down-stream sector of the petroleum industry as strategy for national development. The authors suggest that federal government of Nigeria should create an enabling environment for the policy to receive full support at its implementatio

Phytochemical constituents and nutritional evaluation of three selected edible flowers in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

The study examined the bioactive phytochemical and nutritional compositions of Hibiscus rosasinensis, Moringa oleifera and Musa paradisiaca flowers collected from Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Various researches suggest that some flowers are eaten by man since ancient times and have therapeutic properties as well as nutritional value. Fresh flowers were collected, washed, dried and ground into powder for analysis. The results of the phytochemical screening revealed the presence of Flavonoids, Tannins, Saponins, Phenols, Terpenoids, Phlobatannins, Cardiac glycosides, Anthraquinones and Steroids in M. oleifera and M. paradisiaca flowers while Flavonoids, Alkaloids, Tannins, Phenols and Terpernoids were absent in H. rosasinensis. Quantitatively, M. oleifera and M. paradisiaca contained (mg/100g) Tannins 54.61 and 48.93, Saponins 46.51 and 25.42, and Phenols 44.37 and 36.09 respectively. H. rosasinensis contained 63.03mg/100g saponins while the estimated quantity of flavonoids in M. paradisiaca was 17.98mg/100g. The percentage estimation of the proximate composition of the three flowers revealed carbohydrate values ranging from 49.01 to 61.11, crude protein 1.90 - 3.07, crude fiber 17.27 - 29.00, ash 1.89 - 3.34, crude fat 3.36 - 5.60 and moisture content 12.37 - 13.66. All the flowers showed high level of mineral elements in order of Na>K>Ca >Cu>Fe>Mn>Mg and Zn while Pb and Ni found in M. oleifera and M. paradisiaca were below the permissible level and considered safe for human consumption. The presence of phytochemical in the flowers suggests possible preventive and curative property of the flowers. Also, the flowers are rich in carbohydrate, fiber and minerals hence can be fortified as supplementary food for man and livestock feeds.Keywords: Ekiti State, Flower, Nutritional composition, Phytochemical, Supplementary foo

Impact assessment of change management capability maturity level of contractors on time performance of building projects in Nigeria

Changes are generally inevitable in all stages of design and construction of building projects and are commonly associated with some consequences such as time overrun, cost overrun, conflicts and reworks. All these risks contribute to project failure if change implementation is inconsistently managed. In construction, project failure has become a common concern of all parties hence, assessing the impact of capability of con-tractors to manage project changes in order to improve project performance is critical. Therefore, this re-search assesses the relationship between the change management capability maturity level (CMCML) of con-tractors and time performance of building projects. Data collected from respondents via questionnaire survey were analyzed using spearman’s rank correlation, fuzzy synthetic evaluation and multiple regression. The re-search findings reveal that the project time overrun is negatively related to change management capability maturity level of contractor as evidenced by the co-efficient of determination R2 = - 0.385 (i. e as CMCML increases, project time overrun decreases). In addition, the result further indicates a strong negative correla-tion between CMCML and project time overrun going by the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient value of - 0.621 [7]. The established model is capable of predicting contractors’ CMCML thus making it possible to forecast contractor’s likelihood of performance in terms of time