Echoes from Post-Civil War Development in Nigeria: Igboland and Infrastructure Development in a Millennium Development Goals Epoch

This paper examines trends in infrastructure development in Nigeria with specific emphasis on the Southeast geopolitical zone. Using the case of infrastructure development provided in sectors of health, water and sanitation, and education under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme, it posits that the region has recorded positive gains. As a result, this paper contends that despite the effects of the Civil War on Igboland, infrastructure development efforts of successive governments within the region together with years of self-supported infrastructure projects initiated by Ndi Igbo (both at home and in diaspora), have ensured that this once known commercial hub moves towards her pre-civil war status. The paper further argues that it is not yet eureka for Ndi Igbo since there is also the need to sustain this and other efforts amidst contemporary challenges of corruption, good governance, calls for reforms in revenue sharing formula, insecurity, return to true federalism, and political and socio-economic 'social justice in Nigeria. Using a qualitative case narrative methodology, the paper concludes that these contemporary issues have the potential to distract Ndi Igbo from the real focus, which is a continued and sustained effort towards accelerated infrastructure development of this once war-torn area in Nigeria

The Southwest Corridor in Jamaica Plain : a study in neighborhood revitalization.

Thesis. 1976. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch.M.C.P

Creating Employment via Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: The Case of Nigeria

Nigeria is abundantly blessed with all manners of resources but the problem has always been that of mismanagement of these resources. Consequently, the country is facing lots of socio-economic and political problems among which is unemployment. Given the absence of an enabling environment for large scale industrialization, the only way out is by creating employment through Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as in the case of other developing nations. Overall, the Small and Medium Enterprises have been found to be a veritable source of employment generation. However, the accompanying increase in productivity is not commensurate with the level of employment generated. This paper discussed among others the concept of SMEs, a comparative study of SMEs in other countries And the problems and prospects of SMEs in Nigeria. The paper concluded by Proffering ‘solutions to SMEs’ problems through appropriate recommendations. It is hoped that with present administration’s quest to improve the economy by rigorously pursuing its eight-point-agenda to logical conclusions, the micro finance institutions all over the country are made to grant loan capital to small scale entrepreneurs without stringent conditions, more ventures would open up while poverty and the unemployment level will reduce considerably

Availability and Utilization of ICT Resources in Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools in Ardo-Kola and Jalingo, Taraba State

This paper is a survey which was designed to ascertain the various Information and Communication technology resources available for teaching and learning in  the Secondary Schools in the two local government areas in Ardo kola and Jalingo Taraba state  The population of the study is made up of all the. secondary school teachers and principals in all the forty Secondary Schools in A sample she of 264 respondents was selected for the study using stratified - random sampling technique. The instrument used for the collection of data was a set of researcher—made questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using frequency counts and simple percentage it  shows that the extent of availability of ICT resources in secondary schools in Ardokola and Jalingo is very low. The extent of utilization of ICT resources in teaching and learning is equally very low. ICT resources were not available in the schools for the use of teachers and students for learning activities. It was also found out that many factors were perceived by the teachers and principals as constraints to the effective utilization of ICTs in teaching and learning in secondary schools. They include; poor power supply. Lack of adequately trained teachers in the use of lCTs in teaching, high cost of computers and accessories among others. It was concluded that much has not been done by government in the area of provision of ICT resources for teaching and learning in this era of ICT based learning. The paper recommends governments’, non-governmental organizations’ and private individuals’ intervention in the provision of needed ICT resources in the schools among others

An Appraisal of the Universal Basic Education in Nigeria

The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme could not have been introduced at a better time than now that the nation is in dire need of all round National Development. The major objective of the UBE programme is the provision of free, universal and compulsory basic education for every Nigerian child aged 6-15 years. However, for the Universal Basic Education programme to be truly free and universal, efforts must be made to check those factors that are known to have hindered the success of such programmes in the past. This paper specifically considered the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) so far its success and problems. Relevant recommendations are therefore proffered

Metaphors Matter: Top-Down Effects on Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human mental states and characteristics to non-human entities, has been widely demonstrated to be cued automatically by certain bottom-up appearance and behavioral features in machines. In this thesis, I argue that the potential for top-down effects to influence anthropomorphism has so far been underexplored. I motivate and then report the results of a new empirical study suggesting that top-down linguistic cues, including anthropomorphic metaphors, personal pronouns, and other grammatical constructions, increase anthropomorphism of a robot. As robots and other machines become more integrated into human society and our daily lives, more thorough understanding of the process of anthropomorphism becomes more critical: the cues that cause it, the human behaviors elicited, the underlying mechanisms in human cognition, and the implications of our influenced thought, talk, and treatment of robots for our social and ethical frameworks. In these regards, as I argue in this thesis and as the results of the new empirical study suggest, the top-down effects matter

Invertebrate Terrestrial Diversity Along a Gravel Road on Barrie Island, Ontario, Canada

Although roads have been a part of our landscape for hundreds of years, their impact on the plant and animal populations has only recently been studied. We examined the effect a gravel road had on terrestrial arthropod diversity in the Barrie Islands, Canada. Over a ten-week period during the summer of 1999 we systematically sampled ground and aerial terrestrial arthropods at 5, 10 and 15 m from a 250 m stretch of road. We collected nearly 5,000 insects the majority of which were Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera. We collected over 2,000 non-insect invertebrates that included representatives from the classes Gastropoda, Annelida, Arachnida, Crustacea, and Diplopoda. There were significantly more individuals at 5 m from the road than at 10 or 15 m. Our results show that invertebrate diversity indices were similar at 5, 10 and 15 m distances from the road. The similar diversity indices may reflect the level to which we keyed out invertebrates (Order) and had we keyed specimens to Family might have found greater differences. Another possibility is that over time invertebrate populations return to pre-disturbance levels along roads that experience limited vehicular traffic

Globalization and Development in Africa.

This paper examines globalization and development in Africa, it posits that the impact of globalization differs in degree and scope from one country to another, while it encourages the development of some countries, it makes others especially developing countries in which African countries are examples, sad losers. This paper argues that globalization has not led to development, the argument indicates that globalization contains elements, which when taken advantage, could lead to development