The People's Republic of China and FAPRA: Catalysts for theory building in Africa's public relations

Africa is experiencing an unusually high economic interest from the People's Republic of China, whose government has invested billions of dollars in schools, clinics, roads, railways, factories, and oil wells on the continent; has canceled more than $1.36 billion in debts owed to it by 33 African nations; and has pledged to provide Africa with$5 billion in preferential loans and credits through 2009. Its top party officials traverse the continent, seeking to develop business relationships and to reinforce others. While such efforts help place Africa on the cusp of significant economic growth, they also boost the programs and activities of the Nairobi, Kenya-based Federation of African Public Relations Associations (FAPRA), and an umbrella body of all national public relations associations in Africa and a consultant to African governments and to the African Union. FAPRA has launched a 5-year action plan to improve the stature and social relevance of the public relations practice, largely through enhancing its efforts to professionalize it. Both China and FAPRA are, in essence, collaborating to create environments conducive to enhancing the practice in Africa, and to laying a foundation for an expansive view of public relations research—one that questions grand narratives, defines concepts, challenges orthodoxies, measures variables, and determines program outcomes or effects. And researchers and practitioners work together in creative ways to improve the practice. This article argues that questions and concepts are, in themselves, opportunities for a much-needed theory building in Africa's public relations. It, therefore, outlines 4 propositions as a template for such theory building, based on a 4-concept research agenda: culture, good governance and rule of law, economic freedom, and FAPRA's integrated programs and activities outlined in its 5-year action plan. The return of China … to global economic prominence in the twenty-first century is likely to reshape global politics and society. The overwhelming dominance of the West, which lasted half a millennium, is probably passé. We should view these developments not only with awe, but with anticipation. (Sachs, 2005Sachs, J. D. 2005. The end of poverty: Economic possibilities of our time, New York: Penguin. [Google Scholar], p. 187) We want to work in partnership with the international community, but we believe that it must be a partnership based on mutual respect and mutual accountability. (Former Namibian Prime Minister Geingob, 2006Geingob, H. 2006. “Democracy in Africa”. In Democracy rising: Assessing the global challenges, Edited by: Muñoz, H.55–60. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. [Google Scholar], p. 56

Managing a crisis of confidence in Nigeria's banking and financial industry

An ongoing crisis of confidence in the banking and financial industry in Nigeria's emerging economy calls for using integrated marketing communications (IMC) in optimizing five potentially normative actions as a beachhead in procuring corporate benefits from three variables that predict significantly customers’ favorable impressions of business: satisfaction, trust, relationship commitment. The actions: (a) personalize the stakeholder experience, (b) integrate ethics into the workplace and into corporate communications, (c) participate in training sessions in applied ethics, (d) use brandstanding expansively and integratively, and (e) conduct rigorous outcomes assessment and disseminate its results promptly to stakeholders

Sedimentation, depositional environments, and hydrocarbon potential of the Maastrichtian-Paleocene Araromi Formation, eastern Dahomey (Benin) Basin, southwestern Nigeria

The Cretaceous sediments in southwestern Nigeria are host to one of the largest bitumen deposits in the world. In the current paper, an integrated study on sedimentology, palynology, and applied petroleum geochemistry of the Maastrichtian-Paleocene Araromi Formation was used to determine the depositional environments and hydrocarbon potentials of the formation on the eastern Dahomey Basin. Four sedimentary lithofacies were identified from core samples, namely, lower limestone (F$_{1}$); medium to coarse-grained sandstone (F$_{2}$); lower loosely consolidated sandstone (F$_{3}$); and shale and siltstone (F$_{4}$). Sedimentation in the eastern Dahomey Basin occurred mainly in fluvial and shallow-marine (shelf) environments. The palynological assemblages of the Araromi Formation reflect deposition in coastal through brackish water to shallow shelf environment with periods of localized wind-induced storms. The shale and siltstone samples of the Araromi Formation are characterized by total organic carbon (TOC) values of up to 2.50 wt % and S$_{2}$ (hydrocarbon-generating potential) values ranging from 0.26 to 0.70 mgHC/g rock, indicating poor source rocks. Shales show poor quality and thermally immature organic matter at shallow depth and could neither have generated liquid hydrocarbon nor contributed to the heavy oil occurrence on the bitumen and tar-sand belt of eastern Dahomey (Benin) Basin

Packages of Care for Epilepsy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

In the second in a series of six articles on packages of care for mental health disorders in low- and middle-income countries, Caroline Mbuba and Charles Newton discuss treatment for epilepsy

Cognitive Neuro-Assessment In Nigerian Africans – Predictive Validity Of A Computerized Testing

The cognitive consequences of diseases of various body organs often significantly and adversely affect quality of life and this has resulted in increasing awareness of the importance of cognitive assessment to identify the impairments in different cognitive domains. The neuro-cognitive assessment has evolved from traditional psychometric testing to computerized testing which is able to detect subtle cognitive changes. The objective of this study is to determine the predictive validity of a computerized cognitive test battery, the Iron Psychology (acronym FePsy) among Nigerian Africans and compare its accuracy with a standard psychometric test, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). A consecutive sample of 370 epilepsy patients were assessed with these cognitive tests and compared with 270 randomly selected age, sex and level of education matched apparently healthy controls. The patients comprised 228 (61.62%) males and 142 (38.38%) females and the controls were made up of 155 (57.40%) males and 115 (42.60%) females. The mean ages for the patients and controls were 29.4±11.6 and 31.6±17.4 years respectively. There are statistically significant differences in the performances of the patients with epilepsy (PWE) when compared with the controls with both cognitive tests (

Cognitive Effects Of Anti-Epileptic Drugs In Nigerians With Epilepsy

Background Epilepsy is particularly highly prevalent in developing African countries and has been associated with cognitive disturbances, but more importantly is the contribution of the anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). Objective This study aimed at comparing the effects of AEDs on the cognitive functions of Nigerian epileptic patients. Methods This is a prospective study of 55 consecutive patients with epilepsy, aged 14 years and above, over a two year period (October 2000 to October 2002), recruited from the Neurology Clinic of the University Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Anti-epileptic treatment with either carbamazepine (19 patients), phenytoin (18 patients), or phenobarbitone (18 patients) which was randomly assigned constituted the interventional measure. Cognitive testing, using the Iron Psychology (FePsy) a computerized neuro-psychological test battery, measured the visual and auditory reaction times, the continuous performance test and the recognition memory test to assess the mental speed, attention and memory respectively. Results The effect of the individual drug on cognitive performance revealed significant impairment of mental speed (p0.05). Carbamazepine did not significantly affect the verbal (Words section) memory scores (p>0.05) implying better performance in tasks of verbal memory (