Indigenous Businesses and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria: The First Bank Experience in Upholding Entrepreneurial and Economic Development

This review article aimed to present profile of a well known First Bank (Nigeria) Public Limited Company (PLC) as a socially responsible corporate citizen. However, corporate Nigeria would do well to take its cue from the international corporate world, as it’s clear by comparison to world standards, there has been a near total collapse of governance in Nigeria. As a result, corporate social responsibility initiatives in Nigeria are targeted at ameliorating the socio-economic development challenges of the country the like of infrastructure development, which is informed by socio-cultural influences like communalism and charity. Research shows that Nigerian organizations perceived and practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) as corporate philanthropy aimed at addressing socio-economic development challenges in Nigeria. This finding confirms the CSR is a localized and socially embedded construct, as the ‘waves’, ‘issues’ and ‘modes’ of CSR practices identified amongst indigenous firms in Nigeria reflect the responses of the firms to their socio-economic context. As a result of this philanthropic focus, corporate contributions in Nigeria have remained largely unregulated, unsupervised and unguided, depending entirely on the whims, caprices and generosity or otherwise of particular corporate executives in office. As such ad-hoc and unstructured corporate going patterns do little in the light of the tremendous challenges facing the country, this review article therefore believes that there is the need for indigenous businesses to be mindful of how their operations impact on the society, the environment and the lives of the people as being very imperative to socio-economic development. The article recommended that, even though, CSR is an expensive function and duty of businesses to society and to the community they operate in, hence indigenous business entities should also have social and ethical responsibilities besides their traditional economic roles to dispense to society and their host communities. Also, corporate firms should intensify efforts to educate the public on their primary responsibilities, various commitments to other stakeholders and operational financial limitations

Effect of Remuneration on Productivity of Academic Staff of Selected Tertiary Institutions in Bauchi State, Nigeria

The study was on remuneration and productivity of academic staff of selected tertiary institutions in Bauchi state, Nigeria. It investigates the effect of remuneration such as pay system, benefits and incentives on the productivity of academic staff of selected tertiary institutions. The study was to determine the effect of remuneration on the productivity of academic staff of selected tertiary institutions in Bauchi state Nigeria

Mathematical literacy and Nigerian Stock Exchange: an exposition of financial information for Blue-chip stocks’ business decision analysis

In academic study, as in other walks of life, figures can give you a lot of detailed information quickly and efficiently, the time you invest in learning how to read tables and diagrams will save you a lot in your future decision making. You will become informed much more precisely and much more rapidly once you can take advantages of these figures, following this premise, the study aims to find out how figures are being used to analyses the hypotheses put forward by stock brokers to peg prices of shares, and as well identify and interpret what they are being used for in the Nigerian stock Exchang

Creep and morphological evaluation of polypropylene waste modified asphalt for pavement applications

Synoptic findings by researchers have revealed tremendous physic-chemical improvements of polymer modified mixes over the conventional asphalt. Traditionally, laboratory mechanical properties were carried out for asphalt testing, but cannot calibrate simple performance test (SPTs) criteria for fatigue and field performance. Marshall test-sized specimens of polymer asphalt mixtures were engineered with arbitrary contents of 0 to 3.0% polypropylene waste admixed with 4.5 to 6.5% bitumen contents based on relevant literature. Creep deformation involves uniaxial static creep (USC) test using BS 598-111. Morphological examinations were test with Hitachi S-4700 field-emission scan-electron-microscope (FE-SEM). Thirdly, thermal degradation was determined using Shimadzu TGA-50 thermo-gravimetric analyzer. The results showed creep resistivity with fatigue recovery of 23.2% and 28.9% strain reduction at 10oC and 60oC respectively from the optimal 2.0% polypropylene and 6.0% bitumen compared to the control mix. Also, the same mix produced well dispersed and better enhanced pore packaging micro-structure capable of resisting ageing volatization under severe traffic and environmental loading conditions considered. Keywords: Asphalt pavement, polypropylene, creep deformation, age volatization and microstructur

Islamic economy as an alternative solution to managing economic crisis: Some fashionable case studies of Iran, Malaysia Saudi Arabia

This review paper examined some economies derives from Islamic value premise in nations such as Iran, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia as alternative solutions to economic crisis emanating from conventional economies. In today’s world of investment and finance, many proponents of Islamic finance (a related branch of Islamic Economics) believe that Islamic finance is a more stable institution as it was virtually unaffected by the financial crisis of 2008 and to some extend enjoys a recent success in the financial market that has awakened the interest of investors both inside and outside of the Islamic community

The Islamic Microfinance System And Its Ultimate Impact On The Poor In Bauchi Metropolis In The Context Of Socio-Economic Challenges

One of the conditions for providing social services to the population, reducing the differentiation of their incomes, as well as reducing poverty is to provide equal access to financial services for all segments of the population. Despite high unemployment and a significant number of poor people, only about a few thousand Nigerians today use Islamic microfinance services. The main purpose of this study is to study the impact of the Islamic microfinance system on the financial situation of the populatio

Grameen Model and its ethical inclinations to Islamic Microfinance System: A Narrative-Textual Case Study

This study focuses on an in-depth literature review to understand the Islamic microfinance as a system and grameen model as a concept all embedded in ethical concern for shared values. The concept of Grameen model and its ethical behavior have come to the fore in recent years in both developed and developing countries as a result of growing sense of corporate wrongdoing. The paper addresses the Grameen model and its ethical relevance to the benefits and success of Islamic microfinance in modern economy

Appraisal of the Salam Islamic Mode of Financing Agribusiness and Agriculture among Rural Farmers in Bauchi State of Nigeria

The study focuses on the socio-economic characteristics of the rural farmers in order to relate the viability of an alternative ethical financing and investment in the quest for economic self-reliance and sufficiency in the study area

Mortality pattern among tuberculosis patients on treatment in Nigeria: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) has continued to be associated with a substantial number of deaths, even in the era of effective antimicrobials. Nigeria is one of the countries with a high tuberculosis burden and has sub-optimal documentation of TB related deaths. Vital statistics/registration is not robust, and mortality surveys are rarely undertaken. In this study, we aimed to determine a precise estimate of TB related deaths on treatment and the trends in death rate while on TB treatment in Nigeria. Methods: We searched electronic databases for eligible studies from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2017. We generated pooled death rate estimates using random-effects models and determined trends using meta-regression. Results: We identified 546 studies, of which 28 fulfilled the criteria for quantitative analysis. Overall, studies reported on 64,999 individuals. The pooled TB death rate during treatment was 6.6% (95% CI; 5.2-8.1%). There was a non-significant rise in TB related deaths on treatment of 0.2% per year (p-value = 0.454). Conclusion: We found a low TB related deaths on treatment, death rate and slight temporal rise over the study years. There is a need for continuous vital registration, including TB related death, and mortality survey among TB patients

Lacustrine stromatolites: Useful structures for environmental interpretation – an example from the Miocene Ebro Basin

The significance of stromatolites as depositional environmental indicators and the underlying causes of lamination in the lacustrine realm are poorly understood. Stromatolites in a ca 600 m thick Miocene succession in the Ebro Basin are good candidates to shed light on these issues because they are intimately related to other lacustrine carbonate and sulphate facies, grew under variable environmental conditions and show distinct lamination patterns. These stromatolites are associated with wave-related, clastic-carbonate laminated limestones. Both facies consist of calcite and variable amounts of dolomite. Thin planar stromatolites (up to 10 cm thick and less than 6 m long) occurred in very shallow water. These stromatolites represented first biological colonization after: (i) subaerial exposure in the palustrine environment (i.e. at the beginning of deepening cycles); or (ii) erosion due to surge action, then coating very irregular surfaces on laminated limestones (i.e. through shallowing or deepening cycles). Sometimes they are associated with evaporative pumping. Stratiform stromatolites (10 to 30 cm high and tens of metres long) and domed stromatolites (10 to 30 cm high and long) developed in deeper settings, between the surge periods that produced hummocky cross-stratification and horizontal lamination offshore. Changes in stromatolite lamina shape, and thus in the growth forms through time, can be attributed to changes in water depth, whereas variations in lamina continuity are linked to water energy and sediment supply. Growth of the stromatolites resulted from in situ calcite precipitation and capture of minor amounts of fine-grained carbonate particles. Based on texture, four types of simple laminae are distinguished. The simple micrite and microsparite laminae can be grouped into light and dark composite laminae, which represent, respectively, high and low Precipitation/Evaporation ratio periods. Different lamination patterns provide new ideas for the interpretation of microbial laminations as a function of variations in climate-dependent parameters (primarily the Precipitation/Evaporation ratio) over variable timescales