The Position of Torture in the Investigation of Terrorism related Crimes in Nigeria

The issue of Terrorism is on the front burner globally and Nigeria is no exception. Since Terrorist activities are violent in nature and most terrorists believe that a positive life awaits them hereafter, it is often very difficult for investigators to obtain information from them. As a result, it has often been argued that torture may be adopted to help matters. This research work therefore looks at the position of torture in the investigation of such matters. The work queries the status of torture in Nigeria and its usefulness in such investigations. It concludes with a finding that torture generally is illegal no matter by what name it is called and it will make nonsense of the fight against terrorism if an illegal tool is adopted in the fight against illegality. Keywords: Torture, Nigeria, Human Rights, Terrorism, Investigation

Effects of Force Account Method on Procurement Process Compliance in Construction Projects

The effective and efficient use of resources by public organizations through the force account procurement method lowers the costs of various projects, enhancing the performance of the construction projects undertaken by Local Government Authorities. Despite the benefits obtained from the use of force accounts by procuring entities, there are still challenges facing its implementation in terms of value for money. The study is guided by Resource-based View. A Cross-sectional survey design was employed; Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 116 secondary schools using force account. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires and interviews, while secondary data was collected through a documentary review. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to compute percentages and means of school respondents, and Multiple Regression was used for inferential statistics analysis. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using NVivo through Thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate the use of force account method has a positive and significant effect on procurement process compliance. However, secondary schools using the force account method face several challenges, including a lack of qualified personnel, difficulty in achieving intended quality, delay in delivery, inexperienced human resources to run and manage huge construction projects, poor record keeping, poor supervision, and top management interference. The study recommends capacity-building training for all force account users, a maximum threshold amount for force account usage, competent project implementation teams, or supervisors based on profession, expertise, and experience and the enforcement of ethical practices in procurement projects. Keywords: Force account, local government authorities, value for money, compliance

Contentious Issues in the Protection of Displaced Children

The importance of the protection of children can never be overemphasized. In times of peace they need protection how much more in war times or in situations of displacement. Displacement and its consequences affect children adversely. The reason is that children are vulnerable and therefore need special protection. The objective of this article is to expose the contentious issues inherent in the protection of children in situations of displacement. Viz: what legal frameworks are in place for the protection of children, are the available frameworks adequate? In the end, the writers found that there is paucity of legal frameworks and argued that the available frameworks are inadequate. Keywords: protection, children, displacement, contentious, legal framework

Meteorological information in GPS-RO reflected signals

Vertical profiles of the atmosphere can be obtained globally with the radio-occultation technique. However, the lowest layers of the atmosphere are less accurately extracted. A good description of these layers is important for the good performance of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems, and an improvement of the observational data available for the low troposphere would thus be of great interest for data assimilation. We outline here how supplemental meteorological information close to the surface can be extracted whenever reflected signals are available. We separate the reflected signal through a radioholographic filter, and we interpret it with a ray tracing procedure, analyzing the trajectories of the electromagnetic waves over a 3-D field of refractive index. A perturbation approach is then used to perform an inversion, identifying the relevant contribution of the lowest layers of the atmosphere to the properties of the reflected signal, and extracting some supplemental information to the solution of the inversion of the direct propagation signals. It is found that there is a significant amount of useful information in the reflected signal, which is sufficient to extract a stand-alone profile of the low atmosphere, with a precision of approximately 0.1 %. The methodology is applied to one reflection case

Sharing learning outcomes in chemistry teaching at HE level: Beneficial or detrimental?

The sharing of explicit learning objectives and/or learning outcomes is considered to be good practice in schools, with OFSTED observation criteria indicating that this is a pre-requisite to a good or outstanding lesson1. Such practice does not appear to be widespread in chemistry teaching at HE level. Whilst a statement of aims/objectives/outcomes can normally be found in the documentation accompanying any given unit of teaching, these are typically in a less student-friendly format than those used in school, or are too vague to be useful. At the same time, many lecturers do communicate aims at the start of a lecture, but there may be scope for doing this in a more effective way. The extent to which students are exposed to „learning outcomes‟ varies greatly from institution to institution, discipline to discipline and from teacher to teacher, and as such it is difficult to discern the best approach.This article presents some background on developments at pre-university level that have influenced practice in this area, and outlines the findings of a research project carried out in the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton. The project probed the views of staff and students regarding the usefulness of learning outcomes. Several different approaches to sharing learning outcomes with first year students were trialled and evaluated during the course of the 2010-11 academic year. This work is part of an on-going initiative which aims to identify effective methods to support students in becoming independent learners when making the transition to university, and to improve retention rates

Africa's growth dividend? Lived poverty drops across much of the continent

Though Africa has recorded high levels of economic growth over the past decade, previous Afrobarometer surveys of citizens found little evidence that this growth had reduced levels of poverty in any consistent way (Dulani, Mattes, & Logan, 2013). However, new data from Afrobarometer Round 6, collected across 35 African countries, suggest a very different picture. While “lived poverty” remains pervasive across much of the continent, especially in Central and West Africa, we now see evidence that the decade of economic growth seems to have finally delivered broad-based reductions in poverty. “Lived poverty” (an index that measures the frequency with which people experience shortages of basic necessities) retreated across a broad range of countries. In the roughly three-year period between Round 5 (2011/2013) and Round 6 (2014/2015) surveys, our data suggest that “lived poverty” fell in 22 of 33 countries surveyed in both rounds. However, these changes show no systematic relation to recent rates of economic growth. While growing economies are undoubtedly important, what appears to be more important in improving the lives of ordinary people is the extent to which national governments and their donor partners put in place the type of development infrastructure that enables people to build better lives

Environmental sanitation in a developing economy of Anambra State, Nigeria

Environmental sanitation in a developing economy of Anambra State, Nigeri

Sociodemographic and gynaecological factors that influence uptake of cervical cancer screening. A cross-sectional study in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Voluntary screening for cervical cancer has not been very effective in sub-Saharan Africa. Awareness and presence of risk factors may drive the need to screen. Objective: To characterise sociodemographic and gynaecological factors as promoters of screening uptake. Methodology: The setting was a women health rally in Calabar, Nigeria with women from different towns/ villages in Cross River State. An interviewer-administered questionnaire assessed sociodemographic and gynaecological risk factors for cervical cancer, previous Pap smear, and acceptance to screen. Data inputted in EpiInfo 7, and GraphPad Prism 7.04 statistical software’s, were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: One hundred and eighty (180) women gave consent for inclusion in the study. The age ranged from 21 to 65 with a mean of 39.8±10.3 years. With 52.22% of respondents accepting and 47.78% declining to screen, test of association showed that knowledge of cervical cancer, history of multiple sexual partners, and presence of offensive watery vaginal discharge significantly reduced the number of women who refused to screen. Previously screened women were not more likely to accept screening.Conclusion: Screening for cervical cancer was still poor. Cervical cancer knowledge and recognition of risk factors improve screening uptake. Keywords: Cervical cancer screening uptake; risk factors

Knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among women with children aged between 9 and 12 months in Al-Sabah Children Hospital, Juba, South Sudan

Introduction: Breastfeeding is an important tool for preventing childhood illnesses, and obesity, and hypertension later on in life, and it reduces the cost of food for the family and the country. Appropriate practices that support exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months reduce childhood morbidity and mortality.Methodology: 384 mothers with children aged 9 to 12 months attending the immunization and paediatric outpatient clinics were interviewed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data handling. Descriptive statistics and univariate logistic regression were used to analyse the data.Results: The majority of mothers were aged between 21 – 25 years (43.5%), had 2 - 4 children (55.5%) and primary education (48.2%). Most mothers had started breastfeeding within the first hour of delivery (76.8%), and knew that breastfeeding was nutritious to the baby. Parity and mother`s level of education were significant factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant association between occupation, age of the mother, mode of delivery and exclusive breastfeeding (p>0.05). There was no statistical difference in rate of exclusive breastfeeding in mothers attending the OPD and the immunization clinic (p value=0.09).Conclusion: Most mothers knew the benefits and definitions of exclusive  breastfeeding. The early measures supporting breastfeeding are well practiced. Parity and mothers` education significantly affected exclusive breastfeeding.Keys words: Exclusive breast feeding, child, nutritio

Religious freedom and its limitations under the 1999 constitution of Nigeria

This paper critically reviewed the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria on freedom of religion and its limitations as a result of the long history of religious  tensions Nigeria has witnessed particularly between the two major religious groups,  Christians and Muslims and as a result of the violence created constantly by the Boko Haram which desires to Islamize the country. It has caused many deaths, created  internally displaced people and a pall of anxiety all over the country. 250 Chibok girls still remain missing. The review was done with a view to finding the adequacy of the provision of the Constitution in guaranteeing freedom of religion. Insight was drawn  from international legal instrument on the subject. The finding is that the constitutional provisions are adequate in themselves for arresting religious extremism as they are in tandem with the provisions of many international legal instruments. However, the  repudiation of the supremacy of the Constitution by Islamic law withdraws the  commitment of many Muslims to the provisions of the Constitution on freedom of  religion. Internal reform is recommended for Muslims to bring Islamic law to accept the supremacy of the Constitution.Key words: Freedom of religion, limitations, 1999 Nigerian Constitution, Supremacy of Constitutio