Property taxation and democratic decentralization in developing countries

governance;decentralization;developing countries;local finance;property tax;urban development

From defiance to engagement: An evaluation of Shell’s approach to conflict resolution in the Niger Delta

In the course of the lengthy era of military rule in Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (Shell) enjoyed robust protection from the State, a scenario that largely left the unrelenting demands of the Niger Delta peoples unheeded. Over the last decade, however, Shell has gradually become responsive to the inevitable need of getting involved in State and non-State initiatives for finding sustainable peace in the Niger Delta region. At formal and informal levels, these initiatives are becoming evident although challenges remain. This essay proceeds from the premise that the Niger Delta conflict is not interminable. Extrapolating from the various efforts made by Shell towards resolving its conflicts with the peoples of the Niger Delta, this essay accentuates some of the missing links between top-down efforts and bottom-up initiatives in building sustainable peace in the region. Drawing from learned  experiences of Shell’s successes and failures as well as of Nigeria’s power relations and institutional architecture, this essay contends that while compensatory gestures could play a major role in the resolution of conflicts, that approach alone cannot guarantee conflict resolution and reconciliation in the Niger Delta. The overarching outcome of this evaluation is an attempt at identifying the entry points of concerted conflict resolution strategies, with practical focus on the short-, medium- and long-term attainment of peace

Mainstreaming women, equating men: Charting an inclusionary approach to transformative development in the African decade for women

A great deal of legal and policy foundation has been laid for promoting gender mainstreaming in development and, since the 1995 International Women’s Conference in Beijing, there have been serious attempts to implement this strategy at various levels. Plausible as the concept may be, this article contends that the status of women can only be advanced through gender mainstreaming strategies that are adapted to each specific culture, place and political context. Following the African Union’s declaration of 2010-2020 as the African Decade for Women, some critical questions engage the dominant ideas of gender equality and mainstreaming in the continent’s ongoing development initiatives. Should men be integrated into development programming and policies relating to women? How can male integration be made most beneficial to the goal of transformative development in Africa? Highlighting relevant normative and institutional interventions, the article demonstrates how an inclusionary approach to gender mainstreaming for development in Africa resonates in such areas as education, sexual and reproductive health, fatherhood and families, work and economy, conflict resolution and domestic violence

Children’s rights, international human rights and the promise of Islamic legal theory

Dejo Olowu looks at religion and its socio-legal implications. He observes that there has been a noticeable growth in the number of writers exploring possible linkages between Islamic legal theory and an international human rights ethos. The article focuses on dimensions of Islamic legal theory pertaining to the rights of children and, more particularly, the potential of this theory to reinforce the understanding of children’s rights within the context of international human rights. While dealing with issues broadly, it evaluates Islamic legal understanding of the rights of the unborn child in some detail, arguing that the Sharia includes not only law but also religion and ethics, thus offering a multidimensional approach covering the total personality of the child. Moreover, Islam provides enforceable sanctions as well as religious and social measures to promote the welfare of the child. Islamic law, it is concluded, contains extensive provisions that can reinforce global advocacy for the promotion of the rights and welfare of children

African decentralisation policies and practices from 1980s and beyond

Uganda;decentralization;structural adjustment;Africa;Cote d'Ivoire;Ethiopia;Ghana;Nigeria;democratization

Mind the gap? Civil society policy engagement and the pursuit of gender justice: critical discourse analysis of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa 2003–2015

This article presents critical discourse analysis of state and civil society organisations’ efforts to implement the gender mainstreaming goals set out in the United Nations’ Beijing Declaration. It is argued that the latter represents a generational opportunity to apply a Feminist Political Economic Framework to development in Africa. However, the research findings show how current practice falls short of the sought-after participative democratic model of mainstreaming. Instead, analysis reveals significant differences in state and civil society organisations’ policy framing, issues over conceptual clarity and a disjuncture in state and civil society prioritisation of key gendered issues such as poverty, economic inequality and conflict resolution. This matters because it indicates that the capacity of the civil sphere to act as a political arena from which NGOs may challenge the traditionally male-dominated power structures is being undermined by a ‘disconnect’ between state and civil society as they pursue contrasting agendas

Problematic social media use: results from a large-scale nationally representative adolescent sample

Despite social media use being one of the most popular activities among adolescents, prevalence estimates among teenage samples of social media (problematic) use are lacking in the field. The present study surveyed a nationally representative Hungarian sample comprising 5,961 adolescents as part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). Using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and based on latent profile analysis, 4.5% of the adolescents belonged to the at-risk group, and reported low self-esteem, high level of depression symptoms, and elevated social media use. Results also demonstrated that BSMAS has appropriate psychometric properties. It is concluded that adolescents at-risk of problematic social media use should be targeted by school-based prevention and intervention programs

Management of Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in Children: Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Paediatrics Association of Nigeria (PAN)

No Abstrac

Executive summary of the KDIGO 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease:an update based on rapidly emerging new evidence

The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) represents a focused update of the KDIGO 2020 guideline on the topic. The guideline targets a broad audience of clinicians treating people with diabetes and CKD. Topic areas for which recommendations are updated based on new evidence include Chapter 1: Comprehensive care in patients with diabetes and CKD and Chapter 4: Glucose-lowering therapies in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and CKD. The content of previous chapters on Glycemic monitoring and targets in patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 2), Lifestyle interventions in patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 3), and Approaches to management of patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 5) has been deemed current and was not changed. This guideline update was developed according to an explicit process of evidence review and appraisal. Treatment approaches and guideline recommendations are based on systematic reviews of relevant studies and appraisal of the quality of the evidence, and the strength of recommendations followed the “Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation” (GRADE) approach. Limitations of the evidence are discussed, and areas for which additional research is needed are presented