John Rawls' political liberalism: implications for Nigeria's democracy

Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the country has continuously been confronted with among other issues, the problem of a weak and unjust social structure resulting in widespread social injustice. It is at the root of most of the crises and social malaise of the Nigerian society and is made more serious by the problems associated with ethnicity and arbitrariness by the state and government. Part of the resultant effects of this weak structure include unjust public institutions and social, ethnic, religious and political crises due mainly to a lack of social cohesion, political integration and an unfair principle of distribution of income, resources, goods and burdens in the society. All attempted palliatives by different administrations have all failed and a very bitter 3-year civil war between 1967 and 1970 in which more than a million lives were lost was the first major manifestation of the problem in post colonial Nigeria. This condition of affairs not only makes political stability and development difficult but also stifles the natural ingenuity of the people to grow. And very serious poverty and underdevelopment of the people in addition to a complete absence of liberty and rights have become institutionalised. In reaction, some Nigerians have resorted to all sorts of immoral, illegal and criminal actions and conduct, including corruption, lawlessness, indiscipline, tribalism, nepotism, and ethnicism, etc. Others have joined the political class and accepted the status quo of injustice as justice and hold this to be the proper and easiest way to achieve their life goals. This has inadvertently led to a warped and distorted sense of justice in the society. This sense of justice sees nothing wrong with vices such as public and institutional injustice, crime, fraud, corruption etc and embraces them wholeheartedly. I propose in this research therefore, the analysis of the fundamental ideas and ideals of John Rawls’ political liberalism as contained in his Political Liberalism as a way of addressing these social-political challenges. In doing this, the merits and intentions of Rawls’ two principles of justice which centre on liberty, equality and differences are examined to deduce their level of coherence, relevance and utility to the Nigerian society. An argument will be made that these two principles represent the closest philosophical and sociological paradigm that have the core ideas and ideals necessary in addressing the twin problems of social injustice and political instability in a third world disordered society such as Nigeria

Feasibility of an electrostatic energy harvesting device for CFCs aircraft

A novel energy harvesting concept is proposed for treating local electrostatic energy produced on flying composite aircrafts. This work focuses on the feasibility research on collecting static charges with capacitive collectors. The existing energy harvesting system and the electrification of the typical carbon fibre composites (CFCs) aircraft has been reviewed. The detailed model experiments were then designed to characterize different configurations for electrostatic energy harvesting on aeroplane. In the lab, the static charge was produced by a corona discharging device, and a capacitor or a metal sheet was put in the electric field to collect the charges under four different configurations. After that, the rest results for these configurations were analysed, which is followed by the discussion about the results application on the aircraft. This work has proved that it is feasible to collect the local static electricity on flying aircraft, and it could provide a new direction of energy harvesting system in aviation field

Leadership Styles and Entrepreneurial Orientation

The style and form of leadership is critical to the organization’s inclination and engagement in entrepreneurial activities and behaviour. This is as leadership styles offer either support and encouragement for entrepreneurial orientation or a stifling of innovativeness and pro-activeness through strict policies which emphasize conformity and unequivocal adherence to standards and norms. This paper is a critical review of leadership styles and their relationship with entrepreneurial orientation. The paper assessed five leadership styles – autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, transactional and transformational leadership styles; and their impact on entrepreneurial orientation. The discourse revealed that the democratic and transformational leadership styles both share qualities and content which encourage and support entrepreneurial orientation characteristics such as aggressive competitiveness, innovativeness, pro-activeness, risk-taking and autonomy. The paper concluded that both leadership styles – democratic and transformational leadership style; evidently support and enhance organization’s capacity and tendency for entrepreneurial orientation. Keywords: Entrepreneurial orientation, leadership style, autocratic, lasses-faire, democratic, transactional, transformational. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-8-11 Publication date:March 31st 201

Worker's Resilience: The Exigency for Empathic Leadership

Research on workers resilience is yet in its formative years. As a growing and developing framework, it offers a strong position on the need for workers optimism, composure and positive outlook on events even during tough or challenging times. This is as theories identify the quality of relationship between leaders and their workers as key to the success and wellbeing of the organization. This paper addressed the role of empathic leadership in the achievement of workers resilience. The paper is designed as a review with content bothering on the conceptualization and link between the empathic leadership and workers resilience. The review espouses the role of empathic leadership in the enhancement of resilience qualities such as optimism, equanimity and humour; it was concluded that empathic leadership drives and has a positive impact on the workers ability to cope with tough times and to maintain composure, optimism and equanimity during such times Keywords: Empathic leadership, workers resilience, optimism, equanimity, emotions DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-17-11 Publication date:June 30th 201

Deconstructing, Constructing and Reconstructing African Philosophy through the Scientific Method

Outside the shores of Africa, the idea of African Philosophy is rejected and within the confines of Western Universities, it is the usual practice to designate every study that pertains to the continent of Africa as African studies, rather than African Philosophy. Among researchers, teachers, Philosophers in African universities, the debate on the reality or not of African Philosophy is yet to wane. What the issues are and what the solutions can be are what this paper sets to examine. The idea of this venture is to interrogate the contending arguments, people and themes and explore the parameters that can set the tone in constructing and reconstructing African Philosophy to be in line with Western and oriental Philosophies. This paper asserts that African Philosophy can apply the methods of Science to arrive at its foundations and stand on the same platforms with Western and Oriental Philosophy in discussing the same issues but from different perspectives

Marketing Communication and Promotion in Health Services

Marketing communication in the health sector is the communication of the products or services produced by health organizations to the potential users and convincing them about the benefits to be provided. Although the use of the concept of health services and promotion is controversial, promotional activities in health services are different from promotion activities in other sectors. Public relations (PRs) rather than advertising are in the forefront of promotion activities in the health sector. Health institutions, especially hospitals, are highly complex systems both in terms of services provided and organizational structure. The aim of this study is to reveal the importance of promotion activities in health care and their different aspects from other sectors. In this context, the international literature on health marketing was searched, and this content was created. As a result, the aim of promotion in health services is not to direct the patient unnecessarily to consumption but to inform patients, to convince them about benefits of the services, and to facilitate their service delivery by increasing their participation in the service process. If promotion tools are used correctly in health care, they can help in early diagnosis of many diseases

Effecting Change through Women's Activism in Liberia

This article highlights historical issues of injustice and violence against women in conflict?torn societies in West Africa. It provides examples of women's participation in the struggle for freedom and the search for peace and reconciliation, focusing on the role of women in catalysing and supporting the recent peace process in Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is based upon the author's own involvement as a women's activist in Liberia

Comparative Study of Male and Female Students’ Performance in Science Laboratory Technology, Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Nigeria (A 5 year Case Study).

The controversial discussion on the topic of gender and academic performance in sciences has stirred up much debate. It has been reported that gender difference in enrolment in advance mathematics course is influenced by perceived value of competence. It has been proposed that very few women have been found in graduate programs and professions in computer sciences, physics and technology. These courses, along with chemistry and biological sciences, make up the Science Laboratory Technology department in Rivers State Polytechnic. This research therefore seeks to find the relationship between gender and performances in the fields of Science Laboratory Technology in Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Nigeria. For the purpose of this study, a descriptive survey method was used. Secondary data in form of students’ results for the past five years was obtained from the Exams and Records department of Rivers State polytechnic. Enrolment, performance and graduation trends based on gender and courses offered were investigated at both the National Diploma and the Higher National Diploma levels. The result showed that enrolment of female students is higher in both National Diploma and Higher National Diploma levels, an average of 61.9% and 62.4% respectively of total enrolment, within the period under study. At the National Diploma and Higher National Diploma levels, 38.1% and 37.8% enrolment was recorded for the males respectively. AnalysIs of performance did not show any noticeable gender bias. Graduation ratio was significantly higher for female students when compared to their male counter parts. Keywords: Gender, Science Laboratory Technology, Performance, Enrolment, Graduation, Female students, Male students