Ensuring good governance through parliamentary control of administrative agencies: A critique

Parliamentary institutions are central to most systems of government but their role within the structure of government varies from one country to another. Not only are there differences in terms of their specific powers, but also in measure of  power/influence exercised within the framework of normative rules or legal system of  a nation to guarantee good governance. The objectives of this paper are to overview parliaments around the world vis-à-vis their control of administrative  agencies, especially in Britain and United States of America and to highlight the forms of control that the Nigerian National Assembly exerts on the administrative  agencies. The writers rely on published and unpublished materials such as  textbooks; articles in journals, conferences and work shop documents, law reports; newspapers; magazine; and internet facility. The paper concluded that the  parliamentary control of administrative agencies depends largely on the type of  parliamentary system being practiced either uni-cameral or bi-cameral legislature or even presidential or parliamentary. It is suggested that care must be taken not only to ensure that the electorates choose their proper representatives to National or State Assembly, but there should equally be good electoral laws to ensure that, the choice of the people are not defeated as a result of electoral fraud because the failure or success of a state depends largely on the nature of its legislators.Key words: Legislature, Good Governance, Oversight, Impeachment, Investigatio

ICT Innovation, FDI and Economic Growth: Evidence from BRICS

We make a comprehensive investigation of ICT innovation, FDI and economic growth nexus for BRICS countries for the periods between 1990 and 2021 using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) techniques. We use input-based ICT and non-ICT resources to capture ICT innovations, foreign direct inflows, gross domestic product and quantity of labor for this economic bloc. From our estimation, the following summary can be made. ICT is found to be consistently and significantly contributing to the economic growth rate of BRICS countries. However, with the negative impact of FDI on the growth rate, its interaction with ICT input resources was found to help mitigate the negative impact of FDI on economic growth which by implication suggests that adequate ICT infrastructure complemented with foreign-oriented investment can play a formidable role in increasing the growth process of the economies of BRICS. Also, non-ICT input resources and quantity of labor growth rate were found to be necessary variables worthy of giving appropriate consideration in explaining the growth rate of the economies. The study thus suggests the higher provision of both ICT and non-ICT input resources in the BRICS and a policy to attract able hands from developing countries to turn various resources for economic progress

Assistive Robotic Technology: A Review

Older people with chronic conditions even lead to some disabilities face many challenges in performing daily life. Assistive robot is considered as a tool to provide companionship and assist daily life of older people and disabled people. This paper presents a review of assistive robotic technology, particularly for older people and disabled people. The result of this review constitutes a step towards the development of assistive robots capable of helping some problems of older people and disabled people. Hence, they may remain in at home and live independently

Geoelectrical and Geotechnical Characterization of Different Types of Soil in Ede, Osun State, Nigeria

Geoelectrical and geotechnical investigations were carried out to characterize soils from different locations in Ede, Osun State, Nigeria for engineering purposes. Wenner electrode configuration technique was deployed in carrying out the geoelectrical survey of about 40m for each profile. The data analysis was approached by plotting the apparent conductivity against electrode spacing (s) and the result was interpreted. The geoelectrical resistivity survey revealed locations 1 and 2 with resistivity values of 25.01-419.22ohm-m (conductivity 0.002 - 0.194 (ohm-m)-1and 5.5-1246.57 ohm-m (conductivity = 0.0002 - 0.001 (ohm-m)-1) respectively could be classified as clay. Sample 3 recorded a resistivity value of 1.00- 22,787.39 ohm-m (conductivity= 0.00004- 1.00 (ohm-m)-1) thus, was classified as silt/sand respectively. Soil from the said different locations in Ede, Nigeria, were tested in the Laboratory for certain properties like Atterberg limits, specific gravities, sieve analysis, compaction test, etc. and the results showed that samples 1, 2 and 3 have specific gravity values of 2.50, 2.13 and 2.40 respectively and could therefore be referred to as organic soil. Samples 1, 2 and 3 have maximum dry density (MDD) of 1.45g/cm3, 1.92g/cm3, 1.95g/cm3 and optimum moisture content (OMC) of 15.40%, 13.36% and 9.61% respectively. The analysis conducted in this study revealed that the soil type found in Ede, Nigeria could be classified as silt-clay, sandy clay, clay and sand