Stakeholder approach to corporate social responsibility: recipe for sustainable peace in the Niger delta region?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a pathway to positive and sustainable engagement of business-stakeholders in general and its host community in particular, especially when the operations of such enterprise have a way of negatively impacting the environment or other interests of such a community. Empirical research has shown that such engagement has a way of not just improving corporate-community relations but acts as a strategic roadmap to allow stakeholders take ownership of and buy in into corporate sustainability plans. This is one area International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region have arguably floundered, and hence the ensuing and seemingly intractable confrontations from the host communities and militant groups who perennially feel left out of topdown CSR initiatives. This paper discusses the concept of “emotional equity” as a missing piece in community involvement in corporate sustainability in Nigeria. It examines how a stakeholder approach to CSR could serve as a participatory and level playing approach that would engender peaceful, symbiotic engagement and cohabitation between the IOCs and their host communities.Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, development, environment, pollutio

The clash of property and environmental rights in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, home to about 30 million people, is one of the world’s most prominent deltas. Petroleum exploration in this region has been ongoing for over fifty years and revenue from this activity is at present the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. Granted that it is impracticable to undertake petroleum operations without some negative impact on the environment, a good deal of this pollution can be mitigated. The International Oil Companies (IOCs) are complacent about pollution reduction to a sustainable level; regulatory agencies are either compromised or lack the required expertise or equipment to monitor and enforce compliance with extant environmental protection laws and regulations. The pursuit of the IOCs’ property right over petroleum resources has set them against the other stakeholders’ right to a healthy environment. The clash of these rights can best be addressed by ascribing “collective property” and not “private property” right to the acreage over which they have been granted licence to prospect for, explore or mine petroleum resources.Keywords: Property rights, natural resource exploration, environmental la

SELF-EFFICACY AS A PREDICTOR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN COMPUTER STUDIES IN DELTA STATE

The study investigated self-efficacy as a predictor of secondary school students’ academic achievement in computer studies. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Correlation design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 11, 789 senior secondary school 8year two (SS2) students offering Computer studies in Delta North Senatorial district of Delta state. A sample of 600 students obtained using multi-stage sampling procedure was involved in the study. The instrument for data collection was Self Efficacy Questionnaire (SEQ) validated by lecturers in Department of Science Education and Educational Foundations, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The reliability of the instruments were established using Crombach Alpha which yielded coefficient values of 0.77. Data were generated for the study through the administration of the instruments with the aid offive research assistants. The data obtained from the Questionnaires that was administered to senior secondary school student’s year 2 (SS II) were analysed using simple and multiple linear regressions. The findings of the study revealed that 0.6% of the variance in computer studies achievement was predicted by students’ self-efficacy. Also, achievement in computer studies was significantly predicted by self-efficacy. It was recommended that school teachers should ensure to cover the scheme of work at the appropriate time, to enable students study them in sequential order and in a way that will enable them prepare for test. This should be done to reduce the study load that result in cognitive overload and self-efficacy

Water Security Characteristics of Existing Water Service Provision Systems in Informal Settlements within Nairobi County, Kenya

Attainment of water security in urban informal settlements in developing countries can be a complex undertaking due to various factors that affect water service provision, such as insufficient water quantities, unreliable water supply, aging pipes, and infrastructure coverage, among others. In addition to this, the territorial behaviour and therefore a siloed approach of service providers propagate water insecurity. This situation has an impact on the socio-economic development, peace and political stability, water-related disasters, and waterborne diseases in many urban informal settlements in developing countries. The study sought to assess water security characteristics in informal settlements in Nairobi County. The research was informed by the systems theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The research targeted a population of 2,511,991 people living in the informal settlements and 544 water service providers (formal utilities and small-scale vendors) operating in the informal settlements. Both probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling methods were used in this study to select the respondents. Data was collected from a sample of 388 households and 62 water vendors from nine slums in 12 sub-counties. A household questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. From the findings, only 0.4% of households met all six parameters (availability, access, quantity, quality, affordability, and reliability) of water security. Most of the households satisfied four parameters, 30% met three parameters, 20.8% met two parameters, 11.7% met five parameters, and 5.3% met one parameter. This pointed to a situation where water security is a major concern in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements (INSEs). The existing water structures of service provision influenced only three of the six water security factors, and that is, availability, access, and quality. The level of structure did not have any impact on quantity, affordability, or reliability of water services. The study therefore concludes that the provision of infrastructure alone may not necessarily lead to overall household water security. The research findings show that integration is possible along the three levels—water production, water delivery infrastructure, and service levels experienced by the households. It was however noticed that a household could depend on multiple sources and therefore experience various levels of services. The study recommends that the national and county governments and stakeholders in the water sector, while planning water service provision and infrastructure development, should ensure that efforts towards attaining universal access to water through availability, access, quantity, quality, affordability, and reliability should have a targeted approach to reach those who are most water insecure

The Role of Inorganic Metal Salts in Wastewater Clarification

An investigation into the ability of four inorganic coagulants namely; alum (Al2(SO4)3.18H2O), ammonium aluminum sulphate (NH4Al(SO4)2.12H2O), ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) and ammonium ferrous sulphate (NH4)2Fe(SO4)2.6H2O) in clarifying wastewater was examined. Results obtained from conventional standard ‘jar-test’ experiments indicated that alum was the most effective coagulant since it reduced turbidity of the wastewater to 0.64 NTU at a contact time of 300 min. Ferrous sulphate was the least effective coagulant, reducing turbidity of the wastewater to 3.45 NTU only at 240 min contact time, but when the contact time of the experiment was increased from 240 to 300 min, re-coloration of the solution was observed indicating re-stabilization of suspended particles. These findings tend to support the claim that alum is a choice coagulant for wastewater clarification.  Â

The sum of its parts? Sources of local legitimacy

The article analyses the sources of local actors’ legitimacy perceptions towards international peacebuilding operations. Local legitimacy perceptions are increasingly recognised as shaping local behaviour towards international peacebuilding, which influences the effective functioning of the operation. Legitimacy debates in peacebuilding are either absent or imported from the literature on domestic legitimacy, without respect to the specific temporal and spatial situation of international operations. The article first explores which legitimacy sources influence local legitimacy perceptions of international peacebuilding operations. It finds that two sources are relevant: output and procedure. Second, it investigates how exactly legitimacy arises from them. In doing so, it demonstrates that output and procedure are umbrella terms comprising several sub-elements which influence legitimacy in different, sometimes contradictory, ways. Finally, the article empirically explores which of the sources are important to local actors’ legitimacy perceptions using field data from the EU peacebuilding operations EULEX in Kosovo and EUPM Bosnia-Herzegovina

An Assessment of the Existing Structure of Water Service Provision System and Water Security in Informal Settlements in Nairobi County, Kenya

Accessing clean water and sanitation is a constant challenge for urban residents in informal settlements and marginal areas. For most residents, informal local water and sanitation service providers meet these basic needs. These local entrepreneurs or enterprises provide services paid for directly by the clients. They are not planned, authorized, supervised, or acknowledged by the formal authorities as part of the official system. These services include water tankers, bottled water delivery, provision and management of shared or community latrines, unregistered pit emptying, container-based sanitation, or piped water to a private household or shared tap. These informal service providers, or intermediaries, have emerged in response to a significant essential service gap. Since the unstructured nature of water provision in Nairobi County is a major problem that needs to be addressed, this study evaluated the structure of the system of water service provision that is in existence in Nairobi County. The study utilized descriptive research design. The research was informed by the systems theory. Target population for the study consisted of households from the informal settlements and other water related stakeholders. Data was collected from a sample of 388 households from nine slums in 12 sub-counties derived through simple random sampling. Household questionnaires were used to collect data. The data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from this study indicated that 51.0% of the respondents had no water service structure, 8.7% had basic structure, 2.9% had intermediate structure, and 37.5% of the respondents had full water service structure. It was also established that, water structure had a significant relationship with availability, access and quality. Examined, against sub-counties, there was a significant influence between water structure and the sub-counties. Based on the findings, the study concludes that, provision of infrastructure alone may not lead to household water security and recommends that while planning the development of a water supply system structures (production, treatment, storage and distribution), the decision should be based on whether the investment will improve availability, access, quantity, quality, affordability and reliability of service. Accordingly, this decision should help inform the investment by policy makers to ensure water security