Ethnic Nationalism and the Nigerian Democratic Experience in the Fourth Republic

This paper is an inquiry into the impact of ethnic nationalism on the Nigerian nascent democracy. Data for the paper were collected from (i) primary and (ii) secondary sources. The former from interviews and Focus Group Discussions, while the latter is from documents comprising of (i)Newspapers and (ii) Magazines. The paper started by identifying the factors responsible for the predominance of ethnic nationalism and these include: (i) the legacy of colonialism; (ii) the pluralistic nature and the heterogeneity of the polity; (iii) problem of a universally acceptable revenue allocation formular; (iv) lack of patriotism and loyalty of the people to their ethnic nationalities; (v) the recent on-shore/off-shore dichotomy; (vi) party formation along ethnic lines; (vii) monopoly of power by the major ethnic groups and the consequent marginalization of the minority groups. The paper posited that the impact has been very devastating as it meant a threat to political stability, thwarted efforts aimed at national integration, increased the level of political violence and fragmented and divided the civil society. In order to get out of the problems the paper suggested that Nigeria should embrace power rotation, secularism, federalism, Two-party system, reduce power in the Presidency, curtail corruption, empower the civil society, reorientate the populace and convocate a national conference. Using the functionalist framework, the paper hypothesized and concluded that the convocation of a national conference becomes a categorical imperative if Nigeria is to overcome many of the problems associated with the predominance of ethnic nationalism and thus become a strong, virile, united and vibrant democracy.Key Words: Ethnic Militias, On-Shore/Off-Shore dichotom

The Role of Ethnic Directors in Corporate Social Responsibility: Does Culture matter? The Cultural Trait Theory Perspectives

This paper investigates the effect of cultural differences between ethnic directors on corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Public Liability Companies (PLCs) in Nigeria. Using the cultural trait theory, the study focuses on how the ethnic directors are influenced when making decisions concerning CSR. Adopting multiple regression analysis of data, the study investigates the three major ethnic groups (Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) and finds cultural differences between the ethnic directors affect the adoption of CSR. Empirical results indicate that ethnic directors (Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) were positively and significantly related to CSR. The paper contributes to the corporate governance and CSR debate concerning how ethnic directors’ decisions impact on CSR activities, particularly on the directors who are individualistic and collectivists towards CSR

The impact of the environment on organizational performance in selected textile firms in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of the environment on organizational performance in selected textile firms in Nigeria. The main objectives of the study were (1) to identify the impact of four environmental variables- (a) the economy (b) the socio-cultural (c) the political and (d) the technological and (2) determine which one had the strongest impact on organizational performance. The data were collected from multiple sources comprising of (1) interviews (2) observations (3) self-administered questionnaire and (4) documents and records. In all, 630 respondents were used for the study. The respondents were selected using multiple sampling techniques - comprising of (i) stratified random sampling (ii) quota sampling and (iii) systematic sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric statistics. In the main, the study showed that the organizations under focus were not performing very well because they appear to be operating in an unfavourable economic political and technological environment in the period between 1993 and 1998. Only the socio-cultural environment appears to be favourable but this did not help to enhance organizational performance. Keywords: performance, effectiveness, turbulence, collectivism, individualism and absenteeismGlobal Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 4(1&2) 2005: 1-

The CBL-Interacting Protein Kinase NtCIPK23 Positively Regulates Seed Germination and Early Seedling Development in Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)

CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK) family is a unique group of serine/threonine protein kinase family identified in plants. Among this family, AtCIPK23 and its homologs in some plants are taken as a notable group for their importance in ions transport and stress responses. However, there are limited reports on their roles in seedling growth and development, especially in Solanaceae plants. In this study, NtCIPK23, a homolog of AtCIPK23 was cloned from Nicotiana tabacum. Expression analysis showed that NtCIPK23 is mainly expressed in the radicle, hypocotyl, and cotyledons of young tobacco seedlings. The transcriptional level of NtCIPK23 changes rapidly and spatiotemporally during seed germination and early seedling growth. To study the biological function of NtCIPK23 at these stages, the overexpressing and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-out (ntcipk23) tobacco lines were generated. Phenotype analysis indicated that knock-out of NtCIPK23 significantly delays seed germination and the appearance of green cotyledon of young tobacco seedling. Overexpression of NtCIPK23 promotes cotyledon expansion and hypocotyl elongation of young tobacco seedlings. The expression of NtCIPK23 in hypocotyl is strongly upregulated by darkness and inhibited under light, suggesting that a regulatory mechanism of light might underlie. Consistently, a more obvious difference in hypocotyl length among different tobacco materials was observed in the dark, compared to that under the light, indicating that the upregulation of NtCIPK23 contributes greatly to the hypocotyl elongation. Taken together, NtCIPK23 not only enhances tobacco seed germination, but also accelerate early seedling growth by promoting cotyledon greening rate, cotyledon expansion and hypocotyl elongation of young tobacco seedlings

Comparative study on proximate, functional, mineral, and antinutrient composition of fermented, defatted, and protein isolate of Parkia biglobosa seed

The use of plant‐derived foods in the prevention, treatment, and management of metabolic diseases especially diabetes has gained prominence; this has been associated with their physicochemical properties. This study was conducted to compare the proximate, functional, mineral, and antinutrient composition of the fermented seeds, the defatted seeds, and the protein isolate from Parkia biglobosa seeds. The results showed that the fermented, defatted, and protein isolate varied in composition within the parameters studied. The proximate analysis revealed that the protein isolate had the highest ash (6.0%) and protein (59.4%) as well as the lowest fat (5.7%) and moisture (5.1%) content when compared to the fermented and defatted samples. In like manner, the functional properties of the protein isolate were relatively better than those of the fermented and defatted samples, with oil absorption capacity of 4.2% and emulsion capacity of 82%. The magnesium and zinc content of the protein isolate were significantly higher when compared with the fermented and defatted samples, while a negligible amount of antinutrient was present in all the samples, with the protein isolate having the lowest quantity. The overall data suggest that the protein isolate had better proximate, mineral, functional, and antinutrient properties when compared to the fermented and defatted samples. Therefore, the synergistic effect of all these components present in the protein isolate from P. biglobosa seed in association with its low carbohydrate and high protein/ash contents could play a vital role in the management of diabetes and its associated complications