The Problems of Living with Disability in Nigeria

Disabled persons like the able have certain peculiar qualities that are innate. Most of them are trainable. Therefore, with proper care and support from the government and members of the civil society, their talents can be fully harnessed to reduce their dependency and promote their economic and social development. But there are bottle-necks on the way to alleviating the suffering of these people and improving their living conditions. This paper examines the problems of living with disability in Nigeria and focuses its attention on the multiple problems faced by disabled persons and their significant others with a view to understanding their negative experiences of living with disability. Documentary source was used to collect the data for this paper. Most of the materials used were sourced from the library, internet and the personal collections of individuals. The chosen theoretical framework for the paper is the Medical Model of and the Social Model of disability. The paper pointed out that disable persons suffer and experience discrimination by the government and most members of the society in which they live. Majority of them have negative experiences with respect to employment, proper training, sustainable and dependable empowerment, exclusion from social interaction and participation in decision making on issues that affect their lives such as lack of access to public facilities. The paper argued that the absence of effective laws for the protection and promotion of their rights hamper proper and adequate funding of disabled organizations and the provision of a comprehensive welfare service to them, in particular, free health care services, among others. It is recommended that the Nigerian government should, as a matter of urgency, ensure the signing of the Disability Bill into law and also consider the provision of welfare and social security services to disabled persons as a priority. There is the need to change the negative attitude and perception of the public towards disabled persons into a positive one through education and enlightenment campaigns. Keywords: Disability, Discrimination, Stigma, Disability bill, Empowerment

The Socio-Economic Effects of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Nigerian Case

Since the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the early 80s on the continent of Africa and Nigeria in 1986, the disease has turned out to be the most devastating and destructive in contemporary African societies. It has a serious impact on human resources and other aspects of societal development. The paper has examined some of the social and economic effects in Nigeria, using secondary data. It pointed out the impact of the disease on the population and loss of lives among the youth in their productive and reproductive ages, which reduces the labor supply which, in turn affects the overall economic output at micro and macro levels. The effect is glaring on the family that bears the cost of medical care and other expenses in addition to the suffering from stigma associated with AIDS. The financial burden of the family is responsible for the reduced care and consumption pattern in particular for women and children. The infected persons who remain alive but lose their jobs continue to face the problem of settling medical bills. The children of the dead who become orphans lose parental care and the required support for education and other welfare services. Among others, the paper recommends that the government and other stake-holders should put more efforts on the prevention of new infections and initiate welfare programs to address the problems of the infected and the immediate members of their families, in particular women and children. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Social Effects, Economic Effects, Stigma, Discriminatio

Assessment of Business Education Lecturers on Instructional Delivery in Colleges of Education in Kaduna and Kano State

The study assessed the business education lecturers on instructional delivery in colleges of education in Kaduna and Kano State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 32 business education lecturers from the Federal Colleges of Education, Kano (FCE Kano and FCE (T) Bichi), Kano State College of Education, Kumbosto, Federal College of Education, Zaria and Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan-Waya, Kaduna State. Since the population size is manageable, the researchers used all populations, and so, there was no sample size for the study. The researchers developed a structured questionnaire for data collection. The instrument was validated by two experts from the rank of senior lecturer and above from the business education department of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Cronbach Alpha method was used to test the reliability of the instrument which yielded a coefficient value of 0.90. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the two null hypotheses formulated for the study at a significance of the level of 0.05. The findings revealed among others that Business education lecturers give prompt feedback on students learning outcomes. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that, the college authority should employ more lecturers in the area of business education programmes for comprehensive curriculum delivery to the students

Potentials of Cow Dung Ash as Protectants of Cowpea Seeds against Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Experiments were conducted to assess the protectant ability of cow dung ash (CDA) to cowpea seeds against Callosobruchus maculatus F. under laboratory conditions of 50-65% R.H and 28-32oC. The CDA at different rates of 0.625, 1.25, 2.50, 5.00, 10.00% (w/w) incorporated with cypermethrin powder at 0.625% were applied to 20 g of cowpea seeds in petri dishes. None of the ashes or cypermethrin was added to the control. Ten beetles were introduced into each of the petri dishes and covered with muslin cloth. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) and replicated three times. Effects of the treatments on adult mortalities as well as median lethal dose (LD50) of CDA against C. maculatus were determined. Adult emergence and weight losses in seeds treated with CDA at different doses were assessed. Findings of the study revealed that the adult mortality of C. maculatus among different CDA treatments differed significantly (p < 0.05) and ranged from 13.33 to 100.00% 72 hours after treatment (HAT). Results of the study also showed that LD50 of CDA against C. maculatus at 24 hours after treatment (HAT) was 5.51 % (w/w). No adults emerged from the treated seeds and weight losses were observed in those treated with the lowest dose and the control only. Therefore, CDA could be utilized to protect cowpea seeds from C. maculatus infestations during storage

Performance Analysis of Best Relaying Protocol Selection with Interferences at Relays

In this paper, we investigate the performance of selecting the best protocol between amplify and forward (AF) and decode and forward (DF) in multiple relay networks with multiple interferences at relays. In the selection scheme, the best protocol between AF and DF is selected depending on the comparisons of signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) for all source-relay links. All relays measure the received SINR to decide forwarding signal or not. When SINR is above a certain threshold then DF is used otherwise AF is used. Particularly, we develop an accurate mathematical model for best relaying protocol by considering the effect of interferences to our scheme. Firstly, we derive the asymptotic closed form expression for the symbol error rate (SER) for the system under study. Also we derive an upper and lower bound of symbol error rate and show how they were tight with exact SER. Furthermore an approximate expression for the outage probability is derived. Numerical results are finally presented to validate the theoretical analysis with a different number of relays

Design and Construction Technique for Low Embodied Energy Building: An Analytical Network Process Approach

Energy performance in the construction industry is one of the significant features to be assessed in order to achieve sustainability in the built environment. There is a limited amount of literature on the analytical network process (ANP) in achieving sustainability towards reducing embodied energy. The aim of this study was to achieve buildings with less embodied energy through design, construction techniques and automation using ANP in order to promote sustainable construction. Data collection was primarily done by way of a well-structured questionnaire and an expert opinion survey. The responses retrieved from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ranked accordingly. An ANP model was developed using multi-criteria decision-making based on the expert survey and used to prioritize and assign an important weighting for the identified criteria. The findings showed that multi-criteria decision-making with ANP when effectively employed will help in achieving sustainable buildings with low embodied energy. Reducing the amount of cement through design and building information modeling is the most significant factor towards achieving buildings with less embodied energy

Capacity Building Needs of Business Education Lecturers for Efficient Lecturing in Federal Colleges of Education in North Western States, Nigeria

The study empirically investigates how professional business education lecturers in Federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria’s North-western needed to be strengthened. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated at 0.05 level of significance.  The study used a descriptive survey design. The population of this study was 126 professional business educators from six Federal Colleges of Education in North-western State, Nigeria. Research experts validated the instrument. The researchers used Cronbach Alpha method to determine the instrument’s reliability and a reliability coefficient of 0.93 was then obtained. The questionnaire has 20 items in the instrument. The study used inferential statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the t-test was used to test the null hypotheses formulated for the study. According to the study’s findings, entrepreneurial skills, managerial skills, information and communication technology (ICT), and capacity building for professionalism are the priorities for all professional lecturers in the field of business education in federal colleges of education in North-western Nigeria. Based on the findings the researchers concluded that professional business education lecturers should be gingered because professionalism in Federal College Education necessitates ICT, managerial, and entrepreneurial competencies. Keywords: Capacity building, Business education lecturers, Efficient lecturin

Decision Making as A Tool for Organisational Development (A Case Study of Borno State High Court of Justice Maiduguri)

Decision making is central activities that avail human with extraordinary skill and cognitive capacity they constantly utilize and which helps both to interact with the surrounding environment and to interpret the situation. The study is to examine the process available in the Borno state high court of justice, with a view to improve decision making process. A sample of 50 respondents was selected randomly for this study. The questionnaires were administered to gather information from the primary source while text books, journals and other related literature works were reviewed. The information collected were analysed using tables and percentage method and data collected also tested using chi-square X2 method as a statistical tools to determine the valuation of the hypothesis formulated. The findings concluded that the effective decision-making can improve the performance of the organisation. Decision taken if properly implemented will improve the organisation. And most of the time decisions are taken by top management and through appropriate ways so that positive result will be produced. It further recommended that the organisational development will be improved. Finally the decisions taken need to be implemented and the leaders in the organisation are advice to evaluate the rules and organisational activities regularly to avoid biasness. To this end decision making is playing a very vital role in the organisational development. Keywords: Decision, Decision-Making, Organisationa Developmen