University Education for Youth Empowerment: Policy/ Management Issues and Strategies for Improvement

Policy and management issues that inhibit quality university education foryouth empowerment in Nigeria were discussed in this paper. These issuesinclude access, gender disparity in enrolment, high enrolment growth, staffquality and quantity, funding, cultism and poor quality of infrastructure.Unless these issues are addressed, the extent to which university education could enhance youth empowerment would remain limited. Relevant policy and management strategies for improvement were suggested

Runaway Guarantors: Reevaluating the Scope of the Sham Guaranty Defense

Guarantors are responsible to lenders for the debts that they guarantee. Unfortunately, some guarantors try to avoid this responsibility by asserting the sham guaranty defense, a defense with poorly defined criteria and an inconstant application. The current lack of clarity surrounding the sham guaranty defense has rendered it susceptible to abuse by runaway guarantors and left lenders uncertain about how to best structure their commercial real estate loan transactions. Against this backdrop, this Note surveys the current state of the sham guaranty defense in California, focusing both on the historical development of the defense and the common factual scenarios in which it is asserted. Next, this Note explores how the California courts’ uneven treatment of the defense has resulted in confusion, unfair results, and an expansion of the defense that favors guarantors. Finally, this Note argues that the California Legislature should intervene and provide guidance to the courts about the proper scope of the sham guaranty defense. To assist in this effort, this Note offers proposed statutes that legislators and other interested parties may consider in their attempts to provide some much-needed stability to this area of commercial lending law

Why Russia is Involved in the Syrian Civil War: One Issue, Many Views.

The paper analyzes Russia’s role in Syria’s civil war, and indicates that while Russia’s military intervened in the civil war to prevent the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad-led Syrian government, it has remained difficult to really understand the ends Russia seeks to achieve from the war. This necessitated inquiry into the question of why Russia’s military intervention in Syria’s civil war is aimed at keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power. Consequently, the paper discovered six different scholarly explanations of this question, which include that: Russia’s military activity in Syria aims to protect its geopolitical and geostrategic interests and sphere of influence in the Middle East from western encroachment, to advance the conservative orientation of Russia’s ruling elite, to defend the United Nations laws on non-intervention and State sovereignty and prevent the institutionalization of a wrong interventionist precedent the West will readily exploit in the future, to crush Islamist fundamentalism and Jihadist ideology, to pursue realist ambitions, and to implement self-help measures that will guarantee its survival. The paper concludes that, of these six explanations, the realist explanation offers the most compelling answer to Russia’s goal in Syria’s civil war because it forms the basis other explanations are built upon

Population Change in West Africa : 1954-1972

In the light of recent concern over world population growth, it would be interesting to study to what extent West Africa as a developing area has experienced changes in fertility, mortality and natural increase. This study would be especially interesting in that developing countries like those in West Africa account for approximately two-thirds of the world\u27s population. Students of demography generally hold that as a rural agricultural country becomes more urbanized and industrialized, a transition also occurs in the demographic process. Under the influence of modernization, death rates decline rapidly while high fertility continues, producing a rapid population growth that continues until fertility declines to a level appropriate to such modernization. This study proposes to examine the changes that have transpired in West African fertility, mortality and natural increase from 1954 to 1972 so as to evaluate the extent to which West Africa may be experiencing the process of demographic transition. Statement and Importance of the Problem This study examines the following problem: What changes have transpired in West African countries in fertility, mortality and natural increase from 1954 to 1972, and how are these changes associated with social and economic measures of modernization? As previously indicated, it is a somewhat regular demographic phenome non that a country is undergoing demographic transition when the high birth rate and high death rate pattern change to one of continuing high birth rates but declining death rates. If it can be demonstrated that West Africa is experiencing this transition, then the current anticipated population explosion for that area may already be in the process of leveling and ultimately declining in force. Indications of this would be important information for people concerned with population growth, population change, family planning and allocation of health services in West African nations. The objectives of this study are: 1. To determine the changes that have transpired in West African nations and West Africa as a whole in fertility, mortality and natural increase from 1954 to 1972. 2. To determine the socioeconomic measures of modernization that are associated with these changes in fertility, mortality and natural increase. 3. To evaluate the extent to which West Africa may be experiencing the process of demographic transition based on the findings

Human Rights and Global Justice: A Normative Critique of Some Rawlsian Approaches.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GLOBAL JUSTICE: A NORMATIVE CRITIQUE OF SOME RAWLSIAN APPROACHES I hold the position that all forms of social injustice (including global injustice), result from the intentions and actions of persons. Therefore, irrespective of intervening layers of causation, such injustice must be understood as intersubjective violations. In this project, I attempt to develop a global justice theory that takes the level of analysis beyond global institutions and practices to the level of intersubjective relations between moral agents. My project opens up the following question: How would a global justice theory look if we took the expression of human agency as the cause, and restriction of human freedom, as the effect of such injustice? In Chapter 1, I redefine social and global injustice as intersubjective domination and provide an overview of some of the more dominant social and global justice theories. Next, I analyze the works of two dominant Rawlsian Contaractarian global justice theories, Thomas Pogge and Richard Miller. In Chapter 2 and 3, I discuss the works of Pogge and Miller respectively. I argue against both theorists that although they provide strong arguments against the moral wrong of global poverty because neither of them seeks deeper deontological grounds for the human right to adequate resources, their prescriptions lack the force of moral law. In Chapter 4, I put Pogge and Miller in conversation and conclude that because both theories could accommodate relations of inter-subjective or/and inter-country domination, they do not provide strong enough arguments for an adequate global justice theory

Resilience, Attitude Towards Substance Use and Gender as Predisposing Factors of Risky Sexual Activities Among Adolescents in Ibadan Oyo State, Nigeria

Adolescent risky sexual behaviour and its consequences are serious problems affecting Nigeria negatively and require research attention to proffer solution. Many studies have focused on peer influence as a facilitative factor of risky sexual behaviour among adolescents.  However, literature on predisposing factors among this age cohort is still evolving. This study explored the role of resilience, attitude towards substance use and gender as protective factors against risky sexual activities among adolescents in Ibadan, Oyo Sate, Nigeria. Two hundred adolescents with age range between 10 and 20 years with mean age of 18 years (SD 12.25) were randomly drawn from schools located in Ibadan Metropolis using simple random sampling technique. Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Three instruments with satisfactory psychometric properties were used as data source while descriptive statistics and t-test were used as statistical tools. The findings revealed that there was significant difference in risky sexual behaviour between adolescents with high and low resilience (Crit-t 1.987, Cal.t -2.068, df=198, P<0.05). Those with low resilience were more likely to be involved in risky sexual behaviours than their counterpart with high resilience. There was also significance difference in risky sexual behaviour based on either negative or positive attitude towards substance (Crit-t = 1.645, Cal.t = 2.593, df=198, P<0.05 level of significance).  Those with positive attitude towards substance use have higher tendency to engage in risky sexual behaviours than their counterpart with negative attitude. Further, there was no significant difference in the risky sexual behaviour of male participants and the female participants. It concluded that resilience and attitude are protective factors against risky sexual behaviours. Preventive interventions may need to focus on gender-informed approaches when targeting risky sexual behaviours. There is also need for training to improve resilience skill of this cohort. Keywords: Risky sexual behaviour, resilience, attitude, substance, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/DCS/13-5-04 Publication date:July 31st 202

Evidence based therapeutic outcome of multimodal therapy on sexual decisions of students in River State Remedial Study Centres

Previous efforts at remediating sexual decision of adolescents in Nigeria have been based on unimodal therapies. Therefore, this study investigated the effectiveness of Multimodal Therapy (MMT) on sexual decisions of adolescents studying in Remedial Centres in Rivers state, Nigeria. Pre-test post control group quasi experimental design with 2x 2 factorial matrix was adopted to execute the study. One hundred and twentyeight students consisting 71 males (55.4%) and 57 females (44.5%) with age range of 16-21 years ( x̄ =13.2; SD=3.2) participated in the study. Simple random sampling technique was utilized to draw samples from Remedial Study Centers in River state. Adolescent Decision-Making Questionnaire (r=0.77) was the outcome measure. The experimental group was exposed to nine sessions of MMT (18 hrs) while the control group served as a comparison group. Analysis of Covariance and Multiple classification analysis were used to test the three hypotheses. There was significant main effect of treatment (F (2,123) =10.871; P<0.05). Male participants had superior treatment gains when compared with the female. These results suggest that Multimodal therapy can be useful in enhancing sexual decision, however programmers should be gender sensitive when designing treatment package.Keywords: Multimodal Therapy, Adolescents, Sexual Decisions, Remedial study Centres, River Stat

A protracted civil war in Syria defies all concerted efforts to end it

The paper critically analyzes the reasons for the protraction and intractability of the Syrian civil war despite several concerted efforts to resolve it. This leads to identifying seven schools of thought that proffer different explanations each of which addresses an aspect of the problem. The explanations are that Syria’s civil war is prolonged and intractable due to the institutional weakness of the United Nations and the infighting in the United Nations Security Council, the sectarianization of the civil war by Islamist extremist rebel groups, the deployment of violent approach by the Syrian opposition instead of sticking to non-violent approach, the Syrian rebels’ abundant profits from Syria’s illicit economy, the West’s reluctance to use military action against the Syrian government because such action will be unprofitable, internal factors which include the peculiar nature of the dynamics of the civil war, the internal politics and institutional power structure of the major internal players in the war, and external factors regarding the obstructive behaviour and activities of external players, especially great powers. While all the explanations are important, the paper concludes that the last account is most likely the truest reason why the Syrian civil war continues up to now in its eighth year

Impacts of Human Activities on Tree Species Composition Along the Forest Savanna Boundary in Nigeria

The study investigated the tree species composition along the forest-savanna boundary in Oyo state of Nigeria with the aim of assessing the impact of human activities on the floristic composition. A transect was placed along the study area and species data was collected from quadrats placed in study plots within different study sites. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to determine vegetation assemblages, while both correlation and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to show the relationship between species in the different study sites. Results of the DCA revealed three species assemblages, an area with only forest species, another with only savanna species and a third with both forest/savanna species. ANOVA results further revealed that within the forest and savanna assemblages, species in mature and successional sites were alike. The study therefore revealed that human activities’ within the region is leading to the establishment of savanna species and an elimination of forest species