Work-Family Conflict and Coping Strategies among Women: Evidenc~ from Commercial Banks in Nigeria

The difficulties associated with attempts to strike balance between the interacting and permeable boundaries of work and family roles require understanding of the complexities of both spheres. The nature of family and work structures in Nigeria makes coping with work and family roles a challenging one especially for women. The study specifically examined the determinants .of work-family balance experience among women in the banking sector. It investigated the features of work schedules of women in the banking sector that enable them cope or unable to cope with multitask banking and home;front activities. A review of literature was carried out while the study was anchored on two theoretical theories of social exchange and role theory. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Samples were drawn randomly among the women employees of purposively selected banks within Lagos metropolis and Ogun State, Nigeria. Only 730 respondents were successfully covered. In addition, 30 key informants who were principal official in selected banks and family heads were interviewed. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study. The first hypothesis revealed that age of the respondents, children ever born (parity), marital status, staff category and religion are significant determinants of work-family balance. Women with children in parity ratio of 1-2,3-4 and 5 and above are 1.654, 1.455 and 1.235 times more likely to be unable to balance work-family roles compared to those with zero parity (i.e. the reference category). The third hypothesis estimated significant influence of work status on the work-family balance; this is statistically significant at p-values of 0.005, 0.003, and 0.01 for senior staff, supervisors and junior staff respectively. The study concludes that if work demands become heavy, marital roles cannot be shelved or neglected and tension between the two boundaries will req"uire a compromise. In this instance, women will prefer to stake the job rather than losing their families. The study suggests effective policy intervention from organisation and effective family support from the familybase to reduce the complexities of balancing work and family demand

Causes and Effects of High Cost of Democratic Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Nigeria considering its forestry, aquatic and other natural resources in large deposits is a blessed country among other nations of the world. Since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 1950s, the country has earned over $400 billion. The problem of Nigeria is how to manage her financial resources to improve the lot of the citizens through prudent and efficient utilization of available funds by a visionary leadership. Unfortunately this has not happen. Rather, those who are privileged to occupy positions use the same to loot public funds for their own benefit. Their corrupt practices have led to an increase in the cost of governance in the country. This study is set out to examine the various causes and effects of the high cost of democratic governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic 1999-2013. The study adopts secondary sources of data for the analysis of the findings. Findings of the study indicates that salaries and allowances of public sector workers, the maintenance of large size of executive cabinet, money spent on elections and election litigations, and corruption have been identified as some of the factors responsible for the cost of democratic governance in Nigeria. The cost on governance on the other hand has caused negative political and socio-economic effects on the country’s political economy. Keywords: Democracy, Governance, Cost, Economy, Corruption, Election and Development