Entrepreneurship Development and the Growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria

Objective The study examines the impact of entrepreneurship development on the growth of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs’) in Nigeria using a Lagos based MSME in the Information and Communication Technology industry, Befy Links Nigeria Limited.   Prior Work The roles of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), as a catalyst for economic growth have been well documented in economics literature. The recent global economic crisis negatively affected productive activities and reduces business operations, investments and demand for goods and services. This forced many countries to look for alternative means of growth and development. One of these alternative approaches is the encouragement of micro, small and medium scale enterprises.   Approach The study employed descriptive and Chi-square techniques for the analyses. Questionnaires were randomly administered to the workers and customers in the company.   Results It was found that entrepreneurship development has significant impact on the growth of MSMEs and that training and re-training of existing and intending entrepreneurs is necessary to ensure sufficient impact of entrepreneurship development on the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.    Implications Government and stakeholders in entrepreneurship development should support, promote and ensure that MSMEs are given necessary impetus to function efficiently. Entrepreneurs should also cultivate the right attitude that would engender partnerships and pooling of resources. The entrepreneurship programmes (EDPs), should not be left to the public sector and professionals in other sectors of the economy should utilize the potentials in these programmes.   Value The unique contribution of the study is that it takes interest in information and technology sector.   Keywords: Investment; Industrial Growth; Economic Growth   JEL Classification: O4, L8, L260, Objective The study examines the impact of entrepreneurship development on the growth of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs’) in Nigeria using a Lagos based MSME in the Information and Communication Technology industry, Befy Links Nigeria Limited.   Prior Work The roles of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), as a catalyst for economic growth have been well documented in economics literature. The recent global economic crisis negatively affected productive activities and reduces business operations, investments and demand for goods and services. This forced many countries to look for alternative means of growth and development. One of these alternative approaches is the encouragement of micro, small and medium scale enterprises.   Approach The study employed descriptive and Chi-square techniques for the analyses. Questionnaires were randomly administered to the workers and customers in the company.   Results It was found that entrepreneurship development has significant impact on the growth of MSMEs and that training and re-training of existing and intending entrepreneurs is necessary to ensure sufficient impact of entrepreneurship development on the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.    Implications Government and stakeholders in entrepreneurship development should support, promote and ensure that MSMEs are given necessary impetus to function efficiently. Entrepreneurs should also cultivate the right attitude that would engender partnerships and pooling of resources. The entrepreneurship programmes (EDPs), should not be left to the public sector and professionals in other sectors of the economy should utilize the potentials in these programmes.   Value The unique contribution of the study is that it takes interest in information and technology sector.   Keywords: Investment; Industrial Growth; Economic Growth   JEL Classification: O4, L8, L260, &nbsp

Seroprevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous chickens in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

Newcastle disease (ND) is a disease of high economic importance to poultry farmers in Nigeria. Its impact on poultry include illness of poultry, reduction in egg production, immunosuppression, and death. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous (local) chickens from 2 poultry abattoirs in the Ilorin metropolis. A total of 400 blood samples were aseptically collected in plain bottles from the jugular veins of local chickens at slaughter using exsanguination and transported to the laboratory in batches. Sera samples were harvested from the blood by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, after which they were stored at -20oC before serological assay. The sera were subjected to Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test to check for the presence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) antibody following a standard procedure with titer values for each sample recorded. The geometric mean of the HI antibody titer (GMT) and the percentages of detectable NDV HI antibody titer were calculated using descriptive statistics. Of the 400 serum samples examined, 53 (13.25%) were positive for ND antibodies, with titre value ≥ 1:16. The location from which the birds were selected had no significant relationship with the prevalence of ND antibodies as both Oja tuntun (11.9%), and Ipata market (14.6%) had a closely similar prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). The feather arrangement of birds did not also have any significant impact on the prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). However, in this study, we observed a higher prevalence of antibodies among hens (14.7%) than in cocks (12.5%) or growers (8.9%). The high prevalence of ND antibodies in indigenous chickens in the study area showed the endemicity of the disease in the study areas. With most of the chickens are not vaccinated amid non-compliance to vaccine administration for local chickens. There is a need for poultry farmers in the study location to be educated on the importance of vaccinating poultry birds against ND

Assessment of chromium and nickel in agricultural soil: implications for sustainable agriculture

Fertilizers in soil management can alter soil physical, chemical and biological compositions, and introduce trace elements such as chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) into the agricultural soils. The carcinogenic tendencies of these trace elements at elevated concentrations in plants, animals and humans make it a serious concern. Soil samples from a farm in Ota, Southwest Nigeria wereanalysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results indicate that the farm's nickel (Ni) is within the permissible limits, while chromium (Cr) concentrationsexceeded the WHO/FAO allowable limits. Nickel has a mean value of 47.12 mg/kg in the soil, while chromium has a mean value of 152.20 mg/kg. These toxic elements' contamination assessment result has shown the descending order of Ni>Cd in the studied farm. The toxicity of nickel and chromiumin soils causes chlorosis, stunted rootsand inhibits plants growth

An innovative tailored instructional design for computer programming courses in engineering

Industry 4.0 and 5.0 topics are emerging fields and have seen rising demand recently. There is a critical need, on the other hand, for improved methods of instructing programming languages since a growing lack of student motivation during the pandemic has had a deleterious influence on the education of programmers. In this context, online/hybrid computer programming courses must be addressed with innovative solutions to support the field with well-educated professionals. In this paper, we present a case study to propose an innovative tailored instructional design for the online/hybrid learning environments for programming courses in engineering faculties. To develop the instructional design, the Kemp Instructional Design Model was followed. The instructional design is a result of the main outputs of the RECOM “Redesigning Introductory Computer Programming Using Innovative Online Modules” project, which aims to bridge the gap between the existing course design in programming courses and the needs of "Covid” and “post-Covid” generation students

In vitro Degradation of Extracted Cassava Linamarin by Bacillus Species Isolated from cassava wastewater

Linamarin is the most abundant cyanoglucoside present in cassava cells and may generate the equivalent amount of hydrocyanic acid. This study was aimed to assess degradative capacities of Bacillus pumilus strain WOB3 and WOB7on linamarin. The test organisms for linamarase activity were identified on the basis of phenotype, biochemical properties and 16S rDNA gene sequencing as: Bacillus pumilus strain WOB3 KX774195 and Bacillus pumilus strain WOB7 KX774196. Growth studies showed that the strains grew in all the substrates tested. The doubling times of Bacillus pumilus strain WOB3 and Bacillus pumilus strain WOB7 were 8.25 d and 7.53 d on cassava effluent, 6.30 dand 5.78 d on supplemented cassava effluent, 8.66 dand 9.90 d on waste leachate and 6.30 d and 9.24 d on supplemented waste leachate respectively; with specific growth rates of 0.084 d-1 and 0.092 d-1 on cassava effluent, 0.11 d-1 and 0.12 d-1 on supplemented cassava effluent, 0.080 d-1 and 0.070 d-1 on waste leachate and 0.11 d-1 and 0.075 d-1 on supplemented waste leachate respectively. High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis studies revealed that linamarin degradation by the strains followed a linamarase pathway involving CO2 and HCN as metabolic intermediates. Based on HPLC analysis, linamarin residual concentration at day 12 by the strains WOB3 and WOB7 was 26.73 mgL-1(19.79 %) and 29.79 mgL-1 (21.92 %). These novel features make the bacteria suitable candidates for in-situ application on sites contaminated with cassava processing wastes

E‐transparency and government budgetary corruption: A social marketing and transformation case from Nigeria

This article shows how Information and Communication Technology (ICT), incorporating social media, can lead to accountability and transparency in a government's budget. Specifically, it examined how a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) used ICT to foster citizenship engagement in the Nigerian government budgetary process. The article, using abductive reasoning, presents four citizen empowerment stages and four social marketing transition stages through which government budget transparency can be improved and corruption reduced. A model was also inferred that can help lessen the exclusivity around the government budget to encourage dialog and openness around the government budget in similar contexts. Furthermore, this article shows that the social transformative role for NGOs using ICT to increase government budget transparency and reduce corruption is a process that happens over time

Theory, practice and policy: An inquiry into the uptake of HCI practices in the software industry of a developing country

With almost four decades of existence as a community, human–computer interaction (HCI) practice has yet to diffuse into a large range of software industries globally. A review of existing literature suggests that the diffusion of HCI practices in software organizations lacks theoretical guidance. Although many studies have tried to facilitate HCI uptake by the software industry, there are scarce studies that consider HCI practices as innovations that software organizations could or should adopt. Furthermore, there appears to be a lack of structure in the facilitation of HCI methodological development within the specialized emerging regions field such as Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to address this gap, an exploratory investigation regarding the state of uptake of HCI practices in Nigeria is conducted. The aim of this article is to improve our understanding regarding the state of HCI uptake in developing countries and the challenges prevailing. The findings show that HCI practice still remains within its infancy stage in most software companies. Universities are also lacking the required knowledge transfer of HCI to the students, and in effect themselves contributing to the lack of HCI skills in industry. Furthermore, government policies are in need of refinement and end-users’ involvement in software development is not prioritized

Secondary headaches: secondary or still primary?

The second edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders makes a distinction between primary and secondary headaches. The diagnosis of a secondary headache is made if the underlying disease is thought to cause headache or if a close temporal relationship is present together with the occurrence of the headache. At first glance, this may allow clearly secondary headaches to be distinguished from primary headaches. However, by reviewing the available literature concerning several selected secondary headaches, we will discuss the hypothesis that some secondary headaches can also be understood as a variation of primary headaches in the sense that the underlying cause (e.g. infusion of glyceryl trinitrate [ICHD-II 8.1.1], epilepsy [7.6.2], brain tumours [7.4], craniotomy [5.7], etc.) triggers the same neurophysiologic mechanisms that are responsible for the pain in primary headache attacks