Addressing the Insecurity Challenge in Nigeria: The Imperative of Moral Values and Virtue Ethics

The insecurity challenge in Nigeria has assumed a formidable dimension that not only requires a multistakeholder approach, as it is being touted in various quarters, in quelling this conflagration threatening Nigeria’s statehood, but also necessitates a revival and reinforcement of moral values and virtues. The thirst for blood and the preference for violence in expressing pent-up frustration and disenchantment with the state, its citizens and national totems may be a pointer to the need to revive moral values and virtues within the socioeconomic, political, religious and educational institutions in the country. Nigerian leaders, politicians and their amen corners must be forced to evince and uphold moral values and virtues in all their conduct in order to lead by example and to avoid heating up the polity unnecessarily by their conducts and comments which sometimes incite violence in their follower

Staffing Patterns of State Colleges of Education Libraries in Nigeria

The College of Education system is one of the tripods of tertiary education in Nigeria and it has the primary role of training teachers who will be awarded the minimum teaching qualification of Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE). This certificate qualifies one to teach in junior secondary schools and technical colleges in Nigeria and it takes three years to complete. These teachers’ institutions were formally known as Advanced Teachers’ Colleges and were affiliated to different universities in Nigeria. They were later transformed into Colleges of Education under the supervision of one umbrella body known as the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) established in 1989. There are 64 colleges of education in Nigeria, classified according to their ownership; hence, we have 20 federal, 39 state, 1military and 4 private colleges of education. The state colleges of education are established and funded by their respective State governments. (NCCE, 1996, NCCE, 2002)

Improving Entrepreneurship In Nigerias Emerging Economy

Employment is a cure for unemployment and its attendant vices like armed robbery, corruption, forgery, internet fraud, and drug trafficking. An “idle mind is the devil’s workshop”, so says a popular adage. There is increasing unemployment due to too much emphasis on liberal education devoid of vocational and entrepreneurship education and increasing population. Although Nigerian governments try to promote entrepreneurship by making policies regarding funding of businesses, providing enabling infrastructure, implementation of the policies is nothing to write home about because corruption has led to the abandonment of contracts on electricity supply and means of transportation. If the government is to achieve its dream of making Nigeria one of the 20 greatest economies of the world, it should improve electricity, road and railway transportation systems, security, and  reduce the cost of communication and entrepreneurship development which is newly introduced at all levels of its educational system

Health Implications of Feeding Habits as Perceived by Upper Basic Education Students in Ona-Ara Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Eating a healthy diet is the cornerstone of all round growth and development for infants, children and adolescents therefore; too much intake of foods that contain large amounts of saturated fats, sugars and salt, combined with a low intake of fruits, vegetables and cereal foods lead can result to health problems. This study examined health implications of feeding habits as perceived by upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive research design of the survey method was used for this study. The population used for the study comprised all upper basic education students (public mixed schools) in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. Multi-stage sampling technique, consisting of simple, proportionate and systematic sampling technique was used to select 439 respondents in upper basic education schools (public mixed schools) in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. Researcher-designed questionnaire validated by 3 experts drawn from the Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, was used for data collection. A reliability co-efficient of .84r was obtained through Split-half method using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Data collection was conducted by the researcher and three trained research assistants. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage for demographic information as well as inferential statistics of Chi-square (X2) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study showed that: i.            Eating habits have significant influence on diseases as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (70.05)  > critical value (12.59); ii.            Eating habits have significant influence on body weight as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (68.05)  > critical value (12.59); and iii.            Eating habits have significant influence on body posture as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (496.63) > critical value (12.59). The study concluded that eating habits have significant influence on diseases, body weight and body posture among upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. The findings implied that food intake can determine the overall wellbeing of the students, excessive intake and preference of some classes of food can lead to weight gain and intake of poor diet can result to bad posture. It was recommended that upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government area of Oyo State should be given more enlightenment by health educators on diseases associated with poor feeding habits and proper orientation on exercises and food rich in calcium to avoid bad posture should be given to them. Keywords: eating habits, diseases, body weight and body posture

The Third Millennium Secretary And Information & Communication Technology: Nigerian Experience

The academic qualifications, routine duties, role responsibilities, office equipment and personal attributes of traditional secretary form the basics for the study of the third millennium secretary. Although some of the personal and business attributes of the traditional secretary may appear old, some of them are still relevant in the workplace today. For example, both traditional secretary and the third millennium secretary still carry out routine duties of typing, handling telephone calls, etc., but the third millennium secretary carries out management activities which were hitherto reserved for only the executive. The third millennium secretary is better trained, uses modern technology, manages both human and non-human resources more efficiently, and is better at public relations and communication skills

Associations between Greenspace and street Crimes in Toronto: Evidence from a spatial analysis study at dissemination area level

Introduction: Earlier criminologists have explored various factors generating or attracting crime in urban cities coupled with crime studies focusing on the influence of social, built and natural environments in urban centres. According to Statistics Canada (2019), the Crime severity index of Canada and Toronto has been on the rise since 2014, which found the violent crime severity index showing higher trends than non-violent crime severity. This study, first, examined the crime trends and seasonality in Toronto. Next, the association between greenspace variables and street crime rates across the city at the dissemination level using the spatial statistical methods were explored. Previous crime studies have also investigated the relationship between the crime rate (property and violent) and greenspace, albeit this study only focused on analyzing crime that usually occurs outsides, namely “street crimes.” There are two schools of thought concerning the association between crime rates and greenspace. The first belief suggests greenspace facilitates criminal activities because it conceals the offender from the victims/bystanders, while the second belief insists that greenspace deter criminal activities. Methods: Street crime considered for this research included assault, auto-theft and robbery crime. This study explored the association between greenspace variables and street crime rates across the City of Toronto. Crime data were extracted from the Toronto Police Service public safety data portal; the greenspace data were obtained from Toronto Open Data, and sociodemographic data were exported from the 2016 Census Data collected from Statistic Canada. Street crime trends and seasonality were first, and they were carried out using crime data from the year 2014 to 2018 to generate a line graph depicting yearly, monthly and seasonal crime trends in the study area. Greenspace variables (stem density; basal area density and tree density) were estimated from tree inventory data. The sociodemographic variables considered were median household income, lone parent, unemployment rate, high school degree holders, owner-occupied housing and renter-occupied housing. Spatial distribution maps for the dependent and independent variables were generated to show the geographical variation of the data. The Global Moran’s I and Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) statistics were carried out on the street crime data to detect the spatial autocorrelation and clustering in the dependent variables. The spatial regression analyses were then carried out using the spatial lag model and the spatial error model on street crime rates, greenspace and sociodemographic variables. Results: There were changing crime trends and seasonal variation of the three-street crime occurrences. Consequently, the street crime rates indicated spatial clustering with the locations of hot and cold spots for assault and robbery crime rates similar. In contrast, auto-theft crime rates emerge in different locations across the City of Toronto. Results from the spatial regression analyses show that the stem density and tree density are negatively associated with street crime rates after controlling for specific sociodemographic factors. Also, the basal area density was not significant in the spatial regression analyses on street crime rates. The six sociodemographic indicators (median household income, unemployment rate, lone parent, high school degree holders, housing units occupied by owners and renters) were significantly associated with the three street crime rates in this current study. Conclusion: This thesis contributes to the existing literature by using a spatial-statistical approach to estimate greenspace variables and explored their relationship with street crime rates. This study draws attention to the use of specific sociodemographic factors with street crime types, and the influence parts of a tree (greenspace) could have on street crime rates across the City of Toronto. Limitations of the data were discussed, future studies concerning the recommendation of different tree species and the influence of weather on greenspace were discussed