Assessing the Media’s Watchdog Role in Ensuring the Accountability of the Nigerian Government

This paper attempts to assess the performance of the media in their watchdog role as it relates to ensuring the accountability of the government to the electorate in Nigeria. The 21st century media are saddled with the responsibility of providing the citizenry with substantial information to help them make informed decisions. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) synergized with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have aided freer flow of information from the media to the electorate. To ensure a successful democratic governance and sustainable development, the media have the responsibility to communicate the actions of the government to its citizens and relaying the feedback to the government through opinion pages and public affairs programmes, among others. Since inhibitions on the path of freedom of information have been removed with the hopes to enhance media capacity to freely divulge information, this paper, therefore, examines how well the media are living up to the expectation of grooming an informed populace. It explores how well informed the citizens are about their rights to demand greater accountability from the government, as a result of media messages. It also investigates the citizens’ views about the media’s fairness in reporting government activities. The study would employ the survey research method. The social responsibility theory and the development media theory will be the axles around which the study will revolve. Suggestions will be made on how the media can further enlighten the citizens to become active participants in national developmen

Media Coverage of Entrepreneurial Innovation as a Determinant of Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Entrepreneurship has been widely recommended by scholars and professionals as one of the major ways to address the ever growing level of unemployment and continuous dwindling resources in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it is also a consensus among stakeholders that conditions in the country are largely unfriendly for the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Entrepreneurship may not survive without exposure or publicity. This, therefore, crystallizes the role of media coverage in the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Hence, this study examines the extent to which entrepreneurial innovation is given coverage in Nigerian national newspapers and how this can lead to sustainable development in Nigeria. Vanguard, The Punch, The Guardian and Business Day newspapers were purposively selected and issues from 2013 to 2015 for each were used for the study. This paper recommends ways in which entrepreneurship can be enhanced through media partnership

Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development: The Role of Entrepreneurship Education for Out-of-School Youth

Nigeria has one of the poorest sets of national development indices in the world and it is widely believed that the underdevelopment of human capacity is a major factor contributing to Nigeria’s underdevelopment. Demographic segregation of the Nigerian population indicates that youths form the largest segment of the population. Hence, developmental efforts must target and/or capture the youthful population to have tangible and meaningful impact. The term youth empowerment is broadly employed to explain efforts aimed at providing coping skills and an enabling environment for youths to lead decent lives and contribute meaningfully to national development. An emerging trend in youth empowerment in Nigeria is entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education assumed importance against the background of poverty, widespread unemployment and the need to shift the attention of the citizenry away from white collar jobs and government patronage. This study highlights the importance of youth empowerment towards attaining sustainable development of the Nigerian nation. It examines the place of entrepreneurship education in the empowerment of youths, and attempts to identify missing links in the execution of entrepreneurship education initiatives in Nigeria. The researchers segregated the youthful population into two categories; in-school and out-of-school youths. Using literature study and unstructured observation, the researchers appraised the relative spread and intensity of entrepreneurship education initiatives (especially government-facilitated entrepreneurship education) amongst both groups. While entrepreneurship education initiatives targeted at in-school youth are easily noticeable nationwide, the same cannot be said about out-of-school youth. Meanwhile, based on national literacy, school enrolment, and tertiary institution matriculation examination/admission records, it can be inferred that out-of-school youths in Nigeria far outnumber in-school youths. The authors therefore recommend specific and deliberate nationwide efforts to impart entrepreneurial skills to out-of-school youths as a means to empowering them to contribute to sustainable development of the Nigerian nation and society. Such initiatives could have as primary targets, drop-outs from secondary schools, and young people who cannot proceed to higher institutions after their secondary education. Key Words: Entrepreneurship, in-school youth, out-of-school youth, national developmen

Factors of Gender Inequality and Development among Selected Low Human Development Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gender inequality and poor women empowerment retard improvement in living standards of women and act as a clog in their contributions to governance and economic development. Gender inequality lower quality of life and culminates in limited productivity, hinder economic efficiency and growth. For over three decades, gender issues have been at the front burner of international summits. In spite of much progress in recent times, gender inequalities remain pervasive in many dimensions of life in various regions around the world particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Treatment of women is yet to be fairer and related policies can be more effective to improve the status of women. No-doubt studies have been carried out on gender inequality, but less emphasis has been raveled with respect to hindrances and implications of gender inequality. Hence, understanding the nature of gender inequality will not only promote sound awareness among African countries, but also ignite government efforts as well as NGOs toward effective interventions for reduction of gender inequality especially in the economic and political realms where women are made worse off by the socio-cultural milieu. The methodological approach to this paper was based on reviews of published multiple documents to draw up statistical profile of the situation of women in selected countries of low human Development index in SSA to show the existence of gender inequality. The paper found among all the 12 low human development countries and SSA region examined that gender indicators such as human development index, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, estimated gross national per capita, share of seats in parliament, population with at least secondary education and labor-force participation rate are all in favor of men. The paper concludes with recommendations to narrow the gender gaps

HEALTH COMMUNICATION AND AWARENESS OF ALUMINIUM-WASTE DISPOSAL EFFECTS AMONG OGUN STATE HOUSING CORPORATION RESIDENTS

This paper surveyed residents of the Ogun State Housing Corporation who have resorted to collecting aluminium waste as a cheap alternative to assuage the deplorable state of road networks in the estate. 200 copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed to residents of the Housing Estate. The resolve of the survey was to determine the level of awareness (about the health and environmental implications) of aluminium waste, as well as decipher their level of involvement in the collection, use and contact with these waste materials. In cases of awareness about these health implications; the medium through which they gained such awareness was further queried. It was recommended upon findings that harnessing the participation of all stakeholders (the Residents association, the Industrial wing and the Ogun State government) would bring stability to the growing demand for these materials within the Estate. Similarly, coordinating educative and informative campaigns through the existing meeting platforms in the Estate would expedite enhanced consciousness and eventual cessation of the possibilities of contact and inhalation of aluminium waste in the Housing Estate

Environmental and Health Impact of Cement Factory Production in Ibese, Ogun state, Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of cement dust emitted from Dangote cement factory, Ibese, Ogun State, Nigeria on the environment and human health. Soil and plant samples were collected from six sampling points at different distances i.e. inside the factory kiln (IFK), the factory gate (TFG ̴ 50 m); Abule Oke (AOK ̴ 100 m), Maria (MAR ̴ 200 m), and Ibese (IBE ̴ 300m), based on the prevailing wind direction. Control samples were taken opposite the wind direction at ILA (Ilaro) about 1,000 m. Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb, Ni and Cd were analyzed in the samples using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Air quality and noise levels were monitored using standard me-thods. Sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), total suspended particulate matter and noise concentrations ranged from 7-25 ppm, 0.1-0.2 ppm, 101-13,056 ug m-3 and 72.1-98.2 dB, respectively, which were higher than USEPA standard. Heavy metals in soils were in the order of: MAR> IFK>AOK>IBE>ILA>TFG for Cu, AOK>MAR>IFK>TFG>ILA>IBE for Zn, IBE>IFK> MAR>AOK>TFG>ILA for Cd, IBE>AOK>MAR>TFG>IFK>ILA for Mn, IBE>AOK> TFG>MAR>ILA>IFK>IBE for Pb and MAR>TFG>AOK>IBE>ILA>IFK for Ni. Health-related characteristics of the respondents also showed that 2.5% had allergies that hindered breathing, while 3.75% had difficulty in smelling. Health risk assessment showed that in-gestion is the major pathway of exposure to heavy metals in soil samples for both children and adults. Cd, Mn, Ni and Pb pose non-cancer risks to children, while only Cd and Mn pose non-cancer risks to adults. Ni and Pb pose the greatest cancer risk to children. In cassava leaves and tubers Pb was the only metal found to pose cancer risk in both children and adults

To Whom Much Is Given: Prioritising Corporate Social Responsibility Among Nigerian Banks (2010-2015)

This study used the corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending of the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) and Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) from 2010-2015 to determine the priority of each bank in giving back to the society. The nature of banking has greatly evolved in the 21st century. Not only has the advent of technology made new products and services available, fierce competition among similar brands has also offered customers a wide variety of choices. This brings to the fore the importance of relationship building through Public relations and CSR. The study, therefore, examined the corporate social responsibility of FBN and GTBank over a period of six years. This paper adopted the methodological approach of reviewing the banks’ published annual reports from 2010 to 2015. Statistical analysis was drawn up on the company’s practice of corporate social responsibility which included spending on education and community development among others. The findings revealed that the First Bank of Nigeria spent more on CSR within the period studied while Guarantee Trust Bank had a higher percentage of yearly increase in spending. It was, nevertheless, discovered that both banks recorded significant cut in their spending from 2014.Consequently, it was recommended that banks should embrace CSR as a salient part of their existence and not as an activity to adopt when convenient

Palm kernel;machine efficiency; machine design; performance evaluation

Entrepreneurship has been widely recommended by scholars and professionals as one of the major ways to address the ever growing level of unemployment and continuous dwindling resources in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it is also a consensus among stakeholders that conditions in the country are largely unfriendly for the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Entrepreneurship may not survive without exposure or publicity. This, therefore, crystallizes the role of media coverage in the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Hence, this study examines the extent to which entrepreneurial innovation is given coverage in Nigerian national newspapers and how this can lead to sustainable development in Nigeria. Vanguard, The Punch, The Guardian and Business Day newspapers were purposively selected and issues from 2013 to 2015 for each were used for the study. This paper recommends ways in which entrepreneurship can be enhanced through media partnership