Electoral Violence and 2015 General Elections in Nigeria

The Nigerian state is not alien to electoral violence which can be traced as far back as the pre independence elections Contestants in Nigeria can go to any length to rig and win elections even if it means to break the states monopoly of violence to deploy terror to win elections At the just concluded 2015 general elections in Nigeria the South South part of Nigeria witnessed different levels of mayhem and the destruction of lives and property On the other hand the Northern and South Western states witnessed minimal electoral violence unlike previous years where violence was more in the North To this end it is the aim of this paper to highlight how electoral violence was reduced during the 2015 general elections This paper adopted the use of secondary data in the analysis of the research However this paper concluded that the electorates in the Northern part of Nigeria and the South West aligned to the All Progressives Congress political party APC the opposition party which eased tensions but in the South South violence broke out as a result of an attempt by the opposition party to unseat the ruling party Peoples Democratic Party PDP This paper recommends that continuous voter education should be increased in order to educate people on the ills of electoral violence Also stiffer penalties should be handed down on the agents and accessories of electoral violence so as to deter others from deploying violence in future elections in Nigeri

Intra-Elite Conflict and Problems of Governance in Nigeria: Imperatives of Games Theory in African Politics

In modern African politics terrorism and failed state syndrome have became prevalent and a challenge to democratic values and virtues of good governance posing great threat and stress to the survival of domestic political systems This increasing political stress is a product of competition and struggle for power and supremacy among players in the executive and legislative organs of government which has reduced the parliament to a rubber stamp of power seekers as well as the use of electoral violence as instruments of regime change Therefore this study seeks to examine the root cause of political struggle and problems of good governance in Africa by analyzing the variables of intra-elite crisis in the parliament and the quest for establishment of spheres of influence by players in the executive arm The rivalry between both elites has created tremendous problems of governance and the desires of incumbent presidents to elongate their tenure by using the legislature to amend the constitution to suit their third term bid as was seen in Burundi The games theory is used as a tool of analysis to describe the roles of elites in the intra-power struggle for the control of the parliament which has made modern legislatures in Africa a new theater for proxy wars of domestic power seekers resulting in the collapse of parliamentary values and the ascendency of executive authoritarianism This has made legislature in Africa weak and unstable culminating in the democratization of disempowerment of the citizens from the benefits of good governance promoting poverty political exclusion apathy and frustration Therefore we conclude that intra-elite struggle for power has provided the political mechanism for reshaping and influencing the legislative processes and powers of the parliament to satisfy the self interest of power seeker

Changing Cycles of Terrorism: The use of Vehicles as a Tool for Violent Attacks

Terrorist activities are usually carried out by men of the underworld who derive pleasure is taking the lives of innocent people through the use of car bombs suicide bombers and in rare cases sporadic shooting at crowded places These methods over the years have proved to be very effective and capital intensive with serious logistic planning and critical intelligence and evaluation of the target area before the time or date to strike However with the whole world especially the super powers on high alert the terrorists have changed their tactics and have selected a more discrete but effective method to deploy violence through the use of vehicles to ram into crowds of unsuspecting innocent people To this end this it is the aim of this paper to attempt to demonstrate how terrorist have changed their game by now using a motorized technique in their violent operations The study adopted the use of secondary data and the descriptive method in the analysis of its variables The research concluded that terrorists have adopted the use of vehicles to ram into crowded places because the method raises little or no suspicion before the attack The paper recommends that speed breakers should be installed at bus stops and also government of states need to invest in intelligence gathering and proactive to avoid such attacks in the futur

Electoral Violence and 2015 General Elections in Nigeria

The Nigerian state is not alien to electoral violence which can be traced as far back as the pre independence elections Contestants in Nigeria can go to any length to rig and win elections even if it means to break the states monopoly of violence to deploy terror to win elections At the just concluded 2015 general elections in Nigeria the South South part of Nigeria witnessed different levels of mayhem and the destruction of lives and property On the other hand the Northern and South Western states witnessed minimal electoral violence unlike previous years where violence was more in the North To this end it is the aim of this paper to highlight how electoral violence was reduced during the 2015 general elections This paper adopted the use of secondary data in the analysis of the research However this paper concluded that the electorates in the Northern part of Nigeria and the South West aligned to the All Progressives Congress political party APC the opposition party which eased tensions but in the South South violence broke out as a result of an attempt by the opposition party to unseat the ruling party Peoples Democratic Party PDP This paper recommends that continuous voter education should be increased in order to educate people on the ills of electoral violence Also stiffer penalties should be handed down on the agents and accessories of electoral violence so as to deter others from deploying violence in future elections in Nigeri

Foreign private investment and economic growth in Nigeria: A cointegrated VAR and Granger causality analysis

This research uses a cointegration VAR model to study the contemporaneous long-run dynamics of theimpact of Foreign Private Investment (FPI), Interest Rate (INR) and Inflation rate (IFR) on Growth Domestic Products (GDP) in Nigeria for the period January 1970 to December 2009. The Unit Root Test suggests that all the variables are integrated of order 1. The VAR model was appropriately identified using AIC information criteria and the VECM model has exactly one cointegration relation. The study further investigates the causal relationship using the Granger causality analysis of VECM which indicates a uni-directional causality relationship between GDP and FDI at 5% which is in line with other studies. The result of Granger causality analysis also shows that some of the variables are Ganger causal of one another; the null hypothesis of non-Granger causality is rejected at 5% level of significance for these variables

Does knowledge based psychological ownership matter? Transformational leadership and knowledge hiding: A proposed framework

The prevalent and negative impact of knowledge hiding behaviour among employees has called the attention of both practitioners and researchers to begin investigations on its causes, and other factors that influence it on both the targets and perpetrators. Some of the possible suggested antecedents of knowledge hiding studied include trust, job characteristic, organisational culture, and workplace environment. Despite these studies, few have attempted to investigate the influence of leadership, particularly, transformational leadership on knowledge hiding. Previous studies also indicated conflicting results, and the mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences knowledge hiding are not adequately addressed. Therefore, mediator variable is suggested. Hence, this paper proposes knowledge psychological ownership as a potential mediator on the relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge hiding behaviour of an employee in the organization. We hereby argue that transformational leadership through knowledge psychological ownership will influence employees to refrain from the knowledge hiding behaviour that may negatively affect the organisation and encourage knowledge sharing to improve the performance of the organization

Effects of Treated Wood Flour on Physico-Mechanical Properties of Filled Natural Rubber

Wood flour was crushed in to particle size and given two surface treatments each with alkali and 3-chloro-2 hydroxylpropyltrimethylammoniumchloride. The raw, alkali-treated and bonding agent treated fibers were used as natural rubber composites. The samples were used to produce fiber-reinforced natural rubber composite at varying filler loadings. Properties such as tensile strength, hardness and impact resistance of the composites were investigated. The tensile strength of the composites varied such that both the alkali-treated and cationized fillers recorded higher values than the untreated fillers. The impact strength and hardness properties were also found to be better in the modified than the untreated ones. This work has shown some general improvements arising from causticization and cationization of cellulosic filler as reinforcing material for natural rubber.Keywords: Cationization, Causticization, Mechanical properties, Natural rubber, Wood flour

The Role of Renewable Energy in Mitigating Deforestation and Climate Change in Nigeria

This paper provides an overview of the role of renewable energy in mitigating deforestation and climate change in Nigeria. There are strong concerns over greenhouse gas (GHGs) buildup in the atmosphere which is leading to global climate change. Most of the energy supply and use for cooking and heating in the country is derived from fuel wood. This paper highlights the need to reduce burning wood substances as fuel since they generate carbon dioxide which is the main culprit behind the current climate change by exploiting other renewable energy sources like biofuels, solar and wind technologies. This minimizes overreliance on forests for fuel wood while still slowing down deforestation and climate change. In attaining this, the renewable energy contribution to the country’s energy generation and consumption must be improved. This paper suggests that the government in partnership with other stakeholders should design and implement effective renewable energy policies and programmes by strengthening its relevant institutions. It needs to also come up with more simpler and affordable renewable energy technologies as a pre-requisite to achieving environmental protection and sustainability. Keywords: renewable energy, fuel wood, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas, climate change, deforestatio

A survey of opportunistic infections in HIV seropositive patients attending major hospitals of Kebbi state, Nigeria

A survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of HIV/AIDS related opportunistic infections from the patients attending the five major Hospitals in Kebbi State , which included Federal Medical Center (FMC), Birnin Kebbi, Sir Yahaya Memorial Hospital (SYMH), Birnin Kebbi, General Hospital, Argungu (GHA), General Hospital , Yauri (GHY) and General Hospital , Zuru (GHZ). The screening for the HIV/AID was done using the Genic II HIV-1/HIV – 2 Test and the screening for opportunistic infections was done using thin and thick blood films, direct wet mount, formal ether concentration technique and modified Ziehl – Neelsen (ZN) technique. Microbial Pathogens were isolated through culture and identified through gram staining and biochemical tests. Out of the 1950 patients screened for HIV/AIDS infection, 606 (31.6%) were positive. Higher prevalence 195 (32.2%) was from FMC and the lowest from GHY 90 (15%). The result revealed that 374 (61.7%) of HIV/AIDS positive patients were also positive to one or more opportunistic infections. In this respect, higher prevalence of 32.3% was observed from FMC and the lowest was observed from SYMH with 13.9%. The result of the study also revealed the presence of malarial (Plasmodium) parasites with prevalence of (75.9%).The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) had the highest prevalence of 29.5%, SYMH, 21.7%, GHA, 17.2%, GHY, 16.1 and lastly GHZ with 15.4%. There is therefore the need for urgent positive control programme of HIV and HIV related opportunistic infections. Keywords: Survey, opportunistic infections, HIV Sero positive, Kebbi State

Patients’ Perspectives on Their Safety: A Qualitative Study in Two Public Health Facilities in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: Safe healthcare environments influence patients’ valuation of care received and impact on better health outcomes. It has been recognized that patients can contribute invaluably in improving the quality and safety of healthcare services they receive.Objective: To explore the perspectives of patients on their safety in healthcare.Methods: A qualitative study comprising of four (4) focus group discussions (FGDs) with six to eight participants was conducted in two public health facilities in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Patients admitted in medical wards (male and female) were recruited through a purposive sampling technique after obtaining their verbal informed consent to participate. A topic guide, containing open ended questions that explored patients’ opinions on their safety in healthcare was used for the discussions. All FGD sessions were recorded, transcribed and coded using thematic analysis.Results: The participants consisted of 15 females and 13 males in FGD sessions that lasted between 55 to 90 minutes. All participants were Hausa speaking, with varying levels of education. Six (6) themes were generated which the patients perceived to play a role in their safety in healthcare. These themes are: choice of hospital, patient satisfaction, patient experiences, patient engagement, communication openness and suggestions by patients for improvement.Conclusion: The findings of this study have highlighted both positive and negative perspectives of patients regarding their safety in healthcare. The patients provided some recommendations for areas where improvements are required for improved patient safety. These include infrastructural improvements, staffing, and availability of medicines, amongst others