Literature: An Emerging Value in the Hard Ground of the Niger Delta

Literature is a social value which creeps out from human imagination. Its production is motivated by the pressures of conflict in the world of humanity and the strong instinct of man to device ways and means to conquer these challenging conflicts. Environmental literature thrives more on human and social conflict, particularly on the ecology of oppression. All over the world, traditions of literature have cropped up from the wreckage of war and difficult circumstances and situations man and society have been plunged into. These facts are well reflected in the literature of the world. But the Niger Delta experience has not been given adequate scholarly attention by literary scholars. This study demonstrates how a prolonged history and experience of violence in the Niger Delta characterised fundamentally by economic cannibalism, political brutality, environmental degradation and physical violence on the region have instituted literary nationalism. The study which deploys the historical and literary methodological modes of investigation shall undertake a conceptual foray on the implication of the concept of hard ground and its overview and as well provide a panoramic scaling of the hard ground in the history of struggle in the Niger Delta. The paper further argues that Niger Delta is a territorial figuration of hard ground and held firmly that literature is an emerging value of the rubbles of hard ground- a festering ecology of oppression and victimisation.Key words: Hard ground, emerging values, literature, technological, renaissanc

Text as an Agent and Agency of Dislocation: An Intertextual Inspection of Select Nigerian Dramas

In the world of literary creation, several texts have been created to express discontent and resentment arising from the meanings generated by earlier texts. These after texts are merely on the lane and mission of dislocating the dislocation of the primal texts. Although intertextuality in the world of literary creation and criticism has been deployed by several scholars and for a long time now, the point remains that the idea of interrogating a secondary text as an agency of dislocation of the claims of the primal text has as always remained within the domain and identity of intertextual discourse. This paper moved further by taxonomizing such counter-discourse narratives as protest drama and art. Thus, using the critical analysis and literary methods of investigation, the paper argues that intertextual shows are not only identified as protest arts but also considered as secondary texts that dislocate dislocating prototypal texts.Key Words: Text, agency, dislocation, intertextuality, Nigerian drama

Government Agricultural Credit Policy and Macroeconomic Fundamentals: a case study of Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) in Nigeria

The study established the relationship between amount of loan guaranteed by the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) and some key macroeconomic variables in Nigeria. Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test and improved ADF-GLS unit root test conducted on the specified time series showed that all series were integrated of order one. The short-run and long-run elasticities of amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF with respect to some key macro-economic fundamentals were determined using the techniques of co-integration and error correction models. The empirical results revealed that in the long run, the coefficients of interest rate charged by commercial banks and value of oil revenue has a significant negative and positive relationship respectively with the amount of loan guaranteed by the ACGSF in the country. Whereas in the short run, the coefficients of the previous amount of loan guaranteed and value of oil revenue as well as the real GDP has a positive association with the current amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF while the external debt has a negative association. The results were further substantiated by the variance decomposition and impulse response analysis of the dependent variable with respect to changes in the explanatory variables. The findings call for appropriate short and long term economic policy packages that should focused on the stabilization of the identified significant macroeconomic shifters of amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF in the country. Special attention should be given to the interest charged on agricultural loan by participating banks. Also, diversification of the country’s economy and drastic reduction in external debt would boost the operation of ACGSF in the country and enhances credit availability to Nigerian farmers. Keywords: Credit, policy, macroeconomic, external debt, interest rate, ACGSF, Nigeri

Solutions of Relativistic Klein-Gordon Equation with Equal Scalar and Vector Shifted Hulthen plus Angle Dependent Potential

We have solved approximately the relativistic Klein-Gordon equation under the special case of equal scalar and vector shifted Hulthen plus angle dependent potential using the  parametric form of NIkiforov-Uvarov method.  The energy eigenvalues and the corresponding  wave functions expressed in terms of a Jacobi polynomial are obtained. The effect of  the angle dependent part on the radial solution is also discussed. We have also discussed few special cases of this potential. Keywords: relativistic Klein-Gordon equation, shifted Hulthen, angle dependent potential, parametric Nikiforov-Uvarov method, centrifugal term. PACS: 03.65Ge; 03.65.Pm; 03.65.Fd; 03.65.-w

Towards the Enhancement of Population and Family Life Education for Nigerians

A ZJER article on population and family life education in Nigeria.The thrust of this paper is to highlight the strong relationship that exists between population/family life education and the quality of life for Nigerians. It observes that Nigeria’s population is increasing exponentially and this has affected several aspects of her national life. Reflecting on the numerous health problems like vesico vaginal fistula, recto vaginal fistula, ante partum and post partum haemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labour that come with unwanted childhood pregnancies, as well as increased cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and wide spread prostitution, the paper emphasizes that Nigerian students need more information on human sexuality now as future adults of the country. It therefore prescribes specific curricular contents of population and family life education and recommends a cooperative effort by home, school, church and community to provide selected learning experiences and guidance for young people in and outside schools concerning the need, interests, problems and goals that arise out of human psycho-sexual development primarily as related to love, marriage, parenthood and family life. The basic assumption here is that good families make a good society