Problems and prospects of safeguarding health values and right to health in a reform prone Nigerian society

Values are essential part of social life. They shape worldview and character of social relationships. But they are threatened or affected by reforms, industrialization, acculturation and globalization etc. This paper observes that problems of safeguarding health values and right to health in Nigeria stems from failure to weave values into policy and reform instruments as well as poor implementation of polices. There are also other institutional and behavioural lapses, which if addressed as recommended, will protect health values and right to health and reposition Nigeria among committee of nations with impressive health indicators. Keywords: Health values, Right to health, Reform, Policy

Indigenous Communities and Community Development Principles in South-East Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects

Indigenous communities have fallen victims of underdevelopment arising from the remote nature of their environment coupled with public/private concentration on the urban areas for meaningful infrastructural and super-structural development. This situation has deprived most of these indigenous communities in Nigeria of unleashing their potentials and maximum utilization of their human and non-human resources for socio-economic development in their environment. This paper is motivated by this scenario to look for ways of improving the course of indigenous communities through optimal use of their unharnessed potentials for socio-economic development. The paper discussed the principles of community development, its challenges and prospects for socio-economic growth and sustenance of indigenous communities in Nigeria. This will function as a catalyst for empowering indigenous communities towards socio-economic and sustainable development. Keywords: Indigenous communities, community development, principles, challenges and prospects, sustainability

SCHOOL COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP: PROPULSION FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE PRACTICES IN SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NIGERIA

This paper focuses on the impact of school community relationship as propulsion for quality assurance practices in secondary schools in Nigeria. The study is an impulse which presents and explains such conceptual issues as: education, quality assurance, and the roles of government in planned curriculum, school and community partnership building, Importance of school community relationship, school community partnership building, school management and leadership and effective quality assurance of teacher and student. The paper therefore sought and found quality assurance in education as a systematic management, monitoring and evaluation procedure adopted to measure the performance of school administration, and improvement drives coming from principals/teacher quality and instructional effectiveness as essential factors in the classroom as inputs/outputs drive. Furthermore, it recommended that Parents and teachers should not allow the management of their schools to the hands of the school administrators alone hence their contribution is vital and necessary for the development of the schools. School managers should create a conducive environment for old students associations to effectively operate in their schools and where they are not in existence, the school heads should find ways of bringing the old students together for the benefit of the school and the community in general. Schools should also provide enough advisory committee members that can be able to guide both teachers and learners to achieve their objectives in life and the plans of the school. Then recommended that, partnership envisaged cuts across different, but mutually inclusive groups of stakeholders: the private sector, international development agencies and families of learners being the utmost benefactors of the products of the educational system, who needed to be co-opted into the pursuit of quality education in secondary schools in Nigeria by government.  Article visualizations

Community Development and Tourism: A Socio-economic Analysis of Tourism Impacts in Bauchi

Community development and tourism have been functioning as amongst global perfect merge for economic and general development of communities. Tourism over the years has distinguished itself as one of the major tools for income generation and poverty alleviation in both rural and urban areas in developing nations like Nigeria. Participation in tourism-related economic activities contributes immensely in the community development of localities or places. Hence, the central aim of community development is to positively affect lives and standard of living of a people. Localities with equitable tourism potentials stand a better chance in maximizing the contributions of tourism to their economic lives by actively initiating and participating in various tourism businesses; small and large scale businesses. This paper surveyed Bauchi town in Nigeria, with the above premise in mind and ended up studying the economic impacts of tourism on community development in Bauchi, degree of participation by the community and the role of the community towards tourism development in the area. At the end, it was discovered that tourism related businesses dominates economic related businesses in the area, virtually all social classes of people in Bauchi participate in one or more tourism-related businesses and finally, active participation of the community aid the development and sustenance of tourism in the area. Keywords: Community Development, Tourism, Economy, Impact.

Sovereign Wealth Fund and Challenges of Fiscal Federalism in Nigeria

Following the passage of the Nigerian sovereign investment authority Act 2011, by the National Assembly, the federal Government acting pursuant to the Act, set up the fund. It is customary for the government to distribute all revenue accruing to her in the Federation Account between the federal, state and local government councils according to a set formula. The establishment of the sovereign wealth fund received attacks and protest by the governors of the federating states, thus, raising the unsettled question of the concept of federalism in Nigeria. The view of many is that the concept of the Nigerian federalism is not determined by the judicious power and revenue sharing formula, rather by the result of the imposed federal system of government by the colonial master and the subsequent military regimes is the base for the frequent disputes and quarrels between the states and federal government in some national issues. The formation of the Governor’s forum as an association of all the governors in Nigeria is to protect the states from the political and fiscal interference of the federal government. By virtue of the provision of the constitution, the concept of federalism was entrenched in that the sovereignty of the nation was divided between the federal, states and local governments. The exercise of the legislative and executive powers by the federal system, particularly, as these powers touch on the sharing of the country’s revenue between the federating units. And at several occasions, attempts were made by the federal government through the National Assembly negating the principles of true federalism. This review has attempted to highlight on related concepts, legal base for Nigeria’s fiscal federalism and its challenges. It also provides an analytical framework linking it to a suitable theory. The significant finding of the study is the fact that there is an imbalance in the federal system and structures of federating units in Nigeria. The implication of the finding is that there will continue to be a developmental lacuna and ethnic squabbles among the federating units if the imbalances are not corrected. Recommendations were also offered to ameliorate the imbalance system and establishment of the fund. Keywords: Sovereign Wealth Funds, Fiscal Federalism, Ethnic Squabbles, Federating unit, African Continent, Financial Management and Accounting

Probing geomagnetic storm-driven magnetosphere-ionosphere dynamics in D-region via propagation characteristics of very low frequency radio signals

The amplitude and phase of VLF/LF radio signals are sensitive to changes in electrical conductivity of the lower ionosphere which imprints its signature on the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. This characteristics makes it useful in studying sudden ionospheric disturbances, especially those related to prompt X-ray flux output from solar flares and gamma ray bursts (GRBs). However, strong geomagnetic disturbance and storm conditions are known to produce large and global ionospheric disturbances, which can significantly affect VLF radio propagation in the D region of the ionosphere. In this paper, using the data of three propagation paths at mid-latitudes (40° – 54°), we analyze the trend of aspects of VLF diurnal signal under varying solar and geomagnetic space environmental conditions in order to identify possible geomagnetic footprints on the D region characteristics. We found that the trend of variations generally reflect the prevailing space weather conditions in various time scales. In particular, the ‘dipping’ of mid-day signal amplitude (MDP) of VLF always occurs after geomagnetic perturbed or storm conditions in the time scale of 1–2 days. The mean signal before sunrise (MBSR) and mean signal after sunset (MASS) also exhibit storm-induced dipping, but they appear to be influenced by event's exact occurrence time and highly variable conditions of dusk-to-dawn ionosphere. We observed fewer cases of the signals rise (e.g., MDP, MBSR or MASS) following a significant geomagnetic event, though this effect may be related to storms associated phenomena or effects arising from sources other than solar origin. The magnitude of induced dipping (or rise) significantly depends on the intensity and duration of event(s), as well as the propagation path of the signal. The post-storm day signal (following a main event, with lesser or significantly reduced geomagnetic activity), exhibited a tendency of recovery to pre-storm day level. In the present analysis, We do not see a well defined trend of the variations of the post-storm sunrise terminator (SRT) and sunset terminator (SST). The SRT and SST signals show more post-storm dipping in GQD-A118 propagation path but generally an increase along DHO-A118 propagation path. Thus the result could be propagation path dependent and detailed modeling is required to understand these phenomena

Avoiding School Management Conflicts and Crisis through Formal Communication

This paper examined how conflicts and crisis can be avoided through formal communication. It was necessitated by the observation that most of the conflicts and crisis which tend to mar school management today are functions of the inconsistencies arising from “grapevines, rumours, and gossips” generated through informal communication processes. It does not however mean that formal communication doesn’t generate conflicts and crisis; or that informal communication does not help in avoiding conflicts and crisis in school management. The argument is that in formal communication, there are control measures that filter the flow of information and guide against or properly manage the information that could have caused conflicts and crisis in school management. Thus, it is recommended that as efforts are geared towards avoiding school management conflicts and crisis through formal communication, informal communication should not be ruled out; instead strategies should be devised to properly manage it and explore the benefits.