Competition, non-financial measures and the effectiveness of management control system

This paper reports the results of an empirical study examining the relationship between the emphasis on non-financial measures and two other variables; the intensity of competition and the effectiveness of a management control system, in a manufacturing company. Two important issues focused in the study are: does competition compel managers to utilize more non-financial measures in decision making and is the emphasis given to non-financial measures worthwhile? Data from 105 manufacturing companies throughout Malaysia were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The results of both analyses indicate that the emphasis given to non-financial measures in decision making has a positive correlation with the effectiveness of a management control system and secondly, the intensity of competition faced by an organization is positively correlated with the emphasis on non-financial indicators. Descriptive analysis was also performed to evaluate the distribution of emphasis on non-financial measures by the age, location, ownership, size of an organization and its industry

In a Democratized Media Context What a Hoax Can Do, a Misinformation Can Do Even Worse: Influences of Fake News on Democratic Processes in Nigeria

With the rapid advancements in technology and the democratization of media topology in Nigeria, many people are increasingly gaining access to the media and becoming empowered to actively participate in public debate about issues affecting them in addition to having a great deal of online social interactions. However, people’s access to and interactions with technology and other media have given rise to a host of malicious effects – propagation of doubtful and fabricated content. This has been shown to have the potential to adversely influence people’s lives and sense of judgment, especially regarding democratic processes such as political campaigns during which many malicious fabricated contents are disseminated. In recent history, from 2016, election campaigns in various countries across the world have highlighted how fake news can be targeted at specific people or individuals to influence and misguide them, and even influence polls results. Ever since, issues surrounding fake news and its impacts on democratic and social settings have been gaining pervasive research attention. Hence, the urge to explore the concepts of misinformation and democracy from a Nigerian context through a review of extant literature. In conclusion, several propositions were made, and a conceptual framework was designed for future research to explore the concept and empirically proffer solutions to the growing menace. Keywords: Fake news and misinformation, Media and politics, Media democratization, Nigerian democratic processes, Political campaign, Social media DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/79-02 Publication date: April 30th 201

Stabilization of Soft Soil by Incinerated Sewage Sludge Ash from Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant for Engineering Construction

Effective Management of Municipal Solid Waste cannot be achieved without involving wastewater treatment plants as they generate sludge that must be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Therefore, recycling or reusing them are the preferred options for sustainable development. The study presented the use of incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA) as a soil stabilizing agent. Oxide compositions were determined by the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP). Result showed that ISSA contains Silicon oxide, SiO2 (61.42 %), Aluminum oxide Al2O3 (23.51 %) and Iron oxide, Fe2O3 (4.24 %) in high proportion. Clay soil with low to medium plasticity (CL) from an A-7-6 group was replaced with 0 % 3 %, 5 %, 7 % and 10 % ISSA. Test such as California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), Compaction and Atterberg limit were conducted. Soil obtained lowest OMC and highest MDD values both at 7% ash content. PI dramatically reduced at short extension of curing age from 21 % to 7 % at 10 % ISSA content thereby improving it from category A7 to A2. With 2.25 % at 3 days realized as the maximum value for resistance to loss in strength, durability requirement is satisfied. ISSA effectively raised CBR values of soil from 15.6 % to 19.5 %, 32.6 %, 47.9 % and 46.4 % respectively with 7 % ISSA additive yielding best result. Therefore, the study concludes that 7 % ISSA additive effectively enhance the strength of soft soils

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Analysis of Heavy metals in water at Daura Gypsum Mining Site, Yobe State, Nigeria

This study was designed to detect heavy metals level in water collected from Daura gypsum mining site, Yobe State, Nigeria. Samples were collected and analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. The level of Pb, Ni, Cd, As, Cu and Zn, were assessed. Also the conductivity of the water samples detected using Conductivity meter. The result shows significant level of As at 0.0382 mg/l, Cd at 0.06-0.18 mg/l and 0.9852 mg/l for Ni which exceeded the WHO limit (0.01 mg/l). Cu, Zn, and Pb were detected at 0.95mg/l, 1.77 mg/l and 0.244 mg/l respectively. Cu, Pb, and Zn were found below the WHO, USEPA limits. This may bring kidney related risk to the people over a long period of time, Therefore , incorporation of ion exchange, reverse osmosis or adsorption in water sources will help reduce the heavy metals burden of the public in the area

AN APPRAISAL OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MINNA, NIGER STATE: POLICY AND PLANNING IMPLICATION TO NIGERIAN CITIES

Man’s environment is of immense importance and the management of the living environment has great health implications. The activities of man and his interaction with his environment result in the generation of different kinds of wastes. The most obvious is the Solid Wastes. A lot of areas in our cities have become an eyesore due to indiscriminate dumping and poor management of solid wastes. This has led to environmental degradation and pollution.  The management of solid wastes presents particular challenges to city authorities in Nigeria because the volume of wastes generated in different cities has been increasing over the years. This paper, therefore, examines the magnitude of solid waste problems in Nigeria and the challenges of managing these wastes, with a view of assessing the policy and Planning Implication to Nigeria cities

Use of Mitrofanoff and Yang–Monti Techniques as Ureteric Substitution for Severe Schistosomal Bilateral Ureteric Stricture: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Distal ureteric stricture is a common complication of urinary schistosomiasis which is a disease more prevalent in the tropics and subtropics. The surgical management of this complication is more challenging when it affects more than half of both ureters. We report the case of a 17-year-old Nigerian with a long standing recurrent painless terminal hematuria associated with bilateral colicky loin pains. Ultrasound scan showed bilateral hydro ureters and hydro nephrosis with deranged biochemical renal function. The patient had bilateral tube nephrostomy and antibiotic therapy. Definitive bilateral ureteric substitution was done using Mitrofanoff technique for the right ureter and Yang–Montie technique for the left ureter. The patient’s renal function became normal and he was discharged home without complication. The related literatures were reviewed. Surgical nonurothelial ureteral substitution is necessary for long, extensive, severe bilateral ureteric strictures so as to prevent progressive renal damage and end stage renal failure.Keywords: Appendix, intestine, schistosomiasis, stricture, ureter, ureteric substitutionNigerian Journal of Surgery, Jan-Jun 2012 | Volume 18 | Issue

Two Decades of Organizational Ethics: A Systematic Review

This paper conducted a systematic review of organizational ethics (OE) articles published over the last two decades, 2000-2020. This paper utilized the Systematic Quantitative Assessment Technique to identify 58 OE articles published by six of the most popular academic publishers in the world: Emerald, Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley. The review covered five key issues: 1) Time distribution, 2) Geographic distribution, 3) Article type, 4) Data collection methods, and 5) Themes explored. The findings of the systematic review revealed that interest in OE waxed and waned over the two decades covered by this review, and that Africa and South America. The spread between conceptual and empirical OE articles were quite balanced, and survey was the most popular data collection method. Nine themes were identified, with the most striking findings being that having a strong and positive ethical climate had a positive impact on employee and organizational outcomes

Determining ICT Use Level from Use Pattern: ICT Use Level of Malaysian Agribusinesses

The research was financed by Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra Grant) No. GP-IPS/2014/9433928 (Sponsoring information) Abstract There has been a continuous commitment of policymakers in Malaysia to support information and communication technology (ICT) adoption in small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). For these novel and innovative policy initiatives to be successful, an understanding of the SMEs’ ICT use pattern and use behaviour is required. In this study, the focus is upon the pattern of the use of ICT in agribusiness enterprises and the use level, which could explain the role that ICTs play in the performance (processing and production) of agro-based products by Malaysian agro-SMEs and give insight into the factors that influence their ICT use. The study adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and focused on model’s independent variable, i.e., ICT use. Using data obtained from randomly sampled 400 workers (both managers and employees) of 43 agribusiness enterprises that were also randomly selected, the study ran factor and descriptive analyses to determine the most important items in the questionnaire that determine the ICT use level in the scale. The findings have shown that the prevalent patterns of ICT use among the agro-SMEs are in entrepreneurial (organisational) business communication and product processing and production line, though the use of ICT in the latter purview was rather still low. Some recommendations for policy-makers and a suggestion for future research were provided. Keywords: Agribusiness Enterprises, ICT use behaviour, ICT use level, ICT use pattern, SME

The Impact of Fake News and the Emerging Post-Truth Political Era on Nigerian Polity: A Review of Literature

Since the rising to notoriety of the present ‘genre’ of malicious content peddled as ‘fake news’ (mostly over social media) in 2016 during the United States’ presidential election, barely three years until Nigeria’s 2019 general elections, fake news has made dangerously damaging impacts on the Nigerian society socially, politically and economically. Notably, the escalating herder-farmer communal clashes in the northern parts of the country, ethno-religious crises in Taraba, Plateau and Benue states and the furiously burning fire of the thug-of-war between the ruling party (All Progressives Congress, APC) and the opposition, particularly the main opposition party (People’s Democratic Party, PDP) have all been attributed to fake news, untruth and political propaganda. This paper aims to provide further understanding about the evolving issues regarding fake news and its demonic impact on the Nigerian polity. To make that contribution toward building the literature, extant literature and verifiable online news content on fake news and its attributes were critically reviewed. This paper concludes that fake news and its associated notion of post-truth may continue to pose threat to the Nigerian polity unless strong measures are taken. For the effects of fake news and post-truth phenomena to be suppressed substantially, a tripartite participation involving these key stakeholders – the government, legislators and the public should be modelled and implemented to the letter

Determinants of Firm Growth: The Case of Sachet Water Firms in Minna, Nigeria

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of Entrepreneurial Infrastructure (EI) on the profitability of Sachet Water Firms (SWFs) in Minna. Design/methodology/approach: This was done through the use of personal interviews for the collection of qualitative data from owners/managers of SWFs. The population of the study included all the 165 SWFs in Minna and the sample size was 10 which was determined by interview saturation point. Thematic analysis was used in analyzing the transcribed audio recordings of the interviews conducted. Findings: Findings revealed that there is an EI deficit in Minna, which has led to increased expenses on the provision of alternative EI by SWFs and has increased their operational costs thereby reducing their profitability. Research limitations/implications: Firstly, with thirty-six states in Nigeria, the findings of this study, covering the Capital of only one of the States (Niger) cannot be generalized for the entire country, rather it must be taken within the context of the region covered. Secondly, only one industry out of many that make up the Nigerian economy is selected for investigation. Thirdly, the researcher was faced with the negative attitude of some respondents who were not willing to participate in the research or provide the needed data for analysis. Lastly, not all the SWFs in Minna were included in the study, only those that have operated for up to three years were included. Future studies can bridge these research gaps by carrying out research in other parts of Nigeria on the same subject matter. Practical implications: Findings of this study would be of help to the existing SMEs in Nigeria, particularly the SWFs in further understanding the complexities of the infrastructural challenges militating against their growth and how to overcome them. Originality/value: This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the nexus between EI and the general performance of SMEs. Paper type: Research paper