Efficacy of Balanced Scorecard on Performance of Banks in Nigeria

This study examines the efficacy of balance scorecard (BSC) on the performance of banks in Nigeria as one of the most topical issues in the banking sector. The study was motivated by the imperfections of traditional performance measurement system which is inadequate as it is limited to financial analysis and does not provide for an integrated analysis of performance that captures the non-financial variables, such as customer, learning and growth and internal business process. The study was based on expost facto research design and made use of historical data of five selected banks spanning a period of eleven years (2007-2017). It was hypothesized that customer internal business process, learning and growth and financial perspectives have no significant effect on the performance of banks in Nigeria. The result indicates that customer perspective and internal business process perspective have significant effect on performance of banks in Nigeria, while financial perspective and learning and growth perspective have no significant effect on banks performance in Nigeria. It was recommended that banks in Nigeria should adopt the BSC approach to measure and manage their performance in view of its capacity to provide a comprehensive information on bank performance evaluation. It was further suggested that banks should be more innovative on customer and internal business process aspect of their operations in order to maximize performance. It is also stressed that banks should accord learning and growth components of their operations a significant attention. Keywords: Balanced Scorecard, Bank Performance and Measurement, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-23-05 Publication date: August 31st 201

Entrepreneurship Education and Insecurity Reduction in South-South Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

The worrisome level of insecurity in Nigeria has ignited many suggestions for solution including entrepreneurship education. However, little is empirically known about the approach through which entrepreneurship education can reduce insecurity. This study surveyed final year business students in six public universities in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship education on insecurity reduction. The specific objectives were to assess the influence of risk-taking propensity, opportunity recognition capability, and entrepreneurs’ emotional intelligence on insecurity reduction. The sample size was 250 randomly selected final year degree university students. The structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data which were analysed by employing the weighted mean, standard deviation and correlation analysis. Results indicated that entrepreneurship education which emphasizes risk-taking propensity (r = .322, n = 195, P < 0.01), opportunity recognition capability (r = .252, n = 195, P < 0.00), and entrepreneur’ emotional intelligence (r = .320, n = 195, P < 0.01) has significant positive relationship with insecurity reduction. These results imply that when students are educated on risk taking propensity, more confidence will be injected into them to go into business; a training on opportunity recognition will empower the students to easily recognize business opportunities in the environment and education on emotional intelligence will improve students’ self-management skills  and  increased capacity to manage  business relationships. It is recommended that a review of current entrepreneurship education curriculum in Nigeria to incorporate findings of this study would lessen the menace of insecurity

Entrepreneurship Education and Insecurity Reduction in South-South Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

The worrisome level of insecurity in Nigeria has ignited many suggestions for solution including entrepreneurship education. However, little is empirically known about the approach through which entrepreneurship education can reduce insecurity. This study surveyed final year business students in six public universities in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria to investigate the influence of entrepreneurship education on insecurity reduction. The specific objectives were to assess the influence of risk-taking propensity, opportunity recognition capability, and entrepreneurs’ emotional intelligence on insecurity reduction. The sample size was 250 randomly selected final year degree university students. The structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data which were analysed by employing the weighted mean, standard deviation and correlation analysis. Results indicated that entrepreneurship education which emphasizes risk-taking propensity (r = .322, n = 195, P < 0.01), opportunity recognition capability (r = .252, n = 195, P < 0.00), and entrepreneur’ emotional intelligence (r = .320, n = 195, P < 0.01)has significant positive relationship with insecurity reduction. It is recommended that a review of current entrepreneurship education curriculum in Nigeria to incorporate findings of this study would lessen the menace of insecurity

Thirty-five years (1986–2021) of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria: bibliometric and scoping analysis

Background Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an acquired defect of the cellular immunity associated with the infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease has reached pandemic proportion and has been considered a public health concern. This study is aimed at analyzing the trend of HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria. Method We used the PUBMED database to a conduct bibliometric analysis of HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria from 1986 to 2021 employing “HIV”, “AIDS”, “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”, “Human immunodeficiency virus”, and “Nigeria” as search description. The most common bibliometric indicators were applied for the selected publications. Result The number of scientific research articles retrieved for HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was 2796. Original research was the predominant article type. Articles authored by 4 authors consisted majority of the papers. The University of Ibadan was found to be the most productive institution. Institutions in the United States dominated external production with the University of Maryland at the top. The most utilized journal was PLoS ONE. While Iliyasu Z. was the most productive principal author, Crowel TA. was the overall most productive author with the highest collaborative strength. The keyword analysis using overlay visualization showed a gradual shift from disease characteristics to diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Trend in HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria is increasing yet evolving. Four articles were retracted while two had an expression of concern. Conclusion The growth of scientific literature in HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was found to be high and increasing. However, the hotspot analysis still shows more unexplored grey areas in future

The relationship between lung function and indoor air pollution among rural women in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

Background: Burning of biomass is widely used by the rural poor for energy generation. Long term exposure to biomass smoke is believed to affect lung function and cause respiratory symptoms. Materials and Methods: Women with long term occupational exposure to burning firewood were recruited from a rural fishing community in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on symptoms of chronic bronchitis and spirometery was performed to measure lung function. Data obtained from the subjects was compared with that from healthy controls. Results: Six hundred and eighty six women were recruited for this study made up of 342 subjects and 346 controls. Sixty eight (19.9%) of the subjects had chronic bronchitis compared with eight (2.3%) of the controls (χ2 = 54.0, P < 0.001). The subjects had lower values for the lung function as well as the percentage predicted values (P < 0.05). Fish smoking and chronic bronchitis were significantly associated with predicted lung volumes. Conclusion: Chronic exposure to biomass smoke is associated with chronic bronchitis and reduced lung functions in women engaged in fish smoking

Drug Resistance among Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in Calabar, Nigeria

Background. This study aimed to determine the pattern of drug susceptibility to first-line drugs among pulmonary TB patients in two hospitals in Calabar, Nigeria. Methods. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between February 2011 and April 2012. Sputum samples from consecutive TB patients in Calabar were subjected to culture on Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) slopes followed by drug susceptibility testing (DST). The DST was performed on LJ medium by the proportion method. Results. Forty-two of the 100 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains were found to be resistant to at least one drug. Resistance to only one drug (monoresistance) was found in 17 patients. No strains with monoresistance to rifampicin were found. Resistance to two drugs was found in 22 patients, while one patient was resistant to both three and four drugs. MDR TB was seen in 4% (4/100). The independent variables of HIV serology and sex were not significantly associated with resistance (P>0.05). Conclusion. There was a high prevalence of anti-TB drug resistance in Calabar

Insight into Malaria Transmission and Control in Endemic Areas

The global effort of malaria control is in line with the one world one health concept, but then a globally defined (one-size-fits-all) malaria control strategy would be inefficient. A model was used to examine the likely impact of malaria parasite interventions for a steady state regional control program in endemic areas. Assumptions varied about two targeted epidemiologic control points on the basic reproductive number, Ro, which is affected by different factors and upon which the status of malaria in any community will depend. For any effective malaria control and eradication program, environmental and socio-economic factors should also be considered

Insight into Malaria Transmission and Control in Endemic Areas

The global effort of malaria control is in line with the one world one health concept, but then a globally defined (one-size-fits-all) malaria control strategy would be inefficient. A model was used to examine the likely impact of malaria parasite interventions for a steady state regional control program in endemic areas. Assumptions varied about two targeted epidemiologic control points on the basic reproductive number, Ro, which is affected by different factors and upon which the status of malaria in any community will depend. For any effective malaria control and eradication program, environmental and socio-economic factors should also be considered

Psychological Distress in Women with Chronic Bronchitis in a Fishing Community in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Background. Biomass smoke exposure is a known risk factor for chronic bronchitis. Psychiatric comorbidities may have significant impact on the quality of life of patients with chronic bronchitis. Methods. Women who engage in fish preservation by drying over burning firewood in a fishing community were recruited for this survey. The British medical research questionnaire was used to determine chronic bronchitis, and psychological distress was determined using the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Results. A total of 342 women were recruited for this study and 63 of them had chronic bronchitis. 96 women had features suggestive of psychological distress: 57 (16.6%) women with anxiety, 51 (14.9%) women with depression and 12 women (3.5%) had combined features. Psychological distress was more common among women with chronic bronchitis. Anxiety was significantly associated with chronic bronchitis and the level of biomass exposure while depression was significantly associated with chronic bronchitis, level of exposure, and a history of sleeping in the fish smoking room. Conclusion. Anxiety and depression show significant association with chronic bronchitis among women with biomass smoke exposure with the level of exposure having an aggravating effect on the relationship