Challenges of student housing provision through public private partnership

Abstract: The conditions of suitable accommodation congruent to students’ academic pursuits are at their worst decline. Inadequate hostels for students in Nigerian Universities have been of great concern to Government and the University authorities. In the absence of public funds for infrastructure projects, the government’s attempt to attract the private sector in the provision of student housing has not recorded significant achievement. This study reports on the challenges faced by developers in adopting the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model of project delivery with focus on public private partnerships (PPP) in Nigeria. The study found that developers perceive investment in student housing under BOT as worthy of investment. The study used a mixed method of data collection. One hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered to members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, and interviews were conducted with the Nigerian Infrastructure Regulator commission (ICRC). The study found that Developers are willing to adopt BOT for Student Housing. The study concludes that lack of long term loans, time and cost intensiveness of a BOT project, high interest rate on loans, disinterest on the part of lending institution, and preference for traditional procurement route are the challenges faced by developers in adopting Build-Operate-Transfer for the provision of student housing

عقوبة جريمة الحرابة بين الفقه والقانون: نيجيريا والسودان نموذجا: The penalty of banditry between islamic jurisprudence and law: nigeria and sudan as case study

The researcher dealt with an aspect of criminal jurisprudence represented in explaining the penalty of banditry between islamic jurisprudence and legislative law represented in the nigerian penal code of 1960ad, and the sudanese criminal law of 1991ad. The study aims to demonstrate the validity of islamic law temporally and spatially, also the study aims to explain the points of harmony and disparities between islamic law and legislative laws inoder to demonstrate that islamic sharia is superior to the legislative laws, the method adopted in this research is inductive, deductive and analytical methodology. The researcher used the references approved by the sects in the doctrinal and legal aspect, the researcher has reached important results, including: the sudanese criminal code of 1991ad is in accordance with islamic sharia, unlike the nigerian penal code, although the nigerian law is in accordance with sharia in criminalization, but is contrary to it in the type of penalty. The researcher also recommended important recommendations, including: inviting researchers and student of islamic sciences to write a broader and more comprehensive research in the comparison between islamic laws and legislative laws inoder to demonstrate the validity of the application of islamic law in every time and place and that its provisions are more effective in solving the problems of societal crimes. Keywords: Penalty, banditry, islamic jurisprudence, nigerian penal code, sudanese criminal law

Environmental Reporting and Financial Performance of Listed Industrial and Consumer Goods Firms in Nigeria

This study examines the effect of environmental reporting on financial performance of listed Nigerian industrial and consumer goods firms for the period of ten (10) years from 2012 to 2021. The population of the study comprises forty-two (42) listed industrial and consumer goods firms in Nigeria. Eleven (11) firms were selected as the study sample size, which comprises 5 industrial goods and 6 consumer goods firms. The remaining 31 firms were filtered out, because they did not report their environmental disclosure throughout the period of this study and some were delisted. Return on Asset (ROA) is considered as proxy of financial performance. Secondary data were used and extracted from the firm’s annual reports using environmental reporting Index (ISO 14031) content analysis, provided at appendix A1. In relation to financial performance the data was also collected from the firm’s annual reports. The study analyses were conducted using STATA 13 statistical software. The regression result revealed that environmental information has significant positive effect on return on asset (ROA); employee health and safety have negative significant effect on ROA; product safety has negative significant effect on ROA. Based on these findings, this study therefore, concludes that environmental reporting influence financial performance of listed industrial and consumer goods firms in Nigeria. This study therefore, recommends among others that, listed Nigerian industrial and consumer goods firms should emphasize more on reporting their environmental issues as it is capable of improving their financial performance

A framework for ethical sourcing of construction materials

Climate change and a speedily depreciating ecosystem are global challenges. These challenges are, in the main, attributed to activities in the construction industry, which relies heavily on the environment to provide materials. Studies show that the impact in developing countries is worse, due to the low level of awareness. Consequently, there is a dearth of research-based evidence on the ethics of sourcing of materials. This research aimed at changing that by investigating the ethics of materials sourcing in Nigeria. Epistemologically, the research is subjective and paradigmatically phenomenological. The methods used for data collection include a comprehensive literature review, collection of archival records, empirical studies of sixteen organisations that are involved in materials sourcing, transportation and production of eight construction materials across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, that were purposefully selected. The findings reveal that the majority of the processes employed to source, transport and produce materials for the construction industry are not ethical environmentally due to their contribution to air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and vibration, landscape damage, harm to flora and fauna and waste production. Furthermore, the study found that the majority of the organisations studied, do not produce sustainability reports for their operations. The study developed a framework for ethical sourcing of construction materials. The study recommends that organisations should utilise the framework developed in this study to enhance their sustainability practices

Federalism and the Arab League: A theoretical synergy

Abstract. The paper is a theoretical analogy of the Arab league as a regional organization. The paper also discusses the objectives, strengths and weaknesses of the league. By adopting descriptive-historical research from library instrument, findings show that, there is no doubt that the league had recorded some appreciable level of achievements since its inception and there have equally been some challenges along the line. The paper concludes that, the Arab league must find a way to reduce the perpetual tension and violence in Palestine by working towards enthroning a peaceful relationship with Israel while retaining their cultural identity. The paper also recommends that, the Arab league should strengthen their relationship with the non-Arab Nations especially in the face of globalization to reap the benefits therein involved as a league. Arab league must ensure that Arab states stop waging needless wars between and among themselves. The Syria and Yemeni crises among others is a disgrace to the Arab world.Keywords: Arab league, Theoretical, Synergy, Federalism, Integration.JEL. A10, F15

Households Willingness to Accept Collection and Recycling of Waste Cooking Oil for Biodiesel Input in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia

AbstractThe main reasons for the recent growing concern about waste cooking oil (WCO) are the resulting effects of its improper disposal on one hand and viability input in biodiesel production on the other. This study applied contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate households’ willingness to accept (WTA) collection and recycling of WCO in Petaling district, Selangor, Malaysia. The results revealed that the bid, income level, age level, higher educational level (university), Malay, Chinese, and female were the significant predictors of WTA. The mean WTA of the households was MYR 0.72 per kg of WCO and the annual running cost for the programme was MYR 9, 438, 829. These results will help the relevant authorities in their efforts to enhance WCO collection and recycling programme in Petaling District, Selangor

Sawdust types effective as partial replacements of fine aggregate in concrete

The paper examined the types of sawdust suitable as partial replacements of fine aggregate in concrete. Two different types of sawdust sourced from Afara and Doka wood species were used for the experiment. DoE Method was used to design and produce three sets of concrete cube samples, i.e. Control concrete, Doka sawdust concrete and Afara sawdust concrete, each of grade 20. The cubes were subjected to compressive strength and water absorption tests. The result showed that, the control concrete, Doka and Afara sawdust concretes gained a compressive strength of 22.6 N/mm2, 19.6 N/mm2 and 17.6 N/mm2, respectively. The control and Doka sawdust concretes exhibited low water absorption when compared with Afara sawdust concrete. This revealed Doka sawdust as more suitable than Afara sawdust for partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete.Keywords: Concrete, Sawdust, waste recyclin

Effect of Chinese Product Price, Quality, Innovativeness and Brand Awareness on Customers’ Loyalty: An Empirical Analysis of Local Industries in Northern Nigeria

The global economy is witnessing the massive influx of Chinese products across the global market. Nigeria in particular, is one of the countries that have a strong trade relationship with Chinese industries. Chinese products dominate most of the Nigerian market with very affordable price and compromised quality. Their pricing strategy, product design and ability to create brand awareness give their products an edge over the competitors. The study is the survey research that used regression analysis and examined the effect of Chinese product price, quality, innovativeness and brand awareness on customers’ loyalty. A sample of 1000 respondents was selected from three states of Northern Nigeria. The study discovered a significant negative effect of Chinese product price, innovativeness and Chinese brand awareness on customer loyalty; however, the effect of Chinese product quality on customers’ loyalty is positive and statistically insignificant. Therefore, the study concluded that Chinese product price, innovativeness and brand awareness negatively affect customers’ loyalty on the local products. The study recommended that the local entrepreneur needs to undergo training in areas of cost cutting, efficient use of resources while being encouraged to form clusters in order to benefit from economies of scale thereby driving down cost and by extension price of products. Local entrepreneurs must embrace new technology; pursue more creativity by perusing through imported brochures for inspiration and adapting designs to suit our own peculiarities. They should also create awareness using social media, publicity, advertisement, exhibition among other methods of creating awareness

Effect of Moisture Content on some Engineering properties of Groundnut Pods and Kernels

Effect of moisture content on some engineering properties of groundnut pods and kernels were investigated. Two groundnut varieties were used namely; Manipintar and Ex-Dakar. The properties investigated were principal dimensions, porosity, bulk density, true density, angle of repose and static coefficient of friction as dependent variables while moisture content is the independent variable. At an increasing moisture content of 7.3 – 25.2 % d.b., the mean length, thickness, width, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter and surface area for Ex-Dakar pods were 30.6 - 33.46, 12.55 - 14.89, 12.8 - 14.03, 16.88 – 18.71, 18.61 - 20.75 mm and 904.86 – 1099.73 cm2, respectively. The corresponding mean values for the Manipintar pods were 18.60 – 30.89, 11.62 – 15.01, 11.72 – 14.05, 13.63 – 18.68, 13.98 - 19.98 mm and 583.78 – 1095.80 cm2, respectively. However, for Ex-Dakar kernels, the mean length, thickness, width, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter and surface area recorded within moisture range of 8.5 – 28.1 % were 12.92 – 13.01, 8.81 – 9.35, 10.73 – 11.71, 10.72 – 11.14, 10.82 – 11.36 mm and 360.96 – 389.68 cm2, respectively. Similarly, mean values for the Manipintar kernels were 18.60 – 30.89, 11.62 – 15.01, 11.72 – 14.05, 8.97 – 11.03, 9.19 – 11.38 mm, and 252.89 – 382.16 cm2, respectively. The porosity for Ex-Dakar pods increases from 30.23 – 61.77 % and from 11.65 – 18.63 % for the kernels, from 31.37 – 59.41 % and 11.65 – 33.82 % for Manipintar pods and kernels. True density increases from 0.35 – 0.72 and 0.84 – 1.13 g/cm3 for Ex-Dakar pods and kernels, from 0.39 – 0.62 and 0.98 – 1.29 g/cm3 for Manipintar pods and kernels. However, the bulk density shows a decrease from 0.33 – 0.24 and 0.92 – 0.55 g/cm3 for Ex-Dakar pods and kernels, and from 0.53 – 0.21 and 1.12 – 0.75 g/cm3 for Manipintar pods and kernels. Angle of repose increases from 25.1 – 28.9o and 24.7 – 27.1o for Ex-Dakar pods and kernels, and for Manipintar pod and kernels, it increases from 26.3 – 29.5o and 25.0 – 29.0o. The mean static coefficient of friction on plywood, galvanize sheet and glass increased at varying moisture content for both pods and kernels. The establishment of these parameters would serve as reference that is required to achieve the desired results in successful design and operation of groundnut processing equipment

DISASTER CONTROL PRACTICES BY LIBRARIANS FOR ENHANCED PRESERVATION OF INFORMATION RESOURCES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

The objective of the study is to determine the types of disaster control practices by librarians in academic libraries in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The study covers academic libraries in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Questionnaires were used to elicit data from the respondents. The population of the study comprises 70 librarians in the academic libraries covered in the area of study. The researchers employed the total enumeration sampling technique which involves studying the entire respondents. 70 copies of the questionnaires were distributed to the respondents; 65 copies of the Questionnaire were retrieved representing 93% response rate. The data collected from the respondents were analysed using simple percentage and frequency count. The study revealed that the types of disasters prevalent in academic libraries in Bauchi state, Nigeria are; fire outbreak, wind storm, book mutilation, theft of library materials, negligence of library staff, kidnapping, terrorism, biological agents and leaking roofs. The study also revealed that most libraries under study, indicated that there is no any established disaster control practices. The only available facilities for disaster control are fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, sand filled buckets, CCTV cameras, emergency exit door and fire alarms. The study recommended that university libraries should have a proper surveillance and adequate security personnel in place to reduce theft and book mutilation of library information resources. Academic libraries in Bauchi state, should establish a disaster control plan in their libraries to safeguard any occurrences that may damage library resources and loss of lives and properties