Change and consolidation in the Nigerian banking industry: an exploration of two key Central Bank of Nigeria objectives.

In an attempt to correct economic shortfalls, authorities in Nigeria deployed consolidation as the main policy instrument in the 2004-2006 reform of the banking industry. The Central Bank of Nigeria drew lessons from similar challenges faced by Malaysian and Indonesian authorities. Nigerian banks were given an 18 month window, to achieve an increased minimum capital base of N25 billion. To survive, banks could either raise the new requirements on their own or engage in mergers or acquisitions. The process of consolidation resulted in the reduction of banks from 89 to 24 and the emergence of three categories of banks namely: Stand alone, Common ownership, and Common interest banks. Primarily, this study examines change management practices of senior bank managers directly involved in implementing consolidation in Nigeria, and the impact of consolidation on credit availability to the private sector. Aggregate secondary data on the Nigerian banking industry from 2001-2009 were analysed and used to inform in-depth semi-structured interviews with thirteen senior bank managers and a respected independent financial analyst. Mixed methods were used to conduct further analysis. A conceptual framework was developed through an extension of Pettigrews 1988 model, while a modified Berger et al. 1998 model was deployed to test credit availability. Findings indicate that most aspects of organisational change were successful, but a lot more needs to be done to improve cultural integration and employee motivation. The successes achieved by Nigerian banks, resulted in higher levels of credit being made available to the private sector. There is, however, scope for further improvement to be made. For example, senior bank managers should deploy a more holistic approach to planned change, and there should be an improved collaborative approach between the government and private sector which could help enhance alternative credit delivery channels such as micro finance firms, venture capitalists and business angels

THE CONCEPT OF CHI IN THE IGBO PHILOSOPHY OF THE PERSON

In African philosophy and cultural studies, there have been many debates concerning the concept of the human person. Many earlier examinations of African thought by European academics have emphasized the merely communal nature of the African person. Yet in traditional African thought there is also a tension between this communalism and a recognition of individuality which relates to the dignity of the human being as created by God. This concept of life of the individual is called “Chi”. This paper investigates the seemingly complex concept of the human person, not from the Western perspective, but from an African perspective, particularly the Igbo perspective. Because the individual and his/her society share an inseparable symbiotic relationship, this paper aims to show how such a concept can lead to a better understanding of the balances between individual life, with the communal relationships of one’s culture and one’s environment. This balance is a weak spot in much of Western thought.

The Concept of IGBO Spirituality and Environment

In a techno-scientific age where conflicting views on the reality of environmental ethics as well as ethical, environmental and ideological concerns emerge continuously, there is the need to constantly reinstate the vertical-horizontal dimensions of man’s peaceful co-existence with living and non-living things. Added to the above task is also the need for a thoroughly grounded work that sifts pragmatic ideas within some indigenous beliefs and practices which will be relevant to sound environmental and social development. As such, this research arises, among other reasons, from what the Igbo people actually believe and practice by focusing on the environmental values inherent in the Igbo spirituality. Adopting the expository and procedural tools of hermeneutics, the study contends on how to develop new environmental values that are parts and parcel of the Igbo spirituality. A major finding in the study is that in spite of the dialogue with modern styles, various features of the Igbo spirituality are still reserved and practiced, and have been practical means of existence and sustenance of the environment, peace and development to the entire community and each human person sharing the community life. Considering the nature and diversified forms of challenges to the Igbo spirituality in this age of science with some environmental devaluating attitudes of the human person, the study proposes that mankind should develop a deeper sense of love and care for the mother earth as a surer route to harmonious co-existence between the living and dead in the Igbo spirituality.

Women and Leadership in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects

Women are a major stakeholder in the development project of any society. Globally, the issues of women marginalisation and low participation in political leadership and decision making have been attracting a lot of attention from scholars. Although women and men have different biological and physiological make-up, they may share common features with men in terms of educational qualifications, socio-economic status and occupation among others. Yet, they are marginalised in virtually all spheres of public life. In many African countries, such as Nigeria, obnoxious social norms, political exclusion and economic lopsidedness dictate the presence and voice of women in public life. According to 2006 Nigerian population census figure, women constituted 49% of the total population, but there has been a gross gender gap between men and women, especially in political representation, economic management and leadership. This paper, therefore, examines critically some factors that have brought about this wide political and socio-economic disparity. Using both historical and descriptive approaches and guided by patriarchy and liberal feminism theories, the paper argues that the various economic, political, social and systemic practices serve as obstacles to effective participation of women in politics, governance and decision making in Nigeria. The paper concludes that, for there to be greater participation of women in all spheres of Nigerian society, government and other stakeholders should engage in programmes and policies that would empower women politically, socially and economically. Keywords: Women, leadership, governance, marginalization, prospect, politic

Maternal Health and the Implications for Sustainable Transformation in Nigeria

Transformation is the major goal of the present democratic administration in Nigeria. No country ever achieves sustainable transformation without achieving maternal health. Maternal health is a major concern of all countries, especially in developing countries. This explains why Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) made maternal health one of the cardinal goals to be achieved by 2015. This paper examines the factors that brought about poor maternal health by critically identifying and discussing such factors as poverty, low level of education, inaccessibility of health care services, unbooked emergencies, hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, obstructed labour, anaemia, haemorrhage and infection. Guided by functionalist and political economy theories, the paper argued that the present maternal health is incapable of ensuring sustainable transformation in Nigeria owing to massive corruption, misplacement of priority, neo-liberal policies of government, leading to social and economic dislocation of families and widespread poverty. The paper concludes by arguing that, for there to be real sustainable transformation of Nigeria, the issue of maternal health should be accorded priority through reducing maternal mortality rate by government and other stakeholders. This could be achieved through massive enlightenment, sustainable education, poverty reduction, and adequate provision and funding of healthcare facilities in Nigeria. Keywords: Maternal health, MDGs, Maternal Mortality, Sustainable transformation, Povert

Deep learning for animal recognition

Deep learning has obtained many successes in different computer vision tasks such as classification, detection, and segmentation of objects or faces. Many of these successes can be ascribed to training deep convolutional neural network architectures on a dataset containing many images. Limited research has explored deep learning methods for performing recognition or detection of animals using a limited number of images. This thesis examines the use of different deep learning techniques and conventional computer vision methods for performing animal recognition or detection with relatively small training datasets and has the following objectives: 1) Analyse the performance of deep learning systems compared to classical approaches when there exists a limited number of images of animals; 2) Develop an algorithm for effectively dealing with rotation variation naturally present in aerial images; 3) Construct a computer vision system that is more robust to illumination variation; 4) Analyse how important the use of different color spaces is in deep learning; 5) Compare different deep convolutional neural-network algorithms for detecting and recognizing individual instances (identities) in a group of animals, for example, badgers. For most of the experiments, effectively reduced neural network recognition systems are used, which are derived from existing architectures. These reduced systems are compared to standard architectures and classical computer vision methods. We also propose a color transformation algorithm, a novel rotation-matrix data-augmentation algorithm and a hybrid variant of such a method, that factors color constancy with the aim to enhance images and construct a system that is more robust to different kinds of visual appearances. The results show that our proposed algorithms aid deep learning systems to become more accurate in classifying animals for a large number of different animal datasets. Furthermore, the developed systems yield performances that significantly surpass classical computer vision techniques, even with limited amounts of available images for training