An Assessment of Peer Influence on Youth Involvement on Crime in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council

Peer group influence on youth crime is largely an area of interaction physically and impersonally. Physically interaction can take place in a compound, wards, schools or other socially organised activities such as youth camps, football clubs or other game activities, boys scout,   girls guide, man ‘o’ war and debating society etc and specifically to assess peer influence on youth involvement on crime in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council. And specifically to examine the demographic characteristics of youth in Maiduguri, assess whether peer have influence on youth involvement in crime in Maiduguri. The study reviewed relevant theories and in particular Differential Association Theory which explained that criminal behaviour is learnt through interaction with other individual in a process of communication. The data were obtained from primary and secondary sources which involved the use of questionnaires and review of relevant literatures. The study interviewed 180 respondents. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that most of the crimes committed are mostly by Males, so Males are prone to committing crime, and they are between the ages of 18 to 25years and have secondary or degree qualification. It also revealed that crime committed by youths were due to influence of bad friends and those youth were from large family size, and their parents don’t allow outsiders to discipline them and they are unemployed and have poor parental upbringing which characterised by poverty, homelessness and frustration among others. The study recommends that parents, government and community organisations could provide adequate jobs and enabling environments for business to thrive, as this will curb crime among the youth in Maiduguri Metropolis. Keywords: Assessment, Peer Influence, Youth Involvement and Criminal Behaviou

Causes, Consequences and Solutions of Incarceration (Imprisonment) a Study of Maiduguri New Prison

Prisons are conventionally institutions which form part of the criminal justice system of a country, such that imprisonment or incarceration is the legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. A prison system is therefore the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prison, and depending on their nature, invokes a corrections system. The main objective of the study is on the Causes, Consequences and Solutions of Incarceration in Developing Countries a Study of Maiduguri New Prison. The specific objectives are to identify the causes, consequences and solutions of incarceration, examine the activities of prisons as an institution of incarceration, assess the relationship between inmates and prison warders, examine the effects of incarceration in developing countries, analyse the observable differences between olden day’s modes of punishment and incarceration. The study reviewed three different theoretical perspectives after which Political Economic Approach Theory was used as theoretical framework for analysis.  The political-economic approach considers the prison as an institution used by the state for perpetuating its dominance, and since it is an instrument of dominance, oppression and coercion, the capitalists or ruling class always leave it in a deplorable condition, for that, is mostly the masses that are kept in prison. The data was obtained from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources derived from the questionnaires and structured interview, while the secondary data were obtained from the review of relevant literature such as books, newsletters, journals and articles. Purposive sampling techniques were used. The study involved 80 respondents which include 30 Prison Warders and 50 Inmates, The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The major findings revealed that majority of the respondents found in the prison are male, and they are of between the ages of 18 to 25 years and have Qur’anic or Secondary School qualification.  Other findings show that most of the inmates that were found in the prison were below 6 months while some stay above 6 month to 1 year, and the majority believe that their offences deserved imprisonment while other do not agreed. And most of the offences committed are illegal offences which includes fighting, family problems, business misunderstanding and property related crime. Majority of the inmates agreed that prison sentence will help in rehabilitating them. Finally, recommendations were suggested for government and community organisations to provide a clear statement of the fact that prisons are meant to rehabilitate rather than punishing prisoners, the specification of basic minimum rights prisoners should enjoy within the prison, the provision of autonomous prison commission in each state to oversee the overall management of the prisons and treatment of prisoners should be adequately provided as this will provide solution to management in Nigeria and Maiduguri New Prison which is the study area. Keywords: Causes, Consequences, Solutions and Incarceratio

Capital Structure Choices in Services Firms: Empirical Results from Nigeria Listed Companies

The effects of the worldwide economic slump, which was largely triggered by SARS-CoV-2, have undermined the profitability of businesses. As a result, the overarching goal of this research is to look into the impact of capital structure choices on the financial performance of services firms quoted on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). With an adjusted population of 11 listed services firms in Nigeria, the analysis spans from 2011 to 2020. The secondary data was collected from the annual reports of the selected enterprises and African financials, using an ex-post facto design. The generalised least square model was employed for the analysis of the data. While both retained earnings and total debt have a positive and significant influence on earnings per share, short-term and long-term debts, and equity were insignificant, according to the findings. The study, on the other hand, suggests that company executives save earnings to be spent solely on rainy days in order to minimize negative shocks that could harm a company's going-concern objective

Sustainability-Based Review of Irrigation Schemes Performance for Sustainable Crop Production in Nigeria

Irrigated agriculture has been identified as an important practice to achieving food security and socio-economic development in the face of rapid population growth and climatic uncertainties. In northern Nigeria, irrigation has long been identified as the key to achieving the much-desired increase in food production to meet the ever-increasing population. However, the existing irrigation schemes encountered several challenges coming from different dimensions including economic, social, environmental, institutional and technological. To attain sustainable crop production, this paper attempts to uncover the underline challenges confronting irrigation schemes in northern Nigeria that cut across sustainability pillars. The findings revealed that irrigation schemes contributed immensely toward achieving food security and improving the wellbeing of rural dwellers. However, the huge investment in large- and medium-scale irrigation schemes have resulted in massive economic losses. This could be attributed to their under-utilization, poor management and abandonment although few ones are performing remarkably well. The study recommends the need to adopt new water allocation and application methods that can improve water use efficiency, users-managers join approach (participatory), effective and competent institutions which include improved monitoring, evaluation and surveillance systems, frequent policy review to suit the situation, law enforcement, and timely sensitization and awareness campaigns