Integrating Islamic Fintech into Islamic Social Finance to Revive the Going Concern of MSMEs in the COVID-19 Era

This study seeks to propose a model that integrates Islamic social finance and Islamic fintech to revive MSMEs' going concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The study applies content analysis and a multidisciplinary literature review. This study proposes a model that integrates Islamic social finance instruments (such as zakat [Islamic compulsory tax], waqf [Islamic endowment], Islamic microfinance and sadaqat [voluntary charity]) and Islamic fintech platforms (P2P and crowdfunding) that could enable MSMEs to obtain funds to revitalize their going concerns by engaging in various Islamic-based contracts, such as musharakah (equity partnership), murabahah (the cost-plus sale contract), mudarabah (trust partnership), ijarah (lease contract), musharakah mutanaqisah (diminishing equity partnership), qard al-hasan (free interest loan), salam (forward financing transaction), etc. The provision of adequate finance using the proposed integrated model is expected to revitalize the MSMEs' going concerns, which can contribute to the country's economic growth and development. Despite the study's contribution by inventing an Islamic-based model for reviving the MSMEs' going concerns in Nigeria, it is conceptual without empirical validation. Hence, future studies should empirically explore the feasibility of the proposed integrated model. The implications of the findings indicate the need to provide motivational regulations for establishing Islamic fintech companies. There is also a need to provide effective technological applications that ensure the selection of only eligible beneficiaries

Detection of the Neurotoxic Amino Acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine in Axenic Cultures of Cyanobacterial Isolates by the Application of Underivatized Method of Analysis

There is a growing demand to establish reliable method for the detection of cyanobacterial toxins in order to bewell informed on the prevalence of cyanotoxins in our environments. This study employed the underivatizedmethod of analysis to detect the production of BMAA by the axenic cultures of cyanobacterial strains SynechocystisNPLB 2 and Nostoc MAC PCC 8009 using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization - ion trap massspectrometry (LC/ESI-ITMS). Cyanobacterial cultures were grown in the laboratory for 12 weeks after whichBMAA was extracted using methanol and analysed by LC/ESI-ITMS. Based on retention time, mass-to-chargeratio, and ratio of the product ions, the underivatized method of analysis employed in this study showed that bothSynechocystis NPLB 2 and Nostoc MAC PCC 8009 strains produced BMAA. The results of this study suggests thatthe LC/ESI-ITMS is a promising method for the analysis of BMAA in cyanobacterial matrices

PWiseHA: Application of Harmony Search Algorithm for Test Suites Generation using Pairwise Techniques

Pairwise testing is an approach that tests every possible combinations of values of parameters. In this approach, number of all combinations are selected to ensure all possible pairs of parameter values are included in the final test suite. Generating test cases is the most active research area in pairwise testing, but the generation process of the efficient test suite with minimum size can be considered as one of optimization problem. In this research paper we articulate the problem of finding a pairwise final test suite as a search problem and the application of harmony search algorithm to solve it. Also, in this research paper, we developed a pairwise software testing tool called PWiseHA that will generate test cases using harmony search algorithm and this PWiseHA is well optimized. Finally, the result obtained from PWiseHA shows a competitive results if matched with the result of existing pairwise testing tools. PWiseHA is still in prototype form, an obvious starting point for future work

Police corruption and administration of criminal justice system in Nigeria

The words ‘corruption’ and ‘Nigerian factor’ are used interchangeably to mean the same thing in this paper. There is no gainsaying that corruption in the police system leaves much to be worried. The position which the Nigeria Police occupied is beyond mere protection of lives and property of the citizens. They are indeed considered as one of the major stakeholders in our criminal justice system. Under the law, they are conferred with powers relating to the administration of criminal justice system such as power to arrest, investigate, arraign and other ancillary issues thereto. However, these seem to be abused due to the influence of social evils such as corruption, favouritism, dishonesty, fraud, tribalism, ethnicity and even villagism. These social problems are not peculiar to the Nigeria Police alone. They are universal tendencies that existed in Nigeria but what causes worry is the degree to which this phenomena are being perpetrated in an organization considered ordinarily as a friend to citizens and due to this the citizens begin to lose hope and have no confidence in the system any more. In the light of these therefore, this paper x-rayed the powers of police relating to the administration of criminal justice system. This paper also discussed generally the state of criminal justice in Nigeria vis-à-vis the statutory duties of Nigeria Police cum the extent of how corruption manifests therein. The point is that our policing system needs to be reformed with a view to restoring the dignity of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in the eyes of the public.Keywords: Nigerian Factor, corruption, Nigeria Police, administration, criminal justic

The perspective of Shari’ah on domestic violence

Violence against women in the home has been part of human history. This issue has been a subject of fierce discourse around the globe owing to the persistent cruel or inhuman treatment meted out against women. It is as a result of this that various  international instruments such as CEDAW, UNDHR, ACHR and other domestic laws have categorically and unequivocally prohibited inter-alia all forms of domestic  violence; yet women continue to suffer different forms of violence at home. Although the notion is always that Islam supports and encourages domestic violence  forgetting that it is not peculiar to only Muslims as many societies have lived without a feeling that it was nothing wrong. In the Muslim homes however, violence  and coercion are erroneously used as a tool of control knowing fully that marriage in the Islamic context is a means of tranquility, protection, peace and comfort. The  method adopted in this work is a doctrinal approach based mainly on works of both learned authors and other authors on papers and internet sources. In an attempt to do that, this paper discusses briefly the biblical and western view point on domestic violence within the human right framework. As the topic implies, the writer  discusses the sharia’h view point on spousal abuse as a form of violence that was  attributed to Islam and also explains the controversy surrounding Quran 4: 34  which is the verse that some Muslims rely on to justify their cruel conduct against women. This paper finally concludes that the practice of violence against women should be best attributed to a patriarchal or traditional belief and not to Islam. It is opined also that our criminal laws especially section 55 of the Penal Code seems to support and encourage this spousal abuse as they make provision justifying the infliction of grievous harm on a wife. In view of the aforesaid, the writer suggests, inter-alia, the expunging of the section to avoid giving license to men in chastising their wives.Key words: Domestic, perspective, Shari’ah, Violence

Impact of defence spending, internal threat, political instability and arms importation on economic growth in Nigeria

The existence of internal threat, political instability and arms importation has led to the rise in defence expenditure in Nigeria. Whether defence expenditure, with or without threat has a benign or malign impact on the economic growth, is a matter that needs rigorous academic investigation. The objective of this study include examining the impacts of defence expenditure on economic growth in the presence of threats, political instability and arms importation in Nigeria. It also examines the impacts of defence research and development, defence components on the Nigeria`s economic growth. In addition it examines the asymmetric causal relationship between defence expenditure and economic growth in Nigeria. Using the robust Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model, and asymmetric causality approach. The results reveal that defence expenditure-internal threat and defence-political instability interactions both have positive and significant impacts on economic growth. On the contrary, it reveals that defence arms import interaction has a significant and negative impact on growth in Nigeria. However, the impact of defence Research and Development on economic growth it is not significant as a result of insufficient funding. The result furthermore found that the causation between defence expenditure on economic growth in Nigeria is unidirectional from defence to economic growth. This implies that defence expenditure stimulates growth during the time of threat and civil unrest. The study recommends a revisit on the funding of defence sector in Nigeria. The current defence budget is grossly inadequate for the defence, considering the threats in Nigeria since it independence and recent threats such as the “Boko Haram” and Niger Delta Militancy among others. Regarding the defence R&D, proper funding, as well as management should be considered on Defence Industrial Cooperation of Nigeria to avoid over dependence on foreign source

The Role of Ulama in Countering Boko Haram Insurgency: A Pattern of the Al-Azhar ‘Ulama

The eruption of Boko Haram and its insurgency in 2009 caused the loss of life and property that is unprecedented in northern Nigeria's history since independence. Various tools and approaches have been used in analyzing a phenomenon with a view to offering solutions to it. People from various walks of life including professionals and experts have expressed their views and opinions about groups, their activities and ways to limit them. Since the group is rightly or wrongly associated and identified with Islam in its activities, experts especially the ulama analyze the group from an Islamic perspective using the Qur'an and Sunnah and the actions of the salaf as their basis for offering solutions. to group problems. With this background, this paper examines the role of Ulama in dealing with the imbroglio of Boko Haram by using the Ulama model of Al Azhar University in particular. The historical method was adopted with data mostly collected from printed materials and the internet. This paper recommends among other things that our scholars should follow some of the approaches used by Al'azhar scholars in eliminating the influence of extremist and rebel groups.

Using LTE-Sim in New Hanover Decision Algorithm for 2-Tier Macrocell-Femtocell LTE Network

Deployment of mini macrocell base stations can also be referred to as femtocells improve quality of service of indoor and outdoor users. Nevertheless, mobility management remains a key issue with regards to their deployment. This paper is leaned towards this issue, with in-depth focus on the most important aspect of mobility management - handover. In handover management, making a handover decision in the LTE two-tier macrocell femtocell network is a crucial research area. Decision algorithms in this research, are classified and comparatively analyzed according to received signal strength, user equipment speed, cost function and interference. However, it was observed that most of the discussed decision algorithms fail to consider cell selection with hybrid access policy in a single macrocell multiple femtocell scenario, another observation was a majority of these algorithms lack the incorporation of user equipment residence parameter. Not including this parameter boosts the number of unnecessary handover occurrence. To deal with these issues, a sophisticated handover decision algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm considers the user’s velocity, received signal strength, residence time as well as the femtocell base station’s access policy. Simulation results have shown that the proposed algorithm reduces the number of unnecessary handovers when compared to conventional received signal strength based handover decision algorithm

The Role of Ulama in Countering Boko Haram Insurgency: A Pattern of the Al-Azhar ‘Ulama

The eruption of Boko Haram and its insurgency in 2009 caused the loss of life and property that is unprecedented in northern Nigeria's history since independence. Various tools and approaches have been used in analyzing a phenomenon with a view to offering solutions to it. People from various walks of life including professionals and experts have expressed their views and opinions about groups, their activities and ways to limit them. Since the group is rightly or wrongly associated and identified with Islam in its activities, experts especially the ulama analyze the group from an Islamic perspective using the Qur'an and Sunnah and the actions of the salaf as their basis for offering solutions. to group problems. With this background, this paper examines the role of Ulama in dealing with the imbroglio of Boko Haram by using the Ulama model of Al Azhar University in particular. The historical method was adopted with data mostly collected from printed materials and the internet. This paper recommends among other things that our scholars should follow some of the approaches used by Al'azhar scholars in eliminating the influence of extremist and rebel groups.

INFORMETRICS ANALYSIS OF AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL REPOSITORY (IDR)

Employing Informetric analysis, the study investigated the features, types of documents, subjects spread and challenges affecting the growth and development of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Institutional Digital Repositories (ABU-IDR). The findings of the study indicated that the IDR has diverse features, deploying DSpace, Dublin core metadata elements and Open Archive Initiative – Metadata Harvesting Protocol (OAI-PMH) to make the repository robust and interoperable. As reported by earlier studies, ABU-IDR is also found to be dominated by theses and dissertations with 9,857(95.82) documents. Finding on subjects spread of theses and dissertations illustrated that Faculties of Sciences and Education have the largest subject coverage with 1979 (20.1%) and 1702 (17.3%) respectively. With diverse features and deploying DSpace, OAI-PMH and its interoperability, the study concluded that ABU-IDR has gained considerable traction in recent years. However, the IDR can be made more effective and efficient by creating institutional repository policy that will take care of copyright, deposition right, diversification of contents and advocacy which are the major challenges hampering the growth and development of the IDR