Ben Odigbo, Felix Eze, Rose Odigbo and Joshua Kajang
Background: This work is a situation analysis of reported human rights abuses that have characterized the COVID-19 controls and lockdown in some countries of the world. This is as…
Abstract
Background: This work is a situation analysis of reported human rights abuses that have characterized the COVID-19 controls and lockdown in some countries of the world. This is as documented by reliable mass media sources, relevant international organizations and human rights non-governmental organizations between January 2020 to April 2020.
Methods: A combined content analysis, critical analysis, and doctrinal method is applied in this study in line with the reproducible research process. It is a secondary-data-based situation analysis study, conducted through a qualitative research approach.
Findings: The findings revealed among other things that: COVID-19 lockdowns and curfews' enforcement by law enforcement officers contravened some people's fundamental human rights within the first month. Security forces employed overt and immoderate forces to implement the orders. The lockdown and curfew enforcements were not significantly respectful of human life and human dignity. The COVID-19 emergency declarations in some countries were discriminatory against minorities and vulnerable groups in some countries.
Research limitations/implications: This report is based on data from investigative journalism and opinions of the United Nations and international human rights organizations, and not on police investigations or reports. The implication of the study is that if social marketing orientations and risk communication and community engagement attitudes were given to the law enforcement officers implementing the COVID-19 lockdowns and or curfews, the human rights and humanitarian rights breaches witnessed would have been avoided or drastically minimized.
Originality: The originality of this review is that it is the first to undertake a situation analysis of the COVID-19 lockdowns and curfews human rights abuses in some countries. The study portrayed the poor level of social marketing orientations and risk communication and community engagement attitudes amongst law enforcement officers, culminating in the frosty police-public relationships.
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Entrepreneurship education is being taught to undergraduates in tertiary institutions and fresh graduates in youth programmes to encourage start-ups and create employment as a…
Abstract
Entrepreneurship education is being taught to undergraduates in tertiary institutions and fresh graduates in youth programmes to encourage start-ups and create employment as a strategy to stem youth unemployment. As such, entrepreneurship education programmes are expected to include rigorous processes of programme design, implementation and evaluation so as to achieve changes in behaviour, attitude and action of participants measureable in terms of start-up and jobs created. Two entrepreneurship education programmes implemented in Nigeria are evaluated to ascertain the level of effectiveness in design, implementation and evaluation and the outcomes in terms of start-ups and employment created. Research methods adopted in the two programmes combine observation techniques with content analyses, action research in case study and focus group interviews. In addition, test-retest techniques in a quasi-experimental design, with a structured questionnaire is adopted in programme number two only. The findings are that while it is suspected that the design stage is jumped in programme number one, in programme two, the design is poorly done. Implementation is ineffective in the two programmes because objectives did not arise from programme design as they ought to and evaluation methods are inappropriate and so ineffective. The recommendations include review of the design of the two programmes to generate appropriate and measurable objectives; adopting implementation strategies that will achieve the measurable objectives generated from revised programme designs and adopting appropriate evaluation techniques that has capacity to measure outcomes and impact in addition to outputs.
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Ambrose Nnaemeka Omeje, Augustine Jideofor Mba and Ogochukwu Christiana Anyanwu
In Nigeria, insecurity has been breeding very rapidly given the Nigerian economic conditions in the recent past. Insecurity exposes enterprise development and survival to a…
Abstract
Purpose
In Nigeria, insecurity has been breeding very rapidly given the Nigerian economic conditions in the recent past. Insecurity exposes enterprise development and survival to a serious threat. It has serious effects on lives and properties, obstructs business activities and discourages local and foreign investors, which in turn militate against Nigeria’s overall economic growth and development. This rising wave of insecurity has assumed an unsafe facet to enterprise development and its subsequent survival, hence, if unchecked, it can threaten the overall communal existence of the country as one entity. The purpose of this study is therefore, to examine the impact of insecurity on enterprise development in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the most recent Nigeria Enterprise Survey data (2014) and applied multi-nomial logistic regression model to examine the impact of insecurity on enterprise development in Nigeria.
Findings
It was found among others that all the captured insecurity variables in this study have negative significant impact on enterprise development and as such significantly retards enterprise growth and development except for corruption and availability of strong, fair and impartial legal system (comparing partnership and limited partnership enterprise to the sole proprietorship), which were found to have positive impact on enterprise development in Nigeria.
Practical implications
This study therefore recommended among others that government at all levels – federal, state and local – should try harder to live up to its primary constitutional function of providing adequate security of lives and property to its citizenry.
Originality/value
There is no known study that has investigated the impact of insecurity on enterprise development in Nigeria. There is dearth of literature in the study area, hence this study enormously contributes to the growing literature on insecurity and enterprise development.
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Ugochukwu Chinonso Okolie, Hyginus Emeka Nwosu and Sunday Mlanga
Following the outcry of several employers that many higher education (HE) graduates do not possess employability skills and therefore are not employable, the purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Following the outcry of several employers that many higher education (HE) graduates do not possess employability skills and therefore are not employable, the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine what the labour market (LM) actually demands from the higher education institutions (HEIs) and how the demands of the LM can be met by the HEIs in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on interviews and focus group with 28 university professors, executives of the students’ industrial work scheme (SIWES), industry executives, executive officers of the Directorate of Employment and the HE course/programme leaders that revealed substantial information about what the LM actually requires from the HE, and how the HE can meet the demands of the LM in terms of supply of quality graduates.
Findings
The key findings reveal that with adequate teaching resources and competent teachers, graduate employability skills (technical and soft), which the LM demands from the HEIs, can be imparted to the students. Concerning LM and HEIs partnerships, it is found that understanding the demands of the LM by the HEIs can enhance the graduates’ outcomes and their prospects in the LM.
Research limitations/implications
The study argues that the graduate employability is still relevant to the existing practice, but further engagement and research surrounding how the HEIs in the developing countries, especially Nigeria, can meet the actual demands of the LM in terms of competent graduates are needed to examine this range of HE.
Originality/value
The study provides significant suggestions on the improvement needs of the HE teachers to inspire and motivate students to increase the knowledge (know-how), skills (how to do), self-efficacy (effectiveness) and qualities (technical and creative knowledge) required by the LM.
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Wasiu Olayinka Fawole and Burhan Ozkan
The purpose of this paper is to assess how profitable and technically efficient is cocoa enterprise in Ondo State of Nigeria especially amidst the ongoing diversification program…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess how profitable and technically efficient is cocoa enterprise in Ondo State of Nigeria especially amidst the ongoing diversification program of the current administration in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The study made use of primary data collected with the aid of structured questionnaires. The multistage random sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study. Data collected during the survey were analyzed by both descriptive and inferential techniques. A total of 140 respondents who were majorly cocoa farmers were selected for this study with data on their socioeconomic characteristics and input utilization taken and subsequently analyzed.
Findings
This study found that the cocoa enterprise in the study area was efficient and profitable with rooms for improvement, especially in the areas of labor and input used as identified by the outcome of the study. The average yield, total revenue, gross margin and efficiency ratio were 1.2 ton/ha, ₦1,344,000.00/ha, ₦1,071,717.00/ha and 0.36, respectively. The highest, average and least technical efficiencies among farmers in the study area were 98.86, 88.81 and 75.12 percent, respectively. It was also discovered that none of the farmers investigated operated at 100 percent, confirming that there are still rooms for improvement in the production processes in the study area by adopting modern methods of production and replacement of the old breeds with resistant and high yielding breeds.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of this study was that the study sample is quite smaller and could as well not be used to make a strong policy case for the topic under consideration. However, as it is found among the majority of cocoa farmers in Nigeria, they mostly operate under the same conditions of production which suggests that the outcome of this research is not meaningless, considering the similarities in the production environment and other factors of production among cocoa farmers in Nigeria. It is therefore strongly recommended that future studies take into consideration this limitation and address it appropriately by widening the scope and sample for the study as this will go a long way in giving true representation as regarding the topic under consideration.
Social implications
The social implication of this study has to do with the employment opportunities that will be created for the teaming youths if the cocoa enterprise is made to attract them by creating enabling environment as recommended by the study. When quantity of production is improved, it will create additional income for the farmers and also provide foreign earnings to government.
Originality/value
This study is strictly original, considering its content and the contribution it is making to the body of knowledge. The study will be contributing to the knowledge by pointing out the potentials inherent in cocoa production as especially coming at a time when the price of crude oil that provides over 80 percent of Nigerian foreign earnings is down and the cocoa price is not only high but also stable at the international market.
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Benjamin Sunday Uzochukwu, Chinyere Cecilia Okeke, Joyce Ogwezi, Benedict Emunemu, Felicia Onibon, Bassey Ebenso, Tolib Mirzoev and Ghazala Mir
The importance of social exclusion and the disadvantage experienced by many minority ethnic and religious populations are rooted in SDG 10. To address this exclusion effectively…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of social exclusion and the disadvantage experienced by many minority ethnic and religious populations are rooted in SDG 10. To address this exclusion effectively it is important to understand their key drivers. This paper aimed to establish the key drivers of exclusion and their outcomes in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods involved a scoping review of literature and stakeholder workshops that focused on drivers of social exclusion of religious and ethnic minorities in public institutions.
Findings
At the macro level, the drivers include ineffective centralized federal State, competition for resources and power among groups, geographic developmental divide and socio-cultural/religious issues. At the meso-level are institutional rules and competition for resources, stereotypes and misconceptions, barriers to access and service provision. At the micro-level are socio-economic status and health-seeking behaviour. The perceived impact of social exclusion included increasing illiteracy, lack of employment, deteriorating health care services, increased social vices, communal clashes and insurgencies and vulnerability to exploitation and humiliation. These drivers must be taken into consideration in the development of interventions for preventing or reducing social exclusion of ethnic and religious minorities from public services.
Originality/value
This is a case of co-production by all the stakeholders and a novel way for the identification of drivers of social exclusion in public services in Nigeria. It is the first step towards solving the problem of exclusion and has implications for the achievement of SDG 10 in Nigeria.