African Social Science and Humanities Journal

Children's reactions to 'Taste is the difference' indomie instant noodles television commercial in Nigeria: Anambra State in focus

Chinwe Uchechukwu Amatu — 2024-01-22

This study evaluated children's responses to the 'Taste is the difference' Indomie Instant noodles television commercial in Anambra State, Nigeria. It is premised on the background that children who live and interact with other members of society cultivate different behaviours after exposure to media content. There is a need to control the spread of unethical media content for children's safety, cultivating acceptable sociocultural behaviours and positive development. The study hinged on Cultivation and Social Learning Theories and adopted the Focus Group Discussion research method with structured questions as a data collection instrument. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select 364 primary six pupils as respondents from three schools in the three senatorial districts of Anambra State, Nigeria, on consent from relevant authorities. Findings show that respondents were significantly exposed to the select commercial; there was a high recall of message elements. The respondents were also found to be favourably disposed to the message elements and perceived some elements as imperfect because they eroded aspects of their culture. The study concludes that the select respondents responded positively to the entertainment aspect and negatively to the cultural implication of the commercial. The study recommended amendments to message elements in the commercial that eroded some aspects of Nigerian culture.

Insecurity and development administration in Nigeria: A cross-road

Kayode Asaju — 2024-01-22

Development Administration is primarily concerned with the various strategies adopted to achieve accelerated national development, especially in developing countries. In Nigeria, various strategies for achieving national development seem not to achieve the desired objectives. The country has been bedevilled by various development problems which permeate all the sectors in the country. One of the problems is the high rate of insecurity in Nigeria. The paper examines the state of insecurity in Nigeria and its consequences on the quest to achieve Development Administration in the country. The paper adopts qualitative analysis as the bulk of data is collected from official documents, books, journals, newspapers and magazines, among other instruments. The results showed that the high rate of insecurity in Nigeria perpetuated by different forms and groups of criminals significantly affects the national development in Nigeria. The results showed that the high rate of insecurity in Nigeria perpetuated by different forms and groups of criminals significantly affects the national development in Nigeria. The situation reflected the rate of unemployment, poverty, disruption of farming and other economic activities, destruction of lives and property, and out-of-school children among other problems. The paper suggests renewed and vigorous efforts at providing employment opportunities to the youths, engaging the criminals who are ready for peace, engaging the various traditional institutions and religious bodies in the fight against criminal elements, and adopting high tech in the fight against criminal elements, voting for leaders with the requisite knowledge, honest, and those that would be above primordial sentiments.

Youth and the electoral violence in Nigeria’s democratic regime: Lesson for youth ahead of 2023 general election

Yau Idris Gadau — 2024-01-22

This study is a qualitative research data in which data where collected from the secondary sources from books, journals and the government reports. Youth in democratic governance have been used to thwarting the election process or creating confusion that could led to generate doubt in the conduct of free, fair and credible election. Employing thug to boycott the legal procedure in order to win the election or disruption the election creating avenue for electoral violence to manifest. Electoral violence is among the major factors that affect the democratic regime in Nigeria. Throughout the history of democratic governance in Nigeria, electoral violence have affected negatively the socio-political and economic wellbeing and democratization process that has been struggled to put place in the country since the independence. This paper examines the manifestations of electoral violence instigated by youth in Nigerian democracy. The findings showsnumerous factors that contributed to the electoral violence in democratic governance of Nigeria. These factors comprise electoral rigging which manifests in various stages such as snatching of ballot box, and voters buying, godfatherism and institutional incapacity in managing election and mismanagement

Executive immunity clause and its effects on the fight against corruption in Nigeria

Usman Sambo — 2024-01-22

The Nigerian 1999 Constitution enshrined an outrageous and controversial clause known as the ‘Immunity Clause’ in Section 306 of the Constitution which provides maximum protection for the executive office holders at the Federal and State levels. Hence, the President, Vice President, Governors and their Deputies are immune from any investigation or sanction during their tenure in office even if they commit an offence or a breach of trust such as corruption. This study analysed critically the provision of the immunity clause and its effects on engendering corruption by the executive office holders in Nigeria. The study empirically examined top political office holders who hold executive offices from 1999 to 2020 that were under investigation for protected corrupt practices during their office days. The study utilised the secondary sources of data collection because the paper is a conceptual descriptive one. Sources such as books, journal articles, newspapers, reports and internet sources are utilised. Elite Theory was used to strengthen the literature in the work. The data collected were analysed and interpreted using content analysis where discussions and interpretations were made using the context of the existing knowledge for contribution. The work discovered that the presence of the immunity clause is preventing the fight against corruption from being actualised and it is helping in escalating corrupt practices. The work recommends among other suggestions that the clause should be removed and allow the executive office holders to face their actions even while in office to ensure transparency.

Political apathy and the imperative of media education in Nigeria

Okechukwu Chukwuma — 2024-01-22

The fact that the workability of any political process is largely dependent on the active participation of the masses remains undisputable. Also, the active participation of the masses in any political process is largely dependent on the level of awareness and effective mobilization. Research evidence and critical observations have all pointed to the fact that lack of awareness and effective mobilization of the masses for any political process engender and sustain apathy which ultimately frustrates such political agenda. The paper tried to explore the situation of political apathy in Nigeria and how such apathy could be mitigated by the media. Through intensive review of relevant documents, it was argued that led to critical discourse on the subject of focus of the paper, it was found that lack of education/sanitation of the masses, lack of effective mobilization, the menace of corruption, political violence and consistent military intrusion in governance have fundamentally engendered political apathy in Nigeria. It was also found that the media has the capacity to reduce or ultimately eradicate political apathy by engaging in aggressive sensitization and education of the masses, mobilization of the masses, fighting corruption, correcting political misconceptions and ensuring two-way-communication. Accordingly, the paper advanced a roadmap for the effective utilization of the media not only to change the status quo, but to position Nigeria on the path of political progress as an emerging democracy in Africa.

The extent of self-reported impact of COVID19 on daily academic activities and incomes among university students in Kumasi, Ghana

Emmanuel Keku — 2024-01-22

Students at universities are becoming recognized as a vulnerable populace, with much greater rates of depression and workload/activities than the overall population amidst COVID-19. As such, the present research intends to document the extent of self-reported impact on university students' everyday accademic lives and incomes. In August of 2021, a cross-sectional, self-administered internet-based poll was conducted among Ghanaian university students in Kumasi. The data was retrieved from the internet using Microsoft Excel and then analyzed using STATA software version 14. Both univariate and logistic regression analysis were performed, with a p-value<0.05 regarded statistically significant (*). The study included 430 participants, majority of whom were single (98.6%), young adults (89.8%), and Christians (90.7%). This survey found that 52.1% said the COVID-19 epidemic has a highly significant impact on their daily activities and income. Among other risk factors considered by the study, only students with a perceived risk of COVID-19 infection are approximately three times more likely to be affected by the pandemic in their daily academic activities and incomes than those who were not (Adj. OR = 2.516, 95CI% = 1.551–4.081, p < 0.001). The knowledge advanced by this study will educate stakeholders and aid policy-makers in higher education in improving public educational provisions. The results of this study may be used to predict the future effects of the pandemic. The novelty of this research also lies in its self-reported approach to analyzing the effect of the pandemic on the income and everyday academic activities of university students in Kumasi.

Real sector performance amid financial globalization: The Nigeria growth prospects

Ogonna Winnie Arazu — 2024-01-22

Financial globalization has drawn so much attention and has been identified as the major cause of the global financial crisis. With clear evidence of financial globalization in Nigeria, agreement on the magnitude and net effect on the nation’s economic sectors has not received more research attention. This article aims to investigate how Nigeria's sectoral performances are impacted by financial globalization. The sectors of interest include Trade, Agriculture, Construction, Industrial and Service. Annual Time series data for the period, 1981-2019 was analysed using a Classical Linear Regression Method in an Error Correction Framework. Results established a strong significant association between financial globalization, construction and trade sectors. It indicates the insignificant consequences of financial globalization on the industrial, service, and agricultural sectors, respectively. The result further finds that terms of payment impact the agricultural sector, while terms of trade impact the industrial sector, respectively. The exchange rate is the only variable that shows a significant negative impact on the five selected sectors. The article suggests that government and monetary authorities concentrate on stabilizing the currency rate since doing so improves terms of trade, builds local capacity, and boosts sectoral performances.

Sustaining development in Nigeria through liberal democracy

Bruno Onyinye Umunakwe — 2024-01-22

Development is a pivotal process for human existence. The unique feature of the development is that it involves an active engagement of everybody. In Nigeria, the situation is different because, with the inception of self-rule particularly the return of full democracy in 1999, the system of politics disguisedly revolves around the interests of the few (bourgeois). National interests are handled like private property by the selected few who came into power on the basis of socio-economic status, tribe, and religion. However, people who are supposed to contribute to the transformation of the state are neither not voted into power because of their tribe nor allowed to participate in national decisions. Nigerian politics in a nutshell stifled all efforts of true democratization because of greed which sidelines the welfare of the masses. Advocates of development insist that the process can only be sustained in a society where there is a principle of equal opportunities. By this, the principles of right, law, and government should aim at shielding different personalities as illustrated in the principles of liberal democracy. Liberal democracy maintains a political value that incorporates equality and widens the horizon for religious, economic, political, and intellectual freedom of citizens. It is on this basis that this study suggests liberal democracy as a vital system which can transform the socio-economic and political situation of Nigeria. The study recommends that to sustain development in Nigeria, stakeholders should prioritize the welfare of the civil society against material gains and selfish interests of the few elites.

Maternal mortality and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Christian Ikechukwu Nnadi — 2024-01-22

Globally, the highest number of maternal deaths is in SubSaharan African region with ratio of 546 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births which is approximately 201,000 maternal deaths annually. This amounts to two-thirds of all maternal deaths per year worldwide. This fact calls for investigation to ascertain its effect(s) on economic development of the sub region. It is however hypothesized that maternal death generally is significant and has negative influence on economic growth (Gross Domestic product) both in under-developed, developing and developed nations. The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of maternal mortality on economic development in Sub-Sahara African region. Cross-sectional data analysis of selected member countries in the region under focus was employed using double-log econometric model. The source of data is from United Nations Development Programme and World Bank. The explanatory variables in the model were statistically significant at 5% level while other coefficients like maternal mortality, exports and imports conform to the apriori expectations and impacted negatively on the overall GDP. A necessary but not sufficient condition is investing on viable programmes and projects that reduce maternal deaths as well as spur significant economic returns and sustainability in sub-Saharan African economies are however recommended.

Interfaith mediation centre in promoting peace in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Musa Saleh — 2024-01-22

One of the main obstacles across the globe is a conflict between social groupings. Conflicts over religion, ethnicity, and post-election violence in Africa, and notably Nigeria, harm people's lives and livelihoods. Conflicts occurred in Kaduna, Plateau, and the Bauchi State over a period of time. There has been a public uproar due to the escalating crisis in Bauchi State. To promote peace-building in Bauchi State, Nigeria, this article attempts to investigate the causes that led to the formation of the Interfaith Mediation Centre. The John Paul Lederach theory of peace building served as the basis for this investigation. The study used a descriptive approach. Qualitative research design was employed. The main informants were chosen by the researcher from among Interfaith Mediation Centre personnel, religious leaders, and government officials using a purposive sample technique. Data were extracted from both primary and secondary sources of data collecting. Thematic content analysis was used for analysing the data. The results of the study showed that although the Interfaith Mediation Centre was founded in 1995 to address the problems of persistent ethno religious violence affecting Bauchi state, its main goal was to put an end the conflicts. Another research result supported the idea that IMC fosters peaceful communities in Bauchi and elsewhere through various forms of strategic involvement and mediation. Accordingly, the study concluded that the organization offers training materials to boost and develop peace-building ability, promote religious tolerance, ethnic unity, and the empowerment of women to inculcate the culture of peace. The study recommended that the Interfaith Mediation Centre should keep promoting dialogue among Muslims and Christians, and also promote peace education in the state.