1116 research outputs found
Sort by
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LABOUR MARKET DYNAMICS IN THE BANKING SECTOR IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
Full text linkThe study's general objective is to examine the impact of artificial intelligence on labour market dynamics. It adopted the survey research method as its research design. Its specific objectives among others are to: examine the relationship between artificial intelligence technology and employment rates in the labour market; analyze the relationship between artificial intelligence and job types and occupations in the labour market; and establish the relationship between artificial intelligence technology and worker skills in the labour market. Taro Yamane's (1967) formula was used to derive a sample size of One Hundred and Twenty-Seven (127) staff; drawn from the study population of One Hundred and Eighty-Five (185). Data were collected via a well-structured and tested questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using Correlation Statistics via SPSS statistical tools. The findings of the study revealed that artificial intelligence has a significant effect on employment rates in the labour market; artificial intelligence has a significant effect on job types and occupations in the labour market; and artificial intelligence has a significant effect on worker skills in the labour market. The study recommends that businesses should prioritize upskilling and reskilling their employees; employers can diversify their recruitment strategies, and adapt to changing market conditions to remain competitive and successful in the labor market; and collaborative effort between stakeholders is essential to ensuring a sustainable and inclusive labor market that benefits society as a whole
Linguistic and Cultural Perspectives on Color in Ósósọ̀
Full text linkColor terms are a vulnerable aspect of linguistic heritage, particularly within minority languages like Ósósọ̀, spoken in Edo State, Nigeria. This study investigates the linguistic and cultural conceptualization of color in Ósósọ̀, focusing on its symbolic, cognitive, and environmental dimensions. The aim is to examine how color is represented in Ósósọ̀ linguistically and culturally, with objectives that include uncovering the socio-cultural logic behind color naming and understanding how language shapes perception. Eight consultants were purposively selected from the four quarters of Ósósọ̀ village and interviewed using structured questionnaires through the Key Informant Interview (KII) method. Additional data was gathered from a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on color concepts. To interpret the metaphorical nature of Ósósọ̀ color expressions, the study draws on Cognitive Linguistics, specifically Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Findings reveal that Ósósọ̀ color terms are deeply tied to cultural experience and local surroundings, relying on metaphor and comparison rather than abstract vocabulary. Expressions such as àbí óbè (“like leaf”) for green and àbí òzẹ̀ (“like blood”) for wine reflect environmental and cultural associations. This research contributes to the discourse on indigenous knowledge systems and semantic diversity. It recommends documenting and integrating Ósósọ̀ color expressions into educational and cultural initiatives to help preserve the language and safeguard the community’s heritage
“Onyabo", Madanwo, and "Amotekun": Urban People’s Interpretation of Community Policing and Internal Security Management in Lagos State.
Full text linkCult killings, urban violence, and political unrest have become some of the major trademarks of Lagos, a rapidly growing West African megacity with an estimated population of over 20 million. At least if anything has changed in the management of public safety and security of Lagos, we have seen incremental deployment of the police to Lagos and additional support to the Nigeria Police Force. However, the crime problem persists in some of the dark spots of the state. For instance, between 2016 and 2017, a deadly cult group, Badoo, killed and injured people in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, spreading the fear that ritualists had invaded the city of Lagos. This study investigates young people's interpretation of community policing in Lagos and the symbolic use of "Madanwo" and "Onyaabo" in deterring criminals. The study adopts the General Deterrence Theory and Symbolic Interactionism to drive home the issue. Using the qualitative method of social research covering Lagos Island, Mushin, Ikorodu, Oworoshoki, and Eti-Osa to sample a total of 30 participants for the In-depth and Key Informant Interviews, the study found that it is really not the use of the names that scared criminals and offenders of the law but the determination to get criminals punished for the offences. In Oworoshoki, the study found that people have come to believe in the "Madanwo Community Police" because they have helped cleanse the community of cultism and cult killing that made the community unsafe in the past. In the Ikorodu area of Lagos, community leaders held that the use of the names provided additional impetus to what the government is capable of doing when culprits or offenders of the law are apprehended. In the Eti-Osa area of Lagos, people believe that the crime rate has drastically reduced now that community vigilantes are involved in the security of the community, compared to when members of the Nigerian Police Force were solely involved in the management of the internal security of the community. Though the code names are increasingly accepted across Lagos, some people feared that the corruption, lack of sincerity, and public trust that incapacitated the Nigeria Police Force in combating crime may turn out to hinder the growth and sustainability of the existing community policing security networks in Lagos State. 
MUSIC LISTENING INTENSITY AS A PREDICTOR OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL
No full textMusic listening is a common activity among adolescents and has been associated with both positive and negative academic outcomes. This study investigated the relationship between music listening intensity and English Language performance among Nigerian secondary school students. The research was guided by three objectives and three null hypotheses, which informed data collection and analysis. A descriptive survey design was employed across four public and four private secondary schools in Oyo East Local Government Area of Oyo State, with a total student population of 3,245. From this population, 200 students (85 males and 115 females) were selected using stratified random sampling techniques. Data were gathered using the Music Listening Intensity Questionnaire, which had a reliability coefficient of r = .63, along with students’ English Language scores obtained from school records. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test, and linear regression. Results revealed a significant difference in English performance across levels of music listening intensity, F(2, 197) = 6.32, p = .002, with post hoc tests showing that students with moderate listening intensity performed significantly better than those with low (p = .001) or high intensity (p = .006). However, regression analysis indicated that music listening intensity did not significantly predict English performance, R² = .003, F(1, 198) = 0.563, p = .454. Additionally, female students outperformed male students in English Language, t(198) = -2.17, p = .031. These findings suggest that although music listening intensity alone is not a strong predictor of academic achievement, moderate listening habits are associated with improved English performance, and gender differences remain a notable factor. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers and parents encourage moderate music listening habits to enhance learning outcomes, while school counseling units should organize awareness programs on music use and learning, with special attention to gender-related variations in academic performance
PARENTING STYLES ON LOW ACADEMIC SELF-ESTEEM AMONG IN-SCHOOLING ADOLESCENTS IN IBADAN METROPOLIS, OYO STATE, NIGERIA
No full textAcademic self-esteem plays a vital role in students’ performance, as it affects their emotional regulation and adaptability. While many studies have examined factors influencing academic self-esteem, little attention has been given to low academic self-esteem and its relationship with parenting styles. The study aimed to ascertain the role of parenting styles in reducing low academic self-esteemgamonggin-schooling adolescents. The study used correlationalg researchgdesign. The targetgpopulation was in-schooling adolescents in public secondaryg schools in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 197 in-schoolinggadolescent. The instruments used were standardised scales named academic self-esteem α = .71 and parentingg styles α =.79. Three research questions were raised and answered at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysedg using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Multipleg Regressiong Analyses. Findings showed that the three parenting styles were significantly related with adolescents’ academic self-esteem. Since the dependent variable was low academic self-esteem, these results indicated that higher levels of these parenting styles are linked with lower levels of low self-esteem (higher academic self-esteem) among in-schooling adolescents. Therefore, it was recommended that in-schooling adolescent should be taught different adjustment techniques to help boost academic self-esteem and to enhance good academic performance
Of Sound and Fury: A Critical Appraisal of President Bola Tinubu's 4D Foreign Policy Thrust
Full text linkNo nation is an Island to itself. For several reasons, among them the promotion of their development, nations, irrespective of their endowments, relate with other nations across the globe. For this reason, countries accord as much importance to their foreign policy as they do domestic policies. The reality is that both domestic and foreign policies are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, reinforce one another. At independence, Nigeria's Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, proclaimed the cardinal principles of Nigeria's foreign policy thrust. Rather than being static, Nigeria's foreign policy has been dynamic, changing with regime type, leadership personalities, the domestic challenges, and in reaction to the international environment. Hence, Nigeria's foreign policy has moved in terms of primacy from Afrocentrism to non-alignment, concentric circle, economic diplomacy, and now to the "4D" (democracy, demography, development, and diaspora) doctrine of President Bola Tinubu's administration. This paper undertakes a critique of Tinubu's" 4D" foreign policy orientation using the theories of decadence, postcolonialism, and globalisation. It argues that despite the policy's acclaimed newness, Nigeria remains trapped in dependency, a product of its position in the international political economy. The paper notes that Nigeria's weak state capacity and its subjection to Western developmental paradigms are among the causes of a disjunction between foreign policy aspirations and reality. It argues that to achieve its objectives, there is an urgent need to match rhetoric with concrete actions and strategies of ending imperialist domination and transnational capital control of Nigeria
Risk Retention Strategy and Financial Performance of Selected Insurance Companies in Nigeria
No full textInsurers manage their risk exposures to maximise profit, improve their underwriting performance and maximise return on assets and shareholders’ funds by retaining a certain proportion of accepted risks. This study used a panel data analysis to examine the relationship between risk retention as a risk financing strategy and the profitability of life insurance firms. This study aims to determine the relationship between the Risk Retention Ratio and the profitability of life insurance companies in Nigeria. An ex-post facto research design was adopted, and cross-sectional data was obtained from eight life insurance companies. Descriptive analysis and inferential statistics were used to test the suitability of the data for the study. Data are further subjected to the fixed effect and random effect regressions. Hausman test was conducted, and the null hypothesis of a random effect model was rejected. The results revealed that the Risk Retention Ratio has a highly positive but insignificant impact on profitability. This implies that factors other than the risk financing strategy adopted by life insurers in Nigeria impact profitability. It is recommended that life insurers should increase the uptake of life insurance and reduce operating expenses. The government should enforce relevant laws on the purchase of life insurance to increase the income generated by insurers and, by extension, their profitability
Investigating the Investment Profiles of Nigerian Small and Family Business Owners
Full text linkIndividual investors make portfolio investments along with various alternatives for the purpose of increasing their profit. Unlike the financial sector that is heavily regulated with coherent risk policy, the small and medium enterprises do not have central oversight or guidance for managing risk taking behavior of decision makers in order to ensure that approaches being taken are efficient, effective, and account for risk-risk tradeoffs. In this work, the investors risk appetite survey was conducted with the aim of exploring and profiling the Nigeria small business owners and managers’ risk appetite that drives their investment decisions and portfolio formation. The study adapted the investment personality questionnaire developed by the Canada Life Assurance Company. Hundreds of small business including family owned businesses were surveyed to examine the relationship between personalities and investment decisions. The five investment risk personality considered are conservative, moderate, balanced, advanced and aggressive. The data profiled reflects a diverse range of investor attitudes, with a general preference for balanVolcing security with growth, and a notable inclination toward long-term goals and investments. Results indicate that Nigerian small business owners are largely moderate and balanced in their risk appetite classification with over 70 percent across four major areas of investment. This finding is similar for all sex and age categories. The results findings of the study will provide traders with information useful in formulating net portfolio and hedging policies in line with the investors’ risk appetite. The expected impact of the outcome of this research will improve access to market information and investors’ risk appetite profiles; guide informed portfolio formation for investors; and ensure financial stability and institutional resilience
Prison Literature and Postcolonial Carceral Consciousness: A Reading of D. M. Zwelonke’s "Robben Island"
No full textDue to the extreme display of brute racial suppression of indigenous South African blacks (and their few activist white sympathisers) by white settler colonialists, South African literature may be argued to have produced Africa’s most harrowing creative accounts of racist profiling of blacks and hegemonic erasure of the Other. This has eminently constructed a canon of writings critically distinguished for their representations of African racial “sub-humanity” in relation to the coloniser’s performance of impalpable power. Despite this, there is a gap in scholarship to account for and theorise the signification of South African prison literature as a postcolonial site of black carceral consciousness which projects unequal racial power relations in which the activist black individual stubbornly asserts their marginalised but revolutionary agency. Redressing this gap through a postcolonial reading of D. M. Zwelonke’s Robben Island, this paper proposes that South African prison literature not only reflects an intensity of black postcolonial carceral consciousness, especially during apartheid, but also signifies a unique activism in dealing with this. In this unfolding, the paper suggests that Zwelonke’s Robben Island, though barely known within African(ist) critical circles, is one of South African prison literature’s most resounding exemplar of the genre
Unmitigated Migration and the Implications for Migrants and their Countries of Origin: The Nigerian Experience
No full textMigration is ordinarily a positive factor that aids the free flow of goods and services, and the exchange of ideas, talents, and technology across the world. However, when migration is unplanned and massive, it creates problems for the countries of origin and destination, as well as for the migrants themselves. This work interrogates the consequences of unmitigated migration on migrants and their countries of origin, using Nigeria as a case study. The study traces the history, trends, patterns, and causal factors of unmitigated migration, alongside its consequences and policy implications. It adopts the descriptive method, relying on readily available and reliable secondary data from various news outlets and mass media channels. The study is guided by an eclectic theoretical framework that utilizes the push-and-pull theory, the world systems theory, and the modernization theory to address different aspects of the topic. The paper argues that unmitigated migration out of countries like Nigeria has resulted in the loss of essential human resources (i.e., brain drain) and a significant depletion of the labour force due to the movement of the country’s best skilled and professional hands in search of greener pastures. While there are gains, especially for the individuals and families involved, such benefits are not significant enough in real terms for the countries of origin, as the conditions that motivated these movements have yet to abate. The paper therefore recommends structured migration that ensures backward integration of benefits substantial enough to propel the countries of origin out of the quagmire of unmitigated migration and underdevelopment