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Efficiency of Insurance Industry in Nigeria: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis
No full textThe study sought to establish whether listed insurance firms in Nigeria are technically and scale efficiently. To achieve this goal, the study employed the Non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with input variables that include total equity, fixed asset and number of staffs while the output variables are revenue, other income and profit before tax. The study period was 2015 - 2016. The STATA DEA software was used to calculate the efficiency score. Findings from the study indicate that in 2015; 5 insurance firms out of the 13 in our sample were efficient based on the constant return to scale (CRS), while 6 are variable return to scale (VRS) efficient whereas, 6 insurance firms were scaled efficiently. Furthermore, in 2016 the result indicates that 3 insurance firms out of the 13 in our sample were efficient based on a constant return to scale (CRS), while 5 are variable return to scale (VRS) efficient whereas, 9 insurance firms were scaled efficiently. This means that majority of the sampled insurance firms are not successful in converting their inputs to outputs. The study concludes that insurance firms in Nigeria are not optimally performing in terms of converting their inputs to outputs. It is therefore recommended that there is need for the insurance firms to scale down the cost of production through an appropriate strategy. Also, the operation of efficient insurance firms can be the benchmark by inefficient insurance firms
Budget Participation and Employees’ Performance in Selected Firms in the Private Sector in Nigeria
No full textThis study investigated how managers’ participation in budgets’ preparation and implementation and assessment could lead to improved employees’ performance in an organisation. The primary source of data collection was used through the aid of a structured questionnaire to seek the opinion of respondents involved in the budgetary process in some selected firms in the private sector in Lagos-State, Nigeria. In addition, a secondary source of data was used to obtain information on the manufacturing and service industries used for this study. The population of the study is 493, while convenience sampling technique was used to select the sample size of respondents from the two specified companies, i.e. First Bank of Nigeria Plc. and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc. determined by the application of Taro Yamane's formula. Each of the research questions was analysed using Means and Standard Deviations, while each of the hypotheses was analysed and tested for significance at 0.05 level of significance using Multiple Econometric Regression method and t-test statistics. The results of the study suggest that allowing adequate participation of the employees in budget preparation, implementation and assessment will most likely lead to improved employees’ performance
Preliminaries and Content
No full textEditorial
I am delighted to announce the successful publication of Volume 26, 2020 of our esteemed journal, Lagos Notes and Records. This current edition is made up of thirteen well-researched articles across the various disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences namely History, Philosophy, Creative Arts, Language Studies, Literature, Communication Studies, and Linguistics.
Lynn Schler in the first article, ‘The Local and the Global in African Studies: An Essay in Honour of Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju @ 60’, argues that in every geographic context, African studies evolved as an intersection between local and global flows of ideas, politics and capital. She concludes that the future of African studies requires scholars to view Africa as both a singular idea and a conglomeration of vastly diverse cultural contexts. Scholars must be aware of what is distinctive in local contexts and also take cognizance of global solutions.
In the second article, ‘Identity and Ideological Positioning in Popular Nigerian Ethnic Jokes’, ’Rotimi Taiwo and David Dontele examine the discursive constructions of selected jokes to determine their expression of attitudinal and ideological dispositions of the ethnic groups within the multilingual/multicultural context of Nigeria. They argue that ethnic jokes in Nigeria construct stereotypes about linguo-cultural signs, and that the jokes have been stripped of their stigmatizing effects owing to the ability of Nigerians to laugh collectively at their perceived prejudices and stereotypes. In a related article, ‘Impression Management and Face Sensitivities in Delta State Courtroom Interactions’, Olasimbo Takpor and Felix Ogoanah investigate impression management and courtroom interactions in High Court proceedings in Delta State of Nigeria within the theoretical framework of Rapport Management Model (Spencer Oatey). They conclude that to manage face sensitivities, courtroom interactions create diverse impressions of themselves or others by deploying impression management strategies such as self-promotion, intimidation, apologies, ingratiation and conformity as determined by the peculiarities of legal procedures and cultural norms, which mediate judicial proceedings, interpretations and decisions.
Felix Ajiola’s ‘Colonial Capitalism and the Structure of the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board, 1947-1960’ examines the origin, structure and impact of the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board (NCMB) from its inauguration in 1947 up to 1960. The author argues that the NCMB served various interests and purposes, which hardly benefitted cocoa producers, but rather exploited them through intolerable taxes, harmful price regulations and unfavourable grading policies. In another article, ‘The Language Factor and Internet Penetration in Nigeria: A Practical Assessment’, Olushola Are examines all the unstated assumptions behind quests for more language options on the internet with specific reference to Nigeria. The author concludes that the provision of Nigerian language options online would not significantly enhance internet penetration in the country without broader adjustments to the roles and status of indigenous languages as well as greater socio-economic and political reforms to fight general social exclusion for which linguistic exclusion of any form may be merely symptomatic.
In the sixth article, ‘Theatrical Intervention towards “Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness”’, Oluwatoyin Olokodana-James examines Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) strategies. She argues that BPCR reduces the risks of complications in that it helps health practitioners to detect danger signs from both mother and the newborn early enough. Using qualitative research approach, the author employs theatre and dance as interventionist tools to educate women within Ifako-Ijaye LGA in Lagos State on the usefulness of BPCR. In a different article on ‘Stress Patterning in Polysyllabic Words among Educated Yoruba Speakers of English in Lagos’, Emmanuel Osifeso investigates one hundred (100) undergraduate and post-graduate students across Lagos State to underscore the role of stress patterning of polysyllabic words among educated Yoruba speakers of English in Lagos (EYSEL). He concludes that EYSEL have a propensity for shifting the main stress in English polysyllabic words rightward.
Victor Ariole’s article, ‘Peul (Fulani) Worldview as seen in Ba’s Work: A Critique’, identifies the cultural integration constraints in Africa using Ba’s discussion of the Peul/Fulani as a case study. He concludes that Ba’s thought patterns are quite relevant in understanding the Peul’s worldview which sees probity and constituents’ responsibilities as inalienable with peaceful living or existence.
Babatunji Adepoju in the ninth article, ‘Cohesion in English Biblical Narratives: A Study of “The Prodigal Son”’, examines the different methods that writers/speakers employ in making English narratives coherent. He discusses the reasons why many texts are considered disjointed/disorganised thereby making such texts lose the desired radiance. He concludes that the unity of a text is enhanced by adherence to the appropriate usage of grammatical and lexical ties in English narratives.
Ayọdele Shotunde in ‘A Discourse on the Nature of Crime and Punishment in the Administration of Social Justice in an African Culture’ evaluates the nature of crime and punishment among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Adopting the critical and prescriptive methodology, he concludes that it is important to take an insightful look at the traditional Yoruba conception of crime and punishment given its embedded spirit of forgiveness because such has the potential of fostering better social ethics in contemporary Nigeria. In the next article, ‘China-Hong Kong Dual System: Twenty-Three Years of Uncertainty and Broken Promises’, Henry Ogunjewo argues that the relationship between China and Hong Kong in the last twenty-three years have been characterised by broken promises, failed covenants, unnecessary political meddling, judicial undercutting, press gagging and restrictions on freedom of expressions, leading to protests and political tension in Hong Kong. He concludes that the United Kingdom, former colonial administrator of Hong Kong, needed to bring international pressure on China to protect the interests of Hong Kong.
Bisoye Eleshin’s ‘High-Toned Vowel Prefix in Yoruba’ examines prefixation as it relates to gerund derivation in Yoruba. He uses the morpho-syntactic approach to establish the claim that there actually exists a high-toned vowel prefix i- in Yoruba and that the class of noun it derives is gerund.
The last paper by Mosunmola Ogunmolaji and Oyinade Adekunle ‘‘Madam Due Process’: The Public Life of Obiageli Ezekwesili’ is a biography of Obiageli Ezekwesili. The authors analyse the public life of Obiageli Ezekwesili providing insights into her lifestyle, especially the major forces that spurred her interest in politics and public administration. They conclude that Ezekwesili is an intellectual who has broken gender barriers in Nigeria. She possesses pragmatic understanding of the yearnings of Nigerians through deliberate identification of their problems, acquisition of necessary problem-solving tools, and swift responses to the problems whether or not she stepped on toes in the process.
I hereby warmly recommend these articles to the academic community with the hope that scholars will find them interesting and useful. I congratulate the Editorial Team for a job well done despite the constraints of the COVID era!
Professor Olufunkẹ Adeboye
Dean, Faculty of Arts
Editor-in-Chie
Stability of Nonlocal Stochastic Volterra Equations
No full textIn this paper, we study Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability of solutions for nonlocal stochastic Volterra equations. Sufficient conditions for the existence and stability of solutions are derived using the Gronwall lemma. The advantage of our model equation is that it allows for additional measurements leading to better results compared to models with local initial conditions. Examples are solved to illustrate the applications of the results. 
Lecturers’ Awareness and Perceptions on The Usefulness of Augmented Reality For Instructional Delivery in Nigerian Universities
No full textThe introduction of technology into instructional delivery processes in the institutions of higher learning has taken numerous dimensions in this 21st century. Several concepts have also emanated through the design of interactive instructional contents. Augmented Reality is one of such designs that tend to simplify instructional content for the teaching and learning processes. This study examined lecturers’ awareness and perceptions on instructional usefulness of augmented reality. The study adopted a descriptive research design using the survey approach. Simple random sampling technique was employed . The instrument used is a researcher-designed questionnaire with four sections to collect responses on demography, awareness level and perceptions of instructional usefulness of augmented reality. The instrument was validated by four experts comprising two each of educational technology and computer science lecturers. The reliability of the instrument was determined through Cronbach Alpha which yielded 0.91. The questionnaire was administered through Google Form and 197 respondents were able to access it. Three research questions were answered and two hypotheses were tested. Mean and t-test were used to answer the research questions and hypotheses respectively. The findings revealed that the majority of lecturers in tertiary institutions in Nigeria possess high level and rate of awareness and perception respectively. Also, most lecturers found augmented reality to be instructional useful. It is then recommended that a positive move should be built on improving the awareness and perception by way of making infrastructure and equipment available in tertiary institutions in Nigeria
EFFECT OF INTERACTIVE-ENGAGEMENT, ANALOGY-ENHANCED STRATEGIES AND LOCATION ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SELF-EFFICACY IN CHEMISTRY
No full textThe focus of this study is to investigate the location effect of interactive-engagement and analogy-enhanced learning strategies on the academic performance and self-efficacy of students in chemistry. The population of the study consisted of all the Senior Secondary School Two (SSS II) students offering Chemistry in all the 187 public senior secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. 198 SSS II students offering chemistry from the intact classes of six selected secondary schools were the sample used for the study. The selection of the sample for the study was done through multistage sampling procedure. Quasi experimental design of the pretest, posttest control group design was adopted for the study. The students were divided into three groups (two experimental and one control); one of the experimental groups was exposed to interactive-engagement strategy and the second group was exposed to analogy-enhanced strategy while the control group was taught with conventional learning strategy. Two research instruments; Chemistry Students’ Performance Test (CSPT) and Students’ Self-Efficacy Rating Scale (SSERS) were used for collection of data. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was the inferential statistics used to analyse the data gathered. Findings of the study showed no significant location effect of interactive-engagement and analogy-enhanced strategies on the students’ performance and self-efficacy in Chemistry ((F2,191= 0.207; p>0.05 and F2,191= 312.238; p<0.05). Students’ school location and treatment had no significant interaction effect on their performance and self-efficacy in Chemistry. It was recommended that Chemistry teachers should adopt interactive-engagement and analogy-enhanced learning strategies to improve students’ performance and self-efficacy
NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF A 3-DIMENSIONAL HEAT EQUATION BY HOMOTOPY PERTURBATION ALGORITHM
No full textIn this paper, a newly proposed algorithm for the numerical solutions of a 3-dimensional heat equation was presented. The formulated algorithm was developed using homotopy perturbation method (HPM). In order to test the feasibility of the proposed algorithm, four examples are considered and the numerical solutions obtain are in good agreement with available solutions in literature and exact solutions. From the computational point of view, the numerical solutions and graphs presentation show clearly that homotopy perturbation algorithm is feasible, efficiency and easy to implement
OVERVIEW OF SCHEDULING PROBLEMS WITH LEARNING EFFECT, DETERIORATING EFFECT, MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY AND NON- MONOTONIC TIME-DEPENDENT PROCESSING TIMES
No full textIn recent times many research has been focused on assumption that processing times of a job is unfixed. In practice, thus the processing time ofa job processing time of a job may changes due to some factors. We investigated factors that affect the varying processing time of a job under different machine environments. We were able to identify four factors that may influence processing time of a job, these include learning effect, deteriorating effect,maintenance activity and non-monotonic time-dependent processing time. In this paper, we discussed machine environments and their assumption and some features of jobs processing times. We also gave a concise overview on the literature on scheduling with learning effect, deteriorating effect, maintenance activity and non-monotonous time dependent processing times. The emphasis was on single machine, parallel machine and flowshop machine while few work are done on open shop and job shop machines. We discovered that these factors are never been considered simultaneously. Dynamic programming and machine learning approach methods are not been used while hybrid meta-heuristics methods are scarcely used in all the machine environments under these constraints
Teaching and Learning in an Inclusive Preschool Environment in Nigeria
No full textOne of the key Importance of basic education as stated by the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria is regular primary education and literacy education, where attention is focused on special needs education, mostly in the area of basic education for the nomadic groups and the girl-child. Little or no special consideration is given to the education of children with disabilities, especially children in their early years (preschoolers). This study, therefore, examined teaching and learning in an inclusive preschool environment in Nigeria, discussing inclusion in preschool/early childhood education, features of inclusion in high-quality early childcare services and useful strategies for inclusion in preschool classrooms. The study recommended that early childhood educators should develop positive attitudes towards inclusion in preschools, preschools in Nigeria should adopt inclusion and the government should organize in-service training for preschool teachers on inclusion among other things
CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUBJECTS AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL: A PARADIGM SHIFT FOR RESULT- ORIENTED SKILL ACQUISITION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
No full textThe problem of a high rate of unemployment among school leavers has for a long time been a cause for concern to the successive governments. Sound education which equips students to challenge the status quo and proffer better alternatives is the way out of the present economic quagmire. The introduction of ‘Trade Subjects’ into the Senior Secondary (SS) Education Curriculum is equally a welcome innovation in the Nigerian Education System. Every student must offer at least one trade/entrepreneurship subject. This paper examines the concept and objectives of entrepreneurship education, prospects of the restructured curriculum, challenges of implementation of the trade/entrepreneurship subjects at the SSS level, way forward for successful implementation and conclusion and recommendations