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Editorial
Get PDFThis edition of NIU Journal of Social Sciences focuses on Development Administration and Social Psycholophy.
The first part of the Journal addresses issues in Development Administration such as Macroeconomic Uncertainty, Sustainable Development, Working Capital Management, Local Authority Development, Environmental Values, Sales Promotion and Pricing Strategy. It is argued in one of the papers that building collapses in Nigeria might be decreased if policymakers and the government focused more on the problem of upholding developmental bylaws, made sure that these laws are updated to reflect the global trend of urbanization, and so forth. It is therefore, suggested amongst others, that Local authorities should also set up guidelines to incentivize new developers to follow building regulations and bylaws, as well as to construct safety precautions to lessen the likelihood of collapses in Nigeria.
Papers in the second part are on Social Psychology. It is revealed in one of the papers in this section that that there are a lot of predisposing factors that trigger marital dissolution among couples in the study area, but few of them were identified. It is recommended that couples should regularly attend seminars and workshops on topics related to marital harmony and conflict resolution. It is also suggested that uncensored languages should not be used among couples and the need of premarital counseling among couples is emphasized.
On the whole, this issue of NIU Journal of Social Sciences features many interesting research papers. Some of these papers are empirical in nature while others have theoretical base. Each of them focuses on one specific social and management problem or the other; trying to proffer solutions to them. Readers are therefore advised to make proper use of the ideas presented by the various authors
Exploring Mechanisms for Enforcing Human Rights within the Context of International Law: Issues and Challenges
Get PDFThere is no doubt that the World Wars I & II fought between 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 prompted the establishment of international institutions such as the League of Nations created after World War I and the subsequent United Nations formed in 1945 which laid the groundwork for global cooperation to address violations of human rights. Despite the efforts made to maintain global peace over the past years, there have been gross violations of human rights as the world continues to witness a series of wars. The recent conflicts in Syria, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the Gaza war between Hamas and the Israeli Forces have led to widespread human rights violations, which highlights the urgency or need to address human rights violations beyond state sovereignty. This research explores the conflict between state sovereignty and enforcing human rights globally. It examines legal frameworks of international organizations, and alternative tools like sanctions, alongside the role of civil society against human rights violations. While International law offers mechanisms such as the United Nations human rights system, their effectiveness is limited by politics. The study acknowledges the growing influence of "soft law" through public pressure from NGOs and the media. Beyond legal avenues, the research explores the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework, allowing intervention in extreme human rights violations despite sovereignty concerns. It emphasizes the need for cultural sensitivity to avoid neo-colonial approaches. The research also proposes several approach that prioritizes human rights while acknowledging the complexities of the international landscape which includes economic pressure through targeted sanctions and diplomatic actions. As a recommendation, it highlights the power of civil society and grassroots movements in challenging state impunity even as it advocates for a shift towards a more holistic approach involving diverse actors to bridge the gap between theory and practice in global human rights enforcement.
Keywords: State Sovereignty, Human Rights Enforcement, Responsibility to Protect (R2p), International Law, Civil Societ
Investigating Factors Affecting Academic Achievement And Response Pattern Of Secondary School Students With Physical Disabilities In Niger State, Nigeria
Get PDFAlthough disability is part of human condition and often perceived by people as inability to perform certain tasks, it is, however, not a license to be lazy, but ability to live and be actively involved in academic pursuits by those affected. The purpose of this study was to assess factors affecting academic achievement and aberrant response pattern of secondary school students with physical disabilities. A quasi-experimental design was used. The study adopted 66 teaching staff randomly selected from the 66 public secondary schools from where 121 (59 males and 62 females) students with various and varying degrees of physical disabilities were purposively selected in Niger State of Nigeria. A self-developed questionnaire titled, “Teachers Opinion on Factors Affecting Academic Achievement and Response Pattern of Students with Physical Disability (TOFAA-ARPS-PD) was used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that, while orthopaedic impairment was the most prevalent disability among students with varying degrees of physical disabilities in Niger State public schools, IRT related teacher-based factors and school-based factors recorded a high overall influence on their academic achievement and response pattern with means of 2.79 and 3.28 respectively. This, however, does not negate the influence of student-related factors (with mean of 2.48) on the academic achievement and response pattern of disabled students. A holistic approach to supporting students with disabilities by addressing student-based factors, teacher-based factors and school-based factors was recommended.
Keywords: Physical disability, Aberrant response pattern, Item response theory, School-based factors, Teacher based factors and Orthopaedic impairmen
The Social Media and the Revitalisation of Yorùbá Language and Culture
Get PDFThe social media provides a space for interaction of people and languages across the globe. Today, the English language is the main medium of interaction on the social media rendering indigenous languages endangered. In spite of this, the Yoruba language continues to find its space. This paper, therefore, examines the impacts of the social media on the preservation of Yorùbá language and culture especially among the younger generation. This is with a view to ascertaining the degree of its relevance and their contributions to the revitalisation of Yorùbá language and culture. The study adopts Visser’s (2014) model of heritage revival which stresses the strategies and opportunities for cultural revival inherent in the social media and ethnolinguistic vitality theory (EVT) by Giles, Bourhis and Taylor (1977). Two major classifications are recognised; Nigeria and the diaspora platforms Facebook popular Yorùbá pages and Instagram such as BBC Yorùbá, Òwe àti Ẹwà Yorùbá pọ́nbélé, Yorùbá di wúrà, Àkànlò Èdè Yorùbá, Orúkọ Yorùba and Másòyìnbó. Proudly Yoruba German girl/ọmọ Ilorin and Yorùbá Pikin make up the platforms from the diaspora. The study finds that these platforms provide indigenous knowledge of the Yorùbá culture ranging from teaching of Yorùbá language, proverbs, traditional values, traditional music, not neglecting addressing current issues as they emerge in the society. The paper posits that this development will ensure the continued use of the Yorùbá language. The paper recommends that other languages should adopt these methods for the maintenance and revitalisation of their indigenous languages. Group administrators should address contemporary issues relating to the younger generation.
Keywords: Social Media, Language Revitalisation, Facebook, Instagram, Younger Generatio
Choreographing “Sunset at Noon?” Towards the Exploration of a Theatre of “Shufflism”.
Get PDFLive theatre practice in Nigeria is arguably suffering from the effects of poor documentation of the wonderful experimental feats practitioners have stumbled upon in the course of their relentless search to push forward the frontiers of theatre practice. Scholars have therefore at best struggled to fit such works (for the few that have been attempted) within the tenets and norms of established theater traditions and conventions of old. This paper has attempted in the face of the many performance poetics that gave credence to the cultures and emerging cultures in music, dance, drama and the technical theatre idioms that gave identities to experimental tendencies wrapped in the traditions of postmodernism, globalization, hybridism, etc, to give scholarly voice to one of such brilliantly put together experimental bid haven come into existence since 2004. Shufflism that is pushed forward as a new radically postulated theatre tradition in this paper was a product of an experimental class by the 2004/2005 M.A class of the Performing Arts students of Unilorin, Nigeria through the production of their play ‘Sunset at Noon?’. The paper discovers amongst other things that the tenets that are linked to the new theatre approach are new, original and creative innovations and approaches that suited the cause to which they were set. The paper is both descriptive and analytical of the content and context that gave birth to the new theatre tradition. It is therefore hoped that the paper will generate reactions and counter reactions that will not only give deserving voices to the articulation and spread of this brilliant theatre tradition, but others also which has suffered stunted growth over the years like it shall be liberated.
Keywords: Choreography, Sunset, Shufflism, Exploration, Theatre
Dramatizing Psychic Spaces: Interface between Spousal Relationship and Mental Health in Bode Sowande’s The Spellbinder
Get PDFThe intersection between mental health and literature constitutes the body of contemporary dramatic literature. The theatre has been a very potent platform for dramatizing different human experiences, including medical and health realities. Literature has been generally perceived as an invaluable tool that orientates the people on the adverse effects of mental health disorder in people. The link between family relationship and mental health appears to be a significant aspect of the theatrical conversation on human health experiences. This paper examines Bode Sowande’s play, The Spellbinder, discussing the types of spousal relationships depicted, and the impact of such relationships on the psychological health of the various characters. The study adopted Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis, to account for the implication of the spousal relationships in the play on the mental health of the characters. The primary drama text, Sowande’s The Spellbinder, was selected through purposive sampling, and subjected to qualitative literary analysis, paying attention to characters’ conducts and utterances. The analysis revealed that there are instances of strained spousal relationships in the play, which plunge the characters into different forms of mental health conditions like maniac depressive and schizophrenic psychosis. While Damilare manifests guilt-induced maniac depressive psychosis which was engendered by his adulterous relationship with Adura, the wife of his friend, Adamu, Adamu and Adura show signs of schizophrenic psychosis— Adamu’s psychotic state is triggered by agony of betrayal by his wife while Adura’s madness is also guilt-induced. The playwright deploys flashback, interior monologue/soliloquy, dialogue, action and characterization as dramatic devices, to convey the characters’ mental states. The theatre, as demonstrated through Bode Sowande’s The Spellbinder, explores the link between spousal relationship and mental health.
Keywords: Literature and psychiatry; Psychodrama; Spousal relationship; Nigerian drama; Bode Sowand
Àgbó Masquerade Costumes in the Service of Democracy in Nigeria
Get PDFThere are many masquerade types in Nigeria. Most ethnic groups in Nigeria have their peculiar masquerade varieties performing different socio-cultural and religious functions in the societies. This accounts for the multiplicity of masquerade types in Nigeria. The Yorùbá, an ethnic group, occupying southwestern parts of Nigeria, have masquerade types namely: Egúngún, Epa, Àgbó, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ, Ìgunnu, Ẹ̀yọ̀ and Agẹmo among others. What differentiates the masquerade types are their unique costumes. For Egúngún, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ, and Àgbó their wooden headdresses, fabric costumes, and other accouterments allow for displays of symbolic images that communicate socio-cultural and religious messages to the beholders. Right from 1999 when the Forth Republic was ushered into the country, masquerade costumes among the Yorùbá, apart from their socio-religious connotations, also serve as media for promoting democratic values among the people. Therefore, the paper examined the symbolic images of some Àgbó costumes in the services of democracy in Lagos State. The study focused on Àgbó masquerade from Àgbowá-Ìkòsì, a coastal Ìjẹ̀bú town in Lagos State. Data for analysis were gathered from primary sources. The data were analysed using formal and contextual methods. The study established that the sacred costumes of Àgbó masquerade are now also veritable media for promoting democratic values and peace in the study area.
Keywords: Masquerade costumes, Àgbó, service of democracy, Àgbowá-Ìkòs
Historical Review of Terrorism and Out-of-School Children Indoctrination and Radicalization: A Preliminary Investigation into the Child Abuse in the Boko Haram Suicide Bombing in Yobe Sate
Get PDFThis research paper intends to examine how the activities of terrorist cell especially those in West African sub-region initiates under age into their operation. The work looked at the nature of terrorism in Nigeria as to how their network spread to various parts of the country. It is believed most of the origin of the terrorism was influence by foreign ideology with specific target of a common belief. The paper also focused on the formation of the terrorists’ cell in Nigeria and how they succeeded by indoctrinating children into the main stream of terrorism for various missions. The research discusses the way and processes those terrorists followed or applied to achieve their objectives. It should be noted that throughout the period of the crisis, particularly in north-eastern Nigeria, there are several cases of attacks by the teenagers in various places with devastating effects on the society. It has been estimated that more 43% of the attacks in Yobe state which is the scope of the research and its surrounding has been attributed to suicide bombing attacks by either young girls or boys who were trained by the insurgents to attack their targets, with emphasis on the child abuse and radicalization, as well as how it affects the growth and development of youth in the society. Other aspect of consideration in the research include factors responsible for the successful enrolment and initiation of the underage into the organization. These factors include: poverty level of the society, materialism, ideological warfare, Islamism or secular radicalism, drugs addiction etc. Recent world report reveals that more than 20,000 people were killed and over two million displaced by the insurgency. Although the crisis has bedeviled almost 60% of the country, northeastern Nigeria was one of the most affected region of this terrible terrorist’s act. The overall effects of this indoctrination and radicalization of the youth by these groups have been a tremendous increased rate of crime within the region, hunger and starvation as well as general psychological trauma and fear of the unknown which was brought by the consequences of the general insecurity. The research also come up with the level of psychological damage done by the terrorists and examine whether the recent de-radicalization centers established by the Nigerian government shall serve its purpose or there is need for more measure to revert the victims back to the normal and official thinking of the decent society.
Keywords: Children, Boko Haram, Indoctrination, Radicalization, Terroris
Perception of Leadership Role among Agricultural Extension Frontliner’s Job Satisfaction in Oyo and Osun state ADP, Nigeria
Get PDFThe study determined perception of leadership roles among agricultural extension frontliners’ job satisfaction in Oyo and Osun State Agricultural Development Programme Nigeria. Simple random sample technique was used to select 123 respondents from the study area. Data were analyzed using mean and regression analysis. The mean age of the respondents was 43.4years while 63.6% were male respondents. Major leadership roles include supervision of employees’ work ( =3.67), goal-oriented roles ( =3.39), effective dissemination of information among the employees ( =3.35) and creation of a friendly work environment. Major employees’ satisfaction were employees work together with their colleagues ( =3.54) and interact freely with their colleagues ( =3.51). Major challenges affecting employees job satisfaction were inadequate funding ( =3.30), irregular leave bonus ( =3.29), climate and weather condition ( =3.08) and inadequate incentive ( =3.02). Regression analysis show a positive significant coefficient (P<0.05) exists between educational status (1.701) year of service (β = 0.551), leadership roles (β = 0.513), challenges faced by respondents (β = 2.091) and employees’ job satisfaction. The study concluded that leadership roles have significant relationship with employees’ satisfaction. For adequate job satisfaction among agricultural employees, organization should pay attention to disbursement of training funds, provision of incentive and leadership recognition.
Keywords: Perception, Leadership roles, Agricultural extension frontliners and Job satisfactio
Editorial
Get PDFThis issue of KIU Journal of Humanities touches on Social Psychology, Social Philosophy, as well as Language and Literary Studies.
The first part of the Journal focuses on Social Psychology. Using ECWA Ibadan District Church Council Members, Oyo State, Nigeria as a case study, one of the papers in this section empirically extols the values of christian parenting style. It is argued that non-compliance with the parenting principles by many parents has resulted into children’s lack of commitment to society’s values. Some social vices were identified as problems resulting from this non-compliance. The paper recommends, amongst others, that church members should develop informed teaching on parenting to serve as basis for instructing Christians generally, seminars and workshops should be organized for parents on the need to bring this to bear on their children, and parents must not commit the entire responsibility of parenting into the hands of the church, the school or any house help.
One of the papers, in the second section on Social Philosophy, argues that moral education as a means of regenerating social norms and moral values. It is revealed in the paper, among other things, that moral values which are seen as behavioural conduct and attitude, should be displayed and encouraged by members of the society to build and revitalized the nation. It is there recommended moral education should be taught in schools, with the collaboration of parents and government.
Papers in the last section deals with issues in Language and Literary Studies. One the papers in this Section examines the role of French Language in facilitating trade in boader town markets in West African countries. This is because there is an intriguing complex relationship between language, trade, and cross-border connections. The paper, therefore, offers insightful information to policymakers, market participants, and language planners who aim to encourage inclusive economic development and cross-cultural understanding.
On the whole, this issue of KIU Journal of Humanities features many empirical and theoretical based articles which can be of great benefit to every reader