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Diversity, Resistance Pattern and Level of Antibiotic Resistance Determinants Associated with Bacteria Isolated from Different Water Sources in Southwest Nigeria
Get PDFSafe water is an essential resource for the existence and sustenance of life. The unavailability of safe water is a significant cause of water-related diseases, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. A spike in the incidence of waterborne diseases has become a public health concern. Hence, this study was designed to evaluate the diversity of bacteria, resistance pattern and level of antibiotic resistance determinants associated with bacteria isolated from different water sources in South-West Nigeria. A total of 120 water samples were collected across South-Western Nigeria from which bacteria were isolated, and identification was achieved by sequencing its partial 16S rRNA. Disc diffusion and multiplex PCR were used to determine antibiotic susceptibility and resistance determinants. A total of 50 bacterial isolates were identified, consisting of Proteus spp. (2), Bacillus spp. (8), Enterobacter spp. (8), Klebsiella spp. (9), Escherichia coli (7), Citrobacter spp. (6), Pseudomonas spp. (4), and Serratia marcescens (6). All the isolates were resistant to ceftazidime, cefuroxime, cefixime and amoxicillin/clavulanate, whereas 72%, 60%, 54% and 44% were resistant to nitrofurantoin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin respectively. Quinolone-resistant genes (qnrB, qnrA and qnrS), and tetracycline-resistant genes (tetA and tetB) were found in the isolates. The beta-lactamase gene and class 1 integron were also detected in the isolates, with the class 1 integron genes occurring the least. The results revealed that isolates were highly resistant to antibiotics used, as evident in the presence of antibiotic genes. This reveals the unsanitary states of water consumed by the general public, and the ingestion of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria is responsible for the birth of untreatable diseases.
Keywords: Diversity, Antibiotic resistance, Resistance pattern, Resistance genes
Prevalence, Lifestyle Factors and Health Effects of Dysmenorrhea Among Female Students at Private Universities in Osun State, Nigeria
Get PDFDysmenorrhea is a major gynaecological issue among female students in Nigeria. This study investigated the Prevalence, lifestyle factors, and health effects of dysmenorrhea among female students at private Universities in Osun State, Nigeria. The cross-sectional descriptive study used a multistage sampling procedure to select participants randomly across selected private Universities in Osun State. A validated-structured questionnaire was used to gather data from participants. Data analysis using descriptive and inferential statistics at p<0.05 was done with IBM SPSS Software version 27.0. A total of 365 female students participated in the study, with a mean age of 20.2 ± 1.88 years. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 68.8%, out of which 49.4% of the respondents reported they experienced moderate pain and 31.9% reported they experienced severe pain. Up to 58.4% of the participants engaged in some form of exercise, and 61.4% of the respondents have good dietary patterns, whereas close to half (46.8%) of the respondents were sometimes absent from work or school due to pain. There was a significant association between good dietary pattern and dysmenorrhea [X= 18.241; p-value= 0.008]. This study has shown that dysmenorrhea is a public health challenge among the female population. Therefore, a holistic health education intervention must be carried out among female University students on basic coping strategies to minimize menstrual pains.
Keywords: Dysmenorrhea, Female Students, Lifestyle, Menstrual Pain, Prevalenc
Inter-Branch Power Relations at Sub-National Level in Nigeria’s Presidential System: Kwara and Osun States in Focus
Get PDFThe rigid compartmentalization of the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government that is practiced at the sub-national level in Nigeria’s fourth republic is a function of the retention of the presidential system of government at the inauguration of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in 1999 The critical component of the system is the operation and respect for checks and balances. The principal problem that afflicts executive-legislature relations at the sub-national level in Nigeria was the issue of imbalance in power. Executive domination that is rooted in historical and structural reasons reduces the State Houses of Assembly to junior partners in their activities. Notwithstanding the modus of their operations, the paper argues that cordial relations rather than conflict is critical in meeting/addressing the hopes and aspirations of the citizens whose primary concern is the growth and development of the society. The paper adopts a qualitative approach through interview sessions with key informants who were participants in the events of Kwara and Osun states in Nigeria that are cases of focus. In addition to empirical data, literatures, including journals, newspapers, books are consulted for the study The paper finds that the gains that were recorded in the two states due to the smooth relationship were remarkable, it, however, concluded that if further checks and balances are deepened in their relations, the level of success would be enhanced and the developmental strides be would accelerated.
Keywords
Executive, legislature, presidential, sub-national, checks and balances, imbalance
 
Effects of Teleworking on Team Performance: Evidence from the Nigerian Public Sector
Get PDFTeleworking has become a new work practice in many organizations accentuated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Contending findings in the literature on the relationship between teleworking and employee performance in various industries motivated this new study. The paper seeks to examine the effect of teleworking on team performance in the public sector in Nigeria. The study is focused on selected government agencies in Abuja and Kaduna State, Nigeria. 384 questionnaires are administered on the senior staff of these agencies, and quantitative method is adopted to measure the effect of remote work and team communication on the performance of the team members. SPSS software is used to analyse the data collected, and descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis are undertaken to determine the effect of teleworking on team performance. The statistical tests conducted reveal a significant relationship between remote work and team performance. Findings also show there is significant relationship between team communication and team performance in the Nigerian public sector. Recommendations are proposed that governments should create a policy on remote work for workers in the public sector, and increased investments should be made in ICT infrastructure in order to increase the motivations and efficiencies of workers.
Keywords
Teleworking, team performance, Nigeria, organization, remote work
 
Effect of Reward System on Employees’ Productivity: A Study of Guaranty Trust Bank, Ilorin Metropolis
Get PDFReward system is a veritable medium used to increase employees’ productivity. It seeks to attract and retain suitable employees, encourages good management. Employee productivity is hindered when rewards system is inadequate. The main objectives of the study were to examine the effect of reward system on employees’ productivity. This study unfolds a number of factors that account for an equitable reward system for effective performance and efficiency. The population comprises of 92 staff of the selected staff of the bank under study. Multistage sampling technique was used and 44 staff were purposefully selected for gathering data for the study. Data was collected and analyzed using frequency table and linear regression to examine the effect of reward system on employees’ productivity. Findings of the study show that there is a significant effect of reward system on employees productivity with β =.0124, .0001, p-value<0.05. This implies that an increase in the covariates increase in the reward via productivity. In view of this, the study recommends that the organizations’ reward packages should be linked to productivity, employee satisfaction and motivation. Also, organization efficiency and sustainable can be achieved through institutionalization of good reward system
Public Expenditure and Income Growth in Nigeria: A Vector Autoregressive Analysis
Get PDFThis study examined the effects of public expenditure on income growth in Nigeria using Vector Auto-regressive Analysis (VAR). The results show that real income responds positively to public expenditures on administration, community services, defence and economic services. The results also confirm the feed-back effects of income and government expenditures on administration, community services, defence and economic services. It was concluded that government should direct her expenditure policies to favoured expenditures that positively impact the growth of real national income and per capita income. Hence, government should increase and judiciously manage her expenditure on administration, economic services, defence and community services. Corrupt practices in government should also be drastically curbed for effective usage of fiscal allocation
Impact of Academic Social Network Engagement on University Lecturers’ Research Output and Professional Development
Get PDFThe impact of quality academic publications and training attended on the productivity of an academic member cannot be overemphasized. Its impacts extend beyond just the growth of an academic member, it radiates to increasing University’s ranking among its comity. With the affordances provided by the Internet, academic social network (ASN) emerged as an Internet-based social networking community for academia to seek for research resources and exchange ideas that can assist in developing new knowledge for self-development and community at large. Grounded on the collaborative feature of ASN, researchers’ geographical gap can easily be bridged. Thus, the academia assumes that the research output (RO) and professional development (PD) of an academic member would gain greater quality. Consequent on this assumption, this study examined the impact of ASN engagement on university lecturers’ RO and PD. It employed a quantitative research design of the survey type and sampled 350 academic members across three universities in Nigeria with a multistage sampling technique. A validated researchers-design questionnaire with a reliability value of 0.88 served as the research instrument. Descriptive statistics was explored as analytical tool. The outcome of the study provided insights into the adoption of ASN among academic members, with heavy emphasis on ASN for research purposes only, rather than on RO and PD respectively. This study recommends that there is a need for awareness and motivation towards the use of some ASN. Hopefully, this will further enhance their RO and PD, which will ultimately reflect on the quality of Nigerian graduate.
Keywords: Academic Social Network, Engagement, Research Output, Professional Development, Interne
Mother is Gold: Appreciating Mothering from the Margins among the Yoruba of South-Western Nigeria
Get PDFThe general picture that seems to portray the female gender from the western perspective presents the oppressive image of women in society. On the contrary, despite cultural flow as a result of globalization, certain insinuations and indeed realities among the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria portray a privileged status for the female gender. “Iyaniwura” mothering is gold, in Yoruba society and indeed the world over shows the value attached to mothering. The psychological impression made on yet to be mothers prepares them for privilege statuses in spite of possible negative experiences in mothering. The value of gold is manifested in what mothers are to expect when their children grow. They are to be cherished, pampered and appreciated. The paper brings to the fore, how these play out in reality by adopting the qualitative method, using the In-depth interview technique to elicit information from young mothers about their expectations, concerning the saying ‘mothering is gold’ and mothers of married children on how real their mothering has been ‘golden’. This study tries to fill the gap by showing that mothering as a process of child caring and rearing, and motherhood as an institution is quite appreciated in the Yoruba society by mothers and children.KeywordsMothering, gold, margins, Yoruba, South-wes
Income Diversification and Savings Pattern among Rural Women in Oyo State, Nigeria
Get PDFThe most important determinant of saving is the level of income. Higher levels of savings can translate to higher levels of investment and rural development. To boost income, rural women diversify their livelihood activities. This study examined income diversification and savings pattern among rural women in Oyo State, Nigeria. Various income-generating activities, patterns of diversity and savings, determinants of income diversification and saving rate, and the effect of income diversification on rural women savings were assessed. Structured questionnaire was administered on a sample of 204 rural women who were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics, Simpson diversity index and Tobit regression models were used in data analysis. Results show that majority (75%) of the rural women were arable crop farmers and 96% were diversified in income generation. The mean diversity index was 0.44, implying that on the average, rural women engaged in more than one income-generating activities. Saving rate is relatively low with mean saving rate of 28.08%. Tobit regression results show that membership of cooperative society (p<0.05), credit received (p<0.1) and road network (p<0.01) significantly affect income diversification. Also, income diversification (p<0.05), total income (p<0.01), household size (p<0.01) and age (p<0.01) significantly affect savings rate. Having more than one source of income increases saving rate among rural women. Therefore, Government and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should assist in making credit facilities available to rural women and ensure adequate monitoring to prevent diversion of funds, provide social amenities and organize training to improve production processes among rural women.KeywordsIncome diversification, savings pattern, savings rate, rural women, saving mod
Religion and Women Participation in National Development
Get PDFThe role of women in nation building cannot be over-emphasized. In any nation, women’s contribution to development is significant in the area of culture, economy and politics. Religion has been a strong influence on how women participate in society. With this, the impact has been both positive and negative. In national development discourse, little attention is paid to the influence of religion on women and how they participate in national development. In filling this scholarly gap, this paper gives an overview of religion and development in Nigeria. It examines African traditional religion and women participation in Nigeria, the new religions and women participation in Nigeria. It further discusses women’s contribution to national development. This paper adopts Emile Durkheim’s functionalism theory of religion. Data is collected from secondary sources such as books, journals and articles. Recommendations are made towards making women do more in contributing to national development.KeywordsReligion, women, national developmen