12 research outputs found
Decoding Corruption: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Language Practices in Southeast Nigerian Universities
No full textThis study dwells on the study of the language used to perpetuate corrupt and illegal practices in government managed universities in southeast Nigeria. The aim of this work is to unravel the linguistic expressions of corrupt practices in public offices; especially as they occur in public universities in the southeast of Nigeria by assessing their sociolinguistic features. The qualitative research paradigm is adopted for this research. The corpus for this study is elicited using participant observation method, and oral interviews of key informants. One hundred (100) informants are categorised into 10 different focused groups. Each group is made up of ten (10) members, from the ten (10) selected public universities in the southeast. The findings from this study show that the Igbo language, being the language of the immediate environment, is predominantly used as the cues. Other language patterns discovered are the use of codeswitching (admixture of Igbo and English languages/ Nigerian Pidgin), the use of the Nigerian Pidgin, English language, and other Nigerian languages. The findings further show that the cues are better understood when the expressions are studied with focus on the participants, settings, and domains of their usage, as they offer different meanings when analysed outside the context where they are used, and are adopted by the addressers. Drawing from the data analysis using Bernstein’s theory of language code, the study concludes that the participants used more restricted language codes across the different settings as a necessary means of masking corruption
The Pragmatics of Linguistic Creativity in Nigeria's 2023 Elections Campaign Discourse
No full textElections in Nigeria, as is also obtainable in other countries of the world are characterized by a unique use of linguistic creativity and language codification during campaigns. This is made possible by the different campaign mechanisms employed by different political bodies to market their candidates and as well, de-market candidates of rival political parties. The campaigns preceding the 2023 general elections in Nigeria provide us with a set of unique and creatively inspired texts. The main objective of this study is to understudy the socio-pragmatic content of these texts which manifest mostly as neologisms. The data for this study were elicited using ethnographic approaches and were descriptively analyzed using the principles of post-colonial pragmatics by Anchimbe and Janney (2011,) and Stalnaker’s (2002) common ground notion. Findings indicate that although some of the neologisms used in the 2023 general elections were completely new, some were recycled from previous electioneering periods. The neologisms were basically employed as means of showing intra party and inter party or group identities
Validity and reliability of the contingent valuation method : a study of willingness to pay for insecticide-treated nets in Nigeria
No full textObjectives: To contribute to knowledge on
the
reliability and validity
of
the
contingent
valuation method (CVM) and explore the
role of context-specific
CVM
question
formats in Southeast Nigeria. Other
objectives were
to
determine the factors that
will
explain actual willingness to pay
(WTP) for insecticide-treated
nets
(ITNs).
Methods: There was an extensive review
of
theoretical,
methodological
and empirical
literature. A novel WTP question
format that
mimics price-taking
behaviour in
south-
east Nigeria (called the structured
haggling technique
(SH)
was
developed
and
compared with the bidding game
(BG)
and
binary
with
follow-up technique
(BWFU).
The comparisons were for inter-rater and
test-retest
reliability,
content,
construct
and
criterion validity and the study conducted
in three
villages
in
Nigeria.
Stated
WTP
was
determined using a questionnaire
administered
to
810
household
heads,
while
actual
WTP was evaluated by offering
the ITNs for
sale
to
all respondents
after one
month of
the first survey.
Findings: There were considerable gaps
in the literature
regarding the
reliability and
validity of the CVM. In the empirical study,
BG, BWFU
and
SH
elicited
reliable and
valid estimates of WTP. The SH was
the
most
content
valid, while the
BG
and
SH
were
the most construct-valid for ITNs and re-treatment respectively.
The
BG
and
SH
were
similarly criterion-valid while
the
BWFU
was
the least
criterion-valid.
All
question
formats were similar for tests of reliability.
There
were genuine
reasons
for
divergences
between the stated and actual
WTP
and
for test
and
retest.
Low-income
status and
physical accessibility were the major
impediments to ITNs
acquisition.
Conclusion: The CVM could
be
used
to
elicit valid and reliable
WTP
estimates
in the
study area, but it was not clearly proven
that
better
content-valid
question
formats
would lead to more valid and reliable estimates
of
WTP. It is
necessary
to further
determine how the validity and reliability of
the
SH
and other
WTP
question
formats
could be improved. Finally, future
studies
should
establish the
content
validity
of
question formats in settings where they
will
be
used, and
use
bigger
sample
sizes,
along
with allowing less time between the
survey
and administering the
criterion,
for
comparing stated and actual WTP
Pan Afr Med J
No full textAs of 2010 sub-Saharan Africa had approximately 865 million inhabitants living with numerous public health challenges. Several public health initiatives [e.g., the United States (US) President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the US President's Malaria Initiative] have been very successful at reducing mortality from priority diseases. A competently trained public health workforce that can operate multi-disease surveillance and response systems is necessary to build upon and sustain these successes and to address other public health problems. Sub-Saharan Africa appears to have weathered the recent global economic downturn remarkably well and its increasing middle class may soon demand stronger public health systems to protect communities. The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been the backbone of public health surveillance and response in the US during its 60 years of existence. EIS has been adapted internationally to create the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) in several countries. In the 1990s CDC and the Rockefeller Foundation collaborated with the Uganda and Zimbabwe ministries of health and local universities to create 2-year Public Health Schools Without Walls (PHSWOWs) which were based on the FETP model. In 2004 the FETP model was further adapted to create the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP) in Kenya to conduct joint competency-based training for field epidemiologists and public health laboratory scientists providing a master's degree to participants upon completion. The FELTP model has been implemented in several additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By the end of 2010 these 10 FELTPs and two PHSWOWs covered 613 million of the 865 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and had enrolled 743 public health professionals. We describe the process that we used to develop 10 FELTPs covering 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 2004 to 2010 as a strategy to develop a locally trained public health workforce that can operate multi-disease surveillance and response systems.22187606PMC322407
Community-based risk management arrangements : an overview and implications for social fund programs
No full textRisk and its consequences pose a formidable threat to poverty reduction efforts. This study reviews a plethora of community-based risk management arrangements across the developing world. These types of arrangements are garnering greater interest in light of the growing recognition of the relative prominence of household or individual-specific idiosyncratic risk as well as the increasing shift towards community-based development funding. The study discusses potential advantages (such as targeting, cost, and informational) and disadvantages (such as exclusion and inability to manage correlated risk) of these arrangements, and their implications for the design of innovative social fund programs.Rural Poverty Reduction,Labor Policies,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Currencies and Exchange Rates,Debt Markets
Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programs in sub-Saharan Africa from 2004 to 2010: need, the process and prospects
No full texthealth workforce that can operate multi-disease surveillance and response systems
Global variation in diabetes diagnosis and prevalence based on fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c
No full textFasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but these measurements can identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and detected as having diabetes in survey screening, had elevated FPG, HbA1c or both. We developed prediction equations for estimating the probability that a person without previously diagnosed diabetes, and at a specific level of FPG, had elevated HbA1c, and vice versa. The age-standardized proportion of diabetes that was previously undiagnosed and detected in survey screening ranged from 30% in the high-income western region to 66% in south Asia. Among those with screen-detected diabetes with either test, the age-standardized proportion who had elevated levels of both FPG and HbA1c was 29–39% across regions; the remainder had discordant elevation of FPG or HbA1c. In most low- and middle-income regions, isolated elevated HbA1c was more common than isolated elevated FPG. In these regions, the use of FPG alone may delay diabetes diagnosis and underestimate diabetes prevalence. Our prediction equations help allocate finite resources for measuring HbA1c to reduce the global shortfall in diabetes diagnosis and surveillance
Global age-sex-specific mortality, life expectancy, and population estimates in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1950–2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
No full text
