Journal articles on the topic 'Peace-building – Nigeria – Plateau State'

Over the last two decades, while significant consideration is given to women’s participation and representation in formal peacebuilding processes, there is the dearth of research on the grassroots level involvement and contributions of women to peacebuilding processes in post-conflict communities. Utilizing 28 semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions with women in Bukuru and Gyel communities, this article aims at improving the understandings on the agency of women in building and sustaining peace in polarized post-conflict communities in Plateau State, Nigeria. The article argues that in spite of the global marginalisation of women in formal peace processes, women are actively involved in peacebuilding and use various forms of individual and collective agency to restore harmonious relations, build peace and foster social cohesion in polarized post-conflict communities.

Ethno-religious violence has plagued northern Nigeria in the last thirty years and has specifically affected Plateau State during the last decade. This article examines the attitudes and responses of pentecostal leaders in Plateau State toward violence and peace. Their attitudes are also compared to those of mainline Christian leaders in northern Nigeria and pentecostal leaders in southern Nigeria, a region that has not been affected by ethno-religious violence. The methods used included observation, questionnaires, and interviews. The research found that pentecostal leaders have a more positive attitude toward Muslims than do mainline leaders overall. There was no difference between pentecostal and mainline leaders in attitudes toward violence. However, there is a wider difference in attitudes toward violence and peace among Pentecostals than among mainline Protestants. Furthermore, pentecostal leaders in Plateau State demonstrated a greater involvement in peace-making initiatives than mainline leaders.

In spite of the robust provisions of the ECOWAS convention for the control of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in West Africa, Nigeria which is a leading Member State has been experiencing daunting challenges to personal human security posed by the large-scale availability of SALW. Although Nigeria has made some efforts towards the implementation of the Convention, the status of the country in that regard has not been clear. This paper sought to examine the nature of the implementation of the Convention in Nigeria with a view to determining the lacuna in the process and addressing it. In-depth interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders and leaders of institutions such as the ECOWAS Commission and Nigeria’s Presidential Committee on Small Arms (PRESCOM). Secondary data were also used including official documents and researches related to them. The study revealed that Nigeria has failed to domesticate and implement the Convention accordingly. It therefore recommended that the Federal Government should urgently take steps towards establishing the National Commission and put the required structure and support to ensure its effective and efficient implementation. Dinshak, L. D. | Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies, University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

This research surveyed some socio-economic activities of communities around Pandam Game Reserve (PGR) central Nigeria to determine their implications for biodiversity Conservation in PGR. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and field observations. Results showed a 100% response to questionnaires administered. Eighty three percent (83%) of the respondents were males while 17% were females. Eighty percent (80%) attended at least primary school level of education while 20% had no form of formal education. Prominent among occupation of respondents was farming with 40% and the occupation of respondents with list response was hunting with 1%. Field observations showed the presence of the following human activities: logging, firewood collection, fishing, farm encroachment, cattle grazing and poaching. The implication of these socio-economic activities in PGR if left uncontrolled could result to biodiversity lost. A multi-stakeholder approach and participatory management of the reserve which will consider the socio-economic concerns of locals have been suggested as a critical component for building cooperation. These if properly exploited is believed will contribute substantially to biodiversity sustainability in PGR. Keywords: Communities, Biodiversity, Conservation, Pandam Game Reserve

This qualitative and quantitative study evaluates the time and cost performance of fixed-price contracts in Tertiary Institutions projects in Plateau State, funded as intervention projects from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. Literature review gives the background on the types and forms of contracts. Questionnaires, interviews and records from projects are tools that were used in collecting the relevant data. Sixty-two professionals consisting of 12 Architects, 8 Builders, 12 Engineers, 22 Quantity Surveyors and 8 Estate Surveyors randomly selected responded to issues of time and cost challenges. Records were purposively obtained from Twenty-Three projects studied. Regression Analysis was used to predict the time and cost performance. Results show a cost increase of $14, 423.59 for every one-month increase in time. Interviews revealed all 23 projects suffered time overruns with only 5 overrunning in cost. Specifications of 18 projects were found to be changed in order to satisfy the client’s budget objective of the firm price. The research recommends that to enhance time and cost performance, designs must be fully completed before biding. Alternatively, the entire procurement system which favours the fixed price arrangement should be overhauled to accommodate other options.

Many studies have shown that wayfinding is affected by the familiarity of subjects with the environment. Wayfinding difficulties are caused due to the complexities of building configuration and evolving spaces that emerge over time in response to operational needs and change which results in disorientation, uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, and stress. Alarge hospital environment greatly influences the wayfinding behaviour of newcomers,which could be stressful and intimidating for them. This study explores the wayfinding behaviour of unfamiliar users in the acquisition of knowledge of the environment with the aim to improve wayfinding competence in hospitals. The study was carried out at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), situated in the Plateau State of Nigeria.The methods used for data collection were walking-with observation, verbal protocol and a semi-structured interview.These methods indicated the participants’level of wayfinding performance during the navigation aimed to find the desired destination. The respondents, n 16 (8 male and 8 female),were purposively sampled and observed through behavioural mapping. Additionally, 24 respondents were separately interviewed in order to triangulate the findings of behavioural mapping. The findings revealed that the majority (62.5%) of respondents found the building layout complex to navigate due to their spatial similarities.Additionally, the wayfinding experience of the majority (95.8%) of respondents in the hospital was established to be difficult and stressful. Also, the result proved that 60% of female wayfinders were more prone to wayfinding errors than male wayfinders in finding their way to the desired destination due to the complexity of the building layout. The study recommends that building configuration design in hospitals should be organised in a simple way and it should be constantly reviewed as new spaces evolve.The implication calls for an improved design which remains distinctive and a well-linked layout that facilitates effective and efficient wayfinding for unfamiliar users in a safe and satisfactory manner.

Abstract In the past decade, the Nigerian government has witnessed dwindling revenues owing to fluctuating oil prices. This has necessitated the search for alternative revenue sources. For the authorities in Jos, the administrative city of Plateau State in north-central Nigeria, taxes within housing production and consumption loop were thought to be the easiest catch. Accordingly, the authorities intensified the generation of land titling fee, capital gains tax, value added tax, land use charge, ground rent, development permits, probate fee, withholding tax among others. These efforts came with some implication for urban housing. The paper aims to provide an understanding of this and it employed a wide range of secondary data of quantitative and qualitative forms in pursuits of two objectives. The first objective examined how property taxes were administered and found that multiple agencies were involved in tax administration and, as a result, double taxation occurred in land titling, seeking of development permits and probate. Furthermore, sporadic land and property registration impeded the development of a cadastre, thereby allowing the government to arbitrarily and outrageously apply taxes, which tax payers tried to evade through informal house building and property transactions. The second objective analysed the impact of property taxation and found that taxes accounted for a high cost of new housing and residential rentals but also had the potentials of stimulating housing production and consumption. Recommendations that could help the government generate revenue from taxing properties while also incentivising housing production and consumption were offered.

The study investigated relative effects of problem and project-based learning techniques on students’ academic achievement in Building Technology. Specifically, the study compared the mean achievement scores of students exposed to problem-based learning and project-based learning against those exposed to conventional lecturer method in Building Technology achievement test. In addition, the study examined the effects of gender on students’ academic achievement with respect to the treatments (teaching methods). Quasi-experimental research design was adopted to carry out the study. Quasi-experimental research design is pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group design. [1] described quasi-experimental research design as that design that permits the use of intact classes. The research was carried out in North-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria comprising six states which include: Kogi, Niger, Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Nassarawa and the Federal Capital Territory. Three states (Niger, Kogi and Plateau) were randomly selected out the existing six states in North-central Nigeria. From the three selected states, the three colleges of education that offer Building Technology were sampled with one college of education from each of the three selected states. Hence, the three colleges of education selected are Niger State College of Education, Minna with 47 Building Technology students; Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Plateau State with 56 Building Technology students and Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa with 45 Building Technology students. Therefore, the sample for the study was 148 students of Building Technology for 2017/2018 academic session. The assignment of the classes to teaching methods was done through simple balloting. Hence, Federal College of Education, Pankshin with 56 students of Building Technology was assigned to problem-based learning (PrbL), Niger State College of Education, Minna with 47 students of Building Technology was assigned to project-based learning (PrjL) while Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa with 45 students of Building Technology was assigned to conventional lecture method. Data for this study were obtained with the use of Building Technology Achievement Test (BTAT) instrument containing 50 multiple choice questions. Each questions of the test instrument has four options (a), (b), (c) and (d) out of which one option is the correct answer. The instrument was content-validated by three experts and the reliability established using Kuder Richardson 21 (K-R21) which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.83. This suggested that the instrument was reliable for data collection for the study. [2] affirmed that reliability coefficients range from 0.00 to 1.00, with higher coefficients indicating higher levels of reliability. Before the commencement of the treatments, all students both in two experimental groups (PrbL and PrjL) and control group were subjected to a pre-test in order to obtain the pre-test achievement scores. The scores obtained by students from the three groups represented their pre-test scores. Thereafter, the actual treatments began and lasted for six weeks in which students in PrbL group were taught Building Technology using Problem-based learning, students in PrjL were taught Building Technology using Project-based learning while students in the control group were taught Building Technology using conventional lecture method. After the sixth week of the treatments, the post-test was administered to the students in their respective groups to obtain the post-test achievement scores. The scripts of the students were collated and marked by the researcher and the students were scored over 50. This is because, any correct answer out of the 50 questions is 1 mark. The data collected from the three groups in the pre-test and post-test were compiled for analysis. The result showed that NCE students of Building Technology taught problem-based learning had mean achievement gain score of 18.07, students taught with project-based learning had mean achievement gain score of 20.23 while students in control group that were taught Building Technology with conventional lecture method had mean achievement gain score of 6.31. The results clearly show that the use of problem and project-based learning techniques appreciably increased academic achievement of NCE students in Building Technology than using conventional lecture method for instructional delivery. The result of [3] revealed that students exposed to problem-based learning method significantly showed high level of achievement motivation than the students of control group. In agreement with the findings of this study, [4] established that project-based learning approach had significantly higher academic achievement effects on students’ academic performance than those taught with traditional teaching method. Similarly, [5] in a study found that students in the treatment group (project-based learning) produced better academic performance than those in control group. The results on effect of gender on the achievement scores of NCE students showed that male students taught Building Technology with problem-based learning method had mean achievement gain of 18.04 while the females taught with problem-based learning method had mean achievement gain of 18.25. On the other hand, male students taught Building Technology with project-based learning had mean achievement gain of 20.22 while the female taught with project-based learning had mean achievement gain score of 22.33 in Building Technology test. For the control group, male students taught Building Technology with conventional lecture method had mean achievement gain score of 7.11 while female students in control group had mean achievement gain score of 7.10. This result indicates that both problem and project-based learning techniques significantly increased academic achievement of male and female students in Building Technology than conventional lecture technique. [6] studied gender differences in electricity interest and achievement scores using problem-based learning. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students when taught electricity using problem based learning approach. Although, students taught with project-based learning had slightly higher achievement gain score than those taught with problem-based learning. The result shows that treatments (Groups) as main factor had a significant effect on students’ achievement in Building Technology test. The F-calculated (F-cal) value of 103.298 and the p-value of 0.000 which is less than 0.05 level of significance indicate significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught with problem and project-based learning techniques and conventional lecture method based on the treatments given. For the effect of gender on academic achievement in Building Technology, the result shows that, the F-calculated value of 0.170 and p-value of 0.681 which was greater than 0.05 level of significance indicate that there was no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students in the Building Technology achievement test. The result of [7] showed no significant gender difference as project-based learning had a positive effect on both male and female students. In the same manner, [8] investigated inquiry project-based learning and found that gender (male and female) differences and academic abilities had no significant moderating effects on the learning dimensions. Interaction effects of gender and instructional techniques (Group*Gender) shows F-calculated (F-cal) value of 0.119 with p-value of 0.888 which is greater than 0.05 level of significance. This indicates that there was no significant interaction effect between the treatments (Groups) and gender of the students in respect to Building Technology achievement test. Based on the findings, the study recommended intensified use of problem-based learning and project-based learning techniques for effective instructional delivery in Building Technology, formulation of relevant policies to strengthen problem-based and project-based learning techniques in Nigerian technical and vocational education for the production of skilled manpower to feed Nigerian Building industry, adequate provision of relevant instructional materials to facilitate quality teaching and learning with project-based and project-based learning techniques and skill update and timely in-service training to teachers and lecturers of technical and vocational education for effective application of problem-based and project-based learning techniques that are interactive and student-centred for instructional delivery.

<p><em>This paper examines the urban planning implications of informal sector activities in Barkin-Ladi Town, a post mining settlement in Plateau State, Nigeria. The objective of the paper is to examine the planning challenges posed by the informal sector activities and to make appropriate recommendations towards integrating and regulating such activities within the settlement. A total of 187 questionnaires were administered on three categories of informal sector activities in the area, while interviews were conducted with the staff of the Area Office of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning and of the Works Department of the Barkin Ladi local government council, which is the planning authority. The research revealed that trading was the dominant informal activity being undertaken by 63% of the respondents, followed by cottage industries (14%) and tertiary services (23%). Planning challenges pose by informal activities included: change of use without planning approvals, encroachment on access roads, conflicting land uses, non-compliance with the relevant planning law on zoning. There were no spatial developmental plans or guidelines by the relevant planning authority to regulate the activities of informal sector activities. Environmental management challenges were lack of access to basic infrastructure, degradation of the urban environment, and insecurity of life and property. It is recommended that there is the need for planners to understand the valuable contributions of the informal activities to the local economy by integrating them in the spatial development frameworks through appropriate zoning, location, space management and regulatory policies. Basic infrastructure and services should be provided to enhance their productivity, while government and other stakeholders should improve access to loans, micro-finance, material resources and capacity building of informal participants.</em></p>

The increasing growth of kidnapping inNigeria has become a strong threat tonational peace and security. It has affected the national image of the state and has eaten deep into every region and segmentof the nation. This work unveils howidentity fanaticism and political violence led to emergence of economy of violence referred as "kidnapping” in Nigeria. Upon this circumstance, the paper argues that peace building is a potent strategic tool that can eliminates kidnapping and other terror related crime from Nigeria by ensuring that violent actors and their sponsors embrace peace while exploring other non-violent mechanisms for resolving such differences that trigger kidnapping in the Nigerian state. It adds that adequate public information process, a behavioural change messages and actions that return the mindsets of of kidnapping into the life of rule of law and peaceful coexistence, eliminates the network of organized crime used by kidnappers to carry out its nefarious activities. Essentially eradication of kidnapping restores security climate for establishment of democratic culture, promotion of national development, and foreign direct investment.

The study examines the Nigerian State and the imperative of restructuring as conflict management strategy towards peace-building. The study adopts an expository and descriptive analytical framework. It traces the persistent conflicts and agitations to the dysfunctional structure of the Federal system and argues that historically, Nigeria is fraught with conflicts, some of them life threatening, others minor and pedestrian. It maintains that the imperative of restructuring is a sine-quo-non to sustainable conflict management and peace-building that will develop constructive relationships across ethnic and national boundaries to resolve injustice and transform structural conditions that generates deadly conflict. It revealed that the challenge facing the Nigerian nation is how to make conflicts constructive rather than destructive, marginal rather than fundamental, peripheral rather than pivotal. The study suggests that the Nigerian State needs attitudinal restructuring and systemic framework that will guarantee economic and political freedom of the minorities and the marginalized within the sovereign State and built a pluralist democratic State where the rights of all citizens are respected. It also seek to blend power with principle and reconcile authority with freedom, and put a robust peace infrastructure in place to play a preventive and mitigating role.

The paper examines the impact of the Nigerian education and the extent to which it contributes towards the promotion of peace and justice with specific reference to Catholic schools. The paper argues that the role of Catholic Church in providing education has immensely contributed to the growth and development of education in Nigeria. Due to the church‟s focused intervention, approximately 649 elementary schools, 384 secondary schools and 16 tertiary institutions have been established in Nigeria. Relying on documentary method of data collection and descriptive analytic approach, this study explains that Catholic schools have a significant role towards achieving a peaceful and equitable society in Nigeria. The article recommends more engaged efforts by other non-state institutions towards the building of developed educational institutions that will help in promoting peace and justice in Nigeria.

Mass media exercise extra-ordinary influence on the state and citizenry of every country and the ability of media to facilitate man’s behavioural change through its agenda- setting role makes them central in the re-branding process. The implication became that those politicians who champion the re-branding process tried to win the citizenry’s legitimacy through the media. This paper shows that the major challenges of the re-branding project include the inability of the Nigerian political leadership to re-brand themselves, corruption in every sphere of our national life, national insecurity, advance fee fraud, collapse of the education sector, poverty. It revealed that peace is a multi-dimensional term, which creates new environment for progressive nation building process. The rebranding project finally failed when the protagonist minister went to contest for senatorial election and his successor refused to step into her re-branding project shoes. This work called for the rise of a new government and media that would engage in ethical politics through sound leaders, priming, peace building, ethical education, etc as the roadmap to sustainable peace, security and national re-branding. The paper concluded by showing that it is only a national re-branding that is championed by the masses which can lead the citizenry to the desired goals of being a real Giant of Africa.

The paper highlights the increasing in-practicability of post-conflict peace-building in the context of emerging unconventional intra-state wars. It however ascertains the viability of a community-referent peace-building intervention as part of wider efforts to counter the influence of Boko Haram, while tending to humanitarian needs of affected communities. To do so, it employs textual analysis of qualitative secondary data, and builds on the submission of civil-military-relations theory as its framework for analysis. The result of the textual analysis of prior literature suggests counter insurgency operations in the northeast remain highly militarized, with inconsequential attention being paid to the humanitarian needs of affected communities. Despite its relevance, the use of military force has proven to be counterproductive given its state-referent orientation. Further to which sustained use of force has heightens the effect of the conflict on millions of civilians who have fled their communities in fear of Boko Haram and military highhandedness. To address the deficiencies of the pre-existing framework for countering insurgency, the paper proposes the implementation of a community centric, bottom-up approach which emphasizes the security, reconstruction and reintegration needs of civilians and defecting combatants. By prioritizing the inclusive needs of affected communities, the state is likely to win over the population, drawing on the combined expertise and resources of military and civilian actors. The implementation of such an approach will require in amongst others a reorientation of the military roles, a renewed relation of mutual assistance between civilian and military actors in the northeast.

Many decades of exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources have adversely affected the host communities in the Niger Delta. Environmental degradation, loss of means of livelihood, unemployment, poverty, loss of lives and general underdevelopment characterized the region. These formidable odds that threaten the survival of the Niger Delta people triggered off various shades of interminable violent agitations by militants that involved hostage taking and attacks on oil installations. These agitations, no doubt, reduced crude oil production and had adverse effect onthe national economy. This prompted the Nigerian state to intermittently launch attacks on the militants. In spite of the bombardments by the military Joint Task Force, the militants remain resolute in their agitations. Disturbed by the security and economic challenges, the Nigerian state came out with the amnesty initiative. The initiative was designed for the militants to surrender their arms, renounce militancy and also create a favourable atmosphere for the sustainable development of the region. This paper is geared towards examining theoretically, the efficacy of the amnesty initiative in finding solution to the general problem of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta. Situating the discourse within economic integration framework, the paper argues succinctly that the amnesty initiative is intentionally designed to deceitfully disarm the militants and create an enabling environment for the multinational oil companies to operate unhindered while ignoring the burning issues of underdevelopment that triggered the violent agitations in the first place. In order to avert a relapse into militancy, the Nigerian state must develop a credible rehabilitation package for the ex-militants and a holistic framework that can adequately address the problem of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta.

Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has grappled with the ominous challenge of building a sustainable bridge between its ever increasing populations divided not only along distinct multi-ethnic groups but also between two major diametrically opposed faiths [in content, structure, and tactics]- Christianity and Islam. The study was exploratory in nature, which adopted descriptive adequacy in articulating and examining the underlying alternatives factors that propel national politics and religious violence in Nigeria, thus producing a more comprehensive and total picture of the dynamics of the phenomena under investigation- the understanding of religious violence in Nigeria with minimum distortion. Furthermore, the study adopted a survey method based on the perception of Government officials and Religious leaders regarding religious violence, with a corresponding sample size of 100. The study found that the seeming overwhelming implications of persistent religious violence for Nigeria are three folds; they include; sustained threat to national peace, unity, and security, undermines national political/economic development, as well as socio-cultural and religious harmony and cooperation. In addition, the study found that the present state of religious violence in Nigeria exacerbates bitterness, hatred, and mistrust among the federating units of Nigeria resulting to violent reactions and heightened intra-ethnic and religious clashes, with a volcanic potential to explode into secession by aggrieved groups, internecine civil war, pogroms and/or jihads. Finally, the study recommended that the Nigerian civil society must step up organized and peaceful agitations for fundamental changes in the structure and character of the Nigeria state through a Sovereign National Conference or credible constitution review effort. Also, the Nigerian government and the international community must seize the opportunity of current fragile peace in Nigeria, to implement a number of credible measures aimed at preventing a recurrence of widespread religious conflicts threatening to spill over to a civil war.

This is an investigation on the empowerment programmes of faith-based organizations (FBOs) and socio-economic well-being of members in Yenegoa Communities of Bayelsa. This study lay to rest the controversy surrounding FBOs, whether they are empowering members or exploiting them and the extent to which such organisations have met its goals especially that of capacity building, charity and giving. The survey research method was used for the study. From a population of 12,565 FBOs leaders and members in Yenegoa communities, a sample of 659 participants was selected through proportional random sampling method. Data were collected with a face and content validated self-structured instrument title: Faith-Based Organisations Empowerment Scales (FBOES), (r=0.88). Four research questions were raised and answered using the mean, standard deviation and multiple regression statistics analysis. Results showed that, faith-based organisations provided skills acquisition programmes for member’s empowerment. Majority of the FBOs were actively involved in the empowerment of youth, women and the most vulnerable members of the affiliates and even the host communities. Faith-based organisations derived its goals from the teaching on social capital investment elements of trust, cooperation, mutuality, compromise, reciprocity, courage, integrity, networking, mentoring, and communication for peace building and community development. It was concluded that faith-based organisations empowerment programmes had positive impacts on members’ social and economic well-being. In view of these findings, it was recommended that leaders of FBOs in the communities should moderate their lifestyles, emulate and enhance the example of service, humanness and sacrifice in their engagement.

Brand naming is a potent marketing strategy/mechanism. Its awareness precedes consideration and trial which are all quite central to the success of any marketing outfit. They follow each other sequentially: awareness leads to consideration and consideration is later followed by trial or purchase/patronage. The goal of the study was to assess the awareness of tourists about the tourism brand name of Plateau State. The tourism slogan of Plateau State is ‘Home of Peace and Tourism.’ The study was undertaken in nine purposively selected tourist sites in the state in which 1,023 tourists were sampled and interviewed using both convenience and availability procedures. The study confirmed that Plateau State is very rich in tourist attractions, which if adequately planned, developed, managed and promoted will make her one of the leading tourist destinations in Nigeria. The state in her marketing strategy has coined an enchanting brand name as her tourism brand name. The result shows that the brand name is popular among tourists who saw meaning and sense in it from their experiences. They applauded the brand name, but a good number pointed to the fact that peace is too fragile and elusive in Plateau State. This should be addressed holistically to ensure that the brand name and its input are sustainable. It was surprisingly pointed out that the phenomenon of logo or symbol design and development which altogether goes with brand naming is completely ignored and there is need to do just that to make the branding of Plateau State as tourism destination holistic and complete.

This study investigates and summarises the results of physical measurement of the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in hospital building wards in Plateau State, Nigeria comparing two hospital settings. The results indicate that the mean indoor air temperature in the case study hospital ward buildings exceeded the range of 23-26oC as recommended by international standards. The temperature levels in the teaching hospital ward buildings were relatively lower than what was obtained in the specialist hospital whose ward buildings lack proper ventilation. The amount of daylight requirement on an average were below 300Lux in the specialist hospital whose façade orientation and window-wall-ratio (WWR) could not allow for maximum sunlight penetration, while it was above 300Lux in the teaching hospital. However, the sound intensity level in both hospital ward buildings ranged between 52.7dBA and 71.3dBA. This study therefore recommend that, hospital building design or retrofitting should employed common strategies towards increasing ventilation and daylight with minimal energy consumption.

Most public workers in Nigeria have always faced the problem of housing either during service or after retirement. This is because the mechanism put in place by the government for tackling the housing problem has not met their expectations. Due to that, workers started using alternative means to solve their housing needs. This study measured the level of housing activities carried out by the cooperative society and assessed cooperators' satisfaction with the activities in Plateau State, Nigeria. The study was based on a questionnaire survey conducted on institution-based cooperative societies engaged in cooperator housing activities using various methods. Data was collected from Jos University Teaching Hospital JUTH multipurpose cooperative society in the State. Data were analysed with descriptive statistical tools using mean ranking, and a 5-Point Likert scale was used to determine the level of each activity. It was found that housing development, direct purchases of houses, private-public projects and building materials purchase ranked highest. In contrast, processing land and building documents, housing loans, and land allocation were the least ranked contrary to popular belief that cooperative societies only achieved land allocation and granting of housing loans. Also, the respondents were most satisfied with housing development, directly purchased houses, building materials purchase, transaction cost, while their level of satisfaction on interest to be paid on loans for housing, cost of loan recovery, processing of land and building document and land allocation were ranked least respectively. Therefore, the study concluded that cooperators satisfaction should be given consideration in all activities to improve patronage for their various housing needs at all times.

The study is a contribution to the existing studies on the effects of ethno-nationalist identity on the social wellbeing of the Nigerian state. The ostensibly unwieldiness of ethnic related violence and hate in the contemporary Nigeria has casted a vail of doubt on the achievability of a nation state status for Nigeria. This study utilized the major tenets of David McCrone’s model on colonialism and nationalism as a theoretical leaning to understand the formation and perpetuation of ethnic nationality and consciousness. Applying the historical research design, data were collected from newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, journal articles and textbooks and were analysed using content analysis method, so as to give explanatory clarity to the study. The study implicated some issues such as pervasive corruption, a faulty federal system, and a flawed indigenization policy as major catalysts for ethnic divide, and thus, called for a complete overhaul of the faulty social system, so as to create a fairer atmosphere for peace building. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0841/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

AbstractThe class condition of women in contemporary Igbo society in particular and Africa in general, which is characterized by her peripherialization in the scheme of state building and knowledge production, has led to the need for the re-examination of her representation in specific cultural contexts in Africa prior to the major historical events (partition and colonization) in the continent. There is no doubt that the partition and colonization of Africa led to a pragmatic shift in local paradigms, and the significance placed on the agencies of cultural transmission. This need to re-examine women s representation in cultures and societies in Africa has become imperative in order to make, where possible, a factual representation of women s place in specific cultural realities. This realization gives impetus for this paper. This article re-examines the perception that women have nothing to do with two key peace symbols—oji (kolanut) and ofo (staff of authority and justice)—in Igbo culture as has been presented in the literature on Igbo culture. Using a case study typology, the study uses Nanka in Anambra State, south-eastern Nigeria as the study area. It identifies the place of the Earth goddess in oji and ofo ritual performances and concludes that, as a key participant in these rituals, gender is mainstreamed in the usages of oji and ofo.