Exploring innovative resource allocation and service delivery performance in developing countries

New governance paradigm in managing public resources needs to be given significant review while looking at alternatives in improving public service delivery.It implies that theories and practices of public administration, new public management, public value management or good governance need to be redesigned to embrace the public sector, private sector and the community.The relationship between resource allocation and service delivery performance is best viewed from view-lens of innovative governance. Innovative governance must be seen from the view point of integrating the public sector, market and community to deliver systematic public goods and services.This paper examines the relationship between innovative resource allocation and service delivery performance in developing countries.This paper uncovers various new models of allocative resource innovation taken from case studies reported in ten years of World Bank reports.The cases suggested that many countries are introducing several transformational programs, adopting open search strategies, and embarking on economic transformational agenda, which involve the use of a wide range of public private partnership strategy, private finance initiatives, performance-based management and other actors/sources to achieve the governmental programs.However, the impact of innovative governance on resource allocation and service delivery performance is often felt in developed countries, but the reverse is the case in the developing countries

Model for efficient service delivery in public service

This paper aims to design a modified model for efficient and effective service delivery by governments’ ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).There are several existing models on service delivery, but it is noted that those models emphasized more on the estimates voted for social/welfare services and the outcomes of services provided by MDAs. Other variables such as managerial accountability and leadership quality are less emphasized.This paper therefore designs a modified model that integrates funding/management of resources, managerial accountability and leadership quality cum structure in order to ensure adequate, efficient and effective service delivery by MDAs of various governments.There seems to b e a strong relationship between these variables in respect of service delivery. Lastly, the paper is conceptual in nature, which gives room for critique by practioners, researchers, scholars and public administrators in lieu of service delivery

An overview of quantitative approach in welfare service delivery research

Quantitative research stresses on an inquiry that attempts to systematically measure and predict phenomena through the use of standardized tools. The paper aims to demonstrate the utilization of systematic procedures of conducting quantitative research on the delivery of primary education and healthcare service by local governments. Specifically, this paper describes research design, sampling framework, instrumentation, measurement of variables, reliability and validity, piloting the questionnaire and redesigning the final instrument. The Modified Quantitative Service Delivery Survey (MQSDS) constructed for the study is an effective tool to be used in determining the status of service delivery by local governments in Nigeri

Parametric Investigation of Soil Susceptibility to Compaction Using Temperature Deviation Curves

Soil compaction can be explained using basic properties of soil. Cohesive soil sample were collected from five major region of the main site of investigation. Unlike other method of analyzing soil compaction, temperature deviation curves were used as the determinant for testing for compaction. It was discovered also that the temperature deviation curves can be used to find the annual amplitude of the surface soil temperatures. Soils in Abuja displayed some degree of compaction except for Gwagwalada that showed negligible compaction. Garki location produced the highest compaction at 14cm depth. The highest annual amplitude of the surface soil temperatures was noticed in Kuje and the lowest in Bwari

Social Media, Advertising Messages and the Youth: Any Influence?

Social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, twitter, and many others are popular  internet sites where people especially youth interact freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives, products or services, using multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, videos and audio. Advertisers have always been fascinated by media and the youth because of their primacy to business. Social media are the latest platform that advertisers are spending huge part of their advertising budget on, yet there is little or no research on the influence these media have on the youth. The population of study is students of university of Lagos and Caleb University. The survey design was adopted with the use of questionnaire as data collection instrument. A sample of 300 respondents was randomly selected and test instrument administered on them. The findings showed that 93.5% of the respondents said they were exposed to advertisements on social media. 47% said social media advertisements had positive influence on them, 45.2% said they ignore advertisements on social media, while only 20% purchase products advertised on social media. The researchers concluded that social media may contribute to brand awareness, create interest in the prospect and may in conjunctions with other factors move prospect to take desired decision. However, social media should not be seen as the ultimate media to reach the elusive youth market. Keywords: Social media, Advertising Messages, Youth, Influenc

New Realism, Social Criticism and Prostitution Motif in Shadreck Chikoti’s Free Africa Flee!

The post-Banda Malawian poetry, like its precursor, has largely been marked by commitment to social and political issues. In taking on these subjects, the poets in Malawi tend to adopt critical stance reminiscent of the role of the traditional bard, who excoriates social misconducts and political malfeasances on the part of the common people and the elite. A contemporary Malawian poet, Shadreck Chikoti’s debut collection, Free Africa Flee!, falls in this category. Despite its topicality and other strengths, the collection has suffered critical neglect. Against this backdrop, this article closely examines selected poems in the collection, and argues that Chikoti makes social criticism out of his poetry, using a singular motif across dissimilar issues, a feature   that is quite unusual in a debut collection. The poet’s criticism is located in the context of new realism, a writing convention which privileges ‘hyperextreme sincerity’ and pluralism in its representation of realities. The article concludes that the poet’s thematic renderings preserve a strong link with Abiola Irele’s notion of new realism in the post-independence sub-Saharan African novel

From subversive othering to Utopian imagining: gendered vision and revision in Vincent Egbuson’s Womandela

The article examined the representation of the African woman in a twenty-first century Nigerian novel, Vincent Egbuson’s Womandela. Critical attention is shifted from the popular feminist reading of African literature which privileges areas of immediate discomfort for the African woman, that is, domestic/marital, cultural and economic issues. My critical lens focused on the issue of political empowerement of the African woman. The article acknowledged the fact that African women in pre-colonial era enjoyed great political power in varying degrees in different communities, it then proceeded to analyse how Egbuson subverts the contemporary political emasculation of the African woman by drawing on the legend of the late South African President, Nelson Mandela to produce an African female political amazon. The analysis revealed the use of Othering, syntactic deconstruction of some nominals and pronominals, myth reversal and onomastic neologism as strategies of relocating African women from the margin to the centre, specifically to the political centre.Keywords: Other, Othering, the African woman, Vincent Egbuson, Womandela, Subversio

Confronting Resistance: Addressing Issues of Race and Class During Community-Based Research

Community partnerships have the potential to empower and arm students with the tools to positively engage with all members of society. In this study, the author explores how race and class shaped students’ experiences with community-based research. Participants included 44 social science majors enrolled in an undergraduate research methods course. Students partnered with two community non-profits that served socioeconomically and ethnically distinct communities. Findings suggest that although students expressed varying levels of early resistance toward each partnership, they gained a raised awareness of their feelings toward and their unconscious reactions to race and class and began to work through initial resistance

Impact of IPSAS Adoption on Financial Reporting Quality in Nigeria: A Case of South-Western Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of IPSAS Adoption of financial reporting quality using the six south western states in Nigeria. The public service in the six states of the south western Nigeria is the focus of the study. A total of 400 respondents are covered in the survey and professional staff like auditors and accountants in the public service form the nucleus of the respondents. Well-structured questionnaire was constructed and administered. The data harvested was analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling. Findings from the analysis revealed that. Generally, the adoption of IPSASs contributed to an improvement in financial reporting quality in the sample States. It is however recommended that all states in the federation should migrate to full implementation of accrual based IPSASs accounting systems because of its positive effect on financial reporting quality