The challenges facing road-side ‘m-Preneurs’ in leap-frogging the constraints of ICTs in DCs: A Nigerian case study

Studies have shown that the number of mobile telecommunications operators in Nigeria has been on the increase since the first Global System of Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) licence was granted to MTN (Mobile Telecommunications Network) in 2001. With the increase in mobile telecommunications operators also has come an unprecedented increase in subscriptions. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) data, between 2001 and 2006 for instance, mobile telephone subscribers in Nigeria jumped from 266, 461 to 32.3 million indicating an increase of 12, 030.18 %

Influence of education and knowledge on perceptions and practices to control malaria in Southeast Nigeria.

The study was undertaken in southeastern Nigeria to investigate whether the people's level of education and what they know about malaria affects how they seek treatment and prevention for the disease. Pre-tested questionnaires were used to collect data from randomly selected householders and analysed using logistic regression. Higher levels of education were associated with improved knowledge and practice about the appropriate strategies for the prevention and treatment of malaria. The results thus indicate that education can have a positive impact on the malaria burden and medium/long-term improvement of overall literacy rates. As well as this, short-term health education campaigns about the causes, manifestations and control of malaria will have a positive impact on its control

THE NIGERIANISATION OF DEMOCRACY: WHAT TO DO TO MAKE IT WORK

The dominance of the liberal democratic orthodoxy within the political cosmos has become a truism. With the fall of communism, a way has been paved for the triumphalism of democracy, making it politically fashionable these days for nations to embrace liberal democratic tenets. Countries now gravitate to the liberal democratic system because of its endogenous allurements of popular rule and the omnibus of freedoms it promises patron nations. However, in Nigeria, with over a decade of democratic praxis, the citizens are still full of Weltschmerz because of a kaleidoscope of ethnic agitation, civil, political and religious unrests and others which point to a democracy yet to reflect the yearnings of the people. The call for Nigerianising this democracy has become urgent and imperative. However, in this chapter, the focus has been on examining the issues that must be addressed and their implications before democracy can be successfully Nigerianised. The call for more reforms, allowing for greater inclusion of the people, has become a desideratum to keep the ship of state sailing smoothly for the benefit of all stakeholder

General practitioners' knowledge, attitudes and views of providing preconception care: a qualitative investigation

Background: Preconception health and care aims to reduce parental risk factors before pregnancy through health promotion and intervention. Little is known about the preconception interventions that general practitioners (GPs) provide. The aim of this study was to examine GPs’ knowledge, attitudes, and views towards preconception health and care in the general practice setting. Methods: As part of a large mixed-methods study to explore preconception care in England, we surveyed 1,173 women attending maternity units and GP services in London and interviewed women and health professionals. Seven GPs were interviewed, and the framework analysis method was used to analyse the data. Findings: Seven themes emerged from the data: Knowledge of preconception guidelines; Content of preconception advice; Who should deliver preconception care?; Targeting provision of preconception care; Preconception health for men; Barriers to providing preconception care; and Ways of improving preconception care. A lack of knowledge and demand for preconception care was found, and although reaching women before they are pregnant was seen as important it was not a responsibility that could be adequately met by GPs. Specialist preconception services were not provided within GP surgeries, and care was mainly targeted at women with medical conditions. GPs described diverse patient groups with very different health needs. Conclusion: Implementation of preconception policy and guidelines is required to engage women and men and to develop proactive delivery of care with the potential to improve pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. The role of education and of nurses in improving preconception health was acknowledged but remains under-developed

Organizational Change As An Example Of Socio-Technical Design

This study focuses on Organizational Change as an example of Socio-Technical Design (STD). STD is an approach that aims to give equal weight to social and technical issues when new work systems are being designed [8]. It is widely acknowledged that implementing a socio-technical design approach leads to systems that are more acceptable by stakeholders during organizational change. Despite this, STD is not often used or not correctly practiced in organizations. Baxter and Sommerville noted that even though many managers realize that socio-technical issues are important, socio-technical design methods are rarely used [1]. The study data was derived from the preliminary work done on the case study in a telecommunication company adopting an Action Research (AR) approach. It is based on the researcher and participants' experience together with reflection, a collaboration between the researcher and the employees’. Action research in an organizational setting draws the researcher and the employees involved into a joint process aimed at solving organizational problems and creating new ideas. According to Schurman et al action research is a co-learning process, employees’ are involved in most aspects of the research and action, and the problems addressed are generated by the employees themselves and not theories by the researcher [2]. This study recommends that to realize the goals of organizational changes, the objective of socio-technical which has always been joint optimization of the social and technical systems should be observed. The technical system covering technology and the social system covering the individuals in the chosen boundary

Tradern: a collaborative model for improving small business participation in electronic commerce in sub-Saharan Africa.

The inception of the Internet has brought with it Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) practices which have greatly transformed the ways firms conduct businesses globally. Internet-based E-Commerce, particularly business-to-business (B2B) holds the key for small businesses to compete on a level playing field with their big business counterparts. Unfortunately, however, there is considerable evidence to show that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), have not been reaping the benefits of this new commerce opportunity as their counterparts in North America and Europe. This chasm has given rise to another form of Digital Divide. This research has identified the major factors responsible for this state of affairs as the low level of participation by the SMEs in the SSA region in this global E-Commerce trade. SSA region has been identified as a region with the lowest level of economic, technological and Internet development in the world. There are 49 Countries in this region inhabited by over 633 million people representing about 10% of the world's population. They are characterised by a low income, low-levels of human resource development, as well as severe structural, social, political and economic weaknesses. All these have combined to make the region the poorest region in the world. It has been established that SMEs form the bedrock of every economy. There is also considerable evidence to suggest that the introduction of new technologies into organisations of all kinds and sizes has a major impact on the structure and functioning of the organizations. Furthermore, it has been established that B2B E-Commerce is contributing more to the global economy than all other forms of E-Commerce transactions. Equipping SMEs in developing countries, particularly those in SSA, by with emerging B2B technologies could help improve their growth potential which will invariably place them in a better position to contribute to the region's economic advancement. Existing models have failed in attracting large numbers of SMEs in the region, partly due to the prohibitive costs of these technologies which make them unaffordable by the poor SMEs. This research has identified that the issues of Trust as well as the problems associated with Fraud and Security also play a part in making E-Commerce unattractive to a lot of SMEs in SSA. Current theoretical frameworks have been extended by developing a new taxonomy showing the various components of E-Business where the distinctions between E-Commerce, E-Government, Tele-Medicine and E-Learning are clearly identified. This thesis seeks to find solutions to the identified problems by finding ways of attracting more SMEs in SSA to participate in the global E-Commerce endeavour. This is with a view to enabling them to leverage and maximise their E-Commerce potential, which in turn would help them exploit today's global E-Commerce opportunities. This will ultimately help them in contributing to the economic growth of the region. As a way of making E-Commerce attractive, affordable and profitable, an architectural model has been designed which, it is believed, would make the deployment and implementation of B2B E-Commerce more achievable for the poor SMEs in SSA. This model, known as Tradern Model, combines the trado-cultural and modern methods of conducting business. This combination would help SMEs deploying the technology to conduct their businesses using both methods without compromising their growth. Over and above everything else there is the benefit of a level-playing field which the SMEs in developing economies, like Africa, and particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, can capitalise on to leapfrog, improve and sustain their economic development and global e-business participation as a step towards bridging the digital divide

How do women prepare for pregnancy? Preconception experiences of women attending antenatal services and views of health professionals

Copyright: © 2014 Stephenson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Main objective - To determine the extent to which women plan and prepare for pregnancy. Methods - Cross-sectional questionnaire survey of pregnant women attending three maternity services in London about knowledge and uptake of preconception care; including a robust measure of pregnancy planning, and phone interviews with a range of health care professionals. Main results - We recruited 1173/1288 (90%) women, median age of 32 years. 73% had clearly planned their pregnancy, 24% were ambivalent and only 3% of pregnancies were unplanned. 51% of all women and 63% of those with a planned pregnancy took folic acid before pregnancy. 21% of all women reported smoking and 61% reported drinking alcohol in the 3 months before pregnancy; 48% of smokers and 41% of drinkers reduced or stopped before pregnancy. The 51% of all women who reported advice from a health professional before becoming pregnant were more likely to adopt healthier behaviours before pregnancy [adjusted odds ratios for greatest health professional input compared with none were 2.34 (95% confidence interval 1.54–3.54) for taking folic acid and 2.18 (95% CI 1.42–3.36) for adopting a healthier diet before pregnancy]. Interviews with 20 health professionals indicated low awareness of preconception health issues, missed opportunities and confusion about responsibility for delivery of preconception care. Significance of the findings - Despite a high level of pregnancy planning, awareness of preconception health among women and health professionals is low, and responsibility for providing preconception care is unclear. However, many women are motivated to adopt healthier behaviours in the preconception period, as indicated by halving of reported smoking rates in this study. The link between health professional input and healthy behaviour change before pregnancy is a new finding that should invigorate strategies to improve awareness and uptake of pre-pregnancy health care, and bring wider benefits for public health.Department of Healt

Consumer Redress Options and Dispute Resolution in the Nigerian Electricity Market: A Socio-legal Analysis

The Nigerian electricity industry is undergoing reforms aimed at entrenching private-sector participation and competition. This article examines the efficacy of tier-structured consumer redress mechanisms within Nigeria’s electricity market. Employing a socio-legal approach, the article explores the practical application of process pluralism, analysing the consumer redress pathways of Consumer Complaints Units, Customer Forums, Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission, courts, and public enforcement. The analysis highlights the gap between legal frameworks and practical implementation, but it argues that sector-specific consumer redress framework is the correct approach to provide greater access to justice in a monopolistic market. The article advocates a conjunctive approach rather than “alternative” approach between the industry redress mechanisms and the court. Keywords: consumer redress; dispute resolution; process pluralism; consumer ADR; electricity distribution; access to justice