Overheard at Gettysburg

Monday. In Old TKE. A student of color is called in the hallway to hear the “funniest thing ever.” (giggling) “Night night little nigglet.” Tuesday. In an AFS class. “I’m pretty sure the majority of black students in my private school were there because of sports.” Wednesday. In Musselman. Woman: “I can’t believe Trayvon Martin got shot because someone thought skittles was a weapon.” Man: “To be honest, he did look suspicious because he was black.” [excerpt

Census politics in deeply divided societies

Population censuses in societies that are deeply divided along ethnic, religious or linguistic lines can be sensitive affairs – particularly where political settlements seek to maintain peace through the proportional sharing of power between groups. This brief sets out some key findings from a research project investigating the relationship between census politics and the design of political institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Lebanon and Northern Ireland

Cleansing Nigeria’s Corrupt Bureaucracy: The Peril and Promise

The Nigerian bureaucracy came under severe ridicule following the discovery and recovery of large-scale looting of government money and illicit assets by civilservants recently. The discoveries were made by the various federal government anticorruption Agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). This is in spite of the Zero tolerance stance of the Mohammadu Buhari government for corruption in the civil service since it came to power about two year ago. Is it possible for a civil service bedevilled by this magnitude of corruption to be effective and efficient, especially in the area of national development? This paper holds the view that the government should ensure that its on-going efforts to cleanse the country’s civil service of the mess of corruption is intensified and pursued to the letter with the initiation of more stringent cleansing measures as well as providing adequate political will to crush the menace of corruption in the civil service.&nbsp

Effects of Cooperative and Individualistic Instructional Strategies On Students Problem Solving Abilities In Secondary School Chemistry In Ilesa, Nigeria.

This study investigated the relative effectiveness of cooperative and individualistic instructional strategies on students' problem solving abilities in secondary school chemistry. It made use of a 3 x 3 x 2 quasi-experimental, non-randomized factorial design. Two hundred and fifty (250) Senior Secondary two (SS II) chemistry students were purposively sampled from three public secondary schools in Ilesa Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria. Two research instruments: Researcher's Instructional Packages for solving Chemistry Problems (RIP) and Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) were developed, validated and used for the study. The reliability of the Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) was determined and found to be 0.62 using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation formula. Five hypotheses were raised and tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Two experimental groups (Cooperative Instructional group, Individualistic Instructional group) and a control group were used. The results of the analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the performance of chemistry students exposed to cooperative instructional Strategy, individualistic instructional strategy and conventional teaching method. Both the cooperative instructional strategy and individualistic instructional strategy improved the performance of the learners. The cooperative instructional strategy was found to be most effective in enhancing better performance of the learners. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 121-13

MOTIVATION AND ETHICS: CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY IN NIGERIA

The primary function of any government is to ensure an equitable distribution of public goods and services to its citizens. Despite the material and human resource in Nigeria, Nigerians have been short-changed by the quality of public service delivery in the country. Against this backdrop, this paper: examined the issues affecting public service delivery and demonstrated how motivation can enhance ethical behaviours among public servants. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from year 2000 to 2016 was used to argue the position of the paper. The study discovered, among other things that certain Human Resource (HR), political and institutional factors have led to the erosion of moral conduct by public servants. While measures such as reforms and campaigns have been taken to curb political and institutional issues, limited remedial actions have been proffered to tackle that of HR. These have negatively affected public service delivery in Nigeria. Therefore, apart from putting some ethical principles in place, there is need to motivate public servants to get at their best. In addition to this, good behaviour is to be rewarded and bad behaviour is to be punished across all public services in the country, by a truly independent and incorruptible statutory body. By doing this, sanity and equitable service delivery will be achieved.     &nbsp

Analytical methods used in estimating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS from demographic and cross-sectional surveys with missing data: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Sero- prevalence studies often have a problem of missing data. Few studies report the proportion of missing data and even fewer describe the methods used to adjust the results for missing data. The objective of this review was to determine the analytical methods used for analysis in HIV surveys with missing data. METHODS: We searched for population, demographic and cross-sectional surveys of HIV published from January 2000 to April 2018 in Pub Med/Medline, Web of Science core collection, Latin American and Caribbean Sciences Literature, Africa-Wide Information and Scopus, and by reviewing references of included articles. All potential abstracts were imported into Covidence and abstracts screened by two independent reviewers using pre-specified criteria. Disagreements were resolved through discussion. A piloted data extraction tool was used to extract data and assess the risk of bias of the eligible studies. Data were analysed through a quantitative approach; variables were presented and summarised using figures and tables. RESULTS: A total of 3426 citations where identified, 194 duplicates removed, 3232 screened and 69 full articles were obtained. Twenty-four studies were included. The response rate for an HIV test of the included studies ranged from 32 to 96% with the major reason for the missing data being refusal to consent for an HIV test. Complete case analysis was the primary method of analysis used, multiple imputations 11(46%) was the most advanced method used, followed by the Heckman's selection model 9(38%). Single Imputation and Instrumental variables method were used in only two studies each, with 13(54%) other different methods used in several studies. Forty-two percent of the studies applied more than two methods in the analysis, with a maximum of 4 methods per study. Only 6(25%) studies conducted a sensitivity analysis, while 11(46%) studies had a significant change of estimates after adjusting for missing data. CONCLUSION: Missing data in survey studies is still a problem in disease estimation. Our review outlined a number of methods that can be used to adjust for missing data on HIV studies; however, more information and awareness are needed to allow informed choices on which method to be applied for the estimates to be more reliable and representative

Cleansing Nigeria’s Corrupt Bureaucracy: The Peril and Promise

The Nigerian bureaucracy came under severe ridicule following the discovery and recovery of large-scale looting of government money and illicit assets by civil servants recently. The discoveries were made by the various federal government anticorruption Agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). This is in spite of the Zero tolerance stance of the Mohammadu Buhari government for corruption in the civil service since it came to power about two year ago. Is it possible for a civil service bedevilled by this magnitude of corruption to be effective and efficient, especially in the area of national development? This paper holds the view that the government should ensure that its on-going efforts to cleanse the country’s civil service of the mess of corruption is intensified and pursued to the letter with the initiation of more stringent cleansing measures as well as providing adequate political will to crush the menace of corruption in the civil service.

Perceived Service Quality of Architectural Consultancy Firms and Client Satisfaction in Building Projects in Nigeria

Purpose Clients in Nigeria have continuously questioned the quality of services being rendered by architectural firms in building projects. This study aims to investigate the areas of service responsible for determining client satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study uses questionnaire for data collection on perceived service quality and indicators of clients’ satisfaction. Findings The results of descriptive statistics suggest that efficient analysis and compliance with client brief along with buildability, flexibility and comprehensiveness of the design are the main technical determinants of clients’ satisfaction. Management measures for engendering clients’ satisfaction include team communication and collaboration as well as regular site visits when required. The study established a significant relationship between the perceived service quality and client satisfaction. At technical level, economical design and compliance with budget, buildability, optimal and error-free design and timely delivery have significant correlation with the perception of service quality, which could engender client satisfaction. At management level, collaboration and coordination, integrity and trust, regular site visits and project management knowledge and skills had significant relationships with perceived service quality. Originality/value To improve overall client satisfaction, architects are expected to focus on these factors in the process of service delivery. Architects’ expertise and skills can be further harnessed through continuous training and understanding of the project environment