Effect of institutional context and finance context of housing finance on home ownership among low-income earners in Bauchi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of housing finance institutional and financial context on beneficiaries’ context to low income earners in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi, Nigeria Design/methodology/approach This paper adopted a quantitative research approach. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect information from 357 primary school teachers in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi, Nigeria. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected using SmartPLS 2 software Findings This study revealed that effectiveness of financial institutions and their performance has significant positive causal effect on low income earners housing ownership context, which shows that performance and effectiveness of the housing finance institutions is vital to housing ownership for the low income earners in the study area. Thus, performance of housing finance institutions and their effectiveness has direct effects on low income earners housing ownership through finance affordability Practical implications The prime consumer of these research findings are the financial institutions, this will make them bulk up in terms of their performance and effectiveness toward housing finance accessibility and affordability to the low income earners such as the primary school teachers in the study area. Originality/value This paper used the technology organization environment theory, which is a multi-perspective theory to evaluate the concepts of institutional, finance and beneficiaries context with respect to housing finance in Bauchi by conceptualizing institutional context as effectiveness and performance, finance context as affordability and accessibility and beneficiaries context as ownership.

Attitude of teachers towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in the regular schools in Obio/Akpor local government area

The study investigated attitude of teachers towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities in the normal school settings in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. Six research questions and six null hypotheses was formulated to guide the study. The population of study involved 3025 teachers in the area. A stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of three hundred and ninety nine (399) teachers. Chisquare was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Out of the 399 teachers, 253 were involved in the study. The result of the findings shows that teachers only teachers training and teacher’s age significantly influence inclusion of students with learning disability whereas teacher’s gender, experience, qualification and marital status had not significant effect on inclusion of students with learning disability. The finding also indicated that generally teachers had positive attitude towards inclusion of students with learning disabilities. The attitude of teachers is perceived to have been influenced by lack of provision for additional programme that will improve education of students with learning difficulties and required training for teachers in special needs education.

A GIS-BASED APPROACH TO RISK MAPPING OF LASSA FEVER OUTBREAK IN AKURE SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NIGERIA

Lassa fever is an acute viral illness, which is endemic in some counties in West Africa, including Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and parts of Nigeria. It is caused by the Lassa virus, which is primarily hosted by multi-mammate rats that live in and around houses. This study sees the need to enhance public awareness by producing risk maps of Lassa fever for the study area. In a bid to understand and predict the prevalence of the disease in Akure South Local Government Area. Temporal and spatial analyses of Lassa fever cases were carried out, information about related environmental variables such as temperature, rainfall, vegetation, and elevation were obtained. These data sets from primary and secondary sources were integrated independently as predictor variables for the developed risk model. The accessibility of incidences of Lassa fever to health centres was determined and analysed. The risk map produced indicates that areas about the Ijoka community are at higher risk of being affected by a future Lassa fever outbreak than other areas. The model developed an understanding of the high risk and potential outbreak of Lassa fever to alert the general public of the virus to curb the future outbreak. However, future research can be on the control and prevention of Lassa fever in the study area.

The Effect of Remediation of Crude Oil Contaminated Land on Agricultural Resources in Umuechem in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

Contamination is the release of hazardous materials into the environment; which could be in the form of: waste, petroleum hydrocarbons and other unwanted materials. The release of these hazardous materials could affect soil nutrients and aggravate biodiversity loss. When the soil nutrient is impacted, it negatively affects its crop yield and production capabilities. Once there is contamination of the environment, remediation becomes necessary. This paper examines the effects of remediation of crude oil contaminated land on agricultural resources in Umuechem in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique and a survey research design was adopted with the use of structured questionnaires administered on a sample size of sixty two (62) persons whose farmlands and other agricultural resources were contaminated and thereafter remediated. The sample size was made up of fifty four (54) literate and eight (8) illiterate persons. The questionnaire was interpreted in native language to the illiterate persons by either their children or any other relative. The data obtained from the survey were analysed using descriptive statistics such as tables and statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).The findings obtained indicated that there was a post-remediation low-crop-yield and recommended that remediation consultants should adopt techniques capable of completely removing contaminants from the environment.

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises’ Activities and Eonomic Developmemnt in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria

This paper assesses the impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) activities on economic development in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve this theme, an instrument Called Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Survey Questionnaire (SMEQ) was developed which focused more on employment generation and poverty reduction. The population of the study was chosen based on the two thousand six hundred and thirty-four (2634) registered SMEs with the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2019. Based on simple random sampling technique, a total of three hundred and thirty-eight (338) respondents were sampled. Relying on descriptive statistics and logistic regression estimation techniques, the data were analyzed. Analyses of the respondents’ opinion suggest that the major businesses engaged in the study area were restaurant, tailoring and beauty/hair dressing. Again, majority of the respondents were of the opinion that SMEs operators do not have increased access to basic social-economic amenities. The output of the logistic regression result has it that an increase in firm size can improve the chances of SMEs fostering economic development in Obio-Akpor while increase in the salary of employees could also enhance the chances of SMEs to redress the rising poverty level too. The paper thus recommends that employment tax incentives should be granted to proprietors of SMEs and taming of the rising insecurity cases across the country. Received: 11 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 November 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022

Occupational health hazards and use of personal protective equipment among automobile mechanics in Surulere local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria - a descriptive study

Introduction: The job of an automobile mechanic is associated with hazards, illness, and injuries, which may result in sickness, absenteeism, economic loss, disability, or even death. This study assessed the level of knowledge and workplace safety practice by automobile mechanics. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 120 registered automobile mechanics in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demography and occupational health practices. Data entry and analysis were done with Epi-info 3.5.1(2008). Chi-square and Fischer Exact tests were used to test for significance. Results: The respondents were all males with a mean age of 39.9±7.5 years, the majority learned the trade through apprenticeship (95.80%) and on full-time work (98.30%). Most respondents (95.8%) were aware of at least one health problem associated with its hazards. Over 75% of respondents were aware of physical hazards. Over eighty percent (84.17%) of respondents used their own overalls, 40% of them used overalls regularly, and only 26.67% of respondents used overalls appropriately. Conclusion: Many respondents were aware of health problems, occupational hazards, and PPE used in the Automobile workplace but did not translate to good practice of workplace safety as seen in only 1.67%. The respondents did not deem the use of PPE necessary and lack, or inadequate training on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ PPE were identified as factors hindering PPE use. Workers' training and adherence monitoring could help improve good workplace safety practices in Lagos, Nigeria.

Infection Control Practices among Laboratory Healthcare Workers in an Urban Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Background: Laboratory healthcare workers do handle a wide range of potentially dangerous materials which exposes them to numerous hazards. This study aimed to assess the practices of laboratory health care workers towards safety, infection control and the associated factors to its practices. Case Presentation: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 181 laboratory healthcare workers in all registered 33 laboratory facilities in Ikeja Local Government Area in 2017. Data were collected with pre-tested, structured self-administered questionnaires. Data analysed with SPSS version 20 and p-value of < 0.05. The mean age of respondents was 35.0 ± 2.45 years, most of whom were females (57.7%) and married (61.1%). The majority (98.9%) demonstrated good knowledge of infection control. A total of 62.3% identified hand washing as the most important infection control practice while HIV and Tuberculosis were diseases respondents majorly considered as high risk of contracting. A total of 84.6% of the respondents showed good practices. Limited availability of personal protective equipment in the laboratories was a major barrier identified by 98.1% of respondents. Respondents displayed good knowledge, attitude and practice of infection control. Discussion and Conclusion: Barrier to infection control was the limited availability of personal protective equipment. Therefore, concerted efforts should be mustered to ensure continuous training and retraining with the provision of personal protective equipment.

Factors Associated with Alcohol Consumption among Adolescents in Selected Secondary Schools in a Local Government Area of Oyo State, Southwest, Nigeria

Alcohol use during adolescence and young adulthood remain a prominent public health problem. This study identifies factors associated with alcohol consumption among adolescents in selected secondary schools in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Southwest, Nigeria. A cross-sectional descriptive study was used. One hundred and seventy-six (176) respondents were consecutively selected using the random technique. Data were analyzed using chi-square and hypotheses tested at a 5% level of significance. Findings revealed that the majority of the respondents had poor knowledge of alcohol consumption, while (36.4%) of the respondents had consumed alcoholic beverages. Over half (54.5%) engaged in drinking alcohol as a result of peer influence. The majority (70%) of them had good knowledge of factors influencing alcohol consumption and factors influencing consumption among the respondents. Thus, the rate of alcohol consumption among adolescents was low (36.4%) as a larger percentage (64.6%) of them did not consume alcohol owing to their knowledge of the effect and the presence of some protective factors within the environment. In conclusion, alcohol consumption among adolescents was low, knowledge of its consumption was high, and it was associated with its actual consumption. Alcohol use is also associated with peer influence and environmental variables, while age and gender did not have any relationship with alcohol consumption. Therefore, educational intervention to improve knowledge of the consequences of alcohol consumption among adolescents and public policies with preventive educational campaigns was recommended.