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What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

Man is a social being. He lives in society. It is necessary for man to learn how to live in society. He needs to learn how a society works, how he can play a role in it and how he can play that role positively. Man’s need to learn how to live successfully in society and his need to be equipped with the tools necessary for living create the need for Social Studies.

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is the study of people in society. It is the study of man in his various environments. Social studies is concerned with practicing problem solving and decision making for developing citizenship skills on important social issues.

Social Studies deals with the study of people, their activities and their relationships, as they interact with one another and with their physical and socio-cultural environment in an effort to meet their needs (to live and to make a living). It is essentially the study of human group experiences.

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated subject in nature and draws its subject matter from a variety of disciplines. Social Studies deals with how societies work and how people can participate as critical, active, informed, and responsible citizens.

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

The major aim of Social Studies is to promote knowledge, mental ability, and democratic behaviour required of students to be active participants in public life. Social Studies also seeks to achieve a number of objectives. They include:

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

The National Policy on Education spells out some aims and objectives of education that may help the individual to develop physically and socially, and be able to contribute to national development. These objectives include:

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

These characteristics of the national objectives are fully reflected in the Social Studies objectives. Social Studies, apart from imparting knowledge and providing valuable information necessary in life, also aims at helping students to inculcate desirable social habits, attitudes and values needed for the survival of the individual in the society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.011-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.009-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.007-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.005-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.003-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Social Studies Is

2012-09-30T22:50:00.001-07:00

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL STUDIES

Outline

Introduction

1.1 The Meaning of Social Studies

1.2 The Scope of Social Studies

1.3 The Nature of Social Studies

1.4 The Objectives of Social Studies

1.5 The Importance of Social Studies

1.6 Suggested Tasks

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Meaning of Social Studies

Social Studies is difficult to define because it is made up of many subjects. Two main characteristics, however, distinguish it:

a. It is designed to promote competence in the society; and

b. It includes many other fields of study.

1.3 The Scope of Social Studies

Social Studies is an integrated and systematic subject drawing upon such subjects as:

· Archaeology;

· Economics;

· Geography;

· History;

· Law;

· Religion; and

· Sociology.

Its scope also covers appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences.

1.4 The Nature of Social Studies

Apart from dealing with societal ideals and practices, it treats, in detail, aspects of life like:

· Culture;

· Change;

· Races;

· Environment;

· Development;

· Identity;

· Institutions;

· Power;

· Governance;

· Production;

· Consumption;

· Global connections;

· Science;

· Technology.

1.5 The Objectives of Social Studies

· To prepare young people to be humane, rational, good in decision making;

· To develop the right values and attitudes necessary to the conduct of affairs in different societies;

· To prepare young people to be participating and responsible citizens in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and interdependent;

· To provide knowledge on man’s behaviour; and

· To develop an understanding of man’s ability to relate with other people.

1.6 The Importance of Social Studies

1. The inculcation of the right type of values and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society.

2. The acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competence both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of his society.

Social Studies helps us:

· understand our relationship with the environment;

· understand and appreciate cultural diversity and possible differences of opinion;

· find out what people in the past did to build their nations;

· provide materials for developing our listening, observation, writing, analysing and speech skills;

· develop a strong patriotic spirit;

· increase our sense of moral and social responsibility towards each other; and

· Train the mind to analyse.

Social Studies should helps students acquire knowledge and master the processes of learning to become active citizens.

1.7 Suggested Tasks

A. Find the meaning of Social Studies in a dictionary.

B. Visit the market to observe the activities of people.

What Eking Out A Living Is

2009-07-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

To eke out means...

*1. make something last with sparing use: to make a supply of something last by using it as slowly and economically as possible.

*2. supplement something insufficient or inadequate: to supplement something that is insufficient or inadequate, usually with difficulty and by hard work.

*3. get something only with effort: to manage to achieve something but only on a small scale and with a great deal of effort.

To eke out a living means...

Who a third grader is

2009-07-18T04:55:00.006-07:00

The third grade (called grade 3 in some regions) is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 - 9 years old. I've been a third grade educator for one year and it's been such a pleasurable learning experience.

What Fun Is

2009-02-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

Fun is the smile of Frederich II.

Fun is Mum (middle) all dressed up.

Fun is "No Restrictions".

Fun is Ayo spending time with her buddies.

Fun is celebrating with Azeem.

Fun is being at a park.

Search Amazon.com for shoes

What An Excursion Is

2009-01-18T01:14:00.000-08:00

Search Amazon.com for shoes

An excursion is a short trip to a place and back, for pleasure or a purpose. The third graders in my school along with their educators, including yours truly, went on a trip to Olumo rock in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria on the 22nd of November, 2008. What a day of fun, education and of course, exertion! (I was one of those 'chosen' to go up to the top of the rock without the aid of merciful elevator. But, trust me, I did not climb back down. Would you believe some educators from a certain school actually had the heart to put their pupils barely older than toddlers through the torture of climbing up the rock and back down?!! What a life!) I want you to know all about our time there. I hope my pictures did the job!

What Human Capital Development Is

2008-10-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Introduction

With a population of 148 million, making 47 per cent of West Africa’s population, Nigeria is the largest country in Africa. The second largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, it accounts for 41 per cent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product. Nigeria continues to be a leading player in the African Union, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) but a 35-page report published by the National Planning Commission titled "A Review of Official Development Assistance to Nigeria: 1999 to 2007" has shown that Nigeria received $6billion as Development Assistance from 1999 to 2007 (Abdulhamid, 2008). (It however stated that only about 50 per cent of the pledged $6billion has been disbursed.) The report, stating that Nigeria is yet to see the fruits of the vast sums spent, described it as "an aid orphan".

Development difficulties and challenges remain disheartening as Nigeria is emerging from decades of corruption and mismanagement, particularly under military rule. The educational system is dysfunctional, as graduates of many institutions cannot meet the nation’s present needs. Unemployment and underemployment rate is estimated at over 15 per cent of the labour force, with a very high rate of that among university graduates. Adult illiteracy rate is around 50 per cent. About 76 per cent of children of primary school age attend school, falling to less than 30 per cent for those of secondary school age.

Amidst all these, on May the 29th, 2007, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was sworn in as the third democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has committed his government to reform and his “7-Point Agenda” identifies the development of human capital; economic reforms; transport; power; rule of law; the Niger Delta and electoral reform as key priorities. The president stated that human capital development is critical to the successful implementation of his programme. He noted that if the nation’s universities were mired in confusion, crises, and a lack of institutional vision, there could be no meaningful human capital development.

Human Capital Development

Many early economic theories referring to human capital simply as labour, consider it homogeneous and easily interchangeable. Human capital was defined by Adam Smith (1723-1790) in his work “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book 2” as the acquired and useful abilities of all the inhabitants or members of the society. Human capital, avers Igun (2006), is the total stock of knowledge, skills, competencies and innovative abilities possessed by the population.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) stated that development is growth plus change which involves material, mental, psychological, physical, institutional and organisational innovations.

Alani (2008), giving a broad view of development, opines that it is a multi-dimensional process involving changes in structures, attitudes and institutions. Development, according to him, comprises rising per capita incomes, reduction of absolute poverty, lessening of income inequality, promotion of employment opportunities, self-esteem and freedom from servitude or freedom of choice.

This writer, considering these, concludes that human capital development, or HCD, is the multifaceted process which entails needed changes in the useful knowledge, skills and competencies embodied in people such that there is increasing evidence of innovations, rising per capita income, promotion of employment opportunities, a feeling of self-worth and freedom from slavery be it economic or social.

HCD is an index of and earns a nation significant industrial and economic growth and development which in turn increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) as the manufacturing sector no longer stays dominated by foreign content. Education and professional advancement are critical. One can not but agree with Adeyemo and Oni (2007) that improving HCD can be seen as improving:

v the quality of graduates being produced;

v the quality of product of the manufacturing industries; and

v the quality of experience gained and hence better professional development.

What The Role Of International Agencies Is

2008-10-12T03:29:00.001-07:00

Development partner coordination in

Nigeria

is strong. The World Bank Group and the Department for International Development (DFID) have prepared a joint Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) anchored on

Nigeria

’s home grown National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). In the last two years, the partnership was extended to include United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), European Union (EU) and African Development Bank (AfDB). International agencies, in general, have been relevant to

Nigeria

in their role as:

a. An Initiator

International organisations have been and still are eager initiators of the execution of programmes and the establishment of educational institutions of all levels and types in different parts of the country.

b. A Provider

This role is evident in the supply of teachers and experts to institutions of learning (like the supply of French teachers to a college of education in Ijebu-Ode by Alliance Française); the provision of loans and grants as exemplified in the World Bank loan of $120million to support education; and the supply of equipment and teaching materials such as the 1948 case when the British Council and other agencies gave the University of Ibadan its first set of books as well as another witnessed by this writer in 2006 when a foreign body sent a large number of textbooks to Queen’s College, Lagos.

c. A Supporter

Granting of scholarship and fellowship awards to students and staff of schools respectively; enabling of student and staff exchange programmes such as organised by Association Internationale des Étudiantes en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (AIESEC); sponsorship of research activities; and active support for programmes initiated by bodies like the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) fall here. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNESCO aided the FME when it conducted a nationwide achievement test for pupils, using the Monitoring of Learning Achievement measurement instrument, from 1995 to 1997 (Aderinoye, 2002). The MacArthur Foundation is currently working with the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University, and University of Port Harcourt to strengthen them and bolster reforms, in conjunction with the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, which it launched in 2000 with the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. Mellon and Hewitt Foundations joined in 2005.

d. A Teacher

The training of local personnel in workshops, programmes, seminars and conferences is organised by bodies like the European Union and the World Bank. A good example can be cited from the regional conference held annually by UNESCO and the international experts it sends to share know-how in “train-the-trainers” programmes.

e. A Revitaliser

Alani (2000) mentions the sad fact that the emphasis placed on science, technical and vocational education is more on paper than in practise. Lamenting the dearth of science-oriented candidates in educational institutions, he points out that without adequate teachers to teach these subjects at all levels, the realisation of the present goals of education will be “an illusion”. UNESCO has stepped in to save the day with its Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) Revitalisation Project.

f. An Evaluator

They do extensive research in order to evaluate implemented programmes and government’s effort in HCD. UNDP does an annual ranking using human development index (HDI) and in 2002 Nigeria ranked 148th among 173 developing nations. In 2005, Nigeria’s HDI placed it 158th among 177. At the beginning of this millennium, UNICEF described the state of Nigerian children as “far from pleasant”. The evaluator role makes the nation constantly aware of its international standing.

Developing Nigeria’s Human Capital: Aids from International Agencies

International agencies have helped immensely to develop Nigeria’s human capital. Some of the aids given by five of these agencies will be addressed in this discourse.

a. United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

USAID supports human and institutional capacity development programs. From 2000 to 2006, the United States (U.S.) invested $22.7million in higher education partnerships between African and U.S. colleges and universities. In Nigeria, the U.S. government is supporting a collaborative effort (named University Strengthening for Improved Employability Project) between the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Kansas State University to improve business and management education in an effort to provide the talented individuals and leading management practices needed to support Nigeria's continued economic growth. USAID will work with partners, UNILAG students, workers and Nigerian private sector to:

v align key curricula with the skill demanded by the Nigerian private sector;

v foster a sense of obligation in tomorrow's leaders to play an active role in Nigeria's development; and

v provide valuable and challenging internships to talented, high performing students and increase employment, incomes and productivity of UNILAG graduates through strengthened technology skills.

b. United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Created in December 1946 by the United Nations to provide assistance to European children facing famine and disease, UNICEF soon extended its mandate. In October 1953, the first basic agreement was signed with Nigeria and a UNICEF office opened in Lagos. In 1954, the UNICEF Executive Director recommended an apportionment of US$6,600 to Nigeria for the provision of 500 midwifery kits and training of personnel to encourage the expansion of domiciliary delivery. UNICEF still works in partnership with many stakeholders to achieve national and international goals instrumental in the fulfilment of children’s rights. It partners OLPC (One Lap Top Per Child) to implement the OLPNC project in Nigeria.

As reports revealed widespread malnutrition among children, UNICEF started providing skimmed milk to underfed children. Research was carried out to better understand its prevalence, causes and prevention. A Department of Food Science and Nutrition was established in the University of Ibadan in collaboration with the London University, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO). UNICEF also focused on the education of mothers as another strategy to combat malnutrition and contribute to community development.

UNICEF has provided support for textbook production. Activities are related to adult education in the field of home improvement, sewing and embroidery, cooking, child care and income earning skills. At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, Heads of States and Governments adopted the Millennium Declaration and what is now known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) each of which is linked to the well-being of children. The current programme of cooperation between UNICEF and Nigeria is present Abuja and in at least three Local Government Areas in every state.

c. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

UNESCO’s Section for Technical and Vocational Education, in cooperation with NBTE, is currently implementing a project that aims to better equip large numbers of young Nigerians for the world of work. Following the success in the first phase of the UNESCO-Nigeria Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) Revitalisation Project, NBTE and UNESCO, have commenced the second phase of the project. The project was unveiled at a five-day 'Train-the-Trainers Workshop for Core Team of Trainers for Staff Development Centres’, held at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in Lagos (in August, 2008), with the aim to, among others, support the training and development of TVE managers, review and update the TVE curricula for new disciplines and introduce Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education in all aspects of TVE. The project would also complement the efforts of the FME in enhancing Technical Education system to meet 21st century socio-economic needs of Nigeria (Abiri, 2007). Two qualified and widely experienced international consultants, Messrs. Philip Read and Williams Sutclife came from the United Kingdom to deliver the training which will be extended to staff of polytechnics and monotechnics so they can benefit from modern teaching and learning techniques. UNESCO plans to train at least 8,650 lecturers on the new curricula.

UNESCO National Education Support Strategy (UNESS) for Nigeria is developed as a long-term cooperation framework for supporting the implementation of Nigeria’s 10-year Education Sector Plan (2006-2015). To this end, intensive consultations were held in order to identify strategic areas for technical cooperation and requisite capacity building needed to achieve the education sector development and EFA goals in Nigeria. UNESCO has identified the following areas for cooperation in this period:

v Building learning communities;

v Developing competencies for quality human resources for youth and adults;

v Strengthening institutional capacity for ownership and sustainability; and

v Advocacy, development coordination and resource mobilization.

d. International Labour Organisation (ILO)

In 2003, the ILO initiated a technical cooperation against human trafficking in Nigeria in response to growing regional and international concerns about its prevalence in West Africa, rooted in deep poverty and the pervasive desire of poor people to migrate in search for better opportunities within or outside the region. ILO estimates show that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been trafficked into exploitative and/or abusive employment. The ILO Action Programme against Forced Labour and Trafficking in West Africa (PATWA), implemented in Nigeria from October 2003 to June 2006, made a substantial contribution to the passage of Human Trafficking Act. ILO research provides new insights on the gender dimensions of trafficking and forced labour exploitation affecting men, women and children. A proposed project will build on the outcomes of PATWA particularly on working relationships with community leaders. Community-led activities are important prevention tools in any action against human trafficking. No sustainable progress can be made without these.

e. The World Bank

Investing in people is at the centre of the Bank's work and one of its fastest growing areas of activities. Lending for human capital development has increased by more than fivefold since the early 1980s. Loans totalling $35billion have been extended to more than 100 countries for education, health, population, and nutrition programs since the first was approved in 1962. The World Bank is now the world's single largest provider of external financing for human capital development. Its activities have entailed analysis and synthesis of best practices on decentralization of the financing and implementation of Bank-supported rural development activities. The International Development Agency (IDA) is the Bank’s interest-free lending arm for the poorest countries. The Nigeria portfolio currently supports twenty-six IDA projects and total commitments of about US$3.4 billion. The Bank is the largest development partner in Nigeria and the country’s portfolio is the second largest in terms of projects in the Bank’s Africa Region.

The Bank has strengthened the policy dialogue, analytical and advisory assistance, as well as increased financial support to Nigeria. The strategy focuses on helping the government to achieve results in human development, non-oil growth and better governance. It has already approved projects Community Social Development (US$200 million) and Fadama III (US$250 million) for the fiscal year 2009. The chief executive of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Abubakar Lawal, hinted on a plan to establish a human development centre and another by the Kano State government to set up a tomato processing company with the aid of the Bank to enhance export activities, create job opportunities and increase income generation.

Conclusion

In 2003, the World Bank report classified Nigerian graduates as unemployable and the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities did not list any of its universities among the first 4,000. Mrs. Vivian Abii, Executive Director, Zinox Technologies expressed the opinion that this background provoked the launching of the University Strengthening for Improved Employability Project (referred to earlier in this paper). For UNILAG, honour came coasting home in March, 2008, when it took delivery of major projects that would enhance teaching and prepare students for future employment challenges. USAID, British American Tobacco (BAT), Microsoft Nigeria, Ocean Energy, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Zinox Technologies came together in partnership with UNILAG in the interest of curricular development, capacity building and empowerment of the students for employable positions after graduation donating 362 personal computers for the faculty of Business Administration, and another 362 for the computer science department at the cost of about N34 million. They provided computer labs, modern lecture theatres, technical support and hands-on experience. Kansas State University representative, Danesi Jafar, sums it up aptly: "This represents a new era and a major milestone in the history of the University of Lagos. An event of this magnitude does not just happen without the vision and dedication of key individuals and organisations”.

References

Abdulhamid, Y. (2008). Nigeria: “Nigeria Received N696 billion Foreign Aid in 8 Years”. Article in Daily Trust Newspaper, Abuja, Thursday, September the 25th.

Abiri, Falilat (2008). Nigeria: NBTE/UNESCO Partner on Revitalising Technical Education. Article in This Day Newspaper, Lagos, Tuesday, August the 5th.

Aderinoye, R. (2002). Literacy Assessment Practices (LAP) in Selected Developing Countries: Nigeria Case Study. Discussion document prepared for education experts’ meeting in Paris, 7th- 8th March. Retrieved 6:03, 10 th September, 2008, from http://www.literacyonline.org/_pdf

Adeyemo, S. B. and Oni, T. O. (2008). Human Capital Development in Engineering and Technology as a Veritable Approach for Sustainable Development. Retrieved 12:20, 28th September, 2008, from_http://www.nse.org.ng/Abuja_07/Presentations/TechSession%20B/Engr%20ADEYEMO%20&%20ONI%20NSE%20Paper.ppt.

Alani, R. A. (2000). Towards a System of Continuous Teacher Education in Nigeria. In Aloy Ejiogu &R. A. Alani (eds.), Emergent Issues in Nigerian Education, Vol. 3. Lagos: Mukugamu Company.

Alani, R. A. (2008). Concepts in Educational Planning. Lecture notes, EDA 802. Lagos: Department of Educational Administration, University of Lagos.

Alani, R. A. (2008). International Assistance in Education for Developing Countries. Lecture notes, EDA 805. Lagos: Department of Educational Administration, University of Lagos.

Fadeyi, L. (2008). Zinox, USAID empower UNILAG with Computer Centres. Article in National Daily, Lagos, Wednesday, March the 12th.

Human Capital (2008, September 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 15:15,September 15, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital

Igun, Stella E. (2006). Human Capital for Nigerian Libraries in the 21st Century. In Library Philosophy and Practice, 8(2).

Malam, S. M. (2008). Nigeria: World Bank to Build Tomato Processing Company in Kano. Article in Leadership, Abuja, Sunday, March the 16th.

The World Bank Group (2008). Nigeria: Country Brief. Retrieved 9:05, September the 28th, 2008, from http://go.worldbank.org/FIIOT240K0

UNESCO (2000). EFA 2000 Assessment: Report of Nigeria. Retrieved 6:35, September 21st, 2008, from http://portal.unesco.org/education/es/ev.phpURLID=34506&URLDO=DOTOPIC&URLSECTION =-465.html

What Educational Planning Is

2008-07-06T08:32:00.002-07:00

Introduction
Education is a systematic process by which an individual is provided with the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and attitudes which develop progressively with a view to:
Ø preparing him to be useful to himself and his society;
Ø aiding him to pursue a career;
Ø heightening his thirst for more learning;
Ø equipping him with the ability to respond positively to different situations; and
Ø helping him develop creativity.

Adeogun (2000) defines education as the process of developing cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of an individual in order to make him or her acquire skills and knowledge that are relevant to him or her and to the society in which he or she lives. Education, according to Ukeje (1986), in Nwaubani (2000), is universally accepted as one of the catalysts for social, economic and technological development, giving citizens opportunities to be equipped for proper adjustment in their environment. By encouraging and sustaining individual as well as societal survival and growth, it motivates development.
Human development, achievable through formal, informal and non-formal education, is vital to national survival. Ejiogu (1986) emphasised the “incontrovertible” fact that education plays a “significantly positive role” in increasing an individual’s and the society’s ability to be productive as much as the unquestionable truth that “education is an inescapable and essential part of the developmental process” was stressed by Oguntoye (2000). Development is the goal of every nation, large or small, on the face of the earth. In 1963, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) stated that development is growth plus change, which involves material, mental, psychological, physical, institutional and organisational innovations. The National Policy on Education (2004) describes education as an instrument "per excellence" for effecting national development. For education to truly function as an instrument "per excellence" for effecting national development (and sustainable national development, at that) it needs to be planned and rationally so.

1 The Concept of Educational Planning
Planning is a process of determining goals and objectives and courses of action to achieve those goals and objectives. It is the process of preparing a set of decisions for future action directed at the achievement of specific goals by optimal means. It is also a conscious decision-making action taken against the future. Carlson (1982), in Ejiogu (1990), opined that planning is the dreaming, practical thinking, scheming and scheduling of the actions and achievements that would be performed in order to achieve the objectives for which the enterprise was set up. Planning is a sine qua non in education.
Curle (1969), in Adeogun (2000), opined that educational planning is the planning of the educational system, its curriculum and instruction, its expansion improvement, the balance of its different parts, its auxiliary services, among them, research and textbook production. Citing Adesina (1981), in Bello (2006), educational planning is the process of applying scientific or rational procedure to the process of educational growth and development so as to ensure the efficiency and the effectiveness of the educational system. Educational planning, according to Coombs (1974), in Bello (2006), is the application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs and goals of its students and society.
It is said that educational planning in many African countries is a response to social and manpower needs. This paper discourses this statement, in two parts, with particular reference to Nigeria.

2 Educational Planning in Nigeria
The country christened Nigeria (by Mary Flora Shaw in 1897, during the era of British colonial rule) is a West African sovereignty lying between latitudes 4° and 14° North and longitudes 3° and 15° East with a land mass measuring about 923,768 square kilometres and a population of 144.7 million (The World Bank, 2006). Nigeria has the largest population of any country in Africa and the greatest diversity of cultures, ways of life, cities and terrain. She is the 14th largest country in Africa with her coastline, on the Gulf of Guinea, stretching 774 kilometres (480 miles). Nigeria shares her international border of 4,470 kilometres (2513 miles) with four neighbours: Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger. Around 48 per cent of the population lives in urban areas. The population growth rate in 2007 was 2.38 per cent; life expectancy at birth was 47 years for men, 48 years for women. The adult literacy rate is below 60 per cent and about 76 per cent of children of primary school age attend school. In December 1991, the federal capital moved from the coastal city of Lagos to Abuja in the centrally located Federal Capital Territory. Her supreme educational document, the National Policy on Education (2004) emphasises how vital education is to national development. It states that Nigeria recognises the need for functional education. Nigeria has the goal of building:
· a free and democratic society;
· a just and egalitarian society;
· a united, strong and self-reliant nation;
· a great and dynamic economy; and
· a land full of bright opportunities for all citizens.
The Nigerian government accords education some form of planning and as an indicator of her effort, she ranked a pitiful 158th among 177 countries compared in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) rating in human development (Human Development Report for 2007/8). Nigeria’s state is a perfect picture of what obtains in developing countries which abound in the African continent.
The countries of Africa are characterised by low per capita income, social and cultural pluralism, multilingualism, poor nutrition and health, agrarian or agro-based societies, rising rate of unemployment, rapidly increasing population, and shortage of necessary human resources. Having listed what obtains in African countries (for better understanding of the issue being discussed), the writer goes on with the discourse on educational planning as a response to social and to manpower needs.

3 Educational Planning as a Response to Needs
The most comprehensive definition of educational planning is that given by Coombs (1974), quoted earlier, which states that it is the application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs and goals of its students and society. This is very apt. Thus, educational planning, if it would fulfil its purpose, must respond to needs.

3.1 Educational Planning: A Response to Social Needs
The developmental challenges facing many developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa are both daunting and multi-dimensional. While it is true that action is required on many fronts, cutting across all these challenges and central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), is the monumental task of achieving Education for All (EFA). Educational planning as a response to social needs will be examined under three headings.

3.1.1 The Universal Primary Education (UPE) Scheme
A number of African nations have made giant strides in expanding their educational systems. Some of them have expanded their systems especially at the primary level in response to the 1961 Addis Ababa Conference that set for the continent the target of achieving free and compulsory universal primary education by the year 1980. The Murtala-Obasanjo military regime introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme at the macro level in 1976, in Lagos. Its purpose was to eradicate illiteracy at the soonest possible time. Poor planning and inaccurate projections however led to the demise of the program not too long after its launching.

3.1.2 The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme
Universal Basic Education (UBE) emerged as a consequence to the Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (1990) and was reaffirmed by the Dakar Declaration (2000). There had been a global concern that educational policies in many parts of the world ignored early childhood care and pre-school education and restricted the goals of primary education. In principle, the UBE programme should broadly enable the achievement of what is defined as the EFA (education for all) framework. Uko-Aviomoh et al (2007) describe Universal Basic Education as the transmission of fundamental knowledge to all facets of the Nigerian society from generation to generation. According to the implementation guidelines released by the Federal Ministry of Education in February 2000, the programme aims at achieving five objectives which include:
1. Providing free, compulsory, universal basic education for every Nigerian child of school age group;
2. Reducing, drastically, drop out rate from the formal school system through improved relevance and efficiency; and
3. Ensuring the acquisition of the appropriate levels of literacy, manipulative and life skills (as well as the ethical, moral and civic values) needed for laying the foundation for life long learning.
The Legislature gave a legal framework for the operation of basic education in Nigeria through its passing of the Universal Basic Education Bill in May 2003. It legislates on the right of every child to have access to and the completion of free basic education of good quality (Abani, 2003). The UBE is a perfect example of educational planning in Nigeria (as an African country) being a response to social needs. The UBE is intended to be nationwide, free and compulsory, implying that appropriate types of opportunities will be provided for the basic education of every Nigerian child of school age.

3.1.3 The Ten-Year Education Sector Plan
The Federal Ministry of Education has developed a National Action Plan for EFA in collaboration with the states. The Education Sector Analysis has been carried out to feed sound analytical basis of educational reform and for the development of the EFA and sector-wide plans. These plans set forth a number of ambitious policy goals for 2015 and necessary implementation strategies. Within the framework of EFA action planning, a policy and strategy simulation model was designed along the following premises:
# early childhood care and education (ECCE) would be expanded , especially for 70 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) for those aged 5 and with due attention given to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
# free and compulsory Universal Basic Education (primary and junior secondary education) will be achieved by 2015, with particular emphasis on girls and disadvantaged children and through the introduction of school feeding programmes at primary and junior secondary education levels;
# adult literacy rate will improve by 50 percent by 2015, while ensuring gender equity and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;
# appropriate learning and life skills programmes will be provided through the expansion of non formal education and post-basic technical and vocational education and training (TVET) opportunities;
# gender disparities will be reduced at all levels of education including higher education by 2015, and gender equality achieved for primary, junior and senior secondary education by 2015; and
# all aspects of the quality of education will be improved, particularly through a free provision of textbooks at primary and junior secondary education, the amelioration of pre- and in-service teacher training, the mitigation of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and the improvement of learning conditions and environment including catering to the needs of learners requiring special attention.

In response to the emerging needs and priorities of Nigeria’s education system in conformity with the mandate of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UNESCO National Education Support Strategy (UNESS) for Nigeria is developed as a long-term cooperation framework for supporting the implementation of Nigeria’s 10-year Education Sector Plan (2006-2015).

3.2 Educational Planning: A Response to Manpower Needs
Manpower means both the quantity of people and their skill content acquired through education, training and experience. To achieve development, manpower is highly needed. Skilled manpower, at that. This is why in educational planning and manpower needs receive premium consideration just as social ones. Educational planning in Nigeria as a response to manpower needs will be considered under three headings.

3.2.1 The Ashby Commission
“To conduct an investigation into Nigeria’s needs in the field of post-School certificate and higher education over the next twenty years”, a commission was set up in April, 1959, under Sir Eric Ashby, Master of Clare College, Cambridge University and ex-President/Vice-chancellor of Queen’s University, Belfast, a man famous for his experience and interest in higher education. It was a nine-man commission made up of leading intellectuals from Nigeria, Britain and the United States of America. Employing the services of five experts, the commission sought, as well, to prevent developmental imbalance and to emphasise the need for a united educational system. In September, 1960, its comprehensive report titled “Investment in Education” was submitted. The report aimed at:
# Upgrading Nigerians who were already in employment but had need for further education; and
# Designing a system of post-secondary education which would, as a first objective, produce before 1970 the flow of high-level manpower, which Nigeria would need (Taiwo, 1980).
The commission’s recommendations led to the establishment of national universities, the National Universities Commission, the National Manpower Board and trade centres, some of which metamorphosed into polytechnics. The expansion of education, the diversification of the curricula (introduction of technical and agricultural education), the commencement of correspondence and distance education and the provision of teacher education and in-service which resulted responded to manpower needs.

3.2.2 The National Development Plans
The First National Development Plan (1962-1968) was borne out of the need to combat the shortage of manpower existing at the time and the need to fill the inevitable vacancies created when the foreigners left. The Second National Development Plan (1970-1974) was based on the idea of national reconciliation and reconstruction. It strove to expand middle-level education and increase university enrolment in science, engineering and technology courses. The Third National Development Plan (1975-1980) has the accelerated development of universities and polytechnics credited to it. Reduction in the level of unemployment, increased income and productivity and the development of technology were among the objectives of the Fourth National Development Plan (1981-1985). The Fifth National Development Plan (1986-1990) aimed at creating a more self-reliant economy and to this end the federal government increased university funding and established universities of technology and of agriculture.

3.2.3 The Provision of Higher Education
Higher education refers to learning opportunities given to an individual at a university, polytechnic, monotechnic, college of education and other institutions of higher learning after he or she has successfully completed six years of secondary education. The Nigerian University system sprang out of the need for the development of high-level manpower to take the challenge of nation building after independence. It is the hope of the people that the universities shall produce the right type of manpower in sufficient quantity and quality (Fadipe, 2000, in Abdulkareem, 2002) for the transformation of the nation from a developing country to a developed country. The curricula or programmes in these universities have witnessed marked transformation' over the years in response to the needs of the Nigeria society and changes in disciplinary knowledge (Okebukola, 1998, in Abdulkareem, 2002). The number of universities has increased phenomenally over the years in Nigeria in order to take care of the human resource capacity needs of the nation. There has been appreciable improvement in the development of human resources in Science and Technology disciplines, especially in the federal universities. This is probably in anticipation of the much-needed development in the country. Planning for development of higher education was and still is based on response to the economy’s manpower needs.

4 Conclusion
Madumere (1997) felt that the essence of planning education among other things was to produce the right manpower needed for the labour force. No doubt, the establishment of universities in Nigeria and expansion of educational programmes at different levels are based on social and political pressures as well economic consideration for manpower needs. Many students seek admission into the universities to read courses for which they are not suitable; while many graduates roam about the street without jobs. Bello (2006) rightly advised that for a country in her age of development, Nigeria should plan her education as a response to both social and manpower needs.

References
1 Abani, C. (2003). Progress towards achieving EFA in Nigeria. A Contribution to the 2003/4 EFA Monitoring Report. Retrieved April the 13th, 2008.
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/files/25755/10734708701Progress_towards_achieving_EFA_in_Nigeria.doc/Progress%2Btowards%2Bachieving%2BEFA%2Bin%2BNigeria.doc

2. Abdulkareem, A. Y. (2002). Nigerian Universities and the Development of Human Resources. A research report.

3. Adeogun, A. A. (2000). Politics of Educational Planning and Development in Nigeria. In Aloy Ejiogu and R. A. Alani (eds.), Emergent Issues in Nigerian Education. Vol. 3. Lagos: Mukugamu (Nig.) Company.

4. Bello, S. A. (2006). Fundamentals of Educational Planning and Model Building in Education. Lagos: Vitaman Educational Books.

5. Ejiogu, A. M. (1990). Educational Management: A Systems Approach. Lagos: Lantern Books.

6. Ejiogu, A. M. (1986). Landmarks in Educational Development in Nigeria. Lagos: Joja Educational Research and Publisher Limited.

7. Federal Ministry of Education (2000). Implementation Guidelines for Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Education.

8. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004). National Policy on Education. Lagos: Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) Press.

9. Madumere, S. C. (1997). Educational Planning and Manpower Development. Lagos: Samuel Publishing Press.

10. Nwaubani, O. O. (2000). Women’s Education and National Development in Nigeria. In Aloy Ejiogu and R. A. Alani (eds.), Emergent Issues in Nigerian Education. Vol. 3. Lagos: Mukugamu (Nig.) Company.

11. Oguntoye, A. O. O. (2000). Funding Higher Education in Nigeria: Crucial Issues. In Aloy Ejiogu and R. A. Alani (eds.), Emergent Issues in Nigerian Education. Vol. 3. Lagos: Mukugamu (Nig.) Company.

12. Taiwo, C.O. (1980). The Nigerian Education System: Past, Present and Future. London: Nelson Publishers.

13. Uko-Aviomoh, E. E., Okoh, E. and Omatseye, B. O. J. (2007). Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Nigeria: An Appraisal. In Education. (Summer Edition.) Retrieved 13th April, 2008.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_200707/ai_n19511878

Who A Writer Is

2008-04-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy! There have been, still are and will always be writers who truly merit to be called that the world over. Authors like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, James Patterson, Janet Dailey, Dale Carnegie and Stormie Omartian never fail to capture me completely. They are educating, entertaining as well as thought-provoking writers. I also read poetry (when I can) and Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare. Why do I love stuff which many people term “boring”? One answer only. Imagery! Nothing surpasses imagery. And Shakespeare is definitely the master of that. The power to hold your reader, to create live pictures in the mind of your reader and to make your reader a part of your write-up is second to none. Fiction is beautiful, isn’t it? It gives you the opportunity to escape from reality into a much-desired world where nothing can hurt you. But sooner or later one wakes up. To what? To reality! Shocking reality. Sad, isn’t this? This highlights the need for reality writers. In Nigeria, there IS a lot of reality and there are a good number of people writing and writing and writing about it. Are people reading about it? Really, truly and positively reading about it? I still read a lot of fiction. (That is when I can find time out of my huge workload from school!) I love to disappear into the make-believe. However, I’m beginning to read reality. For I see the need to do so. The need to see reality is a prerequisite to doing something about it. There are many good, really good Nigerian reality writers. I met someone in the latter half of last year at the University of Lagos. He struck me as a very interesting gentleman with a lot of something upstairs. He’s been described, by those who know how, as an activist, an educator, a diarist and freelance writer/journalist whose interests span the arts, culture, education, development politics and social issues. His name is ‘Bayo Olupohunda and he’s got interesting things to say about reality in Nigeria. (See some of his articles below.) I have read his articles and I must say that he truly is a writer.

Culture Shock In Germany
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 03/14/2008
Living outside one’s country certainly comes with its pains of personal struggles and ups and downs. It can alter one’s lifestyle in so many ways...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2479/1/Culture-Shock-In-Germany/Page1.html

The Guardian: A Day in the Life of the Flagship
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 10/18/2007
‘Oga, good afternoon, what is happening, why is everybody sad?’ I queried. He looked at me and I could at once see that he thought I was dumb for not. ‘Na because Guardian never come’ he answered disinterestedly…
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2151/1/The-Guardian-A-Day-in-the-Life-of-the-Flagship/Page1.html Attachments

Nigeria’s Sun Newspaper And Gutter Journalism
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 10/16/2007
Nigeria journalism is fast becoming a cash and carry venture with cash and carry reporters, paid columnists and Ghana-Must-Go editors...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2149/1/Nigerias-Sun-Newspaper-And-Gutter-Journalism/Page1.html

An Open Letter To The Attorney General, Micheal Aondokaa (SAN)
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 10/13/2007
...You seem to have neglected, since your assumption as the Chief Law Officer, the place of public opinion and the mood of Nigerians as regards corruption...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2138/1/An-Open-Letter-To-The-Attorney-General-Micheal-Aondokaa-SAN/Page1.html

Curbing Unethical Practices In Private Hospitals
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 10/3/2007
The neglect of the government owned health institutions became a blessing in disguise for the smart Alecs who took the opportunity to exploit the people while providing substandard services...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2117/1/-Curbing-Unethical-Practices-In-Private-Hospitals/Page1.html Attachments

Nigeria at 47: Education Sector at a Crossroad
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 10/2/2007
What is the goal of our education system? What values and national goal do we hope to achieve? What values do we also hope to inculcate in our youths through our educational system?
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2112/1/Nigeria-at-47-Education-Sector-at-a-Crossroad/Page1.html

Promoting Internet Fraud through Music!
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 09/30/2007
Ordinarily, one should not be concerned when a musician is exhibiting his God given talent for humanity, more so when he can earn a living from his creative talent. However, questions must be asked when such talent is used negatively to corrupt the audience...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2108/1/Promoting-Internet-Fraud-through-Music/Page1.html Attachments

Sexual Violence and Nigerian Women: Breaking the Silence
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 09/20/2007
Even though we are not in a state of war, Nigerian women, girls and babies are daily subjected to one form of bestiality or the other by deranged and psychopathic men who do not have a place in a civilized world...
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2092/1/Sexual-Violence-and-Nigerian-Women-Breaking-the-Silence/Page1.html

Making Lagos Roads Safe For Pedestrians
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 09/20/2007
The nature of Lagos roads is increasingly making it unsafe for pedestrians. You will be foolhardy to think that the pedestrian walks available, if there are any, are meant for you!
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2090/1/Making-Lagos-Roads-Safe-For-Pedestrians/Page1.html Attachments

Is Nigeria Safe From Terrorist Attack?
By Bayo Olupohunda
Published 09/18/2007
Given the strategic importance of Nigeria as the fifth largest supplier of oil to the US and the sixth largest producer of the product in the world, how immune to terror attacks are we?
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2087/1/Is-Nigeria-Safe-From-Terrorist-Attack/Page1.html

What ICT is

2008-04-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Information and Communications Technology (also referred to by writers as Information and Communication Technology) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the communication of information. It encompasses:
Ø any medium to record information (whether paper, pen, magnetic disk or tape, optical disks – CD or DVD, flash memory, etc.);
Ø any technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and
Ø any technology for communicating through voice and sound or images- microphone, camera, loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones.

Personal Computers (PCs) networked through the Internet through information technology can transfer information using satellite systems or intercontinental cables. Information technology has become a kind of a focal point for communicating information, most often using computers (The Wikipedia Foundation, 2008).

ICT is a major factor in shaping the new global economy and producing rapid changes in society. Within the past decade, the new ICT tools have fundamentally changed the way people communicate and do business. They have produced significant transformations in industry, agriculture, medicine, business, engineering and other fields. They also have the potential to transform the nature of education-where and how learning takes place and the roles of students and teachers in the learning process.

The pace of change brought about by new technologies has had a significant effect on the way people live, work, and play worldwide. New and emerging technologies challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning, and the way education is managed. This shift also demands new knowledge and skills in the work force. ICT has changed the nature of work and the types of skills needed in most fields and professions. While it has, on the one hand, created a wide array of new jobs, many of which did not even exist ten years ago, it has also replaced the need for many types of unskilled or low-skilled workers. For example, the new 'smart’ agricultural equipment, using advance digital and industrial technology, is able to do the work previously done with a large number of low-skilled agricultural workers. In addition, new manufacturing plants are requiring fewer low-skilled workers. A Canadian study notes, for example, that in high-tech companies only 10% of the work force is comprised of unskilled workers. These trends pose new challenges to educational systems to prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a new and dynamic environment of continuous technological change and accelerating growth in knowledge production.

Education is at the confluence of powerful and rapidly shifting educational, technological and political forces that will shape the structure of educational systems across the globe for the remainder of this century. Many countries are engaged in a number of efforts to effect changes in the teaching/learning process to prepare students for an information technology based society. The UNESCO World Education Report (1998) notes that the new technologies challenge traditional conceptions of both teaching and learning and, by reconfiguring how teachers and learners gain access to knowledge, have the potential to transform teaching and learning processes. ICTs provide an array of powerful tools that may help in transforming the present isolated, teacher-centred and text-bound classrooms into rich, student-focused, interactive knowledge environments. To meet these challenges, schools must embrace the new technologies and appropriate the new ICT tools for learning. They must also move toward the goal of transforming the traditional paradigm of learning. To accomplish this goal requires both a change in the traditional view of the learning process and an understanding of how the new digital technologies can create new learning environments in which students are engaged learners, able to take greater responsibility for their own learning and constructing their own knowledge.

Thomas Kuhn suggests that revolutions in science come about when the old theories and methods will not solve new problems. He calls these changes in theory and methods a "paradigm shift." There is widespread concern that the educational experiences provided in many schools will not prepare students well for the future. Many educators and business and government leaders believe that creating a paradigm shift in views of the learning process, coupled with applications of the new information technologies may play an important role in bringing educational systems into alignment with the knowledge-based, information-rich society. Information technology, while an important area of study in its own right, is having a major impact across all curriculum areas. Easy worldwide communication provides instant access to a vast array of data, challenging assimilation and assessment skills. Rapid communication, plus increased access to information technology in the home, at work, and in educational establishments, is the order of the day.

What Radio Is

2008-04-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

(here's another term paper by yours truly.)

Radio is generally referred to as the system of broadcasting sound. It is a system of communication which uses electromagnetic waves propagated through space. In wireless telegraphy, television, telephone transmission, radar, navigation systems, space communication and radio broadcasting, radio waves are used.

Radio had no single inventor. It grew out of numerous international efforts. In 1866, Mahlon Loomis, an American dentist, successfully demonstrated "wireless telegraphy." Loomis was able to make a meter connected to one kite cause another one to move, marking the first known instance of wireless aerial communication. From 1875, many scientists, drawing on the theory of James Clerk Maxwell (a British physicist who published his theory of electromagnetic waves in 1873), began to explore the possibility of using electromagnetic waves to communicate between two fixed points, that is, to transmit messages over distances without wires. German physicist, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (whose name has been given to frequency/cycle per second- hertz or Hz) was the first to generate waves electrically by creating an oscillating electric discharge which radiated some of its energy as electromagnetic waves but these could not travel great distances. Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian electrical engineer, proved the feasibility of radio communication. He sent and received his first radio signal in Italy in 1895. By 1899, he flashed the first wireless signal across the English Channel and two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. This was the first successful transatlantic radiotelegraph message. In 1894, Marconi had developed a receiver or “coherer” and an improved spark oscillator connected to a crude antenna which succeeded in transmitting radio waves over significant distances. He transmitted signals for a distance beyond 1.6km in 1896, established commercial communication between England and France in 1899 and sent a message across the Atlantic in 1901. Radio, thus, came to the attention of governmental agencies and business interests. (In addition to Marconi, two of his contemporaries, Nikola Tesla and Nathan Stufflefield, took out patents for wireless radio transmitters. Nikola Tesla is now credited with being the first person to patent radio technology; the Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent in 1943 in favour of Tesla.) However, this was still wireless telegraphy (or the transmission of signals) rather than wireless telephony (or the transmission of sound itself).

By 1903, a Marconi station located in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, carried an exchange or greetings between President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII. In 1905, the naval battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese war was reported by wireless and in 1906 the U.S. Weather Bureau experimented with radiotelegraphy to speed notice of weather conditions. On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden, an American, succeeded in transmitting both speech and music over several hundreds of miles from the Massachusetts coast. Others followed in the United States, Britain and Europe as years rolled by. The creation of the “vacuum tube oscillator” helped the steady transition from telegraphy to telephony by providing a continuous signal. The development of the radio valve proved to be vital in the transition from wireless to broadcasting. In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming, a British electrical engineer, experimented with the first diode (or a thermionic two-electrode valve) and in 1907, Lee de Forest created a triode by inserting a third electrode into the valve to amplify weak signals and transmit radio-telephone messages farther than thought possible. In 1912, the first transpacific radiotelegraph service linked San Francisco with Hawaii.

Before World War 1, radio was little appreciated as it was regarded as a private means of point-to-point communication and not as a public means of mass communication though anyone with a receiver could receive the broadcast signals. Coastal, marine, army and intelligence officers were the first significant users of radio. During World War 1, radio enforced communication and governments commandeered all wireless stations. The war stimulated technical research, boosted large-scale production of the thermionic valve and got many soldiers, sailors and airmen acquainted with radio. After 1918, when these men returned home with primitive receivers of their own, they helped to popularise radio. At this time people began to regard radio as a means of mass communication.

In 1920/21, the first true and licensed radio station named KDKA (now known as CBS), established by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, began regular broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The station aired entertainment oriented programmes along with recorded music played by a phonograph placed before the microphone. This station was not a commercial station and the primary purpose for its establishment was to boost sales of radios manufactured by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Other manufacturers soon followed Westinghouse’s lead and as a result, the next two years saw the establishment of hundreds of stations in the United States and Europe. In Britain, the “chaos of the ether” caused leading radio manufacturers to set up the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) which broadcast its first programmes in November 1922. In America, radio manufacturing grew faster than car manufacturing for a short time and listeners on both sides of the Atlantic grew by the millions. A good number of armature radio stations sprang up during the 1920s. Radio became an exalted household utility. The perception that the medium of radio (being a tool of propaganda) had the power to influence public opinion, fashioned the development of international broadcasting. State Universities such as University of Iowa, Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin operated radio stations which broadcast educational radio programs to rural areas. Radio receivers’ qualities of being cheap and portable in addition to FM broadcasting were the factors which helped to ensure the survival of radio during the 1930s when the rival medium of television had its biggest impact. The radio, though still in existence, ceased to be the major mass medium of the twentieth century. Between 1949 and 1958, the BBC’s average evening radio audience fell from about nine million to about three and half million listeners. All radio stations saw their earnings halved. (Radio seemed to receive a boost in 1952 when Sony Corporation invented the pocket-size transistor radio.) It faced decline until it found new roles for itself and new ways of reaching people. BBC’s first director-general, John Reith, developed an approach often described as paternalistic, which offered listeners “something a little better” than they thought they wanted and a varied output was seen as a way of introducing listeners to a subject they had not previously sought. Radio, Reith believed, had the power, and therefore the responsibility in a democratic society, to lead opinion and tastes rather than merely reflecting them. Even in the United States, some early figures in radio, such as David Sarnoff, argued that broadcasting represented a “job of entertaining, informing, and educating the nation, and should therefore be distinctly regarded as a public service”. In 1940, the BBC introduced a Forces Programme to entertain the troops of the British Expeditionary Force with dance music, sport, and variety. Its tone was overwhelmingly light and it soon attracted a larger share of listeners than the more traditional Home Service. Modern telecommunications technology now even allows for large-scale opinion-polling during live broadcasts.

Electromagnetic waves in a uniform atmosphere travel in straight lines and as the Earth’s surface is approximately spherical, long distance radio communication is made possible by the reflection of radio waves from the Earth’s ionosphere which allows radio programmes to be received nationally and internationally. However, this produced interference between rival signals. What people actually listened to was, and still is, crucially dependent, not just on what programme-makers construct but on the allocation of wavelengths and the distribution of transmitters. The discovery that electromagnetic waves could carry radio signals over the horizon had raised the prospect of broadcasting on an international scale but governments and broadcasting organizations rapidly realized the inherent problems of the growth in the medium; if radio stations operated on the same, or very similar wavelengths, listeners would suffer severe interference in reception. In 1925, an international agreement over the allocation of wavelengths was reached in Europe through the so-called Geneva Plan of the Union Internationale de Radiophonie and in the United States, Congress passed the Radio Act in 1927 to create the Federal Radio Commission. Regulation of the world’s electromagnetic spectrum has since been enacted largely by national governments through the International Telecommunication Union based in Geneva; however, from these earlier dates onward, transmission technology has been concerned primarily with the range and frequency of the signal being broadcast.

An American named Edwin Armstrong invented the “FM” or “frequency modulation” which is very different from “AM” or “amplitude modulation”. Both terms apply to techniques for imposing a meaningful pattern of variations on an otherwise unvaried stream of energy during transmission, but they have also come to be applied to whole categories of broadcast radio. Throughout the first half of the century, most standard radio broadcasting was achieved using the AM technique and today, some music and a great deal of speech radio, which does not necessarily demand high-quality reception, is still found on the AM dial. FM reaches only to the horizon, so a transmitter’s remit is local rather than national in scale. This geographical restriction has the advantage of reducing interference, and coverage is therefore more stable, day or night. The signal itself is inherently static-free, unlike that for AM, and a suitable receiving-set can take advantage of its more generous frequency range and dynamic range to reproduce high-fidelity sound. FM’s quality advantage over AM, exaggerated further with the development of stereo, has proved particularly suitable for the broadcasting of music and explains the rapid growth in the number of FM stations (often associated with rock and pop) in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Both AM and FM radio depend on traditional analogue technology, where the signal consists of a continuously changing pattern corresponding to the continuous flow of sound captured by a microphone. Such signals are inherently vulnerable to all sorts of distortions which restrict their ability to carry information without degradation.

Digital processing, which breaks a signal down into a stream of individual energy pulses assigned a binary code, can resist distortion and convey far more information. Most contemporary large-scale radio broadcasters have begun to develop digital audio broadcasting, which promises a quality of sound equivalent to that of a CD and an increase in the number of radio services available within the existing electromagnetic spectrum. The technology of the radio receiving-set has also changed dramatically since the origins of broadcasting. The first commercially available radio receivers were crystal sets, which required headphones. They soon gave way to valve receivers with loudspeakers, which enabled people to listen in groups. Growing demand led to larger-scale production of valve receivers, and the price of sets dropped throughout the 1930s. Even so, the wireless valve remained a relatively expensive item to replace, consumed much primary power and meant large and cumbersome sets. In 1948, the first manufactured transistor revolutionized reception. It allowed radios to be built that were more reliable, used far less power, and, crucially, were much smaller and cheaper. Transistor radios were mobile in a way that the television sets of the 1950s and 1960s could never be.

The essential components of a modern radio receiver are:

(1) an antenna for receiving the electromagnetic waves and converting them into electrical oscillations;

(2) amplifiers for increasing the intensity of these oscillations;

(3) detection equipment for demodulating;

(4) a speaker for converting the impulses into sound waves audible to the human ear; and

(5) in most radio receivers, oscillators to generate radio-frequency waves that can be mixed with the incoming waves.

The sensitivity of some modern radio receivers is so great that if the antenna signal can produce an alternating current involving the motion of only a few hundred electrons, this signal can be detected and amplified to produce an intelligible sound from the speaker. Most radio receivers can operate quite well with an input from the antenna of a few millionths of a volt. The dominant consideration in receiver design, however, is that very weak desired signals cannot be made useful by amplifying indiscriminately both the desired signal and undesired radio noise. Most modern radio receivers are of the super heterodyne type in which an oscillator generates a radio-frequency wave that is mixed with the incoming wave, thereby producing a radio-frequency wave of lower frequency; the latter is called intermediate frequency. To tune the receiver to different frequencies, the frequency of the oscillations is changed but the intermediate frequency always remains the same (at 455 kHz for most AM receivers and at 10.7 MHz for most FM receivers). The oscillator is tuned by altering the capacity of the capacitor in its tank circuit; the antenna circuit is similarly tuned by a capacitor in its circuit.

Communication theorists suggest that, if people tend to interpret the world largely through their ability to see it, then being deprived of visual clues will compel them to supply such clues for themselves. Thus, when listening to a radio play, one needs to imagine not only a character’s thoughts but also that person’s appearance and surroundings. Radio dramatists argue that this offers greater intellectual and emotional reward to a listener (as opposed to a viewer) and allows the writer to create stories and characters that are truly experimental or fantastical which is something the medium of television would have to struggle to recreate visually for the viewer. Since each individual listener will create a different mental image, radio is also often described as an “intimate” medium: the ability to create a unique picture of a person speaking on the radio allows the listener to form a close relationship with that speaker as imagined, rather than as someone pre-realized on the listener’s behalf. Listeners feel that they are being talked to personally rather than being talked at as part of a large undifferentiated mass, and they respond by forming close attachments to individual presenters. The advantages of radio include its provision of information, entertainment, a sense of intimacy, intellectual enhancement, motivation while working and many chances for phone-ins as well as its allowing for large-scale opinion-polling during live broadcasts.

References

1. Bellis, Mary (2006). The Invention of Radio. http://www.inventors.about.com/c/a.htm
.
2. Milestones in the Development of Radio and Television, (2000). [Online]. http://www.kidcyber.com.au

3. Lewis, Tom (2006). “A Godlike Presence”: The Impact of Radio on the 1920s and 1930s. San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers.

4. White, T. H. (2003). United States Early Radio History. http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/index.html

5. Microsoft Corporation (2005). Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia.

6. Farely, T. and Schmidt, K. (2006). Telecommunications History: Early Radio Notes.

http://www.privateline.com/mt_telecomhistory/d_early_radio_notes

7. XCV Corporation Incorporated (2006). Electronics Museum – Review of 20th Century Progress in Electronic Devices (1900 – 1999). http://www.xcvcorp.com/index.html

8. Aitken, Hugh G. J. (1976). "Syntony and Spark--The Origins of Radio". Liverpool: John-Wiley and Sons.

What A Review Is

2008-04-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

A review is any of the following:

1. survey of past: a report or survey of past actions, performance, or events a review of the stock market for the past five years

2. arts journalistic article giving opinion: a journalistic article giving an assessment of a book, play, film, concert, or other public performance The book got unexpectedly bad reviews.

3. publishing publication featuring reviews: a magazine or journal that publishes reviews the Literary Review

4. re-examination of something: another look at or consideration of something

5. US education covering of learned material again: a brief discussion of subject matter already learned, in preparation for a test

6. military military inspection: a formal military inspection

7. military formal military ceremony: a formal military ceremony staged to honour a person or an occasion

8. law judicial re-examination: a critical examination by a higher court of a decision taken by a lower court
Origin of the word "review"

15th century. From obsolete French reveue ‘inspection’, from revoir ‘to inspect’, from Latin revidere , literally ‘to see again’, from videre (see vision).

Reference

Here's a review I wrote for a term paper in 2006.

A Review of Nuptiality Dynamics and Fertility Patterns in Contemporary Yoruba Society: An Overview by John Lekan Oyefara in Journal of Society, Development and Public Health, Vol. 1, No.2, 2005.

The writer, John Lekan Oyefara, who holds a doctoral degree in Sociology, began defining family demography, quoting Daugherty and Kammeyer (1995). He identified nuptiality dynamics as a significant variable in the study of family demography. Adopting Tilly’s (1978) definition of nuptiality, he opined that understanding its dynamics would aid policy makers in Nigeria because nuptiality affects fertility.

According to him, this study’s theoretical anchor is “structural functionalism”. This views society as a complete system. Applying this theory unearths other variables of fertility level. He assumed that the existing form of marriage would significantly affect fertility level in the study location (Ila-Orangun, in particular and Yoruba society, in general).

He conducted his study in 1998, employing over 300 female respondents whose profile showed adequate heterogeneity for making generalisation. He used secondary data from 1990 to 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys, referring to well prepared documents for empirically verified data in addition to analysis of his study.

He wrote that in traditional sub-saharan Africa, marriage is early, universal and interwoven with the system. Quoting Caldwell et al (1991), he maintained that the Yoruba traditional sexual system has been destabilized. Westernization and modernization are responsible, he wrote, citing Orubuloye (1981). Surveys show that in Nigeria marriage is no longer universal. His use of tables, division into sections and choice of words are commendable, showing style and logical organization.

He revealed that among Yorubas, age at first intercourse differs from age at first marriage. Monogamy and polygyny exist in Nigeria and the latter flourishes. Highly interesting and informative is the “polygyny-fertility hypothesis that women in monogamous unions have higher average fertility rate than those in polygynous unions. Pebley and Mbuguo (1989), Palmer (1991) and Isiugo-Abanihe et al (1991) agree while Olusanya (1971) and Feyisetan and Togunde (1989) dissent. He averred that marital stability, more certain after a decade, affects fertility.

He noted Timaeus and Graham’s (1989) discovery that late marriage affects fertility less than expected. Fertility rate of average Yoruba women is declining, national reports claim.

He, however, did not give the meaning of VVF nor the state in which to find
Ila-Orangun. He did not state why he chose the town as a representative sample.
He cited Haralambos and Heald (1980) but omitted this citation in the reference section. These are minor and do not reduce the intellectual skill shown.

His excellent closing suggestion is that government should channel adequate resources towards educating the Nigerian child and the proper implementation of population policies.

What Bureaucracy Is

2008-04-12T09:57:00.001-07:00

Introduction
The classical theory developed in three streams- bureaucracy, administrative theory and scientific management. These were founded on almost similar assumptions and the practical effects of all three are essentially the same. They were developed during almost the same period (1900-1950) by separate groups of theorists working almost completely independent of each other. All three streams of thought are compatible, complementary, have common views about the nature of man and his organisations and emphasise the specialisation and organisational structure based on historical and functional criteria, with the basic unit of analysis varying. However, bureaucracy, as presented by Max Weber, is the focus of this paper.

Bureaucracy
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber, known simply as Max Weber, was a German political economist and sociologist. Born in Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, the eldest of seven children of Max Weber Sr. and Helene Fallenstein, he lived from 1864 to 1920 and was one of the founders of the modern study of public administration. At age thirteen, Max's Christmas presents to his parents were two historical essays entitled "About the course of German history, with special reference to the positions of the emperor and the pope" and "About the Roman Imperial period from Constantine to the migration of nations". Along with Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim, Weber is regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology, although in his day he was viewed primarily as a historian and an economist. Weber's early work was related to industrial sociology, but he is most famous for his later work on the sociology of religion and sociology of government. He began his studies of rationalisation in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he shows how the aims of certain ascetic Protestant denominations, particularly Calvinism, shifted towards the rational means of economic gain as a way of expressing that they had been blessed. The rational roots of this doctrine, he argued, soon grew incompatible with and larger than the religious, and so the latter were eventually discarded. Weber continued his investigation into this matter in later works, notably in his studies on the classifications of authority and on bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy is defined in the Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary (2004) as an administrative system, especially in a government, that divides work into specific categories carried out by special departments of non-elected officials. Bureaucracy is the structure, and set of regulations put in place to control activity, usually in large organizations and government. It is characterized by standardized procedure, formal division of responsibility, hierarchy and impersonal relationships.
According to Weber, the elements of bureaucracy distinguish an ideal formal organisation from other types.
Before discussing the factors which make bureaucracy not so ideal, its advantages are examined briefly.

Merits of Bureaucracy
1. Universality
Elements of bureaucracy are found almost universally in modern organisations, particularly if they are large and complex. These elements are hierarchy, rules, regulations, procedures, professionalism and training.

2. Specialisation
Bureaucracy provides an ordered hierarchy with special emphasis on specialisation. Each manager is assigned a specialised task to perform.

3. Form or Structure
Bureaucracy frames duties, responsibilities and reporting relationships in a command hierarchy. Hence the organisation is provided with a form or structure which sets the pace and necessitates framework for organisational processes.

4. Professionalism
In a bureaucratic organisation, the selection of office holders is based on qualification and experience rather than other considerations or personal whims of managers. The employment of experts and professionals provides efficient management and enables the organisation to successfully cope with the competitive environment and achieve goals.

5. Career and Security
Bureaucracy provides for career development opportunities and security of employment.

6. Rationality and Objectivity
In bureaucratic organisations, decisions are made in the light of prescribed rules and regulations. Thus rationality in decisions is ensured by consistency in dealing with organisational problems which in turn results in objectivity. This means that there is neither bias nor favouritism.

7. Predictability
The presence of rules, regulations, structure, procedure, filing system and so on enables predictability about future events and members’ behaviour in the organisation and thereby certainty and stability are ensured.

8. Democracy
Bureaucracy makes, in some ways, an organisation more democratic, reducing patronage and other privileged treatment, and also by emphasising more on qualification and technical competence of office holders.

9. Better Coordination and Control
Bureaucracy provides a highly efficient system of coordination and control. The atmosphere of depersonalisation created by the hierarchy of authority and the system of rules and procedures, promotes better coordination and control of actions of individuals in the organisation.

The above qualities or functional aspects of bureaucracy are related to a normative model of bureaucracy, mainly that as described by Max Weber. However, in actual practice, bureaucracies often fall short of these ideal advantages.

Demerits or Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy
Alvin W. Gouldner (1955), in Pugh et al (1971), and Varshney (2003) are not convinced that bureaucratic authority is inevitably the most efficient. Bureaucracy produces a number of unintended consequences and these are discussed below.

1. A Utopia
Utopia means an imaginary state considered to be perfect or ideal. Max Weber himself opines: “In its conceptual purity, d mental construct (i.e. bureaucracy) can’t be found anywhere in reality. It is a Utopia”. Hence, managers are supposed to make an effort to conform to a certain ‘ideal’ rather than actual patterns of conduct.

2. Rigidity and Inflexibility
Bureaucracy tends to be non-adaptive and impersonal. Rules, regulations and procedures become an end in themselves. Hence, it fosters rigidity and inflexibility, and fails to account adequate for human considerations. There are subordinates and super-ordinates in a pyramidal system. It is like a machine organisation, and this is what gives a depressing view of modern economic life given the spirit of our humanity. Whilst it is good to get away from arbitrary personal whims of leaders, the placing of everyone into regimented offices reduces the human touch. “People are cogs in a machine.”

3. Lack of Individual Initiative
Strict adherence to rules and regulations produce timidity, conservatism (that is, opposition to change and innovation), and “technism” (that is, attention to petty formal points). Thus, individual initiative to do new things or to adopt new ways is killed or injured. Passivity is encouraged. Enthusiasm is lost.

4. Mechanical Way
Bureaucracy emphasises a mechanical way of doing things by ignoring human relations at work. Lack of human considerations or preference for impersonality encourages “status quo” feeling among members of organisations.

5. Compartmentalisation of Jobs
Specialisation and division of labour result in categorisation which in turn promotes the notion of water-tight compartmentalisation of jobs. This restricts people from performing those tasks which they are capable of performing.

6. Goal Displacement
Goal displacement is the distortion of real organisational goals, which occurs when managers and other employees divert their efforts and resources away from the organisation’s predetermined goals. Under bureaucracy, managers make the adherence to the rules and procedures their major object, neglecting the overall goals of the organisation. Rules become ends in themselves.

7. Empire Building
Under bureaucracy, the officials think that the office they hold grants them a privilege and therefore they are involved in empire building that is increasing the number of people employed under one’s control, so that they could relate power and prestige with number of subordinates.

8. No Riddance or Removal
Max Weber observed that once bureaucracy gets fully established, it becomes hard to destroy or get rid of, even if it has outlived its utility. Officials become slave of it, no matter how bad the prevalent conditions demand a change.

9. Red Tape and Paperwork
Bureaucracy promotes red tape, that is, detailed unnecessary official rules which delay action. Very many documents and papers relating to the decisions taken have to be maintained as “record.” Work speed is considerably slowed down due to abundance of paperwork and excessively systemised movement of files. This way work also suffers.

10. Contradiction Stemming from Authority
Another problem with Weberian bureaucracy is the built-in contradiction between the authority of experts and the authority of hierarchy and discipline. One comes from superior knowledge and another from the office held. Professionals may have more technical knowledge than hierarchical super-ordinates. Furthermore these professionals, called cosmopolitans, may be committed to their skills, and how they produce the general job title, but not as such to the organisation itself. The hierarchical people, called locals, show loyalty to the organisation. Loyalty to the organisation therefore comes at a price of speciality and efficiency, or efficiency comes at a price of maximising loyalty to the organisation.

11. Opposition
Research findings have shown that enforcing bureaucracy leads to opposition. One example occurred in a gypsum mine in the United States. After a lenient enforcement of bureaucratic authority, a new mine manager enforced the rules of the system effectively in an aim for better efficiency. The outcome, however, was a big fall in morale, increased labour-management conflict and a wildcat strike.

12. Lack of Individual Liberty
Bureaucracy is known to be an enemy of individual liberty.

Conclusion
Max Weber's rational-legal authority is an ideal type of the hierarchical organisation that exists where the office holders are there not because of their personalities or their family or status line but because they are matched to that office in terms of their ability to carry out its tasks. The aim is maximum performance through the speciality and the chain of command. This system of organising, co-ordination and control is calculated. This system thrives on rules.
Rules do intend to provide an impersonal method of authority and suggest basic equality (as rules replace orders) by production at a distance. But if rules come from too great a distance they become mock and are ignored. There is a cycle of ever increasing enforcement of new rules as super-ordinates and subordinates juggle for position. In any case hierarchical authority can involve a power struggle where rules even go backwards from subordinates against the management, as with union agreements on working practices. The status involved in such bureaucracy is a zero sum game, where a gain by one level is a loss by another. On top of this, bureaucracies do contain informal groups that may generate their own rules regarding obligations and these in effect overrule the bureaucracy's.
The intention of bureaucracy is to produce an efficient organisation working in conformity to rationally designed impersonal rules and procedures. It might work but it is just as likely to produce low levels of subordinate commitment and conflict directed at actual managers. Impersonal rules are not all bad; it is just that there are unintended as well as intended consequences and the former make Weber's bureaucracy not the efficient machine he presents. Thus more human, expert based and ultimately more rewarding (for everyone) forms of business organisation have been sought.

References
1. Pugh, D. S., Hickson, D. J., Hinings, C. R. (eds.) (1971). Writers on Organizations. Second Edition. London: Penguin Books. Retrieved 7th February, 2008. http://www.change.freeuk.com/learning/business/ratlegal.html
2. Varshney, G. K. (2003).Organisation And Management. New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Ltd. Retrieved 7th February, 2008.
http://books.google.com/books?isbn=8121922488

3. Wikipedia Encyclopaedia (2008). Max Weber. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved 7th February, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber

4. Encarta ® World English Dictionary (2004). Microsoft Corporation.

Who A Man Is

2008-02-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

A dictionary is "a reference book that contains words listed in alphabetical order and gives explanations of their meanings, often with additional information about grammar, pronunciation, and etymology". What a book! What wonderful writers!! One of the programs of the Microsoft Works Task Launcher is a dictionary. In my opinion, it's the most extensive dictionary the world over. I am yet to find a word that's not in it. This dictionary defines the noun, man, as:

1. adult male human: an adult male human being;

2. person: a person, regardless of sex or age (often considered offensive);
3. particular type of man: an adult male human being with a particular occupation, responsibility, background, or nationality (usually used in combination);
4. human race: the human race in general (often considered offensive);
5. ZOOLOGY modern or earlier human being: a member of the group that comprises modern humans and their ancestors. Genus: Homo (sometimes considered offensive);
6. employee or worker: an employee or worker of either sex (often considered offensive);
7. MILITARY male member of armed forces: a male member of the armed forces, especially one who is not an officer (usually used in the plural);
8. servant: a man who is a servant (dated);
9. virile person: the personification of qualities traditionally associated with the male sex, including courage, strength, and aggression, or somebody with such qualities;
10. husband or man companion: a husband, or a man who is a woman’s companion or lover (slang);
11. term of address: a term of address to a person of either sex (slang) (sometimes considered offensive);
12. or man or ManUS authority figure: somebody in a position of authority, or a group that is seen as having an unfair advantage or undue power over others (slang) (sometimes considered offensive);
13. GAME piece used in board games: a piece used in playing board games such as draughts;
14. HISTORY medieval vassal: in feudal societies of the early Middle Ages, an adult male human who swore allegiance to a lord in return for help and protection; and
15. NAUTICAL ship: a ship, especially one of a particular kind (used in combination) man-of-war.

At school early this week, on Tuesday to be precise, the 4th Annual Lecture (organised by the University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies) held. The title was Preparing the Next Generation Leaders: The Roleof the Ivory Tower. The guest lecturer was Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, OFR, Chairman, Virgin Nigeria Limited (as well as of some important corporations in Nigeria). Born in 1937, he hails from Owan in Edo State. He schooled in Owerri and later Ibadan and from the latter's prestigious university he received an honorary doctorate degree. From the early sixties till his retirement last year, he held managerial positions in different national and international organisations. A fellow of the Institute of Directors, among others, Mr. Ohiwerei is a God-fearing, happily-married father of four. Everything he said (or read from the paper he prepared) that day was inspiring but two things made the greatest impression on me. And I'm going to share them.

The first was the true fact that leadership can not be successful unless it's founded on the Almighty God, the one and only source of true, complete and lasting success.

The second was a card he'd seen in a shop in Singapore. Or rather, the words in the card. Here are its golden words:

The World Needs Men

who cannot be bought
whose word is their bond
who put character before wealth
who possess opinion and a will
who are larger than their vocations
who do not hesitate to take chances
who will not lose their individuality in a crowd
who will be as honest in small things as in great things
who will make no compromise with wrong
who will not say they do it because everybody else does it
who are true to their friends in adversity as well as in prosperity
who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning and hard-headedness are the best qualities for winning success
who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for truth when it is unpopular
who can say NO with emphasis although the rest of the world says YES
whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires

May God make us men, in Jesus' matchless name.

Amen.

Who A Friend Is

2008-02-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to do this for ages. Can hardly believe I really have. I have gained a whole lot from the world of knowledge made available on the Internet by really wonderful people. First thing I'd like to share is who I believe a friend is. David, my very dear coursemate, whom I fondly call "My Gentleman", sent me a message years ago. I love to write poems and as I sought to write a poem for my best male friend to tell him what his friendship meant to me, the idea that I could take David's words and work on them a little (and I mean just a little) hit me. Here's what I came up with:

A friend gives hope when life is low.

A friend’s a place where you can go.

A friend can really make you glow.

A friend makes two.

A friend is true.

A friend is you.