Discrimination Against People With HIV and AIDS in the Workplace

The main thrust of the chapter was to explore the discrimination experienced by people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) in the workplace in Lagos State. A purposive sample of 80 PLHIV was selected from two local government areas (LGAs) of Lagos state: Epe, a rural setting, and Lagos Mainland, an urban one. Secondary data were obtained from internet sources while primary data were collected through structured interviews September 2005–April 2006. Data were analyzed using SPSS versions 11 and 13. Data between and within the rural and urban areas were also analyzed comparatively. The results indicate that PLHIV experienced instant dismissal from offices, mandatory HIV tests, alienation, denial of promotion, and exclusion from insurance schemes. This indicates that PLHIV's rights were violated. The study recommends intensive HIV education and enforcement of national HIV policy and international legal instruments in the workplace to protect PLHIV's rights.

Brand Association and Sales Growth: A Study of Nigeria the Flour Milling Industry

Branding has developed in the minds of customers a strong and positive perception of a company's products or services. However, most of these businesses struggle to use branding strategy to differentiate themselves from competition and grow sales. The goal of this study is to assess the impact of brand association tactics on the sales growth of flour milling enterprises. The major technique of data collection was administered questionnaire to the sales and marketing employees of the selected flour milling enterprises in Lagos State. The findings indicated that brand connections have a positive and considerable impact on sales growth. The study recommends that brand managers should also ensure that customers' interactions with the brand remain consistent in order to generate sales growth.

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

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

Assessment of Public-Private Partnership in Technical Colleges in Nigeria: A Case of Lagos State

This study examined the state of Public-Private Partnerships in technical colleges in Nigeria, using Lagos state as a case study. Four research questions guided the study. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study adopted a mixed method research design. The population of the study comprised of all the 350 academic staff in the five government technical colleges in Lagos state. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 50 teachers. Questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer research questions one, two and three while descriptive narratives were used to analyse interview responses. Cronbach alpha technique was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire and a coefficient of 0.69 was obtained.The finding indicated that public-private partnerships existed partially as a strategy for funding technical colleges in Lagos for skills acquisition. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that colleges may set up a partnership committee to liaise with industries; government should do away with making of obnoxious policies that discourage private organisations; and National Board on Technical Education may make business grant cum start-up loan available for the graduates of technical colleges. Keywords: public-private partnership, skills acquisition, technical college, TVET, funding

Usefulness of Internal Business Process (IBP) Perspective in Performance Appraisal using Balanced Scorecard of Objective (BSCO) As An Alternative To Staff Performance Appraisal and Development (SPADEV) Reporting System in the Civil Service of Lagos State, Nigeria

Appraising employee performance from the perspective of Internal Business Process (IBP) perspective is a dimension of performance appraisal exercise that is not only misunderstood but neglected or given little or no attention. Evaluating performance based on IBP benchmarks and established milestones using the Staff Performance Appraisal and Development (SPADEV) reporting system in the Civil Service of Lagos State, Nigeria is counter-productive. Lack of unambiguous rules and unwritten codes of conduct in basic organizational operating environments give rise to vague performance appraisal mechanisms, processes and outcomes. These reasons contributed to the inadequacies of the Annual Performance Evaluation and Reporting (APER) system previously used in the Civil Service of Lagos State, Nigeria and also constitutes a threat to the effectiveness of the Staff Performance Appraisal and Development (SPADEV) Reporting System. This comparative study examined the Effect of Internal Business Process (IBP) perspective on Performance Appraisal using The Balanced Scorecard of Objective (BSCO) Method or The Staff Performance Appraisal and Development (SPADEV) Reporting Method in the Civil Service of Lagos State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for this study with Key Informant Interviews (KII). The population comprised fourteen Ministries, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), and the Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation (OTCI) with total staff strength of 7,555 in the Lagos State Civil Service. Utilizing Taro Yamane’s sampling technique, a sample size of 380 participants was arrived at, with a thirty percent (30%) addition (to enhance the confidence level and response rate). A self-developed structured questionnaire was used to collect information about variables that formed the basis for assessing the appraisal instruments, BSCO and SPADEV; from the perspective of the level of appropriateness (App). The questionnaire was validated, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.830. A total of 494 copies of the questionnaire documents were distributed, with a response rate of about 75%. In addition, two Commissioners and a Director General were interviewed, using interview-guide. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analyses (p=0.05) while data from the interview were content- analyzed. Findings revealed that there was significant difference (p<0.003) between BSCO (IBP: = 7.20) and SPADEV (IBP: = 2.84) for criterion variables assessing the appraisal instruments. Furthermore, analysis of KII revealed BSCO appraisal method to be superior to SPADEV method of appraisal. The study concluded that evaluating employee performance from the Internal Business Process perspective (IBP) using the BSCO is more viable than SPADEV with consistently significant difference for all variables used in assessing the appraisal instruments. It is therefore clear from the study that there is a significantly positive effect of the Internal Business Process (IBP) perspective in BSCO as an alternative to SPADEV. It therefore recommended that the IBPP should be used in BSCO as an alternative performance appraisal instrument in the Lagos State Civil Service.

Roles of Managers and Stakeholders Perception on Solar Technology Adoption Intention: A Case of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Lagos State, Nigeria

Powers shortages is rampant in Africa of which Nigeria is not an exception and solar technology as a viable alternative source of electricity which would mitigate this problem has meted slow adoption. This study aimed to explore the impact of mindset/attitude from Theory of planned behavior (TPB), Disruptive Innovation Theory (DIA), awareness-knowledge, opportunity and barrier over managers (owners) of MSMEs intention to adopt solar technology for their businesses. A questionnaire was administrated to collect data from a sample of 400 managers (owners) of MSMEs respondents&rsquo; in Lagos State, Nigeria. A multivariate technique was applied to test the hypotheses using Structural Equation Modeling (AMOS-23). The findings showed that mindset/attitude, (DIA) and opportunity have a significant impact on solar technology intention, however, awareness-knowledge and barrier were not significant. These independent variables explained 71% variance of the dependent variable intention. In addition, DIA was found to have a significant impact on opportunity, barrier and mindset/attitude however, barrier on mindset/attitude was not significant. These findings not only provide evidence for MSMEs strategic planning to ensure sustainable business growth for their businesses but also provide new knowledge to policy and decision makers, the manufacturing &amp; installation (suppliers) companies and other stakeholders for renewable energy as a part of long term sustainable development.