Financial Management, Motivation and the Teaching Effectiveness of Physical Education Lecturers in Colleges of Education in South-South Nigeria

This study was conducted to determine the extent to which financial management and staff motivation associate with the teaching effectiveness of Physical Education lecturers in colleges of education in south-south Nigeria. Two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A 10 item questionnaire was structured to obtain data for the study. Ex-post Facto research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 69 physical education lecturers was used for the study, based on the census technique. Pearson Product Moment Correlation and independent t-test statistical techniques were used in testing the two hypotheses (where applicable). Findings show that financial management and staff motivation significantly affect Physical Education lecturers’ teaching effectiveness respectively. It was recommended among others that the Nigeria Government and college administrators should provide appropriate motivation and adequate fund for Physical Education Programmes.

Knowledge management in improving business process: an interpretative framework for successful implementation of AI–CRM–KM system in organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for AI-integrated CRM system for better knowledge management (KM) in organizations to improve business process.Design/methodology/approachThe factors critical for adoption of AI-integrated CRM system for efficient knowledge management are innumerable. The salient factors may be identified by several means. Methods like brainstorming and Delphi have been applied here. Sixteen CSFs have been identified. Then the interrelationship among these 16 factors, levels of their importance and the principal driving factors have been established by interpretative structural modelling (ISM) methodology.FindingsThe results show that out of 16 CSFs, leadership support, adequate fund and support of functional area leads are the most important CSFs for AI–CRM–KM integration.Practical implicationsThe results show that support of top management is essential for successful adoption of AI-integrated CRM system for better knowledge management to improve the business process.Originality/valueThis paper has taken a novel attempt to identify CSFs for AI-integrated CRM adoption for efficient knowledge management system in organizations for improvement of business process and to establish interrelationship among those CSFs with the help of ISM methodology.

Perception of Stakeholders on Factors Responsible for Sports Facilities Defects in Selected Universities in South Western Nigeria

The study assessed the perceptions of stakeholders on factors causing sports facilities defects in selected universities established between 1957 and 1962 in South-West Nigeria by examining the strength of the identified factors responsible for sports facilities’ defects in the selected universities. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which was administered on sports men and women and maintenance personnel. The study incorporated all the fifteen sports featured at the Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) competitions. Three federal universities were purposively selected because these have facilities for all the fifteen sports and have hosted national and international sporting events. Data obtained were analysed using frequency distribution, percentages, mean response analysis and factor analysis. Using the mean response analysis, the result showed that the most severe factors responsible for sports facilities’ defects were design deficiencies (3.67), intensity of use (3.53), level of exposure to climatic condition (3.41), inadequate maintenance funding (3.19), vandalism (3.18), moisture (3.17) and inadequate cash flow analysis (3.16). The study recommends that users of the facilities should be carried along at the designs stage to minimize design errors and also adequate fund should be provided to maintenance unit to guarantee adequate maintenance of sports facilities for optimal performance.

Scriptwriters’ perception of use of soap opera in agricultural information dissemination in South-western Nigeria

The study assessed scriptwriters’ perception of use of soap opera for agricultural information dissemination in South-western Nigeria. A total of 30 scriptwriters were interviewed using questionnaire Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and linear regression at p=0.05. Findings reveal that lack of adequate fund (243.4) and lack of sponsors (226.6) were perceived constraints by scriptwriters to developing scripts for promoting agriculture using soap opera. The majority (93.3%) had favourable perception of the use of soap opera for promoting agriculture. There was a significant relationship between perceived constraints (r =0.12; p≤0.05) and scriptwriters’ perception of use of soaps for promoting agriculture, while age (β = 3.18, t = 12.05, p = ≤0.05) and being an actor (β = 1.96, t = 7.61, p = ≤0.05) were the main determinants of scriptwriters’ perception of use of soap opera in dissemination of agricultural information. Scriptwriters’ favourable perception is a green light for production of agricultural based soap in Nigeria if sponsorship is guaranteed. It is recommended that an adequate source of fund or sponsorship should be sourced for use of soap opera for agricultural information dissemination.Keywords: Scriptwriters, agricultural information, soap opera

Two Decades of Universal Basic Education Programme in Nigeria.1999-2019: UBE Implementation, Achievement, Challenges and Suggested solutions

In September 1999, the UBE was officially launched and passed into law in 2004 as an implementation tool of the government initiative to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in achieving the EFA. Researchers has agreed that the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Nigeria was also recognized as the predecessor of the present UBE Scheme, which has been directed towards the possibility of increasing the number of attendance or enrollment in schools, as well as the provision of an excellent opportunity to correct the current imbalance. The major objective and aim of the UBE programme is the provision of free, universal and compulsory basic education for every Nigerian child aged 6—15 years. However, for the Universal Basic Education programme to be truly free and universal, efforts must be made to check those factors that are known to have hindered the success of such programmes in the past. This paper thereore will consider the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Nigeria -.its achievement, challenges and make some suggestion. The paper hereby made some recommendations that the government should provide adequate fund for the UBE programme.

Indian Banking Sector a Major Contributor to Economy: Constancy Major Concern

Due to an intermediary role of banks in the economy, they hold a unique locus across all sectors with prudent lending policies, environmental impact analysis, and efficient credit approval systems. The banks play a vital role in the lending process which is dispatched along with the credit risk, that is, when the borrower fails to repay the money borrowed and fails to satisfy the obligations, then the asset is said to be bad or Nonperforming. A poor financial performance in an economy creates a distress in the economic stability leading to an economic crisis. The banking stability has a direct impact on the real output and employability which revolves around the financial stability of an economy. With the global initiatives undertaken, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) developed Banking Stability Map and published the Financial Stability Report in 2010. It is measured using five dimensions of Stability Map, which are, Soundness(s), Asset Quality (Q), Profitability (P), Liquidity (L) and Efficiency (E).With the upsurge in the deteriorating asset quality and the financial health of banking institutions, lack of adequate fund and pressure of capital regulation makes the balance of stability in the Indian banking sector a challenge. The main objective of the study is to conduct a comprehensive review of all the possible dimensions of financial stability in the country across the Public Sector, Private Sector and Foreign Banks through Statistical tools from a time period of 13 years from 2005-2018. The statistical data and figures will be beneficial for the upcoming researchers and policymakers, as it displays an overview of the banking stability across the three main tiers of the banking world.

Role of Technology in Enhancing Teaching and Learning in Cambodian Higher Institutions: Implication for Stakeholders

<p>This paper examined the role of technology in enhancing teaching and learning in Cambodian higher institutions and its implication for stakeholders. Evaluation of ICT models, emerging technologies and the learning theories related to technology were systematically reviewed. An overview of teaching and learning before the digital age with a particular reference to history of education and technology in Cambodia was examined while historical theories of educational technology such as constructivism, complexity theory, the pedagogy of nearness, heutagogy, and connectivism were highlighted. Furthermore, emerging technology integration models such as SAMR, TPACK, UDL models were examined including the multiple roles of the learner, educator and the audience in a connected age.Several strategies in which technological tools that can be used to enhance students’ learning were provided. Part of the Implication of the study includes adequate provision of power supply, computer laboratories and internet connectivity in Cambodian higher institutions should be paramount to government, private firms, philanthropists and NGOs so that students can appreciate technology and learn fast. Aside that, adequate fund should be given to the institutions to procure other necessary technology gadgets that can be used to promote learning.</p><p> </p><strong>Keywords: </strong>ICT Models, Teaching and Learning, Higher Institutions, Stakeholders, Cambodia

WHAT IT TAKES TO SET UP TRAVEL HEALTH SERVICES: A REVIEW FROM COUNTRIES WITH ESTABLISHED SERVICE

As air travelling now becomes cheaper and available to almost all people of any walk of life, travelling across international borders is fast becoming a lifestyle of many. Having travel health service as part of health care services is important to address the issues of travel related illnesses among travellers. However, lacks of published guidelines pertaining to travel health service rendering many countries to overlook its importance. The aim of this paper is to review published literatures and authoritative websites on the components needed to develop guideline to establish travel health services. A systematic literature search was done using pre-specified keywords for literatures published between years 2000 – 2016. Literatures written in English and fully accessible were all included. No exclusion criteria was set before the search. Online authoritative websites pertaining to travel health were also referred. A total of six literatures ranging from expert opinion, review paper and original study, together with three authoritative websites related to travel health were reviewed. Among the important components needed to be considered for developing the guideline for establishing travel health services are to prioritise pre-travel health service, to set up specialised travel health clinic, to produce travel health/medicine specialist, to emphasize on continuous education and training of the practitioners and to apply multiagency and multidisciplinary approach with adequate fund for research in travel health. As a conclusion, policy makers should prioritise and select the most important components in developing guideline for travel health service.

Adequate Funding: A Need for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education

Vocational Education is capital intensive. This is because it is not like any of the liberal academic discipline that has to do with theories rather Vocational Education has to do with skill acquisition and competencies on its beneficiaries. For this to be possible there must be adequate fund to provide facilities, equipment, materials and all the needed prerequisite. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in institutions running Vocational Eeducation. To solve this problem, the writer identified the funding needs of vocational education and went further to discuss the constraints for adequate funding of vocational education. The paper was concluded with suggestions for alternative strategies for adequate funding of Vocational Education to ensure quality assurance. Some of the suggestions among others are that Vocational Education practitioners should convince government to increase allocation or subventions to Vocational Education Institution. Internally generated revenue project should be established via school livestock, crop farms, product manufacturing, bottled water, block moulding, arts works, cloth making, etc. Also staff and students of Home Economics Education should be marketed as caterers and event managers to generate revenue internally to promote Vocational Education. PTA should be involved in the funding of Vocational Education programme.

Farmers’ perception about variety development and Abiotic stresses on potato cultivation in Bangladesh

The socio-economic information on variety development and abiotic stresses of potato cultivation at farm level are scarce in Bangladesh. Therefore, an attempt was made to assess farmers’ perceptions about variety development and different abiotic stresses on potato cultivation. Primary data were collected from 240 potato farmers of Bogra and Chittagong district. The study revealed that Granula, Cardinal, and Lalpakri were the most preferred potato varieties in Bogra, while Diamant and Dohazari were the dominant varieties in Chittagong. Most farmers (70.87%) believe that the current potato yield (21.5-22.67 t/ha) can be further increased through introducing new HYVs. Drought and heat were two important limiting factors towards achieving the higher levels of potato yield. High yielding ability was considered as the most desirable varietal character and this was opined by almost 92.1% respondents, followed by drought resistant (61.13%), proper late blight control (58.75%), availability of adequate fund (57.77%), heat tolerant (53.60%), early maturity (61.5%), and good demand (44.5%) for HYV potatoes, whereas good test (81.7%), higher price (69.6%) and good storability (65.2%) were reported for local varieties. Low yield, susceptible to diseases, late maturity and low demand were the reasons for abandoning some potato varieties in the past. Dohazari variety for Chittagong and Lalpakri for Bogra have higher levels of tolerance against abiotic stresses. Finally, early maturity followed by drought tolerance, heat tolerance, and salinity tolerance were important attributes farmers wanted in new potato varieties. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v38i3.16926 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 38(3): 401-416, September 2013