Month: December 2021

Dec 31

ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS AND PARENTS TOWARDS CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL IN LAGOS STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

Background to the study

 

 

Persons all over the world people think of a society where peace and progress prevails. But the factors that influence peace is an exogenous factor of nature rather than native. Hence issues of moral decadence resulting in armed rubbery, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking and drugs among others is of concern to every well meaning person especially in developing countries like Nigeria were security issues top government concern.

 

In Nigeria, many people propose various hypotheses toward finding solution to the use of moral decadence. Many are concern with sudden up-shot of crime and are concern with the etiology of these very important societal issues. One of the causes often though of, was the take over of schools from missionaries by government. According to persons of this school of thought was that moral instruction died with government take over of schools and the moral decadence that is being experienced is the product of school take over. Another school of thought saw moral decadence in the society as a product of the ban of corporal punishment in schools. Many parents of the octogerian believe that “Spare the cane and spoil the child” holds for ever.

 

Corporal punishment is an action either at home or in the school to rebunke the child of wrong doing, as a means of molding the child towards better adulthood. According to Prve and Alister (2010), corporal punishment is defined as the use of physical force towards a child for the purpose of control and/or corrections and as a disciplinary penalty inflicted on the body with the intension of causing some degree of pains or discomfort, however mild. United Nations Committee on the rights of child, (2006) stated that although most forms of corporal punishment involve hitting children with the hand or implement (such as a belt or wooden spoon),other forms of corporal punishment include: Kicking, shaking, biting and forcing a child to stay in uncomfortable positions. The desired out-come of physical punishment is child compliance with adult directives (Gawlik, Henning and Warner 2002; Smith, Gollop, Taylor & Marshall 2004).

 

Corporal punishment is a contentious issue, attracting debate within the Teachers/Parents Associations. Consequently corporal punishment has attracted legislative debate, requesting it being out law in schools, in most parts of Europe, Canada, Korea, South Africa, New Zealand and several other countries but remains common practice in a middle East. (School Corporal Punishment 2014). In the United State of America, the House of Representative has attempted to push up a bill between 1991 and 2011 to assist corporal punishment without success.

 

In Nigeria some parents continue to say that corporal punishment is not good enough for the growth and intellectual development of the child. Others are of the opinion that the use of corporal punishment moulds the child. However many cases between Teachers/Board of Education and Parents, has been reported. Napodia (2007) reported several of these court cases between school authority/Teacher versus parents, (p129-131).

 

The controversy surrounding corporal punishment include: What amount to corporal punishment; who should administer corporal punishment, what is the present status of corporal punishment in our schools among others. This study was prompted to assess the status of corporal punishment in schools as a results of parents being reported to have attacked Teachers in schools resulting from the inflicting of corporal punishment on their wards.

 

Nigerian schools like others in other parts of the world are governed by laws either peculiar to the school system or both applicable to the school system and those that are constitutional or statutory in the country, province, state or division. Teachers have the mandate to institute punishment directed at building a responsible child for the society. There are different types of punishment in Nigeria, Primary and PRIMARY SCHOOLs. According to Napodia (2007), they include;

Fine, verbal and/or written warning, grass cutting, detention in class after normal school hours, crawling on one’s knees, kneeling and looking at the sun, picking the pin with one leg……………………… Suspension, dismissal or expulsion and in-school suspension.

 

Napodia (2007) stated that corporal punishment usually falls within the scope of the teacher’s authority, while suspension and expulsion are usually with the discretionary powers of the school board. In Nigeria, a teacher is usually at the gate of the school with cane waiting for late-comers. It is usually to flog between 2-6 stroke of the cane for late coming as disciplinary measures. However, there is limit to which teachers or school officials administer punishment in order to avoid liability and penalty of damage, fine or imprisonment. Napodia (2007) citing Remmlein and Ware (1970) stated that;

  • The punishment be not unreasonable
  • Not excessive in view of the age, sex and strength
  • Not excessive in view of offence
  • Not administered

 

Statement Of Problem

Corporal punishment is geared towards maintaining discipline in PRIMARY SCHOOLs and it also curls juvenile’s delinquency in the society. However, problems arise when corporal punishment is administered on PRIMARY SCHOOL pupils. The use of corporal punishment however has generated much argument among educationist, sociologist philosophers as well as the psychologist No one argument aver this because of its controversial nature. This study will look into parents and primary school pupils.

Objectives of the study

The main objective of the study is on Attitude Of Teachers And Parents Towards Corporal Punishment In Primary School In Lagos State

 

  • To examine how parents/teachers perceived the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state
  • To understand how parents differ from teachers on the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state
  • To analyze the extend parents and teachers perceive corporal punishment as a legal instrument in primary school in Lagos state
  • To understand how parents differ from teacher on who should administer corporal punishment in primary schools in Lagos state
  • To understand how urban and rural parents and teachers perceive corporal punishment as instrument of child molding in Delta state

Research Questions

To guide the study, five research questions and three hypotheses were generated:

  • To what extent do parents/teachers perceived the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state?
  • To what extent do parents differ from teachers on the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state?
  • To what extent do parents and teachers perceive corporal punishment as a legal instrument in primary school in Lagos state?
  • To what extent are parents differ from teacher on who should administer corporal punishment in primary schools in Lagos state?
  • To what extent do urban and rural parents and teachers perceive corporal punishment as instrument of child molding in Delta state?

Research Hypothesis

  • There is no significant difference between teachers and parents on the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state.
  • There is no significant difference between urban and rural teachers/parents on the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state.
  • There is no significant difference between male and female teacher/parents on the use of corporal punishment as a child molding process in primary schools in Lagos state.

Significance of the study

 

This study was expected to gather information that would assist the stakeholders in education in assessing the impact of alternative methods of disciplining students compared to corporal punishment in matters regarding to discipline of students. It was hoped that this study would help in providing essential guidelines for use by policy makers and educationists in developing policies and strategies for effective implementation of alternative methods of maintaining discipline. It might help in offering guidelines on acceptable disciplinary methods other than corporal punishment in our PRIMARY SCHOOLs.

Basic assumption of the study

 

  1. That the respondents, mainly PRIMARY SCHOOL students, teachers and teacher counselors will provide truthful and honest response to the questions (items) in the study.
  2. That the respondents would be willing to participate and give their views considering the sensitive nature of the subject of the
Dec 31

An Appraisal of family instability and juvenile delinquency among junior secondary school students in Nigeria

This study aims to examine family instability and juvenile delinquency. A total of 101 juvenile offenders, 86 at‐risk students, and 92 low‐risk students were involved in this study. Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of an adolescent being in a group of juvenile offenders or of being an at‐risk or low‐risk student, based on four predictor variables: family structure, family relationships, school relationships, and commitment to learning. The results show that family relations, school relations, and commitment to learning have different predictive effects on the likelihood of different levels of delinquent behavior. However, family structure is not found to be a significant predictor in the logistic regression in this study. The findings of the study suggest that keeping young people in school can serve as a strong protective factor that serves to prevent at‐risk students from moving along the trajectory of serious delinquent behaviors.

Dec 31

Methods Of Teaching History In Junior Secondary Schools

Methods Of Teaching History In Junior Secondary Schools

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

 

Introduction

This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study. It also gives the conceptual framework and definition of key terms.

 

Background

Teaching methods are used to impart knowledge to students they are the means by which the teacher attempts to impart the desired learning or experience (Ndirangu, 2007). The choice of a particular method of teaching by the teacher determined by number of factors which includes the content to be taught, the objectives which the teacher plans to achieve availability of teaching and learning resources and the ability and willingness of the teacher to improvise if convectional teaching aids are not available, evaluation and follow-up activities and Individual learner differences (Ndirangu, 2007).

The methods used in teaching vary from one country to another, depending on the information or skills that is being taught and also be influenced by the aptitude and enthusiasm of the student. Various studies had been conducted concerning teaching methods, for example Asikhia (2010), found that, qualification of teachers and students’ environment factors do not influence students poor performance but teachers’ methods of teaching influence poor academic performance. Furthermore, the methods of teaching are dictated by the medium of instruction for example, where English is used, the method of instruction has to be more interactive than passive (Pillar and Skilling, 2005). It also argued that classroom teachers urgently need to know more about effective strategies for teaching English learners (Thompson, 2004). The commonly used teaching methods especially in developing countries are teacher centered (Guloba, Wokodola, and Bategeka, 2010), which are viewed to be somewhat ineffective in the impartation of knowledge.

 

These methods are no longer used in other counties. Problem-life learning as a teaching method   is becoming increasing popular in education institutions as a tool to address the inadequacies of tradition teaching methods since its approaches do not encourage student to participate in the learning process (Teo and Wong, 2000). However, more recently there is an argument in education industry to adopt a learner- centered paradigm shift (Ndirangu, 2007), while other schools of thought are advocating participatory methods of teaching (Sajjad, 2011).

 

Despite these arrays of teaching methods being advocated in literature there is no one universally accepted method. The question still remains is which of these teaching methods contribute to failure or success of students’ performance especially in developing countries like Nigeria where the causes of poor performance in secondary schools is not well understood.

Statement of Problem

Students’ performance in History among Nigeria secondary schools has been poor, and one of the reason cited is the type of methods of learning-teaching used.  Education in Nigeria especially in community (ward) secondary schools, the majorities of students have failed or have not shown good performance in the examination results in summative evaluation (Laddunuri 2012). Marikinyo (2003), believes that the falling level of academic performance is attributed to teachers non-use of verbal reinforcement strategy. Several studies have been conducted about teaching methods in secondary schools in many parts of the world on students’ performance, for example in USA (Haas 2002), Pakistan (Sajjad 2011), Nigeria (Barneka 2012), (Asikhia 2010), Uganda (Guloba, Wokadala  and Bategeka, 2010) and Kenya (Njoroge et al., 2014). These studies indicated that   the type of teaching methods used by teachers have an impact on students’ performance.

 

Most of the studies conducted in Nigeria concentrated on factors affecting students performance and policy making rather than how teaching methods influence the Students’ performance example (Laddunuri 2012), (Kkairuki, 2009) and (Kat ram, 2007). Another study by Mruma (2013) examined motivation of teachers in Secondary Schools. None of these studies have specifically examined the effect of teaching methods on student performance. This study bridges the gap and it examined Methods of teaching history in Junior secondary schools  Lagos state, Nigeria.

 

Objectives

The general objective of the study is to examine Methods of teaching history in Junior secondary schools

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives guided this study were as follows;

  • To identify teaching methods used in instruction of history in public

Secondary schools in Lagos state.

  • To assess students’ perception of the appropriateness of teaching methods used in teaching in public secondary schools in Lagos state.
  • To determine the extent to which teaching methods impact on students’ performance in public secondary schools in Lagos state

Research Questions

The study answered the following questions

  • What are teaching methods used in science history  in   public secondary school?
  • What are students’ perceptions on the appropriateness of teaching methods use to teach history in public secondary school in Lagos state?
  • To what extent teaching methods impact on students’ performance in public secondary schools in Lagos state?

Significance

The study is worth of academic research on the following grounds:

First, the study was expected to reveal the impact of teaching methods on students’ performance in secondary schools and contributes to the body of knowledge. Second, the study expected to provide a foundation for future researchers on literature for the topic of effects of teaching methods on student performance in science subject in secondary schools. Third, the study findings expected to beneficial to policy makers especially the Ministry of education and vocational training to put forward policies that would greatly encourage fair distribution of resources in public institutions if better results are to be obtained.  Fourth, the findings also expected to benefit teachers of Secondary Schools in Lagos state since it gave the ideas of most suitable teaching methods for use in History. Finally, the findings of this research expected to add the body of knowledge on teaching methods and also basis for future research.

Scope

The study was focused on Methods of teaching history in Junior secondary schools. The targeted population was students taking History for at least one year. Two other categories are history teachers and school inspectors. Since teaching methods are so many in numbers the study was only concentrated on 7 of them which are citation, brainstorming, discussion, demonstration, lecture, presentation and seminar.

Definitions

Teaching methods is defined as a way of carrying actual teaching in the classroom (Ndirangu 2007). Teaching method refers to the variety of ways in which a learning task is managed to facilitate the learning process (Kimweri 2004). Participatory methods are methods which enable learners to be active involve in the learning process either as individual or group (Musuko 2010). Teacher –centered method of teaching is the process of communication where very little or no room for active participation of learners (Kimweri 2004). Performance is the degree to which individuals achieve job or organization’s goals with effectiveness and efficiency. (Utuoh, and Mowo, 2000).

 

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

 

2.1       Introduction

This party presents literature review which is divided into two parts namely theoretical and empirical literature.

 

2.2       Teaching Methods

2.2.1    Definition of Teaching Method

Teaching methods has been defined as in different ways depending on the philosophical situation taken by the researcher as discussed hereunder, Kimweri (2004) teaching method refers to variety ways in which a learning task is managed to facilitate the learning process. This means the way of organizing the participants and the type of methods to be used will be determined by different factors i.e. number of students, age and the topic to be taught.

 

The study taking the definition which is teaching methods is the means or strategies employed by the teachers in attempt to impart knowledge to the learners (Asikhia 2010).  It also defined as the strategy or plan that that outline the approach that teachers intend to take in order to achieve the desirable objectives (Osokoye, 1996) in ibid this involves the way teachers organize and use technique of subject matter, teaching tools and teaching material to meet teaching objectives.

 

2.3       Different Teaching Methods

There are two categories of teaching method namely, teacher-centered method and learner-centered methods of teaching  (MIE 2004) Learner-centered instruction refers to the students’ construct their own understanding of content, develop a personal feeling that the knowledge is their own (Jacobson and Kauchak, 2009).  Therefore student centeredness implies the heavy emphasis on enquiry and problem-based learning involves on making student as the centre point of learning and group work. Each of this method is discussed in detail below:

 

2.3.1    Learner (Student) Centered

(i)   Question and answers (citation) method              

Question and answers defined as a method both for teaching and oral testing based on the use of questions to be answered by the pupil (Mtunda and Safuli, 1997) in (MIE, 2004) Questioning techniques is one of the basic and successful ways of stimulating students thinking and learning (Ndirangu, 2007) it is applicable to all teaching approaches and methods.

 

Dec 31

Assessment of study habit and motivation among student

Introduction

Habit is a well learned performance. Habit can be defined as acquired automatic mechanical and cognitive disposition that is tendencies to behave in a practical way. Study habits are habitual way of exercising and practicing the ability for learning. These are techniques, which students employ to go about his or her studies, which are consistent and have become stereotyped as a result of neither long application nor practice.

Study habits should be logical, dynamic, functional and relevant to the personal characteristics of the individual students. The students approach to learning is highly individualistic with a wide variation of techniques observable. One student may prefer the quite of the library, another student lounge, one may underline text, another takes notes, one may study intensively for several hours, another may take many breaks. The variations are endless, the educationist feels the study process could be more productive if learners were taught specific skills and techniques which would formalize the study process and thereby make it more efficient.

Study habits are those activities that are necessary to complete school work task and prepare for taking test. Study habits are those techniques, such as summarizing, note taking, outlining or locating, material which learners employ to assist themselves in the efficient learning of the material at hand. The term ‘Study habit’ implies a sort of more or less permanent method of studying. Study habits are the essence of a dynamic personality. A proper study habits enables an individual to reap a good harvest in future. Good study habits load to good educational record and bad study habits lead to poor educational record.

Motives are expression of person’s need. Hence, they are personal and internal. Incentives on the other hand are external to the person. They are made part of work environment by management in order to encourage workers to accomplish task. The motivational model indicates that a sense of felt deprivation generates needs and such needs create tension in an individual. The individual perceive and makes cost benefit analysis on the ways and means of releasing such tension. Once such perception is cleared, individual pounces upon the activities and achieves some results. If it is success he feels rewarded and falls in the cycle of motivation again. If it is failure he feels punished and once again after due modification of ways and means pounces back on the cycle or feels frustrated. Therefore, motivation leads to a goal directed behavior.

Motivation is typically defined as the force that accounts for the arousal, selection, direction and continuation of behaviour. Nevertheless, many teachers have at least two major misconceptions about motivation that prevent them from using this concept with maximum effectiveness. One misconception is that some students are unmotivated. Strictly statement as long as a student chooses goals and expends a certain amount of effort a achieve them, he is by definition, motivated. What teachers really mean is that students are not motivated to behave in the way teacher would like them to behave the second misconception is that one person can directly motivate another.

 

Statement of the problem

Justification of the study

The present study is justified, since it would help in finding out the study habits of class X student.

Motivation is arousing interest in learning. Motivation initiates and energies activity in learning. Motivation leads to self-actualization in learning. Motivation stimulates learning activity. A person who has high achievement motivation possesses high level of aspiration than those who has weak achievement motive. The persons who have high achievement motivation are more persistent in working at an achievement related task. The persons who have achievement motivation show more efficiency than less motivated persons. The people who have achievement motivation show more anxiety about getting success than the people who are weak in achievement of motive. The persons who have high achievement motivation drive more pleasure from success than those who are weak in achievement motive.

It is very important that students form good study habits. Often, the parents and teachers are at a loss to understand the reason for the discrepancy between the ability of their children and their actual accomplishment. At least part of the contribution to the condition is likely to come from poor study habits since study habits are the sum total of all the habits, determined purposes, and enforced practices that the individual used. In order to learn it is necessary for students to develop special study habits and skills. A well-formed habit furnishes its own source of motivation. Good study habits are related with a number of areas, home environment and planning reading and note taking, planning of subjects, concentration, preparation of examination. This study is justified because it will help teachers, parents and students to know the relationship of study habits and motivation.

Objectives

  1. To find whether X class boys and girls differ in their study
  2. To find whether X class boys and girls differ in their level of
  3. To find the relationship between study habits and motivation of class X

Hypotheses

  1. There exists no significant difference in study habits of boys and girls of class
  2. There exists no significant difference in the level of motivation of boys and girls of class
  3. There exists no significant relationship between study habits and motivation of class X students
Dec 30

SOCIAL MEDIA AND STATUS STRUGGLE AS PREDICTOR OF GENDER VIOLENCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Background

 

The digital revolution, spurred by the internet and mobile phones has led to a global revolution in communications, access to information and media delivery, tremendous increase in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the internet and social media (Hughes, 2007).Devreese (2010) describes social media as media transformed by digitally interactive tools of ICT and based on online social networking platforms as well as open source tools. These tools are ‘social’ in that they are created in ways that enable users to create and share content and information.

Puddephatt, Hawtin,Zommer, Brant, Attala, Nagla,Bhat, Lim, Githaiga and Zausmer (2011), observe that social media has decentralized the making of information and also made it easier to share the information. Everybody is now a potential broadcaster, able to create, modify and share content with a global audience. Before the internet and social media, information was filtered by editors, publishers or even journalists. Theera of social media has given power to the people and everyone can easily express themselves in the public domain. The same authors further opine that, internet now allows people to interact with one another through, blogs, comment forums, sending in videos and images as well as crowd sourcing activities

Across the globe, social media sites are increasingly becoming a key point of reference in people’s lives. Worldwide, there are about 2.8 billion internet users out of which about a third are in developing countries. It is now estimated that  there are more than 170 million blogs online, over 600 million Facebook users, and 175(M) million users on Twitter creating over 200 million tweets a day and over 3,000 photos uploaded on Flickr every minute. There are also over 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute and over 2 billion video views every day (Puddephatt, etal., 2011).

In Africa, a study by the Internet Society in 2012indicates that out of the 1billion people living in Africa, 167million of them have access to the internet and connectivity is on the rise.

Africans are using their cell phones with a more recent and massive interest in social media. When Africans go online (predominantly with their mobile phones) they spend much of their time on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube among others) (Africa renewal, 2014).The most visited social media platform in Africa is Facebook. The number of African Facebook users is now over 17 million, up from 10 million in 2009 (Africa renewal, 2014). Politicians, companies and famous personalities are engaging the population through social media and it has become a popular way of interaction (Ibid)

Ngwa, Kudi, Shu, Mbarika and Mbarika (2008) argue that the growth of the internet and social media has brought about some unintended consequences such as cyber- crimes, sexual harassment and cyber stalking. Equally, Maxwell (2001) contends that there is an increase in violence against women as a result of social media growth but observes that the true prevalence is currently unknown. Similarly, the UN General Assembly (UNGA, 2006) estimates that 95 per cent of aggressive behaviour, harassment, abusive language and denigrating images in online spaces are aimed at women, most often carried out by a current or former partner.

A study by UNICEF in South Africa in 2012 showed that one in five secondary- school learners have experienced some form of online violence (Connected dot com, 2012).However, it is not clear if this replicates itself in the rest of the continent. While studies on this phenomenon are abundant in the developed world, they are still scarce in Africa, with the exception of South Africa, where several studies have been conducted and they have even implemented laws to deal with online harassment.

Gender violence includes rape, sexual assault, intimate partner violence in heterosexual and same sex partnerships, sexual harassment, stalking, prostitution and sex trafficking. The term “gender violence” reflects the idea that violence often serves to maintain structural gender inequalities, and includes all types of violence against men, women, children, adolescents, gay, transgender people and gender non conforming. This type of violence in some way influences or is influenced by gender relations. To adequately address this violence, we have to address cultural issues that encourage violence as part of masculinity.

Gender is also the most powerful predictor of rape, sexual assault and relationship violence. These crimes are predominantly against men, women and children are perpetrated by men. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted) About 3% of American men– or 1 in 33– have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. While men are rape victims, men are almost always the perpetrator. That is not to say that all or even most men are violent, or that women cannot perpetrate such violence. Gender violence highlights a toxic masculinity patterned violence: a prevalent violence motivated by aggression, revenge, competition, and entitlement, and includes sexual and other violence against men, women, partners and children.

Statement of the Problem

 

As noted in the background, Nigeria has experienced an increase in proliferation of ICT and social media due to the affordability, easy availability and accessibility of gadgets such as computers and internet enabled mobile phones. This has however, come without the necessary checks in terms of litigation and ICT policies to help mitigate the negative impacts that the growth may have on gender relations.

The available documented evidence points to a deficit in knowledge and understanding of the new and sophisticated permutations of  violence against women as experienced on social media. In the Nigerian context, some of the acts of aggression were seen as isolated cases and reported as incidents that are not gendered. This points to a lack of appreciation of the harm that social media and the tools of ICT pose to women. With the mentioned growth in the ICT sector, the researcher deemed it necessary that the enabling role of the social media be surfaced, made visible and challenged.

The researcher noted that a gendered legal and policy framing of the intersection between social media and gender based violence had not yet been clearly established in Nigeria. The constitution, penal code and various ICT policies are still deemed inadequate in addressing the emerging forms of gender based violence on social media. In the absence of these precedents specifically relating to ICT and social media, gender based violence on these platforms continues to suffer from legislative indistinctness in that it is not directly addressed by most of the current Acts that seek to protect women from violence. For this reason, this researcher sought to highlight the link between social media and violence against women and the need for it to be addressed with a view to protecting women.

In addition, the researcher noted that gender based violence on social media in the  Nigerian context was previously unknown. It was assumed that the lack of knowledge could be attributed to the fact that there was little research conducted in the Nigerian context regarding the negative effects of ICT and especially the negative use of social media to harm women. Moreover, studies of cyber risks had not kept up with the proliferation and ever mutating nature of ICTs and social media in Nigeria. This study was a step forward.

 General Objective

 

This research investigated the social media and status struggle as predictor of gender violence among secondary school students

    Objectives of the Study

 

  1. Identify the forms of violence against women perpetuated through the use of social media platforms
  2. Establish the causes
  3. Examine the effects of violence against women as experienced through social media on the
  4. Find out the best strategies for addressing violence against women as experienced through social media

Research Questions 

This study was guided by the following research questions:

 

  1. What are the forms of violence that are perpetrated against secondary school female students with the help of communication technology as used in social media?
  2. What are the causes of violence against secondary school female students on social media?
  3. What the effects of violence against secondary school female students are as experienced on social media by the victims?
  4. What are the best strategies for handling violence against secondary school female students as meted out through social

 Justification of the Study

 

Because sexual violence associated with social media is an emerging area of exploration in the Nigerian context, there is still little Nigerian data on the frequency and intensity of such violence. Being an area of research that is relatively new, it was expected that the research would contribute knowledge to this regard. This was deemed important because gender based violence is one of the factors that keep women from fully participating in development. ICT is seen as a necessary tool for development and as long as women are being derailed from fully participating in online spaces by threats of gender based violence in social media, then it means that a section of the society will not be fully participating in development. This is in line with International  instruments  that Nigeria has ratified to ensure women are equal participants in development by countering the issues that hinder women from active participation

Therefore, it was important that this study be conducted urgently in the event that various efforts have already been put in place to end all forms of gender based violence in offline spaces. However, in the online spaces, policy makers around the world are simply playing catch up to the rapidly evolving nature of social media and other tools of social media.

Significance of the Study

 

This research was conducted with a view of informing policy makers on the various new ways that women were experiencing gender based violence in social media, the effects this had on them and on best practices which can be put in place to end gender based violence on social media.

The research provided data to map key trends and prove that such violence is on the increase and that women in Nigeria are experiencing it, in its various forms.

The findings of the study could also inform the development of policies aimed at mitigating the use of social media to carry out violence against women. This means that they will be able to understand the nature of gender based violence on social media and make policies that are cognizant of the nature of these violations while keeping in mind the inherent nature of social media that makes it a tool of choice for the would be perpetrator. To this end, the study complements the efforts made so far to finding effective ways of eliminating all forms of violence against women, in consonance with numerous international instruments like CEDAW (1992), DEgender based violence, the Nigerian constitution and national gender policy. This is important so that women can participate in ICT and social media which are considered important tools of development.

The study also provides researchers and practitioners of gender and development with suggestions on new areas that may require further study as they seek ways of ending all forms of gender based violence in all platforms.

 

     Scope and Limitation of the Study

 

The study built on responses provided by women on social media and key informants drawn from the cybercrime unit of the CID headquarters. The researcher limited the study to the Nigerian social media users.

The researcher recognized that literature on the issue at hand in Nigeria was limited. This therefore posed challenges of comparison of frequency of occurrence, nature, impact and trends. The researcher overcame this by considering other international studies conducted on gender based violence on social media.

In designing this research, it was noted that the respondents who may be victims of social media related violence may feel that their story is a secret and they may have great difficulty sharing facts with anyone. Equally noted was the concern that, access to formal information was hindered by the fact that most social media cases related to violence went unreported. There were few alternatives for obtaining  information about gender based violence on social media platforms as most of it happen in private and virtual realms and thus collation of evidence is highly dependent on self-reporting. Self- reporting on the other hand relies heavily on the victims’ awareness and estimation of victimization and perpetration. These limitations were overcome by use of questionnaires which assured the victims of anonymity and offered explanation regarding gender based violence.

Dec 30

Perception Of Covid-19 Among Rural Communities Of Nigeria

Perception Of Covid-19 Among Rural Communities Of Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first identified in Wuhan China in December 2019, has rapidly spread to almost every region of the world. The disease is caused by a new and severe type of Coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2). The infection has no immediate treatment and vaccine, and it has according to World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) become a worldwide pandemic causing significant morbidity and mortality. There are 1,603,428 confirmed cases, 356,440 recoveries from the illness and 95,714 deaths worldwide as of April 9, 2020 (Worldometers, 2020). On February 27, 2020, an Italian citizen became the index case for COVID-19 in Nigeria and as at April 9, 2020, there were 288 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria with 51 discharges and 7 deaths (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, 2020).

 

To prevent further spread of the virus, civil societies and government agencies embarked on enlightenment campaigns for good hygiene and social distancing. Temperature screening was conducted at airports and those returning from countries with numerous confirmed cases of COVID-19 were implored to self-isolate. The NCDC in association with State governments also began tracing and tracking of possible victims and their contacts. On March 18, 2020, the Lagos State government suspended all gatherings above fifty people for four weeks and ordered all lower and middle level public officers to stay-at-home (Ewodage, 2020). Similarly, the Federal government, on March 30, 2020 introduced various containment strategies such as closing of the national borders and airspace, schools, worship centers and other public places, canceling of mass gathering events and placing the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states on lock down for an initial period of fourteen days (Radio Nigeria, 2020). Covid-19 testing laboratories were set up in Lagos, Abuja and Irrua in Edo State while State governments opened isolation centres and imposed dawn to dust curfews in their territories.

COVID-19, from the family of Coronavirus (others include SARS, H5N1, H1N1 and MERS), is a contagious respiratory illness transmitted through the eyes, nose, and mouth, via droplets from coughs and sneezes, close contact with infected person and contaminated surfaces. It has an incubation period of approximately one to fourteen days. The symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath, and it is diagnosed through a laboratory test. The contagion could lead to severe respiratory problems or death, particularly among the elderly and persons with underlying chronic illnesses. Some infected persons however, are carriers for the virus with no symptoms while others may experience only a mild illness and recover easily (Sauer, 2020). As there is currently no cure or vaccine for the COVID-19; medical treatments are limited to supportive measures aimed at relieving symptoms, use of research drugs and therapeutics.

Perception of infection pathways and relevant precautions to take is needed to control the pandemic. While the scientific community continues to research possible vaccines or drugs for the viral infection, it is expected that adequate perception will motivate individuals to make decisions which may prevent and curb the epidemics. Perception such as regular hand washing,  using hand sanitizers, wearing face masks, respiratory etiquettes, social distancing and self- isolation when sick are vital to reducing widespread infection (Leppin & Aro, 2009). Studies (e.g. Brug, Aro, Oenema, de Zwart, Richardus & Bishop, 2004; Choi & Yang, 2010; Hussain, Hussain & Hussain 2012) revealed that individuals’ level of perception about an infectious disease can make them behave in ways that may prevent infection. Consequently, individuals may need to be informed about the potential risks of infections in order to adopt the right precautionary measures (Brug, Aro & Richardus, 2009).

At early stages of a pandemic, precautionary measures are needed to protect against possible danger and curtail the disease spread. In line with this therefore, the Nigerian government (just like other governments around the world) introduced various containment strategies which have interfered with individuals’ daily lives and have led to severe economic loss and social disruption. People were coerced to stay at home, businesses and offices were closed, exempting healthcare facilities/workers and ―essential‖ commercial establishments. For Nigerians making a living in the informal economy, their livelihood is now threatened by the lockdown since much of their activities and businesses involve face-to-face contact. In Nigeria there is no social safety net, no access to food stamps or unemployment benefits, most people earn their living on a daily basis. Regardless of this however, there has so far been a high degree of compliance with the government directives, Nigerians are engaging in vigilant hand washing, practicing social distancing and self-isolation, and avoiding going to work, school or crowded areas. Even most religious leaders agreed to stop large gatherings, forbid the shaking of hands and directed church members to pray at home and use hand sanitizers (Makinde, Nwogu, Ajaja & Alagbe, 2020; Olatunji, 2020).

Statement of the Problem

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Research Questions

The present study is guided by the following questions:

  1. What is the perception of Nigerians about the source of COVID-19?
  2. What is the perception of Nigerians about the mode of transmission of COVID-19?
  3. What is the perception of Nigerians about the symptoms of COVID-19?
  4. What is the perception of Nigerians on preventive behavior toward COVID-19?
  5. How fatal do Nigerians perceive COVID-19?
  6. What are the major sources of information about COVID-19 among Nigerians?

Objectives of the Study

The main objectives of the study is to Investigate

Perception Of Covid-19 Among Rural Communities Of Nigeria

The study have the following specific objectives thus;

 

  1. To examine the perception of Nigerians about the source of COVID-19
  2. To investigate the perception of Nigerians about the mode of transmission of COVID-19
  3. To ascertain the perception of Nigerians about the symptoms of COVID-19
  4. To examine the perception of Nigerians on preventive behavior toward COVID-19
  5. To critically examine how fatal do Nigerians perceive COVID-19
  6. To investigate the major sources of information about COVID-19 among Nigerians

 

Scope of the study

The scope of the present study is on the areas of Perception Of Covid-19 Among Rural Communities Of Nigeria.

Significance of the Study

This study will provide an insight into…………Attention: The significance of the study is protected because this is a premium work, pay N4500 to unlock the full chapters from 1-5 with references

Limitations of the study

Financial Constraints: The researcher was with limited funds, she cannot visit all the areas to get responses from respondents but she was able to get good information concerning the research topic.

Time Constraints: The researcher was involved in other departmental activities like seminars, attendance of lectures et.c which limited her time for the research but the researcher was able to meet up with the time assigned for the completion of the research work.

Definitions of Terms

Virus: A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea

Pandemic: A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics generally exclude recurrences of seasonal flu.

Epidemic: An epidemic is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infections, an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic

Dec 23

Empirical Framework on Hotel Patronage in COVID-19 Pandemic

Empirical Framework on Tourism Demand and COVID-19 Pandemic

 

Introduction

Tourism is one of the most remarkable multi-faceted phenomena that contributes enormously to economic development for most countries around the globe. The steady growth of the world economy, rapid development in transportation systems, and visa facilitation have bolstered the industry by facilitating higher accessibility for tourists. However, tourism is a vulnerable and competitive industry that need to accommodate the rapid changes of tourist demand and economies as well as consider environment effects. Apart from these dynamic needs, an unexpected health crisis may also lead to devastating impacts on the tourism industry. Recalling the previous health crisis, the recovery period of tourism was considerably rapid and it efficiently bounced back to a normal track. Despite the resilience characteristics of tourism, it is important for researchers to constantly monitor this matter.

The recent pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19) has brought severe disruptions to the global economy, and specifically caused a tremendous decline in the tourism industry. Tourism is one of the focal engines generating income for most developed and developing countries. It also plays a vital role as job creator and foreign exchange earner. It is one of the industries tremendously impacted by the outbreak, grounding airplanes and severely limiting the ability of people to travel abroad. Countries around the world may experience a surge in unemployment and a dramatic contraction in gross domestic product (GDP). Once the vaccines are available and movement restrictions are lifted, the tourism sector can be one of the key industries for economic recovery. More than ever, studies on tourism demand modelling and forecasting are crucial. A review of literature on tourism demand takes into account recent studies on the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

Review of Literature

Since the late 1980s, numerous studies have been conducted on numerous countries to examine the determinants affecting tourism demand. Indeed, various literatures related tourism demand studies carried on numerous countries (see Martin & Witt, 1988; Chaiboonsri et al., 2010; Eryigit et al., 2010; Puah et al., 2014; Gouveia et al., 2017; Puah et al., 2019; Xu et al., 2020). The studies utilized a variety of tourism determinants and approaches in investigating the dynamic relationship between the variables and tourism demand.

In previous literature, tourism demand is commonly proxied by tourist arrivals (Song & Li, 2008; Song et al., 2012; Thien et al., 2015; Tanjung et al., 2017; Puah et al., 2018a; Jong et al., 2020), and followed by tourism receipts (Akal, 2004; Shahbaz et al., 2017; Song et al., 2020). Tourist arrivals is commonly employed to proxy tourism demand in previous literatures

 

because it regarded as the global tourism barometer and enable access to higher-frequency data; that is, tourist arrivals data are always up to date and published on a reasonably prompt schedule.

Meanwhile, tourism determinants consist of income level, tourism price, exchange rate, transportation cost, travel distance, word of mouth, language and other key factors. Chaiboonsri et al. (2010) conducted a study to identify the factors influencing major source markets such as Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan on Thai tourism demand. The selected determinants are tourists’ income, transportation cost and exchange rate. By employing panel analysis, they found that higher income levels and appreciation of exchange rate will stimulate the tourism demand in Thailand, whereases transportation cost leaves an adverse impact in the long run.

Puah et al. (2014) employed real income variable, tourism price, real travel cost and exchange rate in estimating the Singaporean demand for Malaysian tourism. They employed quarterly data spanning from 2000 to 2010 and analysed it using the error correction model. They discovered that both income and exchange rate positively affected tourism demand in Malaysia. However, travel cost and tourism price adversely influenced Singaporean demand for Malaysia tourism.

Similar research was conducted by Thien et al. (2015) to identify the determinants affecting Thai tourist demand on Malaysia. They also utilized real income level of Thai tourists, transportation cost and exchange rate. In line with the studies of Puah et al. (2014), tourism price negatively influenced tourism demand in Malaysia. However, Thien et al. (2015) found that higher incomes of tourists will discourage them from traveling to Malaysia, which contradicts other studies such as Puah et al. (2014), Tanjung et al. (2016), Jong et al. (2020). They stated that the possible reason is that high-income Thai tourists seek alternative tourism destinations rather than neighbouring countries.

Tinbergen (1962) designed a gravity model for the flows of tourists between two points. It was derived from Newton’s gravity law to describe the trade pattern between the countries. It has been determined to fit well in tourism studies because the gravity model is specially designed considering the flows of goods and services between the countries as well as the geographical distance. The core gravity model consists of income level of origin countries, income level in destination country and geographical distance between the capitals of the countries.

The gravity model has been employed in studies of various subjects such as international trade, migration, and foreign direct investment. During the 1990s, McCallum (1995) employed the gravity model to investigate the trade flows between Canadian provinces and the United States and found a positive relationship between income levels of origin and destination countries and tourism demand. In contrast, the travel distance negatively impacted the tourism demand.

Jong et al. (2020) estimated the tourism demand in Sabah using the gravity model. They utilized yearly data covering 2010 to 2016 for ten major countries travel to Sabah. A panel analysis was employed to estimate the gravity model. They identified a consistent positive association of the income levels in origin and destination countries toward tourism demand, whereas travel distance adversely influenced tourism demand (see Morley et al., 2014; Priego et al. 2015; Kaplan & Aktas, 2016).

 

By employing Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, Puah et al. (2018b) investigated the impact of tourism industry on the economy in Malaysia. They utilized the sample period of 1995 to 2016 to examine the tourism-led growth hypothesis. By employing tourism receipts and capital investment in Malaysian tourism, they found that both tourism receipts and capital investment have a significant positive impact on Malaysian tourism. Thus, they concluded that the tourism-led growth effect is valid for the tourism industry in Malaysia.

Yap et al. (2020) also utilized the ARDL technique to investigate the effect of macroeconomic variables on tourism events demand in Malaysia. The authors used the quarterly data during the sample period of 1991 through 2016 by employing macroeconomic variables such as tourism receipts, exchange rate, government expenditure and transportation cost. They found that government spending, tourism receipts and exchange rate can improve the demand for tourism events significantly. Meanwhile, the cost of transportation adversely influenced event demand. Thus, they suggested that the government and key industry players should create an integrated plan to promote tourism events and thus enhance tourism’s contribution to the economy.

Regarding panel analysis, Jong et al. (2020) employed the static panel technique to discover the factors affecting tourism demand in Sabah. They employed the gravity model to model the tourism demand using yearly data spans from 2010 to 2015. The finding suggested that the fixed effect model is preferable to examine tourism demand. The results of the fixed effect model illustrated that income level is positively associated with tourism demand, while transportation cost and tourism price are negatively associated with tourism demand in Sabah.

Rossello-Nadal (2001) employed ARIMA to forecast the turning points of international tourist arrivals in Balearic Islands. Using monthly data from 1975 to 1999, they determined that the mean duration of the tourism cycle is four years. Soh et al. (2019a) constructed a tourism cycle indicator (TCI) for Maldives. By employing monthly data covering 2000 through 2017, they designed the TCI to signal the tourism attribute regarding international tourist arrivals. They utilized Bry-Boschan dating algorithm to detect the turning points. Their finding determined that TCI successfully detected ten economic events/crises 4.4 months early on average. Thus, they confirmed the ability of TCI to minimize the crisis burden for policymakers and industry players.

Claveria and Datzira (2010) forecasted the tourism demand in Catalonia using fourapproaches: autoregressive, ARIMA, self-exciting threshold autoregressions and Markov switching regime model. They applied the estimation to France, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy over half a decade using monthly data. They found that ARIMA and Markov switching outperformed other forecasting approaches.

Soh et al. (2019b) used the Markov switching technique to predict the tourism cycle in Fiji. The sample period was 2000 to 2017 using monthly observations. Their analysis successfully detected five major economic crises including the Dotcom bubble, global oil price hike and Subprime Mortgage crisis. Soh et al. (2019c) and Soh et al. (2020) conducted further research on Fiji and found that the constructed tourism cycle indicator possesses significant ability to forecast several crises accurately. Both studies showed that the constructed tourism cycle indicator signalled the economic crises an average of 2.8 months earlier than the actual events in Fiji.

 

Hao et al. (2020) developed a COVID-19 management framework to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry in China. Their finding suggested that COVID- 19 will significantly affect the hotel industry in different aspects such as design of products, investment preference, transformation of digital technology, and market reshuffle.

Shin and Kang (2020) also conducted a study to examine the impact of technological innovation on the intention of hotel booking. They focused on technology innovations for social distancing and cleanliness to reduce health risk perceived by customers with the aim to encourage booking intention. They found that respondents tend to use mobile or kiosk check- ins to reduce the interaction with the front desk.

Liew (2020) investigated the impact of COVID-19 on share price of tourism industry. The study utilized Booking.com,Expedia and Trip.com as the main sources. Liew (2020) employed share prices and numerous control variables to examine their performance before and during the pandemic. Results indicate that the tourism industry was in sharp decline due to COVID-

  1. The direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 were also identified in the study.

Foo et al. (2020) reviewed the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry in Malaysia and found that various tourism activities were cancelled. In addition, the cancelation of a number of tour groups has led huge reduction of tourist arrivals in Malaysia. They also summarized the impact of the health crisis on tourism’s key supporting industries, e.g., airlines and hotels. Due to the pandemic, the airline industry has cut salaries by 10% to 100%. Moreover, the government has implemented movement restrictions on people, further impacting the industry. In order to minimize the adverse impact of the pandemic, the Malaysian government has established several tourism stimulus packages to help the industry survive.

Wu et al. (2020) investigated the influence of COVID-19 on the hotel industry in Hong Kong. They utilized a Python-based web-crawling bot to gather information of hotel room rates. The empirical outcome suggested that 5-star hotels were the least affected by the pandemic, while 4- and 4.5-star hotels were most seriously affected. A Pearson’s correlation analysis also identified an adverse relationship between the fluctuation of hotel room rates and COVID-19.

Sharma and Nicolau (2020) used a securities market-based technique to investigate the effect of the pandemic on airline, hotel, cruise and car rental industries and found that these four industries experienced a significant decline in valuation. The cruise industry was the hardest- hit. Thus, they suggested the government should prioritize financial assistance to this industry.

Polysoz et al. (2020) conducted a study to investigate the pandemic’s effect on demand of Chinese tourists toward the US and Australia. They adopted Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to examine the dynamic relationship between the tourism demand and the health crisis and found a significant decline of Chinese tourists to the US and Australia. Based on LSTM, they suggested that the number of tourists could recover after six months for Australia, and 12 months for the US.

To summarize, the impact of COVID-19 needs to be taken into account in future tourism research. In addition, future studies are recommended to address the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism industry in different countries using different estimation approaches to gather more comprehensive tourism information.

 

Reference

Akal, M. (2004). Forecasting Turkey’s tourism revenues by ARMAX model. Tourism Management, 25(5), 565-580.

Chaiboonsri, C., Sriboonjit, J., Sriwichailamphan, T., Chaitip, P. & Sriboonchitta, S. (2010). A panel cointegration analysis: An application to international tourism demand of Thailand. Annals of the University of Petroşani, Economics, 10(3), 69-86.

Eryigit, M., Kotil, E. & Eryigit, R. (2010). Factors affecting international tourism flows to Turkey: A gravity model approach. Tourism Economics, 16(3), 585-595.

Foo, L. P., Chin, M. Y., Tan, K. L., & Phuah, K. T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on tourism industry in Malaysia. Current Issues in Tourism.

Gouveia, S., Rebelo, J., Lina, L. G. & Guedes, A. (2017). International demand for the Douro (Portugal) river cruises: a gravity model approach. Tourism Economics 23(8): 1679- 1686.

Hao, F., Xiao, Q., & Chon, K. (2020). COVID-19 and China’s hotel industry: Impacts, a disaster management framework, and post-pandemic agenda. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102636.

Jong, M. C., Puah, C. H., & Arip, M. A. (2020). Modelling tourism demand: An augmented gravity model. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, 54(2), 105-112.

Kaplan, F., & Aktas, A. R. (2016). The Turkey tourism demand: A gravity model. The Empirical Economics Letters, 15(3), 265-272.

Liew, V. K. S. (2020). The effect of novel coronavirus pandemic on tourism share prices.

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Martin, C. A. & Witt, S. F. (1988). Substitute prices in models of tourism demand. Annals of Tourism Research, 15, 255-268.

McCallum, J. (1995). National borders matter: Canada-U.S. regional trade patterns. The American Economic Review, 85(3), 615-623.

Morley, C., Rossello, J., & Maria, S. G. (2014). Gravity models for tourism demand: Theory and use. Annals of Tourism Research, 48, 1-10.

Peng, B., Song, H., Crouch, G. I., & Witt, S. F. (2015). A meta-analysis of international tourism demand elasticities. Journal of Travel Research, 54(5), 611-633.

Polyzos, S., Samitas, A., & Spyridou, A. E. (2020). Tourism demand and the COVID-19 pandemic: An LSTM approach. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-13.

Priego, F. J., Rossello, J., & Maria, S. G. (2015). The impact of climate change on domestic tourism: A gravity model for Spain. Regional Environment Change, 15(2), 291-300.

Puah, C. H., Huan, S. H., & Thien, F. T. (2018a). Determinants of Chinese demand for tourism in Malaysia. Business and Economic Horizons, 14(3), 501-512.

Puah, C. H., Jong, M. C., Ayob, N., & Ismail, S. (2018b). The impact of tourism on the local economy in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Management, 13(12), 151- 157.

Puah, C. H., Thien, F. T., & Arip, M. A. (2014). Singaporean demand for tourism in Malaysia.

Economic Annals-XXI, 11, 32-36.

 

Puah, C. H., Thien, F. T., Arip, M. A., & Chin, M. Y. (2019). Modelling a tourism demand in Vietnam. International Journal of Economics and Management, 13(2), 319-329.

Rossello-Nadal, J. (2001). Forecasting turning points in international visitor arrivals in the Balearic Islands. Tourism Economics, 7(4), 365-380.

Shahbaz, M., Kumar, R. R., Ivanov, S., & Loganathan, N. (2017). The nexus between tourism demand and output per capita with the relative importance of trade openness and financial development: A study of Malaysia. Tourism Economics, 23(1), 168-186.

Sharma, A., & Nicolau, J. L. (2020). An open market valuation of the effects of COVID-19 on the travel and tourism industry. Annals of Tourism Research.

Shin., H., & Kang, J. (2020). Reducing perceived health risk to attract hotel customers in the COVID-19 pandemic era: Focused on technology innovation for social distancing and cleanliness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102664.

Soh, A. N., Puah, C. H., & Arip, M. A. (2019a). Construction of tourism cycle indicator: A signalling tool for tourism market dynamics. Electronic Journal of Applied Statistical Analysis, 12(2), 477-490.

Soh, A. N., Puah, C. H., & Arip, M. A. (2019c). Forecasting tourism demand with composite indicator approach for Fiji. Business and Economic Research, 12(2), 477-490.

Soh, A. N., Puah, C. H., & Arip, M. A. (2020). Tourism forecasting and tackling fluctuating patterns: A composite leading indicator approach. Studies in Business and Economics, 15(2), 192-204.

Soh, A. N., Puah, C. H., Arip, M. A., & Kuek, T. H. (2019b). Oil price and Fijian tourism cycle: A Markov regime-switching model. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 9(6), 199-192.

Tanjung, A., Thien, F. T., Puah, C. H., Brahmana, R. K., & Sianturi, R. (2017). Macroeconomic determinants of Indonesian tourism demand in Malaysia. Advanced Science Letter, 23(4), 3159-3162.

Thien, F. T., Puah, C. H., Hassan, M. K. H., & Arip, M. A. (2015). An ECM analysis of Thai tourism demand in Malaysia. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3), 162-168.

Wu, F., Zhang, Q., Law, R., & Zheng, T. (2020). Fluctuations in Hong Kong hotel industry room rates under the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: Evidence from big data on OTA channels. Sustainability, 12(18), 7709.

Xu, L., Wang, S., Li, J., Tang, L. & Shao, Y. (2020). Modelling international tourism flows to China: A panel data analysis with the gravity model. Tourism Economics, 25(7), 1047- 1069.

Yap, S. A. Y. I., Ayob, N., & Puah, C. H. (2020). Event tourism demand and selected macroeconomic variables: An econometrics view of the long-run and short-run relationships. International Journal of Business and Society, 21(1), 183-196.

Dec 21

EFFECT OF MKPURU MMIRI AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

EFFECT OF MKPURU MMIRI AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

Chapter One

Introduction

Mkpuru mmiri is the slang coined from the Igbo language, which is loosely translated as ‘seed of water’.

In reality, it is a crystal narcotic hallucinogen, medically known as Methamphetamine or by its street name Crystal Meth. It has a chalk-like crystal form and can sometimes be blue hence the name ‘mkpuru mmiri’.

It is a man-made drug developed during World War II, used by soldiers to stay awake or carry out dangerous suicidal missions.

Its highly addictive nature makes a chemically similar drug, amphetamine – used to treat Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and narcolepsy, a sleep disorder – highly regulated and only available by prescription.

Background of the study

Mkpuru Mmiri known as Methamphetamine (MA) use and abuse is a major public health concern in Nigeria as well as the United States (NIDA, , ; DASIS, ). MA’s primary mechanism of action is on the brain dopamine (DA) system, resulting in high abuse potential, neurotoxic effects on the DA system, and behavioral and cognitive impairments in adults (Sulzer et al., ). Historically, MA was primarily used by adults and was not commonly used by adolescents, but in more recent years the demographic profile of MA use has widened to include adolescents (Rawson et al., ; Gonzales et al., ).

Epidemiological research suggests that compared to other drugs of abuse, adolescent mkpuru mmiri use is relatively low in Nigeria except in South East where its use is reportedly high raising public helth concerns (Vangaurd 2021).

 In a Survey conducted by Projectstore in 2021 shows 95% of youths in South East have heard about mkpuru mmiri (projectstore survey, 2021).

While much research has focused on the effects of adult MA use, relatively no research has examined the effects of mkpuru mmiri use on the academic performance of secondary school students hence the present study.

Statement of the Problem

The history of the human race has also been the history of drug use. In itself, the use of drugs does not constitute an evil. Drugs properly administered have served as medical blessings. For example, herbs, roots, bark, leaves and plant have been used to relieve pains and help control diseases.  People have used different kinds of drugs to change the way they feel or see the world. Drugs and how they are used also have different meanings in different cultures. For example in the Pacific Islands, kava is drunk as a means of making contact with the supernatural, to welcome visitors to the community and to cure illnesses. Some Native American Indians use a mushroom that causes dream-like states as a way of getting in touch with the Great Spirit. We use alcohol, cola nut and tobacco to celebrate special events like birthdays and weddings. Drug can be used positively as medicine for the treatment of diseases, correction of body abnormalities and for the celebration of special events.

Regrettably, the reverse is the case when people including secondary school students use drugs for other purposes other than the ones highlighted above. Such purposes include calming themselves from their worries; changing the way they feel, think or behave, tension reduction/relaxation. According to Onyemachi (2004) secondary school students have used drugs including pain relieving drugs, alcohol, cigarette and marijuana to relieve pain, to feel good, to sleep, and relax, to keep awake during exams and calm their worries about grades or career and to effect relief from the burden of underlying problems rather than confronting them practically and realistically. He posited that the solace found in drugs often develops into an abuse of drugs. Epidemiological survey in Nigeria, as indicated in the literature shows that drug abuse is common among secondary school students and is one of the most disturbing health related problems among the adolescents. One area of concern in Nigeria is the extent at which adolescents in the secondary schools abuse drugs including adolescents in Ezza North secondary schools. The socio-cultural activities such as traditional wrestling, traditional dances, masquerade cult, new yam festival and other festivals existing in the area, when ongoing, predisposes them to be more vulnerable to excessive illicit drug use and abuse.

Though the extent of drug abuse is unknown in Nigeria, there is considerable evidence that the problem of drug abuse may well be growing among secondary school students in both the rural and urban areas of Nigeria. This has prompted the researcher to investigate the Effect Of Mkpuru Mmiri Among Secondary School Students In South-East Nigeria.