Suchergebnisse

There is no doubt that Nigeria under Obasanjo's administration is engulfed in a web of chronic poverty, which affects its performance in the development arena. The country has all it takes to develop but unfortunately it could not due to the complex nature of the country's social problems. The country is endowed with vast agricultural and natural resources, and has a relatively important industrial sector (48% of the GDP in 2001), as compared to other West African or Sub-Saharan countries (less than 30%). The recent Human Development index has placed Nigeria among the 20 poorest countries in the World. It is estimated that up to 70% of Nigerians are living below poverty line. Nigeria has been branded by the international community as the second most corrupt nation in the World. For three consecutive years, 2000, 2001 and 2002, it has maintained that unenviable position. The rating came up as a consequence of several failed attempts by the Obasanjo's administration to wipe out corruption and poverty or reduce them to a tolerable level in the polity. In the same vein, within the Obasanjo's administration the country has been engulfed in a series of conflicts resulting in the lost in lives and property. Various developmental strategies have been adopted by the Obasanjo's administration, yet the situation is not very encouraging. We have passed the 2015 deadline for the achievement of the MDGs, the poverty eradication policies are judged to be unsatisfactory and inadequate in meeting the MDGs. It is absolutely frustrating and painful when you realize the immense potentials of Nigeria. Eight years is enough time for any administration to sort out the fundamental problem of the country (poverty). Against this backdrop, the paper examined the various developmental strategies for combating poverty in Nigeria. This is with a view to proffering policy recommendations for the present administration on how best to alleviate poverty in Nigeria to achieve the sustainable developmental goals now in place. Article ...

There is no doubt that various scholarly studies were carried out on Development in Nigeria; there are still gaps to be filled. This is due to the fact that scholars tend to generally concentrate on the study of aspects of Development and the history of poverty in Nigeria. The paper therefore provided in sight on the gaps left on touched by scholars with a view to proffering space for this work in previous works. Specifically, the paper seeks to give a critical appraisal of theories of development with particular reference to Nigeria. To achieve this, the paper is divided into sections on introduction/ conceptual clarification of the key concept (development), highlights on the types of development. Discussion in this section leads to the spine of the paper which is a critical appraisal of development theories where theories such as (the Functionalist, Marxist, Modernization, Dependency and World system) were critically appraised. The paper is premised on the three fundamental questions asked by Seer in an attempt to assess the level of development of a nation. The questions are: what happened to poverty, what happened to unemployment, what happened to inequality? If these variables are on the decline from high level, then beyond doubt there has been a period of development of the country concerned. But if one or two of these central indicators are going worse, it will be strange to call the result as development even if the national income has developed like in the case of Nigeria. Considering the level of poverty and unemployment and the wide gap between the rich and the poor, one can argue that this assertion is very relevant in an attempt to establish a link between these problems and the level of development in the country. The final section of the paper draw conclusion where attempt was made at suggesting two perspectives as framework for analyzing the developmental plight of Nigeria. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n16p41

The debate on the scientific status of the Social Sciences and their bid to achieve objectivity in their inquiries is an unending debate within and outside the Social Science family. The positivists are of the opinion that objectivity in Social Science is achievable and that scientific methods can be used in Social Science inquiry, just the same or similar way(s) the natural scientists do their scientific endeavor. To the positivists 'value-free Social Science' is possible. This position is however criticized even within the Social Sciences, let alone in the scientific world. All these debates centered on whether or not the Social Scientists are truly scientific in their quest for knowledge. No matter the outcome of the debate what is obvious is that there is a philosophical problem with scientific objectivity in general. Based on a historical review of the development of certain scientific theories, in his book, 'the Structure of scientific revolutions', a scientist and a historian Thomas Kuhn raised some philosophical objections to claims of the possibility of scientific understanding being truly objective. Against this backdrop, the paper seeks to unravel the varied theoretical debates on the subject.

The study aim to show the gradual acceptance of buying water in the open market across Nigeria. The commoditization of water is most manifest in the boom of packaged water, especially the ones in sachets popularly called 'pure water'. The initial position of the government was to ignore the industry as part of the informal economy. After considerable concerns were raised on public health grounds that water merchants were selling 'pure gutter' instead of 'pure water', the government, through the National Agency for Food and Drugs Control (NAFDAC) intervened to regulate standards. Proprietors of packaged water are expected to apply for licenses which can only be issued after inspection of their facility by NAFDAC officials. Consumers are advised to patronize only packaged water with NAFDAC number, which is supposed to come with a certification of quality. The paper also examined the socio-economic implications of "pure water" sale, taken cognisance of the policies and reforms on water supply in Nigeria historically. Content analysis through the review of Secondary sources was used. The sale of packaged water will help to ease the hardship in accessing portable water, but the need for tight measures for ensuring its purity by regulatory bodies is paramount.