Advances in Law, Pedagogy, and Multidisciplinary Humanities
Advances in Law, Pedagogy, and Multidisciplinary Humanities (ALPAMET) is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to exploring the intersections between law, education, and the humanities. The journal provides a platform for scholars, practitioners, and educators to share innovative research, critical analysis, and theoretical perspectives that contribute to the understanding and advancement of these fields. ALPAMET covers a broad range of topics including legal theory and practice, educational philosophy and pedagogy, and interdisciplinary studies in the humanities such as history, literature, philosophy, and cultural studies. By fostering dialogue across these disciplines, the journal aims to deepen the analysis of societal issues, promote academic discourse, and propose solutions to contemporary challenges in law, education, and the humanities. The journal welcomes submissions that blend theoretical insights with practical implications, and encourages cross-disciplinary approaches that address the complex and evolving dynamics of the modern world. ALPAMET seeks to advance knowledge and contribute to both academic scholarship and practical applications in law, education, and the broader humanities.
Fakultas Sastra Universitas Muslim Indonesia
Comparative Analysis and Insights into The Criminal Justice Systems of Nigeria and Ghana
Nigeria and Ghana share an English common-law heritage, yet differences in political structure and institutional capacity have produced distinct criminal justice outcomes. This article compares their legal frameworks, institutions, reform efforts, operational challenges, and cross-border cooperation mechanisms while identifying practices that could strengthen justice administration. It adopts comparative and doctrinal approach, examining relevant constitutions, statutes, judicial decisions, policy reports, institutional publications, and scholarly literature. It reveals Nigeria introduced significant reforms through the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, the Police Act 2020, and the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019. However, federal fragmentation, uneven implementation, prolonged pre-trial detention, inadequate funding, corruption, police misconduct, limited legal aid, and slow technological adoption constrain their effectiveness. Ghana’s unitary structure supports more consistent implementation, stronger legal-aid arrangements, non-custodial sentencing, alternative dispute resolution, and e-justice initiatives. Nevertheless, Ghana continues to face judicial misconduct, unequal access to justice, resource constraints, and limited acceptance of restorative justice. Both countries also encounter difficulties in extradition, information sharing, and regional responses to transnational crime. Effective reform requires consistent implementation, adequate resources, stronger institutional independence and oversight, expanded legal aid, wider use of restorative and non-custodial measures, judicial digitalization, and deeper regional cooperation.
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Aesthetic Intelligence as Governance Infrastructure: Movement, Colour and Objects in Anaañ Data Protocol
Governance is commonly associated with written law, bureaucratic institutions, and archival records. This association privileges text and marginalises other modes through which societies regulate behaviour, allocate rights, and assert authority. Among the Anaañ of south-eastern Nigeria, governance is also enacted through aesthetics. Movement, colour, and objects operate as protocols that determine who may perform, who may witness, and who may know. This article proposes the concept of aesthetic intelligence to describe this phenomenon. Aesthetic intelligence refers to the use of sensory and material forms, including dance, chromatic application, and regalia, as systems of data governance. These systems encode law, mark jurisdiction, and enforce restrictions. They function without writing and persist across generations. Three Anaañ protocols illustrate this argument: the movement of awieagwo, the soldiers for defence of Anaañ sovereignty; the application of nnom, kaolin used in ritual access; and the regalia of Ekpo, the Anaañ mask protocol. Analysis of these cases demonstrates that aesthetics are not ornamental but infrastructural.
Sacred Groves and the Spirits of the Forest: Indigenous Religious Conservation Ethics and the Crisis of Biodiversity Loss in Cross River State, Nigeria
The sacred groves of Cross River State, known among the Ejagham as Mfam forests and among the Boki as Nfam groves, represent one of Africa's most significant indigenous conservation systems. These forest patches, protected by religious taboos and ancestral sanctions, have preserved old-growth forest, protected watersheds, and provided habitat for endangered species including the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) and the drill monkey (Mandrillus leucophaeus) for centuries. However, the rapid expansion of Pentecostal Christianity, commercial agriculture, and logging since the 1990s has placed these groves under unprecedented pressure. This paper examines the indigenous religious ethics that underpin sacred grove conservation, the threats these groves currently face, and the consequences of their destruction for biodiversity and community well-being. Drawing on fieldwork in Ejagham and Boki communities, interviews with grove custodians, Pentecostal pastors, and conservation officials, and vegetation surveys comparing grove and non-grove forest, the paper argues that the loss of sacred groves represents not only an ecological crisis but a religious and cultural one. Effective conservation in Cross River State requires engagement with the indigenous religious traditions that have protected these forests for generations.
Feminist Epistemology and the Problem of Testimonial Injustice: Nigerian Women's Accounts of Sexual Violence and the Crisis of Credibility
The politics of gubernatorial succession in Nigeria has been profoundly shaped by the phenomenon of godfatherism, in which outgoing governors exercise decisive influence over the selection of their successors. Ebonyi State, created in 1996 in southeastern Nigeria, provides a particularly instructive case study of this dynamic. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, the state has experienced three gubernatorial transitions, each marked by the active involvement of the incumbent in determining who would follow him. Martin Elechi, governor from 2007 to 2015, anointed David Umahi as his successor. Umahi, in turn, selected Francis Nwifuru to succeed him in 2023. This article traces the dynamics of these transitions, analysing the mechanisms through which outgoing governors have ensured the election of their chosen successors and the consequences of this pattern for democratic governance. Drawing on elite interviews, media archives, and electoral data, the study argues that the godfather model of succession, while effective in the short term, contains inherent instabilities. The interests of godfathers and godsons diverge once the successor assumes office, generating conflicts that have shaped Ebonyi’s political landscape. The article contributes to the literature on political succession, patron-client politics, and democratic consolidation in Africa by demonstrating that godfather politics is not a stable equilibrium but a contested and evolving phenomenon.
Godfathers, Godsons, and the Limits of Political Succession: An Analysis of Gubernatorial Transitions in Ebonyi State, 2007–2023
Abstract— The politics of gubernatorial succession in Nigeria has been profoundly shaped by the phenomenon of godfatherism, in which outgoing governors exercise decisive influence over the selection of their successors. Ebonyi State, created in 1996 in southeastern Nigeria, provides a particularly instructive case study of this dynamic. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, the state has experienced three gubernatorial transitions, each marked by the active involvement of the incumbent in determining who would follow him. Martin Elechi, governor from 2007 to 2015, anointed David Umahi as his successor. Umahi, in turn, selected Francis Nwifuru to succeed him in 2023. This article traces the dynamics of these transitions, analysing the mechanisms through which outgoing governors have ensured the election of their chosen successors and the consequences of this pattern for democratic governance. Drawing on elite interviews, media archives, and electoral data, the study argues that the godfather model of succession, while effective in the short term, contains inherent instabilities. The interests of godfathers and godsons diverge once the successor assumes office, generating conflicts that have shaped Ebonyi's political landscape. The article contributes to the literature on political succession, patron-client politics, and democratic consolidation in Africa by demonstrating that godfather politics is not a stable equilibrium but a contested and evolving phenomenon.
Postcolonial Reading of Matthew 2:13–23 in the Context of Migration and Xenophobia
This study is a postcolonial interpretation of Matthew 2:13-23 in relation to the problems of migration in the world in general, and Nigeria in particular. The study holds that the account of the flight of infant Jesus with his parents to Egypt could not only be interpreted as a fulfillment story relating to salvation history but could also be read in a socio-political context, particularly in terms of existential threat, forced migration, and divine solidarity with the vulnerable. The article adopts a conceptual and analytical approaches, relying on relevant literature on postcolonial politics, migration, xenophobia and the Nigerian migration experience. It makes the point that Matthew's story of the infancy reveals existential threat and violence against the vulnerable by rulers who misuse and abuse power. It also questions the actions of various nations, states and communities that criminalise and mistreat migrants, but do not take into consideration the political, economic and social factors for migration. The study maintains that the Nigerian Japa syndrome, for example, tells the story of a people whose life is characterised by existential crises, struggles and the desperate quest for survival, dignity of labour, enhanced livelihood. The study proposes hospitality model in rethinking migration policies to ensure justice, protection, and shared humanity.
Banditry, Displacement, and the Remaking of Rural Livelihoods: the Political Economy of Forced Migration in Northwestern Nigeria
— The escalation of armed banditry in northwestern Nigeria since 2018 has generated one of the country's most severe displacement crises, forcing over 300,000 people from their rural communities across Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, and Sokoto States. While existing scholarship has focused on the immediate humanitarian dimensions of this crisis and on the military and policy responses of the state, considerably less attention has been paid to the long-term reconfiguration of rural livelihoods among displaced populations. This article examines how forced migration induced by banditry has reshaped agricultural practices, labour markets, and land tenure systems in both source communities and host areas. Drawing on a political economy framework and the concept of forced immobility, the study employs a mixed-methods design combining a household survey of 300 displaced and host-community households across three local government areas in Zamfara and Katsina States with in-depth interviews with community leaders, agricultural extension workers, and local government officials. Findings reveal that displacement has precipitated a fundamental restructuring of agrarian livelihoods characterised by the collapse of household food production, the transformation of land access from customary to monetised arrangements, the erosion of communal labour systems, and the emergence of new patterns of dependency on humanitarian assistance and urban informal economies. The study further demonstrates that displacement does not affect all households uniformly. Differential access to social networks, financial capital, and off-farm skills produces divergent livelihood trajectories, with some households achieving partial recovery while others descend into chronic vulnerability. The paper concludes that displacement is not merely a temporary disruption but a process of profound economic restructuring with lasting implications for food security, rural governance, and the political economy of the region. Policy implications for livelihood restoration programmes that address the structural causes of vulnerability are discussed.
Monday Sit-at-Home in Southeastern Nigeria: A Contradiction to the Objectives of the Indigenous People of Biafra
Among the strategies through which the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has sought to express its grievances against the Nigerian state, the Monday sit-at-home order in the southeastern region has emerged as the most contradictory to the movement's stated objectives. IPOB is a separatist movement whose principal aims are to secure the independence of the defunct Republic of Biafra and to promote the welfare of the predominantly Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. This study critically interrogates why the movement initiated a protest strategy that has manifested as a self-inflicted wound upon the very population it claims to protect. While some scholars view the Monday sit-at-home as a legitimate tactic for achieving the movement's goals, and others interpret it as a protest against the marginalisation of the Igbo in Nigeria, this paper argues that it constitutes a self-imposed economic and social burden on the people, frustrating their livelihoods and damaging their political standing. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on primary and secondary sources analysed qualitatively. Findings reveal that the sit-at-home order has resulted in substantial economic losses, disruption of educational activities, increased insecurity, and the erosion of the movement's non-violent credentials. The paper proposes alternative strategies more aligned with IPOB's objectives, including stakeholder engagement, the establishment of regional orientation institutions, and sustained educational campaigns. It concludes that any strategy which violates the welfare of the people it purports to serve demands discontinuation.
The Bakassi Aftermath: Sovereignty, Displacement, and the Remaking of Littoral Boundaries in Cross River State, 2008–2026
The 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment awarding the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon is widely regarded as a landmark in African international boundary jurisprudence. Yet the socio legal and political reverberations of this judgment continue to unfold more than two decades later. This study examines the multi scalar boundary transformations triggered by the cession of Bakassi, focusing on three intersecting borderlands: the international boundary with Cameroon (the Bakassi cession itself), the inter state maritime boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom (the contested 76 offshore oil wells), and the re drawn coastline of Cross River State following the loss of its littoral status. Drawing on legal document analysis, archival research, media reports, and civil society testimony, the study investigates how displaced indigenous communities, state governments, and international legal regimes navigate, contest, and renegotiate these overlapping boundaries nearly two decades after the ICJ ruling. The study advances two central arguments. First, the Bakassi cession did not resolve boundary contestation but merely relocated and transformed it, producing new forms of conflict at different scales: administrative cartographic violence at the inter state level (the “erasure” of Cross River from the derivation map) and humanitarian crisis at the community level (the displacement of indigenous fishing populations). Second, the governance vacuum created by the cession has generated what may be termed a “jurisdictional paradox”: the territory is legally Cameroonian but its displaced population remains politically Nigerian, creating a population rendered stateless in all but formal legal status. The findings carry profound implications for literatures on borderland governance, critical cartography, and the political economy of resource extraction in Africa.
Putting Finnegan on Trial: Anaañ Ekoñ And Affioñ Drama as Evidence Against Orientalist Generalisation and Colonial Epistemic Violence
Arnold B. Udoka Abstract— This paper puts Ruth Finnegan’s 1970 universal claim that “drama does not exist in Africa” (Finnegan, 1970, p. 508) on trial. Finnegan did not write on Anaañ drama at any time and never cited John Cowan Messenger’s Anaañ ethnography. In this discourse, she encounters Messenger’s evidence for the first time in the academic court. Read through Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) and Gayatri Spivak’s epistemic violence (1988), her universal delegitimisation is exposed as discourse produced through selective ignorance, not data. Her Eurocentric criteria constructed African cultures, including Anaañ, as absence by measuring performance against European proscenium theatre, despite Messenger’s 1959 documentation of Ekoñ [Messenger’s “Ekong”] and Affioñ [Messenger’s “Affiong/Offiong”] among the Anaañ/Oron. Messenger recorded Ekoñ with staged conflict, role-played characters, plot, arena staging, audience judgment, and social control. He also recorded Affioñ, teenage courtship drama enacted through dance with plot, character, and conflict. In Anaañ language, the people are Anaañ and the drama is Affioñ, meaning “the moon.” Messenger maintained colonial naming and orthography for academic consistency in 1962 and 1971 publications. This paper introduces Messenger’s Anaañ evidence into the discourse for the first time to refute Finnegan’s universal claim that “drama does not exist in Africa” (Finnegan, 1970, p. 508). African scholarship delivers the counter-verdict: Ogunbiyi (1981) asserted “Ibibio [Anaañ] drama [Ekoñ and Affioñ] surpasses... modern European drama” (p. 23). Contemporary Ekoñ and Affioñ performance confirms Messenger. The implication is methodological: African theatre studies must reject universal claims about “Africa” and center specific ethnographies like Anaañ Ekoñ and Affioñ. The subaltern speaks in Anaañ by its right name.
Exploring the Impact of Sports And Culture on Students in Delta Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria
The study utilized a structured questionnaire titled “Sports and Culture Impact Questionnaire (SCIQ)” as the primary instrument for data collection. The questionnaire comprised four sections. Section A gathered demographic information such as age, gender, institution, and year level. Section B measured sports participation, focusing on the frequency, type, and level of involvement using a 5-point Likert scale. Section C assessed cultural engagement by examining participation in activities such as music, dance, drama, festivals, and language clubs, including self-perceived cultural identity. Section D evaluated student outcomes through self-reported academic performance, social cohesion, and psychological well-being. To ensure content validity, the instrument underwent expert review by two lecturers in Physical and Health Education and two lecturers in Sociology and Cultural Studies. Their feedback helped refine the clarity and relevance of the items, ensuring alignment with the study’s objectives. Reliability was confirmed through a pilot study conducted with 30 students from a non-selected tertiary institution. Cronbach’s alpha values were satisfactory: 0.82 for sports participation, 0.79 for cultural engagement, and 0.85 for student outcomes, all exceeding the recommended 0.70 threshold. Data collection followed a systematic procedure. Institutional approval was first obtained, and informed consent was secured from all participants. Trained research assistants administered and retrieved the questionnaires in classrooms and campus common areas, with each participant completing the instrument within 15–20 minutes. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 28. Descriptive statistics summarized the demographic characteristics and key variables, while inferential statistics—including Pearson correlation, multiple regression, t-tests, and ANOVA—were used to test relationships and group differences, with significance set at p < 0.05..
Metaphysical Foundation of Bekwarra Epistemology: A Study of An Indigenous Knowledge System in Cross River State, Nigeria
The dominant discourse in Western epistemology has long proceeded on the assumption that knowledge claims can be isolated from metaphysical commitments. This paper challenges that assumption by examining the metaphysical foundations of knowledge among the Bekwarra people of northern Cross River State, Nigeria. The Bekwarra, a minority ethnic group with a population estimated at approximately 150,000, possess a distinctive worldview that has been understudied in African philosophy. Drawing on primary ethnographic sources, oral traditions, and existing scholarship, the study demonstrates that Bekwarra epistemology is inextricably grounded in a distinctive metaphysical framework characterised by three irreducible strands: creative determinism rooted in the supreme deity Okah and the progenitor Agba; reactive interference mediated by spiritual entities such as Nndum and the Igbatorobi cult; and representativeness expressed through naming practices, nicknames, and the Agwunihe philosophy of land ownership. The paper argues that these metaphysical commitments are not pre logical or proto scientific but constitute a coherent, internally consistent system that generates genuine knowledge. This has profound implications for cross cultural philosophy, for it suggests that what counts as knowledge in any tradition is shaped by what that tradition takes reality to be. The paper concludes that a truly global epistemology must take seriously the metaphysical diversity of human thought and cannot privilege a putatively neutral, disembedded conception of rationality.
Symbiosophies: In Dialogue with African, Eastern, and Western Philosophies of Mutual Dependence Beyond Universalism and Relativism
This study advances Symbiosophy or Symbiosophies, a groundbreaking philosophical paradigm coined and espoused by Elias Ifeanyi E. Uzoigwe, as a transformative framework for reimagining intercultural philosophy in an age of profound global interdependence. At its core lies the argument that mutual dependence is not merely a social ideal but the foundational principle of reality, knowledge, and ethical life. Against the homogenizing tendencies of universalism and the fragmenting impulses of relativism, Symbiosophies articulates a relational philosophy in which human existence, personhood, and moral responsibility are fundamentally co-constituted. The study aims to develop a robust comparative paradigm for understanding how African, Eastern, and Western philosophical traditions conceptualize interdependence, coexistence, and human flourishing. Specifically, it examines convergences and divergences among African communitarianism, Eastern relational metaphysics, and Western dialogical and ecological thought; critiques the limitations of universalist and relativist models; and formulates Symbiosophies as a global philosophy for intercultural dialogue. Employing a Symbiosophic-comparative-hermeneutic methodology, the study integrates textual analysis, intercultural interpretation, and philosophical reconstruction. Its findings reveal a profound, though often under-theorized, convergence across traditions: reality is relational, knowledge is dialogical, and ethics arises from interconnected existence. Symbiosophies offers a non-hegemonic model of pluralistic universality, one that preserves cultural particularity while enabling shared ethical horizons via dialogical reciprocity and relational accountability. By redefining universality as relational and relativism as dialogically accountable, it emerges as a vivacious 21st-century philosophy. The study concludes by recommending Symbiosophies as a foundational framework for comparative philosophy, global ethics, intercultural solidarity, peacebuilding, environmental stewardship, sustainable coexistence, and policy discourse aimed at fostering epistemic justice in an increasingly interconnected world.
Exploring Human Resource Practitioners’ Experiences of Using the Public Employee Performance Management Information System (PEPMIS) in Managing Employee Performance in the Public Service
The Public Employee Performance Management Information System (PEPMIS) was introduced in Tanzania to strengthen employee performance management across the public service. Despite wide implementation, limited attention has been given to how Human Resource (HR) practitioners experience the system within everyday institutional contexts. This study examined practitioner experiences across five dimensions: system usability, organisational support, user competence and training, technical challenges, and effectiveness in supporting the full performance management cycle. Guided by the Technology Acceptance Model and the Job Demands–Resources Theory, a qualitative interpretivist design was employed, using semi-structured interviews with twenty-five purposively selected HR professionals. Findings reveal that usability is undermined by slow responses, complex navigation, and inconsistent functionality. Organisational support is weakened by limited leadership involvement, poor coordination, and inadequate technical assistance. User competence is compromised by insufficient practical training, while technical challenges stem from weak infrastructure and unreliable connectivity. Although PEPMIS enhances documentation and transparency, its effectiveness is undermined by a misalignment between system demands and institutional capacity. The study concludes that effective digital performance management requires stronger organisational commitment, improved infrastructure, and sustained user capacity development.
Human Resource Practitioners’ Experiences
The Application of International Treaties in Nigeria: A Panacea to the Unending Legal Debacle of Intestate Succession
The practice of intestate succession has undergone significant evolution, with recent developments highlighting concerns about human rights and the importance of respecting an egalitarian society. The practice in Nigeria, especially with the application of customary law, is shrouded in the discrimination of rights; in all of these, women are mostly affected, considering their copious vulnerabilities. It is in light of these concerns that Nigeria needs to adopt and implement international best standards. Why should Nigeria adopt and implement these international best standards? What are the potential premiums accruing to the implementation of international treaties centered on promoting minority rights, like those affecting women and children? These are some of the key questions answered in this article. The methodology used for this research is doctrinal. It relied on primary and secondary sources such as legal texts, judicial decisions, journals, the internet, international treaties, and conventions to analyze the interplay between domestic and international legal frameworks in addressing the rights of women and children in inheritance matters. The findings reveal that, despite constitutional guarantees of equality, Nigerian customary and religious practices often undermine women’s and female children’s rights to inheritance. Judicial interventions have provided some relief by invalidating discriminatory customs, but such relief remains inconsistent and limited. The research further demonstrates that international treaties—such as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the African Charter, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) offer normative frameworks that, once domesticated, can serve as binding legal instruments to protect women’s inheritance rights and harmonize Nigeria’s fragmented legal order. The article concludes that effective domestication and implementation of key international treaties, particularly CEDAW and the African Charter, will empower courts to expunge discriminatory customary practices and ensure that domestic succession laws align with Nigeria’s international human rights obligations. The study recommends enhanced judicial training, legislative reforms, and public sensitization to facilitate the consistent protection of women’s rights and promote fairness and equality in intestate succession.
The Place of Measurement and Evaluation in National Policy of Education in Nigeria Educational System
This study examined the place of measurement and evaluation in the National Policy on Education in Nigeria’s educational system. The study was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study consisted of 5,420 educational stakeholders, while a sample of 542 respondents was selected using a 10% sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire titled Measurement and Evaluation in National Policy on Education Questionnaire (MENPEQ). The instrument was validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha, which yielded a coefficient of 0.82. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions, while z-test statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that measurement and evaluation play a significant role in ensuring quality assurance in Nigerian education. It was also found that measurement and evaluation significantly influence curriculum implementation in schools. Furthermore, the study revealed that effective measurement and evaluation improve educational outcomes when properly implemented. However, several challenges such as inadequate teacher training, poor funding, large class sizes, and lack of assessment materials were found to hinder effective implementation of measurement and evaluation in Nigeria’s educational system. The hypotheses tested showed that measurement and evaluation have a significant effect on quality assurance, curriculum implementation, and educational outcomes. The study concluded that measurement and evaluation are essential components of the National Policy on Education and are critical for improving educational quality and accountability in Nigeria. It was recommended that government should strengthen teacher training, improve funding, and enhance the use of modern assessment tools to improve evaluation practices in schools.
The Discourse of the Human Person and Its Eschatology in Urhobo Ontology: A Philosophical Perusal
This paper provides an in-depth analysis of issues concerning the human person and its eschatology in Urhobo ontology, with specific interest in how the Urhobo people of Southern Nigeria conceive and understand the concepts of existence, death, and destiny. The study addresses the perceived neglect of holistic African perceptions in the analysis of the human person, particularly in relation to the concepts of personhood and the afterlife. The essence of this study is to highlight traditional African beliefs that provide a moral and communal framework shaping scholarly discussions as they relate to life and death. In Urhobo thought, personhood is conceived as a unity of body, spirit, and destiny. The study also highlights how their eschatological beliefs provide a moral and communal framework that shapes both life and death. Employing the methods of philosophical analysis and hermeneutics, the paper argues that the Urhobo view death not as an end but as a transition into Erivwin, the spiritual realm, and that moral conduct, communal belonging, and proper burial rites determine one's ultimate destiny. Ancestorhood is considered the highest fulfillment and attainment of the human person, serving as both a moral ideal and an eschatological goal. The paper concludes by affirming that Urhobo ontology offers a holistic perception of the human person, where morality, communal living, and destiny are inseparable, contributing importantly to global philosophical reflections on the themes of life and the afterlife.
An Analysis of Environmental Pollution Laws and Regulations in Nigeria
The Nigerian environment faces a multitude of severe pollution challenges, including pervasive oil spillages, continuous gas flaring, desertification, drought, climate change impacts, escalating municipal waste generation, and gully erosion. These persistent problems are exacerbated by rapid population growth and the relentless exploitation of natural resources. In response, the Nigerian government has enacted a suite of environmental pollution prevention laws and established regulatory bodies designed to abate environmental degradation. This paper examines the concept of the environment and its components, defines pollution and its various types, and investigates the primary causes of environmental pollution in Nigeria. It provides a critical analysis of the key environmental pollution prevention laws and regulations, evaluating their effectiveness in stemming the tide of environmental degradation. The analysis reveals that while a comprehensive legal framework exists on paper, its effectiveness is critically undermined by outdated provisions, weak enforcement mechanisms, constitutional limitations, and a lack of political will. The paper advocates for significant legal and policy reforms, including the strengthening of institutional capacity, enhanced public participation, and a renewed commitment to the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources to achieve a more effective environmental enforcement regime in Nigeria.
A Corpus Based Analysis of Explicitation and Neutralization Strategies in ECOWAS French Translations of Nigerian Political Discourse
This paper investigates the translation strategies employed in rendering Nigerian political discourse into French for dissemination within the Economic Community of West African States. Using a corpus based approach, the study examines a specialized collection of ECOWAS official documents, policy briefs, and communiqués translated from English Nigerian political texts into French between 2015 and 2023. The analysis focuses on two principal translation strategies: explicitation, whereby implicit information in the source text is made explicit in the target text, and neutralization, whereby culturally specific or politically charged terminology is rendered more neutral or generic. The findings reveal systematic patterns in how Nigerian political concepts, particularly those rooted in local idioms, proverbial expressions, and culturally specific institutions, are transformed in translation. Explicitation strategies are frequently employed to clarify opaque cultural references for a diverse West African francophone audience, while neutralization strategies are deployed to manage politically sensitive content and to conform to the diplomatic register of ECOWAS discourse. The study contributes to the growing field of African translation studies and offers insights into the linguistic mediation of political communication in multilingual regional organizations.
A Critical Evaluation of the Four Cardinal Dimensions of Prosperity Gospel: Spiritual Prosperity, Material Prosperity, Social Prosperity, and Social Well-Being – A Case Study of the Dunamis International Gospel Church
The central problem addressed in this study arises from the apparent imbalance in prosperity teachings, which often place greater emphasis on material and physical well-being than on the primary message of salvation and discipleship. The primary objectives of this study are to identify and analyze the four cardinal dimensions of prosperity as taught in Dunamis Church, to appraise their theological and biblical foundations, and to assess their impact on the spiritual and social lives of members and the broader society. The research adopted a qualitative methodology, utilizing a case study approach that combined doctrinal analysis, textual interpretation, and review of relevant theological literature. The study is grounded in the Prosperity Theology framework, which posits that faith, positive confession, and covenant obedience are the keys to comprehensive and all inclusive prosperity. The findings reveal that Dunamis Church presents a complete view of prosperity that incorporates spiritual growth, financial achievement, social influence, and overall well being. While this comprehensive approach has empowered many faithful economically and socially, it also risks promoting the problematic teaching that God's blessings are measured solely by material achievements. The study discovers that placing excessive emphasis on material achievements may unconsciously weaken Christian values of humility, service, and redemptive suffering. Through case studies and interdisciplinary insights, the study concludes that Prosperity theology as taught and practiced in Dunamis Church encompasses both strengths and weaknesses. Its emphasis on faith, productivity, and human flourishing aligns with the biblical vision of abundant life, yet it requires theological balance to maintain the preeminence of spiritual transformation over material achievement. The study recommends that theologians and preachers of the Gospel should communicate messages that emphasize a more Christocentric understanding of prosperity, one that incorporates salvation, stewardship, and social responsibility. It also calls for profound theological education among Prosperity Gospel preachers to teach the Gospel that promotes both spiritual maturity and social justice in the Church.
Effect of Blended Learning Approach on Students’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics in Delta North Senatorial District of Delta State
This study investigated the effect of blended learning approach on students’ academic achievement in Mathematics in Delta north senatorial district of Delta state. Three research questions and hypotheses were each raised to guide the study. The scope of the study covered the effect of blended learning approach on students’ academic achievement in SSS2 Mathematics in Algebra and Probability. The study is delimited to public secondary schools in the senatorial district. The design of the study was a quasi experimental design of pretest-posttest control group. The population of the study comprised all Senior Secondary School 2 (SSS 2) students in public secondary schools in the nine local government areas of Delta north senatorial district in the 2024/2025 academic session. The population of the study was 3,473 candidates. A multi stage sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of 225 SSS2 Mathematics students (105 males, and 120 females). Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was 0.79 obtained using Kudar-Richardson formulae 20 (KR-20). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and independent sample t-test were employed to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the result revealed that students exposed to the blended learning approach performed better than those exposed to the conventional lecture method. The findings also showed a significant difference between male and female students exposed to blended learning approach in favor of male students, and no interaction effect between instructional methods and sex. Based on the findings of this study, blended learning approach should be practiced thoroughly by Mathematics teachers as the method has been proven effective in enhancing students’ Mathematics academic achievement.
The Jurisprudential Paradox: Re-Examining the Proportionality Requirement in the Defence of Provocation Under Nigerian Criminal Law
The defence of provocation in Nigerian criminal law has long been burdened by an internal inconsistency: the requirement that a provoked person's response must be proportionate to the provocation received. This doctrine, borrowed from English common law and consistently applied by Nigerian courts, demands rational restraint from an individual who, by the very definition of provocation, is said to have lost self-control and the mastery of his own mind. This study examines the jurisprudential foundation of the proportionality requirement and questions whether it can logically coexist with the core premise of the defence. Adopting a doctrinal legal research methodology, the paper analyses relevant Nigerian statutes (the Criminal Code and Penal Code), case law from the Supreme Court and lower courts, and comparative English authorities. The study finds that while the proportionality doctrine is firmly embedded in Nigerian judicial practice, neither the Criminal Code nor the Penal Code expressly incorporates it as an independent ingredient of the defence. Furthermore, the requirement creates a logical paradox: a person who has genuinely lost self-control cannot simultaneously be expected to measure the reasonableness of his response. Medical and psychological evidence on stress responses further undermines the doctrine's assumptions. The paper concludes that proportionality should be reframed as one evidentiary factor among several, rather than a mandatory separate requirement. It recommends legislative reform to resolve this paradox and bring Nigerian criminal law into greater coherence with its own foundational principles.
Maritime Education and the Training Challenges under Applicable Nigeria Laws: Need to Harmonise with Global Best Practices
Maritime education and seafarers’ training are crucial to achieving cabotage and maritime law policies. Cabotage law, by its nature as a local content law, presupposes that local nationals are well trained in line with the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) to match the standards of expatriates or foreign counterparts. The need for citizens to be equally qualified in professional terms to man vessels and drive the cabotage industry of their respective countries cannot be overemphasised. Recognising this, Nigeria institutionalised technical training through various regulatory bodies, such as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), to ensure adequate manpower supply in the industry. The study adopted the doctrinal approach to legal research and made use of both primary and secondary sources of law. However, the paper found that Nigeria is confronted with foreign dominance, lack of adequate resources, and financial misappropriation, among other issues. Consequently, as a way forward to achieving the enormous benefits in the industry, access to funding and resources, alongside the fight against corruption, are ways to overhaul the system. Others include staff development, international collaboration, and investment in modern infrastructure and technology. The recommendations are geared towards safeguarding the training and regulatory institutions from collapse and upholding institutional integrity. Nigeria can also adopt the aggressive models of the Philippine system to improve the Nigerian cabotage industry. The findings may also benefit other countries facing similar challenges.
The Allure of Easy Money: Sports Betting as a Coping Mechanism for Economic Hardship Among Tanzanian Youth: A Case Study of Dar es Salaam
This study examines the proliferation of sports betting among youth in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as a response to persistent economic hardship and limited formal employment opportunities. Despite contributing over TZS 17.42 billion in taxes and generating substantial government revenue, Tanzania’s rapidly expanding betting industry has raised significant public health concerns, particularly among unemployed and underemployed young men who increasingly view gambling as a viable income generation strategy rather than entertainment. Drawing on qualitative case study methodology, this research explores how economic precarity shapes betting behaviors and why youth in Dar es Salaam turn to gambling as a perceived pathway out of poverty. Data from semistructured interviews with affected youth, family members, and mental health professionals reveal that betting companies strategically leverage success narratives and digital marketing to exploit economic vulnerabilities. The study also analyzes gaps in Tanzania’s current regulatory framework under the Gaming Act (CAP. 41) and draws comparative insights from effective interventions implemented in other emerging markets. Findings suggest that the normalization of betting as an economic coping mechanism reflects deeper structural failures in addressing youth unemployment and economic inclusion. This research contributes to the growing literature on gambling behaviors in low income settings and offers practical policy recommendations for balancing industry regulation with public health protection. The study underscores the urgent need for comprehensive interventions that address both the supply side of gambling services and the underlying economic drivers that make betting appealing to vulnerable populations.
Poverty Reduction Strategies for Sustainable Economic Growth: Implications for Women's Empowerment in Nigeria
This paper examines the interplay between poverty reduction strategies, sustainable economic growth, and women's empowerment in Nigeria. Despite Nigeria's cultural diversity and economic potential, the nation grapples with entrenched poverty that disproportionately affects women. Research from the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER, 2020) underscores women's heightened vulnerability to poverty, stemming from factors like limited land ownership and constrained access to credit. The paper addresses the problem of gender disparities exacerbated by the absence of policies tailored to women's unique challenges. It underscores the need for gender equity, not only for social justice but as a practical necessity for fostering sustainable economic growth. The paper employs a multidimensional approach, drawing from existing research, policy frameworks, and theoretical perspectives including feminist theory, intersectionality theory, and empowerment theory. Key findings emphasize the potential advantages of gender-integrated poverty reduction strategies, including increased economic growth, reduced poverty, improved human capital development, and enhanced gender equality. The paper also highlights challenges such as entrenched gender norms and difficulties in targeting vulnerable populations. The paper concludes by underscoring the importance of integrating gender considerations into poverty reduction strategies, recommending gender mainstreaming in policies to promote women's economic participation and rights. The significance of this research lies in its potential to inform policy decisions and promote women's empowerment in Nigeria, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Impact of Economic Policies on Churches and Faith-Based Organisations in Nigeria
The economic policies of the Tinubu-led administration, including subsidy removal, naira floating, and fuel taxation, were enacted in 2023 with the aim of stimulating economic growth through the attraction of foreign investors and increased government revenue. However, the timing of these policies has proven problematic, as they were implemented when the country was already grappling with significant macroeconomic challenges such as inflation, low government revenue, high budget deficits, and increased foreign debt. This paper examines the multifaceted impact of these economic policies on churches and faith-based organisations in Nigeria. It explores how these policies affect the operational sustainability, social outreach, and financial structures of these religious institutions. Drawing on case studies, media reports, and policy documents, the study highlights how economic shifts can constrain faith-based organisations' ability to provide welfare services, fund missions, and maintain infrastructure. It also considers the adaptive strategies employed by churches, including financial restructuring, increased emphasis on stewardship, and strategic partnerships. The paper submits that there is a strong connection between government economic policies and the operational sustainability, social outreach, and financial structure of churches and faith-based organisations in Nigeria.
Aggression Never Learns: Historical Parallels and Patterns in the Russia-Ukraine War
This paper examines the Russia-Ukraine war through the lens of comparative historical analysis, identifying recurring patterns in Russian imperial expansion, European responses to aggression, and the tragic repetition of diplomatic miscalculations across centuries. Drawing upon extensive scholarship, archival sources, and contemporary analysis from 2022 to 2026, this paper explores four principal historical parallels that illuminate the current conflict. First, the Crimean War (1853–1856) serves as a precursor to Russia's contemporary strategic overreach, demonstrating how tsarist ambitions in Ottoman territories parallel Putin's designs on Ukraine, and how both conflicts arose from anxieties about declining influence and the spread of Western ideas. Second, the paper examines the catastrophic diplomatic precedents of the Munich Agreement (1938) and the Yalta Conference (1945), drawing cautionary lessons for contemporary peace negotiations that risk sacrificing Ukrainian sovereignty for illusory stability. Third, the Budapest Memorandum (1994) is analysed as a testament to the fragility of security assurances when unaccompanied by enforceable guarantees, demonstrating how Ukraine's voluntary nuclear disarmament was met with betrayal rather than protection. Fourth, the paper investigates Russia's systematic weaponisation of history itself, deploying distorted historical narratives to justify aggression, deny Ukrainian statehood, and mobilise domestic support for war. Through these parallel investigations, the paper argues that while history does not literally repeat, it offers discernible patterns that, if ignored, condemn successive generations to relearn the same costly lessons. The paper concludes by considering what historical consciousness demands of the international community in responding to Russian aggression and supporting Ukrainian resistance.
Climate, Induced Migration and Farmer, Herder Conflicts: The Mediating Role of Border Delineation in the Nigeria, Cameroon Bakassi Peninsula Fallout
This paper examines the intricate nexus between climate, induced environmental stress, human migration, and violent conflict, with a specific focus on the mediating and exacerbating role of international border delineation. Using the protracted dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula between Nigeria and Cameroon as a critical case study, it argues that climate change acts as a threat multiplier in a historically contested border region, transforming environmental scarcity into geopolitical and inter, communal tension. The analysis traces how rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and freshwater salinization in the Gulf of Guinea have degraded livelihoods, forcing communities, primarily Nigerian fishers and farmers, to migrate inward. This movement intersects with pre, existing patterns of herder migration from Nigeria’s arid north, also intensified by climate pressures, leading to heightened competition over arable land and resources in Nigeria’s border states. The paper posits that the ambiguous and contested nature of the Nigeria, Cameroon border, culminating in the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling ceding Bakassi to Cameroon, created a unique zone of legal uncertainty, weak governance, and militarization. This environment mediated the translation of climate, induced migration into violent farmer, herder conflicts. The border delineation did not merely provide a backdrop but actively shaped the pathways of displacement, the contestation of citizenship and land rights, and the efficacy of state responses. Through an interdisciplinary lens combining political geography, environmental security, and conflict studies, this paper concludes that effective conflict resolution in the region must simultaneously address the twin challenges of climate resilience and post, adjudication borderland integration, moving beyond purely legalistic solutions to incorporate human security and ecological sustainability.
Domestic Violence Victims Support and Restorative Justice in the Nigerian Criminal Justice System
Following its colonial legal system, the criminal justice system in Nigeria has been focusing on punishing criminals since long with few considerations to the victims of the crimes. Consequently, the delay of examination and sometimes harassment or even extortion by the authorities may begin as victims often become exposed to so-called secondary victimization. The analysis in this work applies doctrinal legal research and literature review in analyzing the relevance of the concepts of victimology, restorative justice theory and international legal norms in informing victim support in Nigeria. The Paper examined Nigerian legislations (Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, etc.) in the light of international best experience. Findings revealed that though statutes facilitate the provision of discretionary compensation and restitution (e.g. ACJA 2015, EFCC Act s.14) enforcement is weak as the needs of victims are overruled. The scholarship observes that the retributive orientation left victims unrepaired through an inheritance in Nigeria. Victims are explicitly at the center of the restorative justice models (including the Nigerian Ehugbo). Globally, other instruments such as the UN declaration of the Victims (1985) and the ICC Rome Statute Article 75 support the right of the victims in relation to information, protection, participation, and reparation. My suggestion is that Nigeria should implement restorative practices and incorporate them into practice, as well as adopt the necessary mandatory schemes of victim compensation and update the laws with correspondent international standards in order to normalize the exploitation of the victim with the goal of providing him or her with justice and relief.
Reconnecting to Rebirth a New Progressive Africa and World
Prevailing linear theories of historical progress, derived from European experiences, have often obscured Africa's foundational and cyclical contributions to human civilization. This paper critiques this linear paradigm, arguing that it selectively edits history to emphasize a European trajectory from Greece and Rome to the Industrial Revolution while neglecting Africa’s pivotal early roles in human evolution, agriculture, technology, and the early Christian Church. The analysis traces how this external lens, combined with the catastrophic disruptions of the trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic slave trades, fractured African development. The Atlantic trade, in particular, represented a unique and dehumanizing system that commodified people, triggering internal warfare and state destabilization across the continent. Moving forward, the paper contends that Africa’s renewal, a “rebirth” akin to a spiritual transformation, requires a deliberate reconnection with its own historical legacy and epistemic roots. This involves transcending a human rights framework to embrace a more profound African conception of human dignity, fostering internal collaboration, and regenerating knowledge systems in education, technology, and culture. Ultimately, the path to a progressive Africa and a more equitable world lies not in linear catch-up but in a cyclical reclamation and modernization of indigenous African genius.
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