Search

The proximate composition of Luffa Acutangula (sponge gourd) fruit collected from a dumpsite at Akpan Andem Market, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State was investigated. The parameters investigated were determined using standard biochemical methods. The proximate analysis of the leaves revealed that Luffa Acutangula (sponge gourd) is a poor source of protein (0.90) and lipid (0.30) but has very high carbohydrate content (68.20%), lignin (14.70%), hemicelluloses (15.80%) and cellulose (37.70%); moderate moisture (9.30%) and ash (10.40%). Results show that the plant can withstand moisture and will not deteriorate easily if used for food processing.

This research work analyzed the comparative study of the effect of electricity supply on the performance of small and medium-scale enterprises in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality,using small and medium scale businessmen and women as well as power holding company staff. The objectives of this study to analyze the comparative study of the effect of electricity supply on the performance of small and medium-scale enterprises in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality.The survey research design was adopted and a twelve (12) item structured questionnaire was used to obtain a sample size of 248 small and medium scale business owners and power holding staff randomly selected from the population. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant effect of electricity supply on the performance of small and medium-scale enterprises in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality. The results further revealed that insufficient electricity supply significantly affect the performance of small and medium-scale enterprises in Calabar South and Calabar Municipality.The study concludes that there are enormous difficulties being experienced by businesses in Cross River State and other parts of Nigeria due to inadequate and unreliable electric power supply. Thus an inadequate and unreliable supply of electricity imposes costs and therefore constrained firms’ operational performance as firms suffer high overhead cost due to the deficient electricity supply from the national grid. The study recommends that the Nigerian government needs to consider the issue of power supply reliability very seriously by facilitating both private and public investment in electricity infrastructure.

The research investigated the influence of truancy on the academic performance in English language of secondary school students in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve this, a null hypothesis was formulated to direct the study. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study sample size was two hundred (200) respondents who were randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through the simple random sampling technique. An English Language achievement test and a questionnaire were the instruments used for data collection. These instruments were subjected to face and content validation by experts in measurement and evaluation. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through test re-test reliability method. Pearson moment product correlation analysis was the test statistical technique adopted to test the hypothesis under study at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the finding showed that truancy significantly influences the academic performance of secondary school students in English language. Based on the finding, it was recommended that well behaved students should be given special recognition/award by the school and other well-meaning individuals, as recommended by the school authority.

The research investigated the relationship between school administration and performance in English language among secondary school students in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of the study, four null hypotheses were formulated to direct the study. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study. A sample size of two hundred (200) respondents was randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through the simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire and an English Language achievement test were the instruments used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face and content validation by experts in measurement and evaluation. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through test-re-test reliability method. Pearson Moment Product Correlation Analysis was the statistical analysis technique adopted to test the hypotheses under study. Each hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the findings revealed that school administration significantly related to the academic performance of students in English Language of secondary school students in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended that school administrators to effectively play their roles in order to enhance academic achievement of students.

Digitalization has rewritten the mechanics of everyday commerce, the world’s commercial space has witnessed the disruption of business models, premised on the need to trade efficiently, expand business frontiers beyond traditional matrixes and reduce costs. It is trite that before the taxman can lay claims to tax, the tax jurisdiction must be certain, the taxpayer must be properly identified and fall within the ambit of the tax laws, before enforcement of tax can be effectively carried out. Digitalization has now demystified the need for physical presence to transact businesses leading to the transition from taxing companies based on physical presence akin to permanent establishment prejudices in countries to a taxation model based on their digital presence as the case may be. Technology has greatly influenced the conduct of business transactions in the 21st Century and introduced swifter business models that have shifted business paradigms which can only be improved. Companies have leveraged on the digital business model and made profits by directly engaging customers and consumers in other climes hence making massive economic gain, with little or no taxes, and this contact has been viewed in the international commercial lenses as a breach of sovereignty of the countries affected. With digital tax gradually becoming the new face of tax, every country including Nigeria is on the front-end of ensuring that their tax laws are amended to prevent economic losses. The author assesses reasons that necessitated the Significant Economic Presence (SEP) order, how it will affect Nigeria’s economy, and identifies enforcement and the lack of a solid database as likely challenges. It is proposed that a dependable database and an efficient information gathering system is effected to aid the government and legal commentators in tracking digital businesses conducted in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Stock exchange recently indicated its intentions to introduce Exchange traded Derivatives to the Capital Markets as opposed to the existent Over-The-Counter (OTC) derivatives which has flourished over the years and has become popular amongst Capital Market Operators (CMO). Therefore, in the light of this development, the one million question on the lips of corporate stakeholders is “how would this step would benefit companies in their endeavour to raise Capital and maximize profits”? In the light of the above, this writer has painstakingly attempted to take a glimpse into the future to ascertain some probable benefits the introduction Exchange Traded Derivative on the Capital Market would have to Companies (both Foreign/indigenous).

In Nigeria, health indicators have continued to experience downward spiral movement despite government continued budgetary allocation to funding the health sector. This downward spiral movement seems to pose a question whether government expenditure on health alone is significant enough to provoke improvement in the health status of the population, or rather, if there are other social/economic factors necessary to cause this desired improvement in health status which have hitherto been neglected? The paper had utilized the Granger causality test and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to investigate the causal direction and long-run relationship between government health expenditure, poverty and health status, in Nigeria. The study established that there exists a strong causal uni-directional relationship running from life expectancy to poverty in Nigeria. This paper contends that health improvements/expenditure when concentrated among people living close to or below the poverty line, a “trickle-down” mechanism and redistribution of income will lead to poverty reduction and illnesses. Thus, increasing budgetary allocation to funding health sector alone without reducing poverty level, would not be sufficient enough to improve the health and social status of the population. A long-run relationship was also found to exist between poverty and health status. The paper did not find a significant long-run relationship existing between health status and government health expenditure. The paper therefore suggests that policies that can improve life expectancy should be such as would promote adult literacy level, reduce the poverty level, reduce income disparity and improve income distribution among the vulnerable and poor rural population of the society.

The study seeks to examine the relation ship between levels of government health care expenditure and health status in Nigeria. The paper utilized several estimation techniques (Cobb–Douglas production function, Semi-logarithmic function, exponential and semi-logarithmic function) using data from 1980-2003. The result of the research reveal that life expectancy and literacy rate were negatively correlated with health care expenditure both in the short and long-run, income elasticity of health care expenditure was below low unity both in the short-run and long-run. The study concluded that health is a necessary good in Nigeria. In other to improve the health status of the population the Government needs to increase funding for health, reduce the inequality in the budgetary distribution of health expenditure and fast track the implementation of the Primary Health Care bill.

This paper examines the consumption pattern, trends and rate of poverty in developing economies with particular reference to Nigeria. Low level of income has impacted on the rate of consumption vis-a-vis economic growth and improved standard of living. The ordinary least square (OLS) technique was adopted with the use of time series data on consumption rate, unemployment, inflation, economic growth, dependency ratio, adult literacy as well as poverty. The study reveals that these macroeconomic fundamentals have relationship and impact on consumption rate. In view of the plagues associated with poverty, dynamic poverty alleviation policies devoid of conflict of goals should be sustained in line with meaningful income equality put in place by government so as to avoid the evils of poverty and poor standard of living. A negation of this, the paper argues, impacts on the consumption pattern of consumers and leads to poor standard of living.

The paper highlighted the fact that proper nutrition forms the foundation for excellent sport performance. Focus is also on the types of nutrition and their implication in sports. Facts were deducted from many literatures. It is found out that each categories of food is important for health and sports performance; and the ratio in which athletes need to consume these nutrients depend on the intensity and duration of the activity, training and sport. The required quantity for each nutrient in relation to sports performance is however debatable due to many influencing factors. The conclusion is that if a well-balanced diet is taken in adequate amounts and at least three times a day while in camp preparatory to competition. Athletes do not require any special diet to enhance their performance.

The study investigated the effect of work durations on sweat electrolytes of trained and untrained men. Two work duration, (1st and 2nd 10 minutes), using two treadmill work intensities, (6.4kph and 8.0kph), at 0 inclination given at random, served as the independent variables. Sweat sodium, potassium and chloride were dependent variables. The filter paper method, with forehead as site for sample collection, was used. Samples were collected at the end of first and second 10 minutes of work for the two intensities, from the groups. Sodium and potassium were quantified using the flame photometer, while chloride was quantified through volumetric analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics of mean, standard deviation and student‘t’ test, set at 0.05 were used to treat and test data for the significant difference between means from the two experimental conditions, for the two groups. It was observed that with the 6.4kph work intensity, both groups had higher concentration of sweat electrolytes in their sweat at the end of the first 10 minutes compared with the second 10 minutes. However, with 8.0kph, both groups lost more chloride and for the untrained, more sodium, at the end of the second 10 minutes then during the first 10 minutes. Also both groups lost more potassium and for the trained, sodium, at the end of first 10 minutes when compared with second 10 minutes.