IRREGULARITIES OF POWER SUPPLY

The present government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan has failed to deliver its promise of constant electric supply to the nation, just as previous government also did.

Some factors have been labelled as cause for this notably; the issue of targeting the entire country for constant electricity supply.

Nigeria being huge nation cannot have this belief by the government realized due to: size and poor electricity infrastructure. The belief is that when such a promise is made it would materialize immediately.

History has shown that no nation has been able to ignite any development plan immediately even those of electricity, except the planners of this venture are bent of mischief. Electricity development is from one stage to another.

American Example

 The USA did not develop its electric power at a single it took over 300 years of intensive research and development that resulted in electricity production, distribution and installation. Though efforts of electricity generation began in the 18th century and continued to the 19th despite this, virgin areas exist that are yet to be served with constant power. This trend also applies to other developed nations in Europe and Asia.

Constant electricity was only realized after years of following a systematic framework such that does not exist in Nigeria.  Regardless of the amount of money pumped into the sector instant electricity generation would not be possible because Nigeria has decided to adopt a different framework without thinking of how other nations achieved their own

  Developing Electricity

 Electricity development/generation is by accretion, a nation has to start from a certain point i.e. point of great need/industrial development use. In Nigeria 7000mega watts (MW) that the federal government promised has its concentration on the whole nation, by expert opinion way impossible.

EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE

Examination malpractices have consistently remained a bane of Nigerian educational system. Most foreigners say that the academic certificates being issued to graduates in Nigeria are no more valuable than the pieces of paper on which they are printed.
So what is examination malpractice? Examination malpractice is an illegal behaviour by a candidate before, during or after the examination so that he/she can attain success easily and cheaply. Hence, the worth of the examination is violated. Examination malpractice is a cankerworm that portends grave dangers for the nation. The major causes of examination malpractices are:

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 Laziness of students: Seriousness is thrown to the wind by many students. Most of them have little time for their studies. They spend their time attending parties and forming gangs who engage in untoward behaviour.

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 Second is large population of students in many schools. The few who do very well may be promoted or admitted into higher institutions. Students cheat therefore to excel over their mates.

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Many students are desperate; thinking that passing the examination is a do or die affair; they want to excel by all means. Some want promises from parents fulfilled others want to be on TV or Newspaper as the best in one form of examination or the other (though cheats hardly excel).

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 Syllabus in many subjects such as Physics, Chemistry etc. is wide and difficult for teachers to cover. The school period is shortened by holidays, shift system and late resumption by students.

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Another cause of examination malpractice is inadequate preparation for exams. In a number of schools the teachers are few and specialized ones are fewer so students are not adequately prepared for the examinations.

Corrupt invigilators and supervisors: the students know that if they offers bribe to the invigilators. They will be allowed to cheat in the examination hall.

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 Lastly, there is a general trend in our society towards cheating and this is encouraged by almost all members of the population.
The evil effects of examination malpractices cannot be overemphasized. Creativity and resourcefulness are hampered. It wreaks great havoc on the social, religious, economic and political lives of Nigerians.
 Employees are engaged in jobs they are not suited for since the Certificate they claim to possess are not merited.
It is not my duty to reveal the ways students cheat at examinations and this is not the proper forum for such a revelation.

Some Possible Solutions to Examination Malpractices are:

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Teachers should he trained properly in their fields. They will then have the tactics to follow on how to finish the syllabus for a particular term or at least cover a large part of it,

·         Holidays may be more in number but reduced in length as students are reluctant to resume from long holidays.

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 Guidance Counsellors’ should be employed in all schools to guide the students on study habits, career prospects and requirement for various careers.

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 Continuous assessment should be practiced correctly. It will reduce examination malpractices as 40% of marks are accumulated from various assessment techniques such as projects and assignments before actual examinations.

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The number of invigilators and supervisors should be increased in the exam halls. Exam officers, Vice Principals and Principals should occasionally pay visits to exam halls to observe what is going on. In this way, they could notice any cheating behaviour.

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The students should be thoroughly searched before entering the hall. Apart from photographs, finger prints on certificates should he used for identification
as no two persons; even identical twins could have the same finger print. That is
 why it is used in crime detection.
In conclusion, solutions are only possible where there are Examination Halls, large classrooms, adequate seats and adequate number of teachers in a school. A class where theft are 150 students sitting on the floor and windows with some armed with knives and locally made pistols, an invigilator will not risk his life to prevent examination malpractice.
The government can play a very big role in curbing this menace by providing enough classrooms, desks and employing qualified teachers. And also, during an examination, the school should ensure that each student gets his/her own question paper and provide enough invigilators.
The Federal government has established an Exam Ethics Committee, all Stale Government and Local Government Councils should do the same thing.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

Nigeria’s growing unemployment is one of a major concern to many analysts and economists as the figures increasingly suggest dwindling potentials. Official figures from the Bureau of statistics puts this figure at about 20% (about 30million), but this figure still did not include about 40million other Nigerian youths captured in World Bank statistics in 2009.

By implication, it means that if Nigeria’s population is 140 million, then 50% of Nigerians are unemployed, or worse still, at least 71% of Nigerian youths are unemployed. This is particularly disturbing and counterproductive because at least 70% of the population of this country is youths. Viewing this from the perceptive of the recent events in the Middle East where unemployment and poverty among others played a key role in the uprising, one can only conclude that Nigeria’s unemployment poses a threat to its development, security and peaceful coexistence, being that Nigeria is made up of diverse entities from different cultural and religious backgrounds most of whom have shown differences in political, cultural and religious understanding and accommodation emanating from concerns of abuse of power, resource allocation, nepotism, negligence and corruption among others.

It is therefore not out of place to consider massive employment generation as an issue of a major focus on national development and economic growth plan of the Nigerian government. It is also interesting to note that effective use of labour force is a major contributor to some emerging economies’ recent rapid economic growth, who have averagely single digit unemployment figures. Unfortunately, many Nigerian economists argue from one perspective that employment can only be generated from increased economic activity, but taking a closer look at the beginnings of developed nations like the United States, Canada and Europe, it can be observed that this argument is a bit flawed because economic activity can also be generated from massive employment. The question is how, and at what cost and benefit?

It is worthy of note that the current minister of finance, Olusegun Aganga, during his screening at the senate, pointed out as a deficiency the fact that Nigeria is yet to adequately utilize the potentials from its active youth population, though little has been seen from that perspective since his accent to power as minister of Finance, as many critics believe. This article aims to suggest ways in which Nigeria’s abundant human capital can be effectively utilized for more efficiency, productivity, and economic development.

Shift work, as an employment practice is nothing new in our society today. It dates back as far as industrialization itself when it was primarily being utilized in the manufacturing industry to increase output and maintain efficiency, but it is common today in many societies where it is utilized extensively in the service industry. Shift work is also traditional in law enforcement and armed forces. Even today in our clinics, broadcast media, and offshore petroleum industry, shift work is being employed. Shift work has been known to bring economic and social benefits, which include but not limited to expanding employment opportunities and increasing output and productivity, and just like economics would say, it makes a more fuller and effective use of scarce capital resources and creates more jobs.

Shift work is actively and extensively utilized in modern societies. In fact, shift work is an integral part of the US employment experience and has accounted for rapid growth in the service sector with about 15.7million new jobs created (US Bureau of statistics, 2009).

With good policy management, the Nigerian government can introduce mandatory shift work into the active sectors of the Nigerian economy, for instance, to limit the number of hours a person must be employed on the same job in a day. In our service sector, for instance, this will help in solving problems of involuntary worker overstretch and exhaustion, and improve customer service delivery. By this, I mean that implementing shift work will allow the worker to choose whether to take up a second job or do with only one, a decision many workers in Nigeria find impossible to make since the job cannot be split. But if implemented, workers who have interests to further their education needs or run their private businesses or attend to other personal needs will have the opportunity to do so. In another dimension, this will help to increase service delivery times.

BIRTH CONTROL

http://www.google.com.ng/imgres?imgurl=http://www.birthcontrol.

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception (the prevention of fertilization), contragestion (preventing the implantation of the blastocyst) and abortion (the removal or expulsion of a fetus or embryo from the uterus). Contraception includes barrier methods, such as condoms or diaphragm, hormonal contraception, also known as oral contraception, and injectable contraceptives. Contragestives, also known as post-coital birth control, include intrauterine devices and what is known as morning pills.

Contraception include barrier methods, such as condoms or diaphragm, injectable contraceptives, and hormonal contraception, also known as oral contraception. The most common methods of hormonal contraception include the combined oral contraceptive pill and the minipill. Hormonal emergency contraception can be both contraceptive and contragestive.

Contragestion

Contragestives include intrauterine devices placed inside the uterus and some forms of hormonal "emergency ctubal ligationontraception".

 Sterilization

Surgical sterilization is available in the form of an intrauterine device for women and vasectomy for men. Although sterilization is considered a permanent procedure due to the uncertainty of reversal possibility, it is possible to attempt a tubal reversal to reconnect the Fallopian tubes in females or a vasectomy reversal to reconnect the vasa deferentia in males. The rate of success depends on the type of sterilization that was originally performed and damage done to the tubes as well as the patient's age.

 Behavioral methods

Behavioral methods involve regulating the timing or methods of intercourse to prevent the introduction of sperm into the female reproductive tract, either altogether or when an egg may be present.

Lactational

Main article: Lactational amenorrhea method

From ancient times women tried to extend breastfeeding in order to avoid a new pregnancy. The lactational amenorrhea method, or LAM, gives guidelines for determining the length of a woman's period of breastfeeding infertility.

Fertility awareness

Symptoms-based methods of fertility awareness involve a woman's observation and charting of her body's fertility signs, to determine the fertile and infertile phases of her cycle. Charting may be done by hand or with the assistance of fertility monitors. Most methods track one or more of the three primary fertility signs: changes in basal body temperature, in cervical mucus, and in cervical position. If a woman tracks both basal body temperature and another primary sign, the method is referred to as symptothermal. Other bodily cues such as mittelschmerz are considered secondary indicators.