Perspectives in Biographies and Ghostwriting in Post-SAP Nigeria
Onagwa, Godfrey I. and Abdullahi Al’Almin A.
National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
AbstractA biography is a written account of a person’s life – a person currently living or historical, famous or unknown, accomplished or anonymous. It opens a reader’s eyes to new eras, new ideas and new perspectives on life, as he reads through the series of events that make up that person’s life. Questions answered in a biography include: What shaped personality of the biographee? Was there a personality trait that drove him to succeed or fail? What were the turning points in his life? What was his impact on history? And so on. These ingredients give the literary work its market value. Ghostwriting is when someone is paid to write for a client while the client gets the credit for writing it. A ghostwriter is a professional who is paid to write books, articles, stories, etc that are officially credited to another person. Often, celebrities, executives and politicians hire ghostwriters to write autobiographies, magazine articles or other written material. However, from the mid-1980s when the structural adjustment programme (SAP) was introduced in Nigeria, thereby ushering in certain harsh austerity measures, the nation’s publishing industry suddenly became inundated with politically and financially-motivated biographical/ autobiographical writings, which mostly have no real knowledge, inspiration/ motivational, entertainment, storytelling and, therefore, market values. Non-professional ghostwriting has also become the order of the day since the introduction of SAP. This paper shall thus examine the impact of SAP on the Nigerian publishing industry, especially with regard to biographical writing and ghostwriting.
ICTs and Changing Consumer Behaviour in Nigerian Rural Households:
Implications for Agricultural Extension Service Provision
Onagwa G.I., Onu R.O., Okwori E and Aregbe B.E
Agricultural Media Programme; Food Technology and Rural Home Economics Programme, Web and ICT Unit, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Abstract
In Nigeria or other African setting, rurality is often simply denoted by the atmosphere of a ‘village’ or an area mostly inhabited by farmers and petty traders. However, whether in developed or developing country, rural families have, until recently, continued to function in predominantly conservative styles. Widespread use of information and communication technologies has led to a new definition of rural household, in which lifestyles and economic conditions are emphasized. A technology is the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life, to change and manipulate human activities and the human environment. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have to do with the processing and distribution of data using computer-related hardware and software. ICTs greatly influence matters of personal lifestyles and tastes, consumer behaviour and the dispositions of a people, even among those in geographically remote areas. Rural households in Nigeria more often use farmlands for much of their income and resources, an area that is the focus of agricultural extension service provision. So with the changes in consumer behaviour of rural households, how is the agricultural extension service provider supposed to adjust its service provision parameters to enable it to guide the rural farmer aright towards achieving improved farm productivity, efficiency and, therefore, higher purchasing power and enhanced standard of living? These and many more issues are what this paper considers.
CREATIVITY AT THE CROSSROADS: Assessment of the Uneasy Relationship between the Upcoming Creative Author and the Editor
Onagwa Godfrey Ife and Abdullahi Al’Amin A.
Agricultural Media Programme, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services/ Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Abstract The process and business of book publishing are arduous tasks for any upcoming author or professional editor. Many more books are written than ever make it into print. Whether one is planning to self-publish or send his manuscript to a standard publishing house, one needs to be sure that the manuscript is well edited and proofed. The editor assesses every manuscript from the perspective of the audience (reader), market (viability, competing titles, saleability, financial profit, etc) and grammar/style/expression. Book editing is a very demanding skill that requires the editor to read every single word individually while also considering each sentence, paragraph, topic and idea, both individually and in relation to the entire book. In other words, while the author focuses on literary techniques, that is, the five elements of fiction – style, character, plot, setting and theme, the editor looks at the work holistically, considering such questions as: Has the book any major structural problem? Has the author missed any key ingredient? Are the points clear, crisp, and convincing? Does the book demonstrate the elements and balance of ethos, logos, and pathos, which are essential to successful rhetorical writing? And so on. In the process of editing and consultation with the upcoming author, an uneasy tension often brew between the two –the author feeling that his style and creative ability are being undermined, and the latter feeling that the former is inexperienced, unduly proud or simply stubborn. This paper takes a cursory assessment of this necessary tension that exists between the upcoming creative author and his editor, considering how this positively or negatively impacts on the Nigerian literary and publishing development.
Rural Dairy Enterprise Development: Case Study of the Federation of Milk
Co-operative Associations Limited (MILCOPAL) in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Annatte, I.; Gana, M. A.; Nyam, L.Y.; Ogundipe, G. A. T.; Onagwa, G.I.; Maidugu, U. S.; Umar, K.B.
Abstract
The Nigerian dairy sub-sector has been undergoing structural reforms since 1971. During this period more than 65 dairy projects were implemented but most failed. This failure is traceable to several factors, which include technical and economic issues. Therefore the technical and economic efficiencies of an ongoing dairy project which was registered in 1989 were studied. The objective of the study was to evaluate the operations, extension service delivery, resource mobilization and utilization in the project. Simulated determinants of the necessary reforms and relational models of development typology based on Nigeria’s dairy objective were developed. The project’s strategies were analyzed from the relational model perspectives, with emphasis on the operations and extension service delivery, milk handling procedures, benefit and cost profiles, internal rate of return (IRR), market performance and impact. Data were obtained with the aid of checklist, questionnaire survey, interviews and archival records, while linear regression analysis was carried out to establish relationships between milk yield and cooperative services, technical support services, skill training and farm credit functions. The results showed that the dairy project registered a total of 2000 pastoral farm family holdings in 36 cooperative associations scattered over a milkshed range of 150-200 kilometres. None of the 2000 farmers had any formal vocational education, while more than 76% of them had Quranic education. All the associations were managed from one operational centre for routine milk collection, ambulatory services and disease surveillance using the top-down management approach. Long term unstable but devolvable cost factors were production 33.9%, management 18.5% and extension delivery 23.1%. The average milk production of cattle was 0.7 litres per day. The quality control analyses such as organoleptic tests, visual observation, sedimentation and frank milk contamination, temperature reading, the lactometer reading, pH reading and Clot-on-boiling were strictly adhered to. Milk losses were associated with farm level contamination and long transit. Faulty public allocative attributes, rather than group productivity factors, were more significant as determinants of economic impact (p<0.05). These faults were traceable to ineffective project development strategy, with regard to farm credit support, technical support services, skill training and cooperative services. It was recommended, among others, therefore, that the federal government should uphold the concept of cooperative rural dairy development in Nigeria and should expand the scope of activities of rural dairy federations.
ICT INTERVENTIONS IN RURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND SPENDING IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATION FOR EXTENSION EDUCATION
Onagwa G.I., Abdullahi A.A., Onu R.O., Okwori E. and Iyiola T.
National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Abstract
In Nigeria and, indeed, other developing countries, rural household income and spending are experiencing drastic changes due largely to such ICT innovations as automation, wireless communication, mobile banking, instantaneous electronic money transfer, and wide-area and local area networking. Widespread use of information and communication technologies has led to new definitions of rural households, in which lifestyles and economic conditions are being emphasized rather than locality and occupation. ICTs, in this case, encompass all technologies for processing and distributing data using computer-related hardware and software, to change and manipulate human activities and the human environment. Traditionally, rural households in Nigeria get their income from farming and cottage activities, areas that are the focus of extension education. But the recent changes in household income and spending due to ICT interventions are to the extent that extension education must adjust its delivery approaches and parameters to guide rural households aright towards overall improvement in standard of living. This is the main thrust of the paper.
PUBLISHING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FINDINGS IN NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES: CHALLENGES AND POLICY ISSUES
Onagwa G.I., Onyibe J.E., Abdullahi A.A., Onu R.O., Okwori E. and Annatte I.
National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Abstract
This paper takes the position that Nigerian language pedagogy should go beyond classroom and street activities and the space should be enlarged to include the publication of agricultural research findings as a means of communicating issues in national economic development. The paper reiterates that affective communication is a vehicle for national integration and development. The globalization and liberalization of world economy and the increasing accessibility to the information superhighway via the various instruments of ICT have made accessibility to up-to-date information a necessity for the economic empowerment of all. Moreover, the convergence of mass media channels, the Internet, global system of mobile communication, electronic book, etc are also making it practically mandatory for all and sundry to ‘know and be known’ in today’s global village. But accessibility to agricultural research and scientific terminologies is being made difficult to a majority of Nigerians, especially those in the grassroots, because they are published in English. Thus, Nigerian languages are currently being threatened out of economic relevance by English, a European language foisted on us through colonialism. The paper therefore concludes that to achieve the onerous MDGs, especially regarding food security, poverty eradication and mass literacy, publishing agric research findings in indigenous languages must be encouraged and sustained; and that to make this possible, policy makers at all levels of government, non-government organisations, research institutes, tertiary institutions, and individual scholars must collaborate.
ASSESSMENT OF BARRIERS TO WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATION IN ZARIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE
Onu R.O., Okwori E., Tunji Iyiola, Onagwa G.I., Yunisa A. and Dikko H.
National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Abstract
The third goal of the MDGs concerns gender equality and women empowerment. However, a lot of hindrances have been identified in the literature with regard to the attainment of this commendable goal in Nigeria. This study assessed the barriers to women empowerment in relation to agricultural extension education in Zaria LGA, Kaduna State. A total of 195 women from 13 wards of Zaria LGA were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage were used to analyse the data collected. The socioeconomic distribution of the respondents showed that a majority (74.2%) were within the age of 20-50 years, married (66.7%), have at least primary education (64.2%), and have no stable source of income (83.1%). Also, most of them (87.2%) lack access to basic information on loan/credit facilities, while 73.5% and 87.0% of them did not own any piece of land for farming activities or other usage and did not participate in decision making in the home, respectively. The conclusion from the findings was that women in the study area were not sufficiently empowered in agricultural extension education. It was, therefore, recommended, among others, that government and non-government organizations should look more critically at all issues involving women empowerment if the overall goal of the third MDG must be realised.
PUBLISHING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FINDINGS IN NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES:
Prospects and Challenges
Onagwa, Godfrey Ife
National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Abstract
This paper takes the position that Nigerian language pedagogy should go beyond classroom and street activities and the space should be enlarged to include the publication of agric research findings as a means of communicating issues in national economic development. The paper reiterates that affective communication is a vehicle for national integration and development. The globalization and liberalization of world economy and the increasing accessibility to the information superhighway via the various instruments of ICT both in the developed and developing worlds have made accessibility to up-to-date information a necessity for the economic empowerment of all. The convergence of mass media channels, the Internet, global system of mobile communication (GSM), electronic book (or e-book), etc are also making it practically mandatory for all and sundry to ‘know and be known’, in relation to what happens next door in today’s global village. But accessibility to agric research findings and scientific terminologies, which are said to be veritable tools of development, is being made difficult to a majority of the Nigerian population (whose illiteracy rate is very high), especially those in the grassroots, because these are published in English. Thus, Nigerian languages are currently being threatened out of economic relevance by English, a European language foisted on us through colonialism. The paper also observed that apart from the so-called three major Nigerian languages (Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo), indigenous languages are not generally used in the print media, and that even the existing indigenous language newspapers (Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo) do not enjoy favourable disposition from the people. The paper therefore concludes that to achieve the onerous task of becoming a world superpower, in accordance with the vision of the current federal government (of becoming one of the 20th most developed nations by the year 2020), publishing agric research findings in indigenous languages must be encouraged and sustained; and that to make this possible, the various levels of government, non-government organisations, research institutes, tertiary institutions, and individual scholars must pay adequate attention to this medium of mass communication while also encouraging their acceptance by the general public.
MITIGATING THE SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON RURAL NIGERIAN HOUSEHOLDS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EXTENSION COMMUNICATION
Onagwa G.I., Abdullahi A.A., Okwori E. and Onu R.O.
NAERLS, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Abstract
It is evident today that HIV/AIDS causes a range of problems which, given its systemic impact, is capable of attacking all levels of society. The focus is mainly on activities and programmes that can help mitigate the impact of AIDS at rural household level, the justification being that this is where the epidemic has the most devastating impact. The paper presents activities to undertake in HIV/AIDS prevalence rural areas at helping to alleviate the impact of HIV/AIDS on such households, community well-being and people’s livelihoods, and reducing the hardships affected individuals, households and/or communities are confronted with. Finally, it provides preliminary guidelines for extension specialists to ‘intensify’ their actions in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation in Nigeria. The mitigation approach proposed was thus research-based, multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional, gender-sensitive, participatory, culturally and socially appropriate and rights-based. It combined both the development and health approaches. But the proposed approach was neither exclusive nor definite in that it is entirely open to discussion and modification.
BENEFITS OF GARLIC AS A FUNCTIONAL FOOD IN HEALTH AND DISEASES
Okwori, E., Onu R.O. and Onagwa G.I.
NAERLS, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Abstract
The term functional food is on the increase because of higher health care cost, including the expended category of dietary supplement. This (functional food) was coined in the mid-1980 with the belief and interest that some selected foods might promote health or everyday foods that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition. While diet supplement is a product that is taken to complement the usual diet or to make up for what is lost daily directly or indirectly. Research from human, animal and clinical trials shows that plant-based diet can reduce the risk of some terrible diseases, particularly heart disease. It was in that search that Garlic was identify as one of the pytochemicals groups that have active component in the prevention and control of different disease.
THE MIND AND GRAMMAR: AN EXPLORATION OF CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT AND REASONING IN APHASIA
Abdullahi A.A. and Onagwa G.I.
NAERLS, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Abstract
There are several studies in human mental processes and their contribution to thinking, sensation and behaviour. Albeit, some of the postulations by these studies are tenable, others are outrageous. For example, some studies argued that the mind was unknowable; they insisted that the only scientific source of data for psychology was human behaviour, which was observable in a way that mental processes were not. Aphasia is a disorder in the ability to produce or to understand spoken language. This research examined the relation between language and cognition in the light of recent evidence for reasoning without mediation by grammatical knowledge. This is because research on propositional reasoning (involving ‘theory of mind’ understanding) in adult patients with aphasia revealed that reasoning can proceed in the absence of explicit grammatical knowledge. Conversely, evidence from deaf children showed that the presence of such knowledge is not sufficient to account for reasoning. These findings are in keeping with recent research on the development of naming, categorization, and imitation, indicating that children’s reasoning about objects and actions is guided by inferences about others’ communicative intentions. The paper discussed the extent to which reasoning is supported by, and tied to, language in the form of conversational awareness and experience rather than grammar. This was achieved by drawing heavily from experiments with the ‘theory of mind’.
ANTHROPOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF SELECTED CHILDREN’S NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN KADUNA STATE
E. Okwori, Onu R.O. and Onagwa G.I.
NAERLS, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Abstract
This study assess the nutritional status of children, 0-5years in Kamachi village in Kaduna State. Study sample consists of a 100 children, made up of thirty boys and seventy girls selected randomly. The variables considered were weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ), weight for height (WHZ). Results shows weight for age, 53% underweight, height for weight shows 70% were stunted and weight for height, shows 84 % of the children wasting. Finding reveals that there is malnutrition in the children .The study recommends further study focussing on small segmented community which are sometimes neglected. Secondly more study on the nutritional status of the children since stunting can also be as a result of hereditary and also public health intervention with emphasis on using available foods within the locality. These measures should include emphasis on Nutrition education programmes focussing on good nutrition for the children and efforts made by the local government to introduce good meals or balanced nutritious meals at the local health centre as an example for mothers to emulate. The local government should also consider or look into the possibilities of the introduction of school meal.
