September 2016

The Study was set to examine the effect of autonomous learning strategy on academic performance of Government students in secondary schools in Urue-ofong Oruku Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State-Nigeria. Three hypotheses were formulated to direct the study. The study adopted the pre-test-post-test quasi experimental design. The study made use of 80 government students selected from two out of seven schools in Uruefong Oruku Local Government Area. They were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was treated with Government Instructional Package while the control group was taught using thee expository strategy. The two groups were exposed to post-test. Their scripts were collected for marking and scores used for analysis using t-test statistics. The result of the analysis showed a significant effect of use of autonomous learning on academic performance of government students. There was also a significant difference in the mean score of male and female student taught using autonomous learning strategy and there was also a significant difference in academic performance of male and female students taught using expository method. Some recommendations were made to enhance the use of autonomous learning that schools should be equipped with ICT resources and that staff and students should be trained on the use of innovative web-based instructional strategies among other recommendations.

Effective method of teaching is a key to students’ high academic performances. However, many teachers are yet to realize this fact. This paper therefore, seeks to investigate impact of learner-centered method of teaching on students academic performances for national development in secondary schools in Abakaliki Municipality. A-10 item instrument tagged ‘Learner-Centered Method Questionnaire’ (LCMQ) was used to collect data for the study. Simple Random Sample Technique was used to select 80 teachers drawn from 10 public and private secondary schools in the study area. Also, quasi-experimental method was used to compare two teaching methods (teacher-centered method and learner-centered method) adopted in SSII A and SSII B classes of the sampled area, respectively. The findings of the study showed that students taught through learner-centered method perform better than those taught through teacher-centered method. Based on the findings, conclusion and recommendations were made to include that workshops, seminars and conferences should always be organized for teachers to help them acquire knowledge on the use of learner-centered method, schools should be well equipped to encourage teachers and students engage actively in the learner-centered method of teaching and so on.

Waste is items we don’t need and discard. Where does it end up and how to minimize its consequences on human and environment, have been major environmental issues, since the industrial revolution. Now waste worries everyone everywhere, since it grows steadily along with population and economic growth. Big issues are discussed locally and globally in both developed and developing countries in different levels. Many experiences all over the world prove that local authorities (territorial collectivities) present an important force in promoting sustainable development policies as 0they make up the level of governance closet to citizens. It’s our duty to care about waste management as producers and managers. Participation and prevention of risks related to waste management are in the core of public sector modernization. In this context, are we aware how deep and large risks and crises caused are serious and pressing?

Agricultural growth and productivity remains central to poverty reduction, particularly in the developing countries, where a large share of the population relies on agriculture and agribusiness for their livelihood. Generally speaking, there is a greater form of limited access to credit by a greater chunk of Ghanaian farmers. The question that can attract multi-billion answers is whether the risks associated with giving loans to farmers in sub-Sahara Africa of which Ghana is no exception are overtly immeasurable. The study made use of cross-sectional source of data. The research work randomly selected 100 beneficiary farmers of the MiDA facility and 100 non beneficiary farmers from the Ejura Municipality, specifically from the major farming territory zones of the area. The study adopted a household production function and analyzes using the Ordinary Least Squared model. Economic growth theory by way of neoclassical growth and endogenous growth models allowed the study to identify some key variables that influence growth within the framework of a production function. The household production function was thus adopted to see how the output and scale of production by farmers changes as a result of the loan facility given to them by the government. The study find out that, the impact of government financial facility on output was seen not to be significant, but the same regression method revealed that there is a positive and significant impact of the financial facility by the government from the MCA on the scale of production of farmers in the Ejura Municipality. The recommended that, financial facility to farmers in the area should be very monumental, such that it will have a significant impact on the output of the farmers.