May 2020

The general belief that a complex tax policy puts enormous weight on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and affects their growth level appeared to be a recent debate in Ekiti state and this constituted the motivation for this study. On this premise, this study was undertaken to examine tax policy, SMEs compliance perception and growth relationship in Ekiti state. The study adopted descriptive research design of a survey type and the population covered all the 1748 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Ekiti state out of which, 262 were purposively selected(sample size) as the study participants. However, the analysis carried out using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage for the background information of the respondents and inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation at 0.05 level of significance for the formulated hypotheses was based on 204 filled and returned questionnaires. It was discovered that there was a negative significant relationship between tax policy and tax compliance of SMEs in Ekiti state and that there was a negative significant relationship between tax policy and the growth of SMEs in Ekiti state. Thus, it was concluded that that tax policy can stimulate a decrease in the compliance level of SMEs in Ekiti state and that the growth of SMEs depends on the government regulations as they relate to tax policies. It is therefore recommended that the government should discontinue unfavourable tax policies. This might improve the performance and survival rate of SMEs in Ekiti state. Also the government should always checkmate the activities of tax officials to ensure that activities are being carried out in line with the stated rules and regulations.

Breakfast, the first meal of the day, is considered the most important meal throughout the day. As nutritionist Adelle Davis famously put it back in the 1960s: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”. Breakfast is most commonly skipped meal more than lunch and dinner specifically in the young adult in the university study period and those who wake up late. Lack of time is the main reason behind skipping meals, in general, lack of appetite, inability to cook, fasting/religion, and not being hungry. Many people are used to be in a hurry for job, business, children’s school in the morning where a filled stomach may prevent them to walk a long way. It is obvious that the irregular omission of breakfast may be effective in energy intake reduction over the next 24 hours and in this day, exercise performance may be compromised. There is no evidence that breakfast skipping reduces overeating or prevent weight gain. Some people argue that breakfast and good health is a marketing strategy by breakfast companies.

This paper investigates the role of Human Capital (HC) to inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Algeria and the ways to improve it and used annual time series secondary data over the period of 1998-2017. The literature determines the importance of HC, determinants of FDI and the relationship between HC and inward FDI in Algeria. A multiple regression model is employed to estimate the relationship between the role of HC and inward FDI in Algeria. Accordingly, the research considers inward FDI as a dependent variable and HC, corruption and bureaucracy, inflation, political situation, GDP, infrastructure and natural resources as independent variables. The natural resources are used as dummy variable. The regression results indicate that the HC, corruption and bureaucracy, political situation have a positive and significant effect on inward FDI in Algeria but HC played an important role than the others to attract FDI in the country.

According to Karl Marx, in one of his postulations; religion is an opium of the masses. Religion has been part of Nigerians indigenous culture and tradition. In respect to this paper, titled Moral Decadence and Multiplicity of Religious Centres in Nigeria: A case study of Christian churches and ministries in South-East and South-West; the focus would be on the imported religion of Christianity. Before the coming of Christianity, there were several practices which are deemed to be dehumanising and traumatic. Christianity came into Africa, and it was as if relief had been brought; however, following the wake of 21st century, the number of churches geometrically rises with little or no effects on the morality level of the people in the society. It follows that the more the years go by, more churches and ministries are being established whereas there is moral decadence escalating in the society. Religion has a purpose to which it is meant to serve. In any form of religion, the general emphasis and theme arecentred on the morality and lifestyle of her follower. If a religion cannot impact the aforesaid twin principles in her followers; such religion could be said to have lost its value and vision. Amongst all the major religions in the world: Islam, Buddha, Hindu, Judaism, Christianity; Nigeria is dominantly preoccupied with Islam and Christianity as the two main religious belief in the country as at the time of this research. Islam is popular in the Northern part of Nigeria and some parts of South-West Nigeria; while Christianity is popular in the Southern Parts of Nigeria; to wit, South-East, South-West, and South-South. The issue that needs to be ascertained is whether or not Christianity being practised in the aforementioned parts of Nigeria has fulfilled its expected value and vision. This paper tends to x-ray the issues of moral decadence and the multiplicity of religious centres. It aims to analyse the probable causes of such issues and suggest a way forward. The paper starts with an introduction, which embodiesa discourse on morality and religion; followed by issues of moral decadence and multiplicity of religious centres, with exact reference to Christian churches and ministries, and finally a conclusion.

The United Nations Convention on Contracts of Carriage ratified by the UN General Assembly in December 2008. The convention, known as "International goods in total or in part by sea", was published in September 2009. The rules governing the maritime transport of goods internationally are of particular importance to the owners of the goods and to the owners of the maritime fleet in terms of its numerous effects. The most important role of the merchant fleet is the movement of goods at high volumes, so traditionally the first litigation and problems between the fleet owners and the trader on the responsibility of parties to maintain the goods. Principles and rules have been developed over the years regarding the transfer of responsibilities to the parties so that they can establish justice for each party and reduce the litigation of both parties. Given the dangers that occur when shipping goods at sea, the greatest focus is on the liability that occurs when damage or casualties occur. Therefore, this article seeks to introduce new dimensions of these responsibilities by examining and studying the past and present laws about the limits of the responsibilities and the established rules.

Nigerian cities are hubs of development producing abundant returns for urban Government and providing revenue for people to meet their wellbeing necessities. However, poverty has eaten deep into Nigerian housing situation both at city centers and the countryside area causing diverse health challenges while the poor are disproportionately situated in slumps areas. The urban poor in sub – Saharan Africa especially in the West African region experiences difficult time. This research work examined the impact of poverty on housing condition in Ado – Ekiti, Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to examine the socio-economic characteristic, type and quality of facilities provided, the existing housing condition (physical structure), the environmental quality and the relationship between poverty and housing in the study area. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using descriptive analysis such as frequency tabulation to assess the impact of poverty on housing condition. Findings revealed that poverty results in the poor health of the residents due to exposure to pollution of different forms. It also has adverse impact on lives of people and housing condition. Among suggestions made were effective development control, provision of an effective loan scheme, effective urban renewal/development policy, and enforcement of sanitary inspectors (wole wole). If all these suggestions were adhered to, there could be tremendous improvement in the standard of living and housing condition in Ado – Ekiti, Nigeria.

Background: Medical errors are one of the most important issues in the field of public health in which patients’ safety is threatened (Grober & Bohnen, 2005). Medication errors are among the most prevalent medical errors leading to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Objective: This study assessed Medical error reporting among nursing students. The objectives were; (1) To assess the perceived barriers related to reporting of medical errors. (2) To find out the causes of medication error reporting. (3) To find out the association between demographic variables and barriers related to medical error reporting. Methods: A descriptive cross sectionalstudy was conducted to assess the perceived barriers related to reporting medical errors among 135nursing students using purposive sampling at selected college of nursing, India. Data was collected using structured questionnaire using demographic profile and rating scale on perceived barriers of reporting medical errors. Results: Majority of nursing students reported as too much workload 83% and failure of complex system 55% as major barrier for not reporting medical errors. Conclusion: Hence clinical instructors must demonstrate positive responses to nursing students for reporting medication errors to improve patient safety.

Land evaluation procedure given by FAO for soil site suitability for various land utilization types has been used to assess the land suitability for major crops in Sohag Governorate, Egypt. The database on soil, land use/land cover was generated from data derived from Landsat ETM+ remote sensing satellite and soil survey to perform an integrated analysis in the geographic information system environment. Agricultural and non-agricultural lands were delineated using the Decision Tree Classifier (DTC) and non-agricultural areas were masked out for removal from the analysis. Different soil chemical parameters and physical parameters were evaluated for different crops. Subsequently, all of them were integrated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model and GIS to generate the land suitability maps for major crops. Results indicated that the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model was found to be a useful method to determine the weights. It can deal with inconsistent judgments and provides a measure of the inconsistency of the judgment of the respondents. The GIS is found to be a technique that provides greater flexibility and accuracy for handling digital spatial data. The combination of the AHP method with GIS in our experiment proves it is a powerful combination to apply for land-use suitability analysis.

The present study allowed evaluating the efficacy of five plant water extracts on aphids and the yield of six cowpea’s cultivars in three villages of the northwest region of Benin. The five aqueous extracts made with Hyptis suaveolens, Azadirachta indica, Manihot esculenta, Thevetia neriifolia and Cymbopogon nardus have been compared to the control treatment without product with six producers in a scattered experimental randomized blocks. The number of aphids present on the cowpea plants at 27, 34, 41, 48, 55 and 62 days after sowing, and the cowpea seeds yield was estimated. Results indicated that aqueous extracts of Thevetia neriifolia, Azadirachta indica, Hyptis suaveolens and of cassava have very significantly (p < 0.001) reduced the populations of aphids. Katché péha, Kpodjiguèguè, Katché sôwôho and Toura pera are been the least attacked by pests. Aqueous extracts of Thevetia neriifolia, Hyptis suaveolens, Azadirachta indica, cassava, Cymbopogon nardus and the control led in this order, decreasing seeds yields from 886 kg/ha to 387 kg/ha. Seeds yields of cultivars Katché péha, Kpodjiguèguè, Katché sôwôho, Toura pera, Katché péha nan soorii and Katché Sénégal were very significantly (p < 0,001) variable in this order, from 747.50 kg/ha to 519 kg/ha. These aqueous extracts should be tested on thrips and on the bugs as well as for the future of the seeds in stock for a good protection of cowpea.