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THE ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE IN   MAINTAINING PEACE AND SECURITY IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The Nigerian police force is a security outfit of the Nigerian state established to combat crime and ensure security of lives and property of the citizenry. Experience over the years has shown that the force has lived below expectation. Some of the reasons explaining this failure include corruption, delayed justice, impartiality among others. This has made the people to see the police as an enemy rather than a friend. This paper contends that if crime is to be combated to guarantee security of the citizens, government should restructure the force to instil into it more positive values that could ensure more effective service delivery to the masses.

Keywords: Role, Nigeria, Police Force, Peace, Security.                 

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THE ROLE OF NON- STATE ACTORS IN PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF KENYA.

Abstract: This paper examines the role of civil society in Africa with special emphasis on Kenya. In order to assess the role of civil society to promote good governance, qualitative method was used. Data was collected from secondary and primary sources and analyzed in order to recommend possible solutions. Over the years, African governments and their institutions lacked the courage and will to enforce the law, procedures, and policies to enhance good governance. As a result in Africa, governance is characterized by poor institutional performance, inadequate parliament, lack of the independence of the judiciary system, corrupt police force, political instability, abuse and misuse of political offices, insufficient budgetary accountability, lack of respect for the rule of law and human rights, and bureaucratic bottleneck and above all corruption. Even though,  Kenyas’ civil societies play  good role  to promote good governance they  not  effective enough due some of them has their own interest and they changed their goals after some improvements occur in political arena. The findings of this study also revealed that there are some of the civil society agencies championing democratization of the country. A number of civil society organizations in Kenya work in the areas of human rights, democratic development, gender and social awareness among others. They have undergone fundamental changes in Post-colonial Kenya. Non state actors contribute for social, economic and political openings in the country. Key words: Civil society, role, governance, non-state actor. 

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THE POLICE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: TRANSFORMATION OR NORMALISATION?

There has been optimism that social media will facilitate citizen participation and transform the communication strategies of public organisations. Drawing on a case study of the public police in England, this article considers whether social media are transforming or normalising communications. Arguing that social media have not yet served to facilitate interaction between constabularies and citizens in the ways that have been proposed and desired, the article considers factors that structure the transformative potential of social media. It is argued that the uses of social media are mediated by the existing organisational and occupational concerns of the police. This article reveals how an interplay of organisational, technological and individual and cultural dynamics come together to shape how social media are used in constabularies. Embedding social media into police communications is challenging and the technology itself will not bring about the organisational and cultural changes needed to transform police–citizen engagement.

Key words: Communication strategies, public policing, social media.

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THE NIGERIA POLICE AND THE CHALLENGES OF SECURITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Security of life and property are of the primary purpose of government. 1999 Constitution emphasize that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the government”. The government through the Nigeria police fulfil its obligation of security the nation. This paper examines the Nigeria police and the challenges of security in Nigeria. The paper adopted survey method. 200 respondents were randomly selected from two local government areas in Rivers state namely; Eleme and Obiakpor. Frequency and simple percentage were used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that poverty, unemployment, leadership and religion are the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria. The paper recommends that the effort of the Nigeria police alone cannot curb the rate of insecurity in the nation.

Keywords: Nigeria Police, Insecurity, Border Control, Crime rate, Poverty, Unemployment.           

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THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE THEORIES ON THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF POVERTY IN SOCIAL WELFARE

Poverty has been a widely explored issue that has been debated across many social science academic disciplines. Due to its multidimensional nature, different interpretations of the causes of poverty have been put forth. This analysis examines the theories of poverty from five social science disciplines: psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, and political science. While some of these ideas have evolved since they were originally conceived, these theories have significantly contributed to the conceptualization of poverty in social welfare. Since social welfare does not have a common theory of poverty, future directions should involve an attempt to develop a unifying theory of poverty for clarification on shared discussions because of its impact all areas in the field of social welfare and social work practice.

KEYWORDS Poverty theories, social sciences, interdisciplinary perspective, social welfare

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THE INCREDIBLE YEARS PARENTING AND CHILD TREATMENT PROGRAMS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL IN A CHILD WELFARE SETTING IN SPAIN

A B S T R A C T

Incredible Years (IY) is a well-established multicomponent group-based program designed to promote young children’s emotional and social competence, to prevent and treat child behavioral and emotional problems, and to improve parenting practices and the parent-child relationship. This study presents the first randomized controlled trial carried

out in Spain to test the effectiveness of the Incredible Years Basic Parenting and Small Group Dinosaur Programs in a sample of families involved in child welfare due to substantiated or risk for child maltreatment. One hundred and eleven families with 4- to 8-year-old children were randomly allocated to IY or to a control group who received standard services. Baseline, post-intervention, and 12-month follow-up assessments were compared. Results showed that compared to the control group, the IY intervention made a significant positive difference in parents’ observed and reported use of praise, and a significant reduction in reported use of inconsistent discipline, parenting stress, depressive symptomatology, and perception of child behavior problems. A full serial mediation effect was found between participation in IY, changes in parenting practices, subsequent parenting stress reduction, and both final child abuse potential reduction and perception of child behavior problems. No moderating influence on IY effects was found. Findings provide evidence that transporting the IY Basic Parenting and the Small Group Dinosaur Programs with fidelity is feasible in Child Welfare Services in Spain.

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THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE CRIME RATE IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of poverty on crime rate in Nigeria. The major objectives of the paper are focused on the major causes of poverty in Nigeria; identify the level of crime in Nigeria and to examine the influence of poverty on crime rate in Nigeria. The paper adopts the relative theory to explain how people take action to acquire opportunities and wealth that others possesses and which they believe to also have equal opportunity to acquire. The paper was based on secondary sources of data. The findings of the study revealed that the major cause of poverty in Nigeria is corruption from government officials in form of diversion of funds meant for development, lack of economic activities and illiteracy. The study also discovered that most of the criminal activities are perpetrated as a result of poor economic conditions especially among the low income populace. The paper concluded that poverty is the major cause of high crime rate in Nigeria. The paper recommends among others that Nigerian political leaders who are entrusted with the wealth of the nation should be transparent to ensure that social amenities are provided to the rural people to boost economic activities.  More efforts should be made to ensure that most of the rural populace has an education and micro credit schemes should be strengthened to reach the real poor populace in order boost small scale businesses in Nigeria.

Keywords: Impact, poverty, crime rate. 

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THE IMPACT OF PARENTAL CONTROL AND MARITAL CONFLICT ON ADOLESCENTS’ SELF-REGULATION AND ADJUSTMENT

ABSTRACT

The current study aims to increase understanding of influences on and consequences of self-regulation in adolescence. Previous work has shown that higher levels of self-regulation are associated with greater social competence and lower levels problem behaviors. Past studies have posited that parenting and interparental conflict are linked to self-regulation and adjustment in childhood and adolescence. However, the mechanism underlying the potential effects of specific parental behaviors and interparental conflict on self-regulation and their unique effects on adjustment have been largely unexamined. It was hypothesized that parental psychological and behavioral control and interparental conflict would be indirectly associated with adolescent outcomes via self-regulation abilities. Besides, differential impacts of parental controlling behaviors on self-regulation were also explored. The study involved a sample of 300 students in the 6th and 7th grades and their mothers. Students completed self-report questionnaires on parental control behaviors, self-regulation abilities, and academic self-concept. Furthermore, mothers completed questionnaires including parental control, interparental conflict, self-regulation abilities of adolescents, and adolescent adjustment (i.e., hyperactivation/inattention, emotional, and prosocial behaviors). The mediational hypothesis was largely supported. Results suggested that perceived parental psychological control and interparental conflict predicted low levels of selfregulation and in turn, this predicted adolescent adjustment. Parental behavioral control predicted self-regulation abilities in adolescent-reported model only. As predicted, different parental psychological control dimensions had divergent impact on adolescent outcomes. Specifically, love withdrawal/irrespective parenting was associated with the highest adolescent adjustment. Results also showed that the interplay between paternal guilt induction/erratic emotional behaviors and monitoring was significant in predicting prosocial behaviors and perseverance of adolescents. Similarly, the significant interaction between maternal love withdrawal/irrespective and knowledge suggested that high maternal withdrawal combined with high parental knowledge may result in hyperactivation/inattention problems among early adolescents. Finally, two U-shaped curvilinear relationships were found between psychological control and adjustment variables. Accordingly, the relationship between paternal guilt induction/erratic emotional behaviors and low perseverance/monitoring; and maternal love withdrawal/irrespective and Turkish academic self-concept had curvilinear relationship. Theoretical, methodological, cultural, and practical implications of the findings were discussed considering previous literature.

Key Words: psychological control, behavioral control, self-regulation, adolescence.

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THE EFFECTS OF POVERTY ON THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CRIME IN SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT

Crime is a major economic and social problem in most developing countries.  However, the research devoted to victims is sparse.  This paper examines the effects of household-level poverty, measured by household expenditures per capita, on the susceptibility to crime in South Africa.  An instrumental variables strategy combined with community fixed effects are used to account for potentially endogenous expenditures and unobserved community heterogeneity, respectively.  Across all model specifications the probability a South African household is robbed is increasing in expenditures.  When using instrumental variables, the positive effect of expenditures on the susceptibility to robbery increases substantially.  In addition, the effect of expenditures remains positive and significant if the sample is restricted to “nonwhite” areas.  This suggests that robberies are not only a problem for the rich who live in gated communities and hire private security, but also for the relatively “wealthy” that reside in poorer neighborhoods.  Finally, this paper fails to find a statistically significant relationship between expenditures and the susceptibility to violent crimes such as murder, rape, and assault.

Keywords:  Poverty; Crime; Victimization; Africa; South Africa

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THE EFFECT OF FAMILY STRUCTURE ON DECISION MAKING, PARENTING STYLES AND HEALTHY LIFESTYLE BEHAVIOUR OF ADOLESCENTS IN RURAL SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare perceived parenting styles, decision making styles and healthy lifestyle behaviours of adolescents from single and two-parent families within a rural setting in South Africa. The study employed a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative group design. The sample consisted of 457 Grade 9 learners from four randomly selected secondary schools in the Overberg Education District, Western Cape, South Africa. The data was collected using the Parental Style and Dimension Questionnaire, Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II as well as a short biographical questionnaire. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (MANOVA). The results suggest that maternal and paternal authoritative parenting, vigilant decision making and often engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours were prevalent for adolescents in rural South Africa. The results furthermore suggest that there were no significant main effects of family structure on perceived parenting styles, decision making styles and healthy lifestyle behaviours. The findings also serve as a recommendation for future research to do an urban-rural comparison, as the applicability of urban findings are often questioned in rural studies.

Keywords: Decision making styles, parenting styles, healthy lifestyle behaviour, family structure, adolescent.