Local Government Area

BACKGROUND: Although effective treatment modalities for mental health problems currently exist in Nigeria, they remain irrelevant to the 70% of Nigeria's 120 million people who have no access to modern mental health care services. The nation's Health Ministry has adopted mental health as the 9th component of Primary Health Care (PHC) but ten years later, very little has been done to put this policy into practice. Mental Health is part of the training curriculum of PHC workers, but this appears to be money down the drain. AIMS OF THE STUDY: To review the weaknesses and problems with existing mode of mental health training for PHC workers with a view to developing a cost-effective model for integration. METHODS: A review and analysis of current training methods and their impact on the provision of mental health services in PHC in a rural and an urban local government area in Nigeria were done. An analysis of tested approaches for integrating mental health into PHC was carried ...

SUMMARY This study examined the resource productivity of farmers under fadamas cropping system in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State. Farming land has become a critical problem due to increased demand for land by other users. This has given rise to the use of fadama land available in the area. Using profitability and resource use efficiency measures, it was identified that fadama farming is profitable and all the factors employed were inefficiently utilized. This suggests that higher profits and yields could be attained by efficient allocation of the employed resources which is vital to the sustainability of agriculture in Nigeria.

This study examined Local Government Administration and Rural Development in Enugu State, Nigeria under Sullivan I. Chime’s administration, 2007-2015. The source of information for this study is secondary source. Three research questions and three objectives guided this study. The general objective of the study is the relationship between the local government administration and rural development in Enugu State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were: to assess the role of the local government administration in rural development in Enugu State, to investigate whether job creation and provision of infrastructures by the government led to decline in rural-urban migration and to find out the relationship between governments budgetary allocation and rural development in Enugu State. Giving the descriptive and argumentative nature of the paper, qualitative method of data gathering and analysis were adopted in the conduct of the research. The method of data presentation and analysis adopted...

This research analyzed determinants of women’s participation in self help group-led micro-financing of farms in Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to; determine the level of women’s participation in self help group led micro financing of farms; determine the factors that influence women’s participation in self help group micro financing of farms; identify constraints of women participation in self help group micro financing of farms in the study area. Multistage random sampling technique was employed in collecting data from one hundred and twenty (120) members of women self help group using structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, likert scale type and probit regression analysis. The research revealed that the women (respondents) actively participated in self help group meetings ( = 3.07), financial and material contributions ( = 3.33), self help group project ( = 3.36) and recruitment of fresh ...

This paper examines the socio-economic characteristics of residents and their utilization of available healthcare facilities in Owo local government area of Ondo State, Nigeria. The data utilized in the paper draws on systematic sampling of 368 health consumers in the study area. Findings revealed that socio-economic characteristics play a significant role in determining the frequency of visits to healthcare facilities, this is substantiated with the chi-square test result that revealed a significant relationship between marital status and frequency of visits to healthcare facilities with χ² = 29.175 and significant at p = 0.004 level, as well as income of households and the frequency of visits to healthcare facilities with χ² = 20.961 and significant at p = 0.007 levels. The paper therefore concluded that efforts should be put in place to improve the socio-economic status of individuals through multi-sectoral development activities such as micro-credit facilities and provision of e...

Maternal and child health nurses in two outer urban local government areas in Melbourne, Australia were interviewed about how they facilitated first-time parent groups. Groups were offered to all first time mothers and almost two thirds of mothers joined a group. The groups ran for approximately eight sessions and provided infant-focussed parent education and social contact. Women who joined the groups were followed up 18 months to two years later to determine the degree to which these groups continued to meet on their own accord and the extent to which they had become self-sustaining social networks. The study found a very high level of continuation, suggesting that providing such programs may be an important vehicle for enhancing social support during the transition to parenthood and thus be a useful primary prevention strategy.

The objective of the study was to characterize commercial poultry production in Saki West Local government area of Oyo State. Baseline information on type of poultry, Socioeconomic background of respondent, Production record, Feed source and feeding, Health management practices and Sale/disposal from a total of 13 poultry farmers were administered using structured questionnaires. The visited farmers rear layer chickens (55.0%) at intensive system (61.5%), most farmers are male (92.3%), married (84.6%), age of 41-50years (88.5%) and civil servant (69.2%) with tertiary education (61.8%). Most militant factors were capital (92.3%), hired labour of 70.4% with mortality rate per year at 54.5% and 100% of farmers agreed that seasonal variation affect production. Source of income (69.0%) were from personal saving. Although, 80% of the farmers got their feed from feedmiller and birds were fed twice daily (58.85%). However, 98% of farmers vaccinated their birds against disease with regular m...

Purpose: To provide baseline data for cataract surgical services in Birnin-Kebbi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kebbi state, Nigeria for effective planning of services in the LGA and the state. Methods: People aged 50 years and above were enrolled in the study using stratified ...

SUMMARY This study examined the resource productivity of farmers under fadamas cropping system in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State. Farming land has become a critical problem due to increased demand for land by other users. This has given rise to the use of fadama land available in the area. Using profitability and resource use efficiency measures, it was identified that fadama farming is profitable and all the factors employed were inefficiently utilized. This suggests that higher profits and yields could be attained by efficient allocation of the employed resources which is vital to the sustainability of agriculture in Nigeria.

This study examined the role of local government in community development in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. A total of 420 people participated in the study. The study sample of 420 persons comprised 220 community development officers selected from the study area and 200 adult educators randomly selected from Enugu State. The entire population of the study was used due to the size. A 21-item structured questionnaire developed by the researchers was used as the instrument for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The study revealed that the budget allocation sent by the government to the responsible departments in the local government is not always received as and when due for the effective implementation of community development projects. It was concluded that a higher monitoring authority should be set aside to monitor and supervise the existence of checks and balances between the regulations of the local gove...

LUPTAI is a decision-aiding tool to enable local and state governments to optimise land use and transport integration. In contrast to mobility between land uses (typically via road), accessibility represents opportunity and choice to reach common land use destinations by public transport and/or walking. LUPTAI uses a GIS-based methodology to quantify and map accessibility to common land use destinations by walking and/or public transport. The tool can be applied to small or large study areas. It can be applied to the current situation in a study area or to future scenarios (such as scenarios involving changes to public transport services, public transport corridors or stations, population density or land use). The tool has been piloted on the Gold Coast and the results are encouraging. This paper outlines the GIS-based methodology and the findings related to this pilot study. The paper demonstrates benefits and possible application of LUPTAI to other urbanised local government areas...

Climate change is forcing every level of government to look for ways to adapt to impacts and mitigate its effects. Top down policy responses at Federal and State level are evolving and bottom up initiatives at the level of individual businesses and households are beginning to capture public interest. However there is often a gap between these two extremes. This gap is well illustrated by the lack of empirical data in respect of the current energy profile of spatial areas such as local councils and an apparent lack of information on the potential for energy and greenhouse gas reduction across these spatial areas. Using case studies of the City of Playford local government area in South Australia and Manningham City Council in Victoria, this paper addresses the second of these aspects, and seeks to identify the renewable energy resources within their boundaries. It describes techniques for assessing their potential and how, in particular, the solar and wind energy resources might be h...

The study intends to find out whether Muslim parents who acquire some level of formal Islamic education perceive the causes of child abuse different from those who did not acquire any formal Islamic education. Results from the questionnaires distributed indicated that the greatest cause of child abuse among Muslim parents in Keffi was poverty and lack of Islamic education. The

Background: The importance of incorporating the perspective of the patient when evaluating and designing health care programs is now widely recognized. The objective of this study was to assess consumers' perception of quality of care and its determinants among Primary Health Care Consumers in Ilorin, Nigeria. Methodology: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among consumers of Primary Health

Attention and interest in the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has been reawakened globally. Evidence from studies carried out in different parts of the world has established that CAM use is very common and varies among populations. This study investigated the use of CAM among adults in Enugu urban, irrespective of their health status. It provided information on the prevalence of CAM use, forms of CAM remedies used and reasons for utilizing them The study areas were three local government areas in Enugu urban of Enugu State. Cross-sectional survey using questionnaires were administered to randomly selected households. All consenting participants were used for the study 732 participants (37.2% males and 62.8% females) were used for the study. Ages ranged from 18 - 65 years. 620 (84.7%) of the adult population have used CAM ranging from one single type to twenty different types while 112 (15.3%) have not used any form of CAM. The most commonly used CAM product was t...

The research assessed the spatial and source variations in groundwater quality in different locations and wells respectively across Dawakin-Tofa Local Government Area. The study area was divided into 10 by imposing a grid on its map and thereafter 10 hand dug wells and boreholes were selected, one from each location. Physical and chemical parameters like temperature, pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and heavy metals were tested in the laboratory and figures statistically compared with Nigeria’s national standard using ANOVA. The most notable difference in quality parameters between open wells and boreholes is in TDSs, electrical conductivity and chlorine content. The differences recorded in the other quality parameters ranged from between 0.0026 mg/l (in the case of lead) to 0.7°C (in the case of Temperature). This showed that the physio-chemical properties of open wells and boreholes are not much significantly different in the areas. The mean difference of TDSs between wells and bo...

BACKGROUND: Malaria is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in Nigeria. It is not known how user fees introduced under the Bamako Initiative (BI) system affect healthcare seeking among different socio-economic groups in Nigeria for diagnosis and treatment of malaria. Reliable information is needed to initiate new policy thrusts to protect the poor from the adverse effect of user fees. METHODS: Structured questionnaires were used to collect information from 1594 female household primary care givers or household head on their socio-economic and demographic status and use of malaria diagnosis and treatment services. Principal components analysis was used to create a socio-economic status index which was decomposed into quartiles and chi-square for trends was used to calculate for any statistical difference. RESULTS: The study showed that self diagnosis was the commonest form of diagnosis by the respondents. This was followed by diagnosis through laboratory tests, commun...

This paper examines problems of food marketing and security in Nigeria, using maize marketing in Kwara State as a case study. This is against the background of persistent food crisis being experienced for sometimes now in the country. Primary data were collected during the 1997/98 farming season from two hundred food marketers consisting of eighty wholesalers and one hundred and twenty retailers spread across six local government areas of the state. Secondary data were collected from Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin and annual reports. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Market margin, distribution of total market margin and marketing efficiency were estimated. The results indicate that the average farm gate price of maize was N 755 per 50 kg bag of maize. The average marketing cost was N 105.3/bag and the average net marketing margin was N 158.2/bag. The average marketing efficiency was 143.5 % in the study area. The distributi...

An increasing demand for livestock products including goat meat offers small-scale farmers in semi-arid Zimbabwe opportunities for increased market participation. However, existing goat markets are largely informal, with poorly developed inputs and services. Transaction costs are high, resulting in low prices. In addition, access to market information is limited and negates informed decision-making. Also, farmers are unable to realize the full potential of their herds because of insufficient investment in management practices. Farmers use the cash from goat sales for food, education and human health. Yet, they lose up to 26% of their goat herds to mortality, attributed to dry season feed shortages, animal health and inappropriate housing. While farmers do react to market development, it is not in a consistent enough manner to realize the returns from their investments. More needs to be done to improve production, reduce transaction costs and increase market access to ensure growth w...

This study analyzes the production efficiency of farm households exhibiting significant non-farm earnings in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State. The data for the study were collected from 120 farm households selected through multistage random sampling. Data envelope analysis (DEA), which reveals production inefficiencies, was used to estimate the production efficiency of the farm households (DMUs) via the input-output

The study investigated the prevalence of peer victimisation among secondary school students in a state in South Western Nigeria. Participants consisted of 385 secondary school students selected from ten secondary schools across 10 local government areas in Osun State, Nigeria. The participants, aged between 10 and 19 years, were stratified into junior and senior secondary classes. The Multidimensional PeerVictimisation Scale was used to collect data on four types of peer-victimisation commonly found among students. Results from descriptive and inferential analysis of data indicate that the majority of participants reported overall high levels of peer victimisation with attack on property as the most frequent form of peer victimisation. There were significant differences between male and female participants on all forms of victimisation with females reporting higher level of social victimisation, verbal victimisation and attack on property than males. The study also found that while ...

A community survey of treatment regimens for acute diarrhoea in children was carried out in 10 villages in the Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria, using a combination of qualitative (focus-group discussions) and quantitative (weekly surveillance of diarrhoea) methods. Focus-group discussions were conducted with parents of children aged less than 5 years, while a surveillance of diarrhoea among 550 children of same age was carried out during a 6-month period. The findings of the study showed that not all types of diarrhoea were recognized as illnesses, and only those considered to be illnesses were treated. Treatment often involved an adhoc group which comprised adults who were present at the time the illness occurred (including parents, neighbours, relatives, and elders). Certain beliefs and practices, such as associating types of diarrhoea with occupation or ethnic groups, categorizing the severity on perceived causes, and withholding certain foods during episodes ...

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and causes of eye diseases and visual impairment in students in the Ilesa East local government area of Osun state, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey that utilised a multistage random sampling method to select 1,144 primary and secondary school students. A total of 1,144 students (504 males and 640 females) were involved in the study. Their ages ranged from 4 to 24 years. The majority (97.8%) of them were below 18 years of age. A total of 177 (15.5%) of the school children were found to have eye diseases. The major ocular disorders were in the following order: conjunctiva 91 (51.4%), refractive error 66 (37.3%), lid 7 (4.0%), corneal, including staphyloma and keratoconus 5 (2.8%) and then others. These included conjunctival diseases 91 (8%) constituted mainly by allergic/vernal conjunctivitis 85 (7.4%), refractive error 66 (5.8%), lid disorders 6 (0.6%), squint 3 (0.3%), corneal scarring 3 (0.3%) and cataract 2 (0.2%). A total of 15 students were visually impaired, with a prevalence of 1.26%. Only two students were blind, with a prevalence of 0.17%. Causes of visual impairment were refractive error 10 (0.87%), bilateral immature cataract 1 (0.08%), corneal opacities 2 (0.2%), amblyopia leading to squint 1 (0.08%) and cataract 1 (0.08%). The causes of blindness in students were bilateral corneal scars presumed to be due to vitamin A deficiency in one (0.08%) student and complicated bilateral keratoconus with complicated vernal ulcers in another (0.08%). Eye diseases are common amongst Nigerian students. Eye examination for all new intakes and regular screening in both public and private primary and secondary schools is advocated. Wearing of corrective glasses should be emphasised for children with refractive error. Causes of blindness and visual impairment in children attending regular schools in Nigeria were avoidable.

Soil erosion is one of the major causes of land degradation and often results in reduction of agricultural production and productivity in Ethiopia. Although it is a natural process, its rate has increased significantly due to anthropogenic activities. Thisresearch was conducted in Elfeta district, central Ethiopia with the purpose of assessing farmers` perception of soil erosion. A mixed research design (a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis) was employed and both primary and secondary data were collected. Data were collected through interview schedule assisted survey questionnaire, focus group discussion, personal observation, and life history methods. Descriptive, inferential, and econometric were employed for quantitative analysis while description, narration and content analysis were employed for qualitative analysis. The findings of the study reveal that the major causes of soil erosion identified by farmers were: deforestation, c...

This is a Project Performance Assessment of the Second National Fadama Development Project implemented between 2004 and 2009. The study assessed the level of social inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups in the project in Yola North LGA of Adamawa state, Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 88 vulnerable and marginalized persons from 10 participating FUGs in the study area. The study relied on primary data collected using structured questionnaire and secondary data from the local Fadama desk office. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. The study revealed that, 49% of the respondents were young, female (68%), married (57%) and educated (77%). Vulnerable and marginalise based FUGs constituted 37% of the FUGs that participated in the project in the area. All the FUGs sampled patronized both the capacity building and the pilot asset components most, compared to other project components. Majority (90%) of the respondents benefited from the p...