EDUCATION; ONE MAJOR MEANS BY WHICH ECOWAS PROMOTE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

EDUCATION; ONE MAJOR MEANS BY WHICH ECOWAS PROMOTE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
INTRODUCTION
Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and or research. Education may also include informal transmission of such information from one human being to another. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but learners may also educate themselves (autodidactic learning). Education is commonly and formally divided into stages such as preschool, primary school, secondary school and then college, university or apprenticeship. The science and art of how best to teach is called pedagogy.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; French: Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, CEDEAO) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region. It comprises of 15 West African countries.
In order to reform Education in ECOWAS, within the framework of the Decade of Education adopted by the African Union, NEPAD Initiatives, Education for All as well as Millennium Development Goals (MDG), ECOWAS in 2003 adopted a Regional Protocol on Education and a Convention on the Recognition and the equivalence of Degrees, Diplomas and other qualifications. The protocol sets out priority objectives in education, and the means to achieve them within the framework of Member States cooperation. ECOWAS also adopted an Action plan that was annexed to the protocol on education relating to the priority programmes adopted by the conference of Ministers namely:
• HIV/AIDS preventive Education
• Girls Education
• Teacher training through Distance learning
• Promotion of Science and Technology
• Technical and Vocational Educational Education and Training

Objectives
• To provide all Community citizens greater access to quality education and training opportunities available in the region;
• To harmonise criteria for admission into institutions of higher learning,
research institutions, and vocational training centres; harmonise certificates; and progressively harmonise the educational and training systems in the Member States.

Justification
• Decision A/DEC.3/01/03, Protocol relating to Education and Training;
• Decision.4/01/03, General Convention on Equivalence of Certificate

ECOWAS Cultural development programme approved by the Council of Ministers is designed to strengthen and develop exchange to promote creativity, cultural tourism development, free movement of cultural products, and to enable African artists to have greater access to the international art market. It is also designed to ensure that culture is taken into account in the regional integration process for development and to foster sense of belonging.
Objectives
• • To support and encourage creativity within the ECOWAS space;
• • To promote cultural exchange
• • To strengthen cooperation with film makers

REFERENCES
• African Union
• • Data. “GDP, PPP (current international $) | Data | Table”. Data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
• • Data. “GNI per capita, PPP (current international $) | Data | Table”. Data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
• • Data. “GDP (current US$) | Data | Table”. Data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
• • Adeyemi, Segun (6 August 2003). “West African Leaders Agree on Deployment to Liberia”. Jane’s Defence Weekly.
• • “Profile: Economic Community of West African States”. Africa Union. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
• • Bensah, Emmanuel K. (2013-07-24). “Communicating the ECOWAS Message (4): A New Roadmap for the Ouedraogo Commission(1)”. Modernghana.com. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
• • ECOWAS (2007) Information Manual: The Institutions of the Community ECOWAS
• • “Miss ECOWAS 2010”. The Economist. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
• [1] REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND COOPERATION IN WEST AFRICA A Multidimensional Perspective, Chapter 1.

DISCUSS NORTHERN NIGERIA ALONG THESE LINES

DISCUSS NORTHERN NIGERIA ALONG THESE LINES
INTRODUCTION
Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate which lasted from 1900 until 1914 and covered the northern part of what is now Nigeria. The protectorate spanned 255,000 miles (410,000 km) and included the states of the Sokoto Caliphate and the Kano Emirate and parts of the former Bornu Empire, conquered in 1902. The first High Commissioner of the protectorate was Frederick Lugard, who actively suppressed revolutions and created a system of administration built around native authorities. The Protectorate was ended in 1914, when its area was unified with the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Lagos Colony, becoming the Northern Province of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.

MAP OF NORTHERN NIGERIA

1. HISTORY/POLITICS
The Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885 provided the area that would become the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to the British. The Royal Niger Company was formed in 1886 with George Taubman Goldie as the vice governor. The Company negotiated trade agreements and political agreements, sometimes coercive, with many of the chieftains, emirs, and the Sokoto Caliphate. In 1897, Frederick Lugard was the appointed head of the West African Frontier Force which was tasked with stopping Fulani resistance and possible French incursions in the northwest area.
On 1 January 1890, the Royal Niger Company’s charter was revoked and the British government took control. The Royal Niger Company was paid £865,000 and was given the rights to half of all mining revenue in a large part of the areas for 99 years in exchange for ceding the territory to the British government. Lugard was appointed the High Commissioner of the newly created Northern Nigeria Protectorate. Zungeru became the headquarters for the protectorate in 1902 because it was the most northerly city accessible by river transport.
Military operations began in 1902 and continued for about five years of sporadic fighting. The remnants of the Bornu Empire were conquered in 1902 and the Sokoto Caliphate and the Kano Emirate were taken over in 1903. Fighting continued in 1904 in Bassa. In 1906 a large Mahdist revolution began outside of the city of Sokoto in the village of Satiru, a combined force of the British and the British-appointed Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Attahiru II, destroyed the town and killed most residents involved. After 1907 there were fewer revolts and use of military force by the British and the focus of the High Commissioner turned toward taxation and administration.

2. GEOGRAPHY AND SETTING
The highest point in Northern Nigeria is Chappal Waddi at 2,419 m (7,936 ft). The main rivers are the Niger and the Benue River which converge at Kabba province and empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The expansive valleys of the Niger and Benue River valleys dominate the southern areas of the country. To the southeast of the Benue river, hills and mountains which forms the Mambilla Plateau create the highest Plateau in Northern Nigeria. This plateau extends to the border with Cameroon, this montane land forms part of the Bamenda Highlands in Cameroon. The Great savannah belt of the Great Plains of Hausa land dominates much of the rest of the country. This region experiences rainfall between 20 and 60 inches (508 and 1,524 mm) per year. The savannah zone’s three categories are Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, Sudan savannah, and Sahel savannah. Guinean forest-savanna mosaic is plains of tall grass which are interrupted by trees. Sudan savannah is similar but with shorter grasses and shorter trees. Sahel savannah consists of patches of grass and sand, found in the northeast. In the Sahel region, rain is less than 20 inches (508 mm) per year and the Sahara Desert is encroaching. In the dry north-east corner of the country lies Lake Chad, which Northern Nigeria shares with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Northern Nigeria is an ethnically and religiously diverse state. The, Hausa, Fula and Birom peoples dominate much of the North Western and central parts of the Country. While the Hausa and Fula are chiefly Muslims, they have a very rich Christian history, The Ancient Hausa Kings of Gobir ‘Masu Sakandami’ – the Cross Bearers were Christians long before the coming of European evangelists and a large Christian Hausa and Fula minority thrives in many of the North Western Provinces. A substantial part of the Huusa population also adheres to ancient religion of Hausa Animism.
The Biroms of the Plateau and the Tiv and Jukun of the Benue are chiefly Christian, they were converted to Christianity after the colonization of the country by the British. The Nupe, Kebawa and Yoruba peoples occupy the south western parts of the Counrty, these people are also mainly Muslims with Emirate type Native systems that predate the country’s existence.

3. RELIEF AND DRAINAGE
In general, the topography of Nigeria consists of plains in the north and south interrupted by plateaus and hills in the centre of the country. The Sokoto Plains lie in the northwestern corner of the country, while the Borno Plains in the northeastern corner extend as far as the Lake Chad basin. The Lake Chad basin and the coastal areas, including the Niger River delta and the western parts of the Sokoto region in the far northwest, are underlain by soft, geologically young sedimentary rocks. Gently undulating plains, which become waterlogged during the rainy season, are found in these areas. The characteristic landforms of the plateaus are high plains with broad, shallow valleys dotted with numerous hills or isolated mountains, called inselbergs; the underlying rocks are crystalline, although sandstones appear in river areas. The Jos Plateau rises almost in the centre of the country; it consists of extensive lava surfaces dotted with numerous extinct volcanoes
The major drainage areas in Nigeria are the Niger-Benue basin, the Lake Chad basin, and the Gulf of Guinea basin. The Niger River, for which the country is named, and the Benue, its largest tributary, are the principal rivers. The Niger has many rapids and waterfalls, but the Benue is not interrupted by either and is navigable throughout its length, except during the dry season. Rivers draining the area north of the Niger-Benue trough include the Sokoto, the Kaduna, the Gongola, and the rivers draining into Lake Chad. The coastal areas are drained by short rivers that flow into the Gulf of Guinea.
The climatic conditions in the northern part of Nigeria exhibit only two different seasons, namely, a short wet season and a prolonged dry season. Temperatures during the day remain constantly high while humidity is relatively low throughout the year, with little or no cloud cover.

There are, however, wide diurnal ranges in temperature (between nights and days) particularly in the very hot months. The mean monthly temperatures during the day exceed 36°C while the mean monthly temperatures at night fall, most times to below 22°C.

Thus much of Nigeria and the region to the west experiences two rainy periods as the intertropical convergence move north or south; but in the north the two rainy seasons merge to give a single wet season between July and September.

The few high plateaus of Jos and Biu, and the Adamawa highlands, experience climatic conditions which are markedly different from the generalized dry and wet period in northern Nigeria. Temperatures are 5 – 10°C lower due to high altitude than in the surrounding areas. Similarly, the annual rainfall figures are higher than in areas around them, particularly on the windward side.

4. POPULATION
Northern Nigeria comprises of 62% of Nigeria’s land mass and 53.7% of the national population. Majority of the people in northern Nigeria are Muslims and the culture of these people reflects largely Islamic influences. Western-style education was introduced into the southern part of Nigeria by Christian missionaries in the mid 1800th. On the other hand, it took the Europeans another 64 years to establish the first primary school in the north in 1907. European form of education was initially rejected by the people of the north regarding it as a threat to their culture and religion. For many years people were not willing to send their children (especially girls) to those schools. Early marriage was popularly supported by most families and large percentages of girls were rarely allowed to attend formal western schools or go beyond primary school education.

5. LAND TENURE
Traditional land tenure throughout Nigeria was based on customary laws under which land was considered community property. An individual had usufructuary rights to the land he farmed in his lineage or community area. He could possess the land as long as he used it to his families or society’s benefit, and could pass the land on to heirs and pledge its use to satisfy a debt, but could not sell or mortgage it. The right of disposal belonged only to the community, which, acting through traditional authorities, exercised this right in accordance with customary law.
The Fulani conquest of much of northern Nigeria in the early 1800s brought a change in land tenure in areas under Fulani control. The conquerors bestowed fiefs on certain individuals, who sometimes appointed overseers with the power to allocate unused land without regard for local community interests. One result was a growing number of grants to strangers during the nineteenth century because overseers sought to increase the revenue from their landlords’ holdings. This practice gradually reduced the extent of bush land and encouraged the migration of farmers to urban areas that began toward the end of the nineteenth century.
In the early 1900s, the British established hegemony over the Fulani and declared all land in the former Fulani fiefs to be public property. Subsequently, in contrast to southern Nigeria, where the community owned land in the north the government required occupancy permits. However, at the same time the northern authorities were charged with supervision and protection of the indigenous population’s traditional rights, and a general reversion to customary land-tenure practices occurred. In predominantly Muslim areas, traditional land inheritance laws were allowed to remain in force. As a result of the government’s support of local customary laws, encroachment by outsiders appears largely to have been halted. In 1962 the government of the Northern Region placed formal restrictions on landholding by individuals who were not members of a northern community.
During the 1970s, however, individuals and business enterprises drove up land prices, especially in newly urbanized areas, by investing heavily in real estate. In the south, customary owners turned from land sales to more profitable high-rent leasing arrangements. In the north, where land was held only by permit, farmers on the outskirts of cities became victims of developmental rezoning. Their permits were revoked, and, only minimally compensated, they moved to other areas. The land was then subdivided and sold at high prices.
In response to a potential crisis in land distribution, the Federal Military Government promulgated the Land Use Decree of March 1978, establishing a uniform tenure system for all of Nigeria. Subsequently incorporated in the constitution of 1979, the decree effectively nationalized all land by requiring certificates of occupancy from the government for land held under customary and statutory rights and the payment of rent to the government. However, the decree stipulated that anyone in a rural or urban area who normally occupied land and developed it would continue to enjoy the right of occupancy, and could sell or transfer his interest in the development of the land.
The main purpose of the 1978 decree was to open land to development by individuals, corporations, institutions, and governments. The decree gave state and local government’s authority to take over and assign any undeveloped land.

CONCLUSION

Northern Nigeria is now known for many negative things, which many believed is promoted by extreme poverty in the region accentuated by continual irresponsible leadership that has taken over the region, leaders who fail to follow the footstep of one of the greatest leadership example who show complete transparency in leadership, backed by honesty and humility, Sir Ahmadu Bello will never forgive these men who continue to use his name to deceive the masses while in the real sense they are busy destroying the legacies he left behind.

REFERENCES
1. Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert (2002), A Dictionary of Archaeology (6, illustrated, reprint ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, p. 314, ISBN 978-0-631-23583-5
2. “Skull points to a more complex human evolution in Africa”. BBC News. 16 September 2011.
3. Shaw, T., & Daniells, S. G. H. 1984. “Excavations At Iwo-Eleru, Ondo State, Nigeria”, West African Journal of Archaeology.
4. “Nigeria EARLY HISTORY Sourced from The Library of Congress Country Studies”. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
5. Griswold, Wendy (2000). Bearing Witness: Readers, Writers, and the Novel in Nigeria. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. p. XV. ISBN 0-691-05829-6.
6. Isichei, Elizabeth Allo (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK. p. 512. ISBN 0-521-45599-5.
7. Uzukwu, E. Elochukwu (1997). Worship as Body Language. Liturgical Press. p. 93. ISBN 0-8146-6151-3.
8. Hrbek, Ivan; Fāsī, Muḥammad (1988). Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. London: Unesco. p. 254. ISBN 92-3-101709-8.
9. Lovejoy, Paul (2000). Identity in the Shadow of Slavery. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 62. ISBN 0-8264-4725-2.
10. Onwuejeogwu, M. Angulu (1981). Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom & Hegemony. Ethnographica. ISBN 0-905788-08-7.

DECOLONIZATION IN EAST AFRICA. WHAT WERE THE POLITICAL PARTIES AND NATIONALS INVOLVED

DECOLONIZATION IN EAST AFRICA. WHAT WERE THE POLITICAL PARTIES AND NATIONALS INVOLVED
INTRODUCTION
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. it comprises two traditionally recognized regions: East Africa, made up of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; and the Horn of Africa, made up of Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
Eastern Africa consists largely of plateaus and has most of the highest elevations in the continent. The two most striking highlands are in Ethiopia and Kenya, respectively, where large areas reach elevations of 6,500 to 10,000 feet (2,000 to 3,000 metres). Twin parallel rift valleys that are part of the East African Rift System run through the region. The Eastern, or Great, Rift Valley extends from the Red Sea’s junction with the Gulf of Aden southward across the highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya and continues on into Tanzania. The Western Rift Valley curves along the western borders of Uganda and Tanzania. Between the two rift valleys lies a plateau that comprises most of Uganda and western Tanzania and includes Lake Victoria. The volcanic massif of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, reaches 19,340 feet (5,895 metres) in northeastern Tanzania. The Horn of Africa, a major peninsular extension of the African mainland into the Arabian Sea, contains the vast lowland coastal plains of Somalia.
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In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 20 territories constitute Eastern Africa:
• Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi – in Central East Africa, are also included in the African Great Lakes region and are members of the East African Community (EAC). Burundi and Rwanda are sometimes also considered to be part of Central Africa.
• Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia – collectively known as the Horn of Africa.
• Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean.
• Réunion and Mayotte – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.
• Mozambique and Madagascar – often considered part of Southern Africa, on the eastern side of the sub-continent. Madagascar has close cultural ties to Southeast Asia and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
• Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – often also included in Southern Africa, and formerly of the Central African Federation.
• Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan (newly independent from Sudan) – collectively part of the Nile Valley. Situated in the northeastern portion of the continent, and are often included in Northern Africa. Also members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area.
Due to colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term East Africa is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.

DECOLONIZATION OF EAST AFRICA
The decolonization of east Africa followed World War II as colonized peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.
The only two world powers to officially and actively support African decolonization through the entire 20th century were the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China — all others varied their opinions from the strong and stubborn defense of colonialism to a half-hearted support to fait-accompli situations.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN EAST AFRICA
Ideally, political parties should be the institutional transmission belt that conveys the will of the voter to government and back. They are the vehicle through which popular sovereignty is expressed and then transformed into public policy and action. In addition, multiple parties provide a mechanism for competition, so that voters have a choice in conveying their mandate to the rulers. In and of itself, competition has an intrinsic value: it forces parties to provide a better ‘product’ to the voter. In a sense, therefore, it is difficult to conceive of a practical democracy without parties except in small communities where direct democracy may be still practicable
PARTY SYSTEMS IN THEIR NATIONAL CONTEXT
The East African countries have allowed considerable numbers of political parties to register. Again, Kenya leads the field with 66 registered political parties. At the opposite extreme, the seven main Sudanese political parties have been operating under such difficult conditions since 1989, when all secular political organizations were banned, that it would be difficult to describe the country as one that upholds a party system. Sudan is a one-party civil–military autocracy that justifies its rule on religious grounds. Since 2005, the ruling party has extended power sharing to some regional parties without compromising that basic position. Again, the other three countries fall in between. Next to Kenya, Tanzania has a relatively liberal party structure, with 25 registered parties. Uganda and Ethiopia have both allowed the registration of a plurality of parties but freedom for opposition parties remains severely constrained.

PARTY SYSTEMS AT COUNTRY LEVEL AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN EAST AFRICA: DIVERSITY IN POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEMS.

UGANDA: AN AUTHORITARIAN ONE-DOMINANT-PARTY SYSTEM
Uganda represents the global pattern of a dominant authoritarian party that is ill disposed to open and fair electoral competition from other parties. The Ugandan Government resisted the introduction of multiparty competition more strongly than any of the governments in the region, except Sudan’s. President Yoweri K. Museveni came to power in 1986 following a six-year guerrilla campaign against the central government. His position was that party competition was responsible for the country’s violent post-independence history. He was determined from the start that his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM)—an offshoot of the guerrilla army that brought him to power—would be transformed into an all-inclusive national political ‘movement’, not a party. Parties in Uganda, Museveni said quite rightly, had tended to be sectarian and ethnically focused in the past.
Nevertheless, pressure for political pluralism mounted, and a referendum inviting Ugandans to decide for or against a multiparty system was organized in 2000. Scared that multiparty politics would reintroduce violence, and partly because of electoral irregularities, Ugandans voted 90 per cent in favour of the ‘movement system’. But agitation for multiparty politics did not cease. Opposition parties began to operate more or less openly. In another referendum on the subject held on 28July 2005, 92 per cent of the voters opted for a multiparty system. This followed a 2004 court order declaring restrictions on opposition political parties unconstitutional. The dominant political party is the National Resistance Movement (NRM)

TANZANIA: A ONE-DOMINANT-PARTY SYSTEM
In one-dominant-party systems, political parties in opposition, although given free rein by the government, tend to be small, fragmented and ultimately ineffectual in providing a credible alternative to the main party in ideological and policy terms.
This was largely the case in mainland Tanzania (Tanganyika as it was then) in the two pre-independence elections (in 1958 and 1960) and also after multiparty politics was reintroduced in 1995 following prolonged agitation for political pluralism in the early 1990s.
The autonomous island of Zanzibar, however, represents a very different situation: essentially it has a two-party system that reflects a sharp ethnic cleavage between Africans in Zanzibar (represented by the former Afro-Shirazi Party, now the Revolutionary State Party (Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM))-Zanzibar, on the one International, and on the other Zanzibaris of Omani origin in alliance with Africans from Pemba Island (represented by the Civic United Front, CUF). Here yet again the FPTP majoritarian system has aggravated the political situation rather than help it.
Zanzibar’s party politics are as turbulent as those of the mainland are calm. The Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was the party that won independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, under the leadership of the late President Julius K. Nyerere. It is remarkable testimony to the wide national following the party commanded even at the time that, in the election preceding independence, in 1960, it won 70 of the 71 seats being contested. The winner of the single seat won by a non-TANU candidate immediately joined TANU, leaving the country without a viable parliamentary opposition; he had stood as an independent candidate only because he was opposed to the official TANU candidate. President Nyerere won 99.2 per cent of the votes cast in the 1962 presidential election, compared to 0.8 per cent cast for the only opponent, Zuberi Mtevu of the African National Congress. By
the time Nyerere moved to declare Tanzania a one-party state in 1965, Tanzania had made it so by popular choice.

KENYA: POLITICAL FREEDOM AND THE EMERGENCE OF COMPETITIVE
COALITIONS
Multiparty politics was restored in Kenya in 1991 after prolonged demands for change, often violently suppressed. In August 1992, however, Kenya’s incumbent ruling party (the Kenya African National Union, KANU) amended the constitution to outlaw the formation of coalition governments, sensing that the divided opposition parties would go into the December 1992 elections separately

ETHIOPIA: AN AUTOCRATIC ONE-DOMINANT-PARTY SYSTEM
Party politics was unknown for most of Ethiopia’s history since it was an absolute monarchy until the 1974 revolution, when the Dirgue overthrew the government of Emperor Haille Selassie II. The Dirgue instituted single-party rule in 1984 after its first decade in power when it pursued a revolutionary socialist policy. Thus the Ethiopian Workers’ Party came into being after a decade when there were effectively no political parties of any description. It was modelled on the monolithic Soviet bloc ruling parties.
A more relaxed but never truly free party system had to await the violent overthrow of the Mengistu Haille Mariam government in 1991 by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition under the leadership of Meles Zenawi. The EPRDF had fought a protracted guerrilla war for 18 years against the Dirgue, principally in Tigrai. Like the NRM in Uganda, the EPRDF was a guerrilla army with a socialist revolutionary agenda that transformed itself into a ruling party.
Ethiopia is most accurately described as a one dominant-coalition party state. As constituted in 1991, the EPR DF is actua lly a coa lition of five parties united by their mutual antipathy to the Mengistu dictatorship. The dominant partner was and still is the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) led by Meles Zenawi. The other four parties in the EPRDF are the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, and the Ethiopian United Peoples’ Democratic Force. Apart from the TPLF, none of these parties commands support in its ethnic homelands or in the capital. The EPRDF is therefore essentially the TPLF in power, a minority regional party.

SUDAN: A DICTATORSHIP WITH ESTABLISHED PARTIES IN THE SHADOWS
Sudan has strong tradition of active political parties—secular, religious and sectarian in origin—that have dominated the political landscape of the country since competitive politics was introduced by the British colonial authorities after the Second World War. Sections of these parties have tended to break away and fuse into others.
The military dictatorships—of Gaffar al Nimeiry (1969–84) and now Omar Beshir (from 1989 to the present)—banned these parties.
The most influential political parties in the dominant north of the country are sectarian-based, and their origins go back to the Mahdist uprising in the 1880s.
They are (a) the Umma Party, founded in 1945 on the foundations of the AlAnsar sect, pledged to upholding the strict Islamic teachings of the Great Mahdi who led the popular religious revolt in 1883 against the Anglo-Egyptian condominium then ruling Sudan; and (b) the Democratic Unionist Party (a fusion of the People’s Democratic and National Unionist parties of the 1950), fronted by the Khatmiyya sect. The latter were traditional rivals of the Mahdists, based on the Mirghrani family, who had favoured closer integration with Nasserite Egypt. Both parties draw their core support from the north. Successive military governments in the country have tried to play them off against each other.
This, then, is the picture of the party system in Sudan at the end of 2005—a military dictatorship in pursuit of an Islamic state, flush with oil money, bringing parties into partnership with the government or discarding them as and when it suits it.

LEADERSHIP
Party leadership in East Africa is strongly associated with founding personalities or those to whom leadership is bequeathed by the original leaders. In Sudan we have already seen the role played by the el Mahdi family in the Umma Party and the Mirghrani family in the Democratic Unionist Party. In Tanzania, as long as Julius Nyerere was alive (even after he gave up the presidency in 1985) he wielded overwhelming influence over the operations and philosophy of the CCM; indeed, it was at his suggestion in 1991 that the party decided to open up Tanzania to multiparty competition. The Uganda People’s Congress consulted Milton Obote,
its founder, throughout all his years of exile in Zambia. When he died, the party nominated his widow as its presidential candidate. In Kenya, the Kenyatta family supported KANU both before and after the rule of President Daniel Arap Moi. Even when parties do not have a long history, they tend to be identified with strong personalities behind them—Yoweri Museveni with the NRM; Meles Zenawi with the EPRDF; and John Garang with the SPLM. Very often, the philosophy and the day-to-day management of the party depend on the leader. In his heyday in Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi ordered party branch elections on the basis of petitions addressed
to him personally. It was his personal decision, in December 1991, to yield to his critics’ demands for multiparty politics, an announcement that took many of his most vocal supporters by surprise.
This style of leadership selection and management may have the advantage of relying on tried and tested hands and of predictability. But on the whole we were not able to find any political party in East Africa that has held regular elections for the membership to choose its leaders. Even in the CCM, the most open and participatory of all of them, the leadership is chosen by consensus resulting from broad consultation, rather than open competition and voting.
This style does have severe drawbacks. The passing of a leader or his exit from power could put the party in jeopardy, if not practically destroy it. KANU in Kenya functioned for a while after Arap Moi left the presidency in 2003. It even held bitterly contested and divisive national elections the following year. But after an internal schism that saw the exit and registration of a ‘New Kanu’ faction, and defeat in several by-elections, in 2006 KANU was considering either merger with the resurgent opposition coalition, the ODM, or allowing its members to take out personal membership in the ODM and, in effect, belong to two parties at once. This split the party even more. In Uganda, Kabaka Yekka has proved impossible to revive without the personal participation of the kabaka (king) of Buganda. The fortunes of the FDC are closely tied to those of Kizza Besigye. The SPLM has been under internal stress after the death of John Garang. All these developments betray the lack of strong institutional foundations in East Africa’s political parties that can guarantee leadership from one personality to the next, and one generation to another.

CONCLUSION
As stated above, political parties are the Cinderella of democratization studies and funding in Africa. In a modest effort to close that gap, a considerable part of this report has focused on the political parties and party systems in five East African countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. These countries have some similarities, but upon closer inspection there are also some gaping differences, especially on this subject. In this concluding section of the report, we attempt to flesh out some generalizations that apply to the region, and to account for the differences between countries, before proceeding to some suggestions as to what could be done to advance our understanding of party systems in Africa.
The capacity and effectiveness of party systems are strongly conditioned by the degree of political liberty and tolerance in a country. After 2002, Kenya seems to have made considerable progress in widening the scope of multiparty competition and individual freedom. This was the result of two decades of pro-democracy activism. Kenya’s lead is followed by Tanzania and to a lesser extent Uganda. The same cannot, however, be said of Ethiopia and Sudan. Opposition parties in Uganda and Ethiopia, in particular, operate under severe political constraints, and in Sudan
they can only resume activity at the pleasure of the government. The scope of liberal political activism (and of political parties) is narrowest in Sudan. Still, the party systems in the five countries bear some similarities.
• Fragility and structural weaknesses, particularly in parties that are not associated with the government in power. Parties in general lack strong organizational capability; recruitment of new members is intermittent; fund-raising is weak; and management is lax and often informal.
• Lack of adherence to formal rules, regulations, procedures and programmes. Practically all the parties have constitutions, but the operative procedures for internal elections, discipline and publicity are lax and often unwritten.
• Leadership centred on a dominant personality, family or clique, often commanding a substantial popular following. Major decisions are therefore made at this level.
Most parties are dominated by strong personalities (or families) for historical and social reasons. Followers identify parties with personalities and accord them support on that basis, not on account of the party’s platform or ideology.
• A strong tendency for parties to break up and fuse with others over and over again. Parties out of government are especially vulnerable to this endless fusion and fission. For this reason parties (in the formal legal sense) tend to have short lives, as they mutate into new coalitions, merge, or reinvent themselves. Almost the only thing that remains constant is the cultural and ethnic base.
• A weak and unreliable financial and human resource base. We encountered no party out of government that had a sound financial base as a result of membership support. As a result, it has proved difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff to manage the business of the party.
• The FPTP majoritarian electoral system. This seems to have a negative effect on the representation of political parties in government. FPTP systems have an inherent tendency to exclude even major parties from power, particularly in systems like those in East Africa (outside Tanzania) where membership is confined to regions or ethnic groups.
• Lack of a mass membershiprecruited from primary associations, notably ethnic groups, particular regions, traditional and religious groups, and social movements. Again, with the exception of the CCM in Tanzania, parties in East Africa tend to have a narrowly-based membership built on pre-existing social organizations.

REFERENCES
1. United Nations Statistics Division – Standard Country and Area Codes Classifications
2. Robert Stock, Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation, (The Guilford Press: 2004), p. 26
3. IRIN Africa
4. Michael Hodd, East Africa Handbook, 7th Edition, (Passport Books: 2002), p. 21: “To the north are the countries of the Horn of Africa comprising Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.”
5. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, Jacob E. Safra, The New Encyclopædia Britannica, (Encyclopædia Britannica: 2002), p.61: “The northern mountainous area, known as the Horn of Africa, comprises Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia.”
6. Sandra Fullerton Joireman, Institutional Change in the Horn of Africa, (Universal-Publishers: 1997), p.1: “The Horn of Africa encompasses the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. These countries share similar peoples, languages, and geographical endowments.”
7. “Eastern Africa Power Pool”. EAPP. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
8. CIA – The World Factbook
9. “East Africa”. The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Judy Pearsall, ed. 2001. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 582. “The eastern part of the African continent, especially the countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.”
10. Robert M. Maxon, East Africa: An Introductory History, 2 Revised edition, (West Virginia University: 1994), p. 1
11. Mary Fitzpatrick and Tom Parkinson, Lonely Planet East Africa, 7th edition, (Lonely Planet Publications: 2006), p. 13
12. Stock, Africa South of the Sahara, Second Ed., p. 24
13. Somaliland is not included in the United Nations geoscheme, as it is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia.
14. “East Africa”. Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. 2001. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.; p. 339. “A term often used of the area now comprising the countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia; sometimes used to include also other neighboring countries of E Africa.”

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

INTRODUCTION
There are two fundamental issues with which the educational reformers are concerned. These are as follows: (i) The students’ learning in the classroom; and (ii) The effectiveness of the teaching by teachers in the classroom. To answer these questions, the movement for Classroom Research and Assessment was initiated during the 1990’s by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross, who devised various Classroom Assessment Techniques (known as CAT’s), (see, for examples, Angelo and Cross (1993), among others, for details). They developed these CAT’s in order to help teachers to measure the effectiveness of their teaching by finding out what students are learning in the classroom and how well they are learning. According to Angelo and Cross (1993), “These CAT’s are designed to encourage college teachers to become more systematic and sensitive observers of learning as it takes place everyday in their classrooms. Faculties have an exceptional opportunity to use their classrooms as laboratories for the study of learning and through such study to develop a better understanding of the learning process and the impact of their teaching upon it.” Thus, in Classroom Assessment Approach, students and teachers are involved in the continuous monitoring of students’ learning. It gives students the feedback of their progress as learners. The faculties, on the other hand, get to know about their effectiveness as teachers. According to Angelo and Cross (1993), the founders of classroom assessment movement, “Classroom Assessments are created, administered, and analyzed by teachers themselves on questions of teaching and learning that are important to them, the likelihood that instructors will apply the results of the assessment to their own teaching is greatly enhanced.” Following Angelo and Cross (1993), some important characteristics of Classroom Assessment Approach are given below:
(i) LEARNER-CENTERED

(ii) TEACHER-DIRECTED

(iii) MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL

(iv) FORMATIVE

(v) CONTEXT-SPECIFIC

(vi) ONGOING

(vii) ROOTED IN GOOD TEACHING PRACTICE
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are generally simple, non-graded, anonymous, in-class activities designed to give you and your students useful feedback on the teaching-learning process as it is happening.
Examples of CATs include the following.
• The Background Knowledge Probe is a short, simple questionnaire given to students at the start of a course, or before the introduction of a new unit, lesson or topic. It is designed to uncover students’ pre-conceptions.
• The Minute Paper tests how students are gaining knowledge, or not. The instructor ends class by asking students to write a brief response to the following questions: “What was the most important thing you learned during this class?” and “What important question remains unanswered?”
• The Muddiest Point is one of the simplest CATs to help assess where students are having difficulties. The technique consists of asking students to jot down a quick response to one question: “What was the muddiest point in [the lecture, discussion, homework assignment, film, etc.]?” The term “muddiest” means “most unclear” or “most confusing.”
• The What’s the Principle? CAT is useful in courses requiring problem-solving. After students figure out what type of problem they are dealing with, they often must decide what principle(s) to apply in order to solve the problem. This CAT provides students with a few problems and asks them to state the principle that best applies to each problem.
• Defining Features Matrix: Prepare a handout with a matrix of three columns and several rows. At the top of the first two columns, list two distinct concepts that have potentially confusing similarities (e.g. hurricanes vs. tornados, Picasso vs. Matisse). In the third column, list the important characteristics of both concepts in no particular order. Give your students the handout and have them use the matrix to identify which characteristics belong to each of the two concepts. Collect their responses, and you’ll quickly find out which characteristics are giving your students the most trouble.
Why Should I Use CATs?
CATs can be used to improve the teaching and learning that occurs in a class. More frequent use of CATs can…
• Provide just-in-time feedback about the teaching-learning process
• Provide information about student learning with less work than traditional assignments (tests, papers, etc.)
• Encourage the view that teaching is an ongoing process of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection
• Help students become better monitors of their own learning
• Help students feel less anonymous, even in large courses
• Provide concrete evidence that the instructor cares about learning
How Should I Use CATs?
Results from CATs can guide teachers in fine-tuning their teaching strategies to better meet student needs. A good strategy for using CATs is the following.
1. Decide what you want to assess about your students’ learning from a CAT.
2. Choose a CAT that provides this feedback, is consistent with your teaching style, and can be implemented easily in your class.
3. Explain the purpose of the activity to students, and then conduct it.
4. After class, review the results, determine what they tell you about your students’ learning, and decide what changes to make, if any.
5. Let your students know what you learned from the CAT and how you will use this information.
SUBSTANTIATING THE ABOVE STATEMENT
Using Classroom Assessment Techniques
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are a set of specific activities that instructors can use to quickly gauge students’ comprehension. They are generally used to assess students’ understanding of material in the current course, but with minor modifications they can also be used to gauge students’ knowledge coming into a course or program.
CATs are meant to provide immediate feedback about the entire class’s level of understanding, not individual students’. The instructor can use this feedback to inform instruction, such as speeding up or slowing the pace of a lecture or explicitly addressing areas of confusion.
Asking Appropriate Questions in CATs
Examples of appropriate questions you can ask in the CAT format:
• How familiar are students with important names, events, and places in history that they will need to know as background in order to understand the lectures and readings (e.g. in anthropology, literature, political science)?
• How are students applying knowledge and skills learned in this class to their own lives (e.g. psychology, sociology)?
• To what extent are students aware of the steps they go through in solving problems and how well can they explain their problem-solving steps (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering)?
• How and how well are students using a learning approach that is new to them (e.g., cooperative groups) to master the concepts and principles in this course?
Using Specific Types of CATs
Minute Paper
Pose one to two questions in which students identify the most significant things they have learned from a given lecture, discussion, or assignment. Give students one to two minutes to write a response on an index card or paper. Collect their responses and look them over quickly. Their answers can help you to determine if they are successfully identifying what you view as most important.
Muddiest Point
This is similar to the Minute Paper but focuses on areas of confusion. Ask your students, “What was the muddiest point in… (today’s lecture, the reading, the homework)?” Give them one to two minutes to write and collect their responses.
Problem Recognition Tasks
Identify a set of problems that can be solved most effectively by only one of a few methods that you are teaching in the class. Ask students to identify by name which methods best fit which problems without actually solving the problems. This task works best when only one method can be used for each problem.
Documented Problem Solutions
Choose one to three problems and ask students to write down all of the steps they would take in solving them with an explanation of each step. Consider using this method as an assessment of problem-solving skills at the beginning of the course or as a regular part of the assigned homework.
Directed Paraphrasing
Select an important theory, concept, or argument that students have studied in some depth and identify a real audience to whom your students should be able to explain this material in their own words (e.g., a grants review board, a city council member, a vice president making a related decision). Provide guidelines about the length and purpose of the paraphrased explanation.
Applications Cards
Identify a concept or principle your students are studying and ask students to come up with one to three applications of the principle from everyday experience, current news events, or their knowledge of particular organizations or systems discussed in the course.
Student-Generated Test Questions
A week or two prior to an exam, begin to write general guidelines about the kinds of questions you plan to ask on the exam. Share those guidelines with your students and ask them to write and answer one to two questions like those they expect to see on the exam.
Classroom Opinion Polls
When you believe that your students may have pre-existing opinions about course-related issues, construct a very short two- to four-item questionnaire to help uncover students’ opinions.

Creating and Implementing CATs
You can create your own CATs to meet the specific needs of your course and students. Below are some strategies that you can use to do this.
• Identify a specific “assessable” question where the students’ responses will influence your teaching and provide feedback to aid their learning.
• Complete the assessment task yourself (or ask a colleague to do it) to be sure that it is doable in the time you will allot for it.
• Plan how you will analyze students’ responses, such as grouping them into the categories “good understanding,” “some misunderstanding,” or “significant misunderstanding.”
• After using a CAT, communicate the results to the students so that they know you learned from the assessment and so that they can identify specific difficulties of their own.

CONCLUSION
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are a set of specific activities that instructors can use to quickly gauge students’ comprehension. They are generally used to assess students’ understanding of material in the current course, but with minor modifications they can also be used to gauge students’ knowledge coming into a course or program.
CATs are meant to provide immediate feedback about the entire class’s level of understanding, not individual students’. The instructor can use this feedback to inform instruction, such as speeding up or slowing the pace of a lecture or explicitly addressing areas of confusion.

REFERENCES

Angelo, T. A., and Cross, K. P. (1993), Classroom Assessment Techniques – A Handbook for College Teachers, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Ausubel, D. P. (1968), Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, Troy, Mo.
Bloom, B. S., Hastings, J. T., and Madaus, G. F. (1971), Handbook on Formative and Summative Evaluation of Student Learning, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Bloom, B. S., and others (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Vol. 1: Cognitive Domain, McKay, New York.
Brown, A. L., Bransford, J. D., Ferrara, R. A., and Campione, J. C. (1983), Learning, Remembering, and Understanding, in F. H. Flavell and E. M. Markman (eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology, Vol. 3: Cognitive Development, (4th ed.), Wiley, New
York.
Crooks, T. J. (1988), The Impact of Classroom Evaluation Practices on Students, Review of Educational Research, 58(4), 438-481.
Davis, B. G. (1999), Quizzes, Tests, and Exams, http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/quizzes.htm.
Flinders University of South Australia (2000), Education and Research Policy, http://www.flinders.edu.au/teach/teach/home.html.

ANALYSE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIVESTOCK AND FISHERIES RESOURCES IN NIGERIA

INTRODUCTION
Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. This article does not discuss poultry or farmed fish, although these, especially poultry, are commonly included within the meaning of “livestock”.
Livestock are generally raised for profit. Raising animals (animal husbandry) is a component of modern agriculture. It has been practiced in many cultures since the transition to farming from hunter-gather lifestyles. The term “livestock” is nebulous and may be defined narrowly or broadly. On a broader view, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans for a useful, commercial purpose. This can mean domestic animals, semi-domestic animals, or captive wild animals. Semi-domesticated refers to animals which are only lightly domesticated or of disputed status. These populations may also be in the process of domestication. Some people may use the term livestock to refer to only domestic animals or even to only red meat animals

Domestic sheep and a cow (heifer) pastured together in Borno state
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the “people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats, purpose of the activities or a combination of the foregoing features”. The definition often includes a combination of fish and fishers in a region, the latter fishing for similar species with similar gear types.
A fishery may involve the capture of wild fish or raising fish through fish farming or aquaculture. Directly or indirectly, the livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture. Overfishing, including the taking of fish beyond sustainable levels, is reducing fish stocks and employment in many world regions. A report by Prince Charles’ International Sustainability Unit, the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund and 50in10 published in July 2014 estimated global fisheries were adding $270 billion a year to global GDP, but by full implementation of sustainable fishing, that figure could rise by as much as $50 billion
The role of Fisheries and Livestock sectors in the development of agro-based economy of Bangladesh is very important and promising. They contribute around 8% to national income, which also is 32% of the total agricultural income. About 90% of animal protein in our diet comes from fish and livestock.

The main functions of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are to preserve fisheries resources, fulfill the requirement of animal protein through proper management and planned development, increase socio-economic conditions of fishermen, create employment opportunities for rural unemployed and landless people, expand foreign exchange earnings by exporting fish and fishery products and to innovate new technologies through research for fisheries development and preservation.
DEVELOPMENT OF LIVESTOCK STOCK AND FISHEIRES IN NIGERIA
Among all the livestock that makes up the farm animals in Nigeria, ruminants, comprising sheep, goats and cattle, constitute the farm animals largely reared by farm families in the country’s agricultural system. Nigeria has population of 34.5million goats, 22.1million sheep and 13.9million cattle. The larger proportion of these animals’ population are however largely concentrated in the northern region of the country than the southern region. Specifically about 90 percent of the country’s cattle population and 70 percent of the sheep and goat populations are concentrated in northern region of the country. Concentration of Nigeria’s livestock-base in the northern region is most likely to have been influenced by the ecological condition of the region which is characterised by low rainfall duration, lighter sandy soils and longer dry season. This submission is predicated by the fact that drier tropics or semi-arid regions are more favourable to the ruminants, Not withstanding this situation, certain breeds of sheep and goats, particularly the West African Dwarf (WAD) species, are peculiarly adapted to the southern (humid) region of the country and are commonly reared by rural households in the region. Although, no breed of cattle is peculiar to the southern humid region of Nigeria, the available cattle in the region was largely due to settlement of the Hausa/Fulani pastoralists, who constitute the main cattle rearers, in the region.
Nigeria is one country that can boast of 230 billion cubic metres of water, making it one of the richest countries for fish and aquaculture development, fish farming, fish markets and fish consumption.
This is one thought that has pushed for the development of the fisheries and aquaculture value chain, aimed at increasing fish production and creating a viable fish market as a springboard to creating foreign exchange for the development of the Nigerian economy.
Fishery is one very important aspect of the nation’s agricultural development because of the huge consumption demand by Nigerians. But despite the huge water space Nigeria has fish was imported until the federal government, through Dr Akinwumi Adesina, began the steady transformation of the nation’s fishery and aquaculture through the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) and Agricultural Transformation Agenda(ATA).
The fisheries sector is estimated to contribute 3.5% of Nigeria’s GDP and provides direct and indirect employment to over six million people. Nigeria has many rivers and water bodies which would serve as good locations to set-up fish farms. Opportunities exist in various areas of the fishing sub-sector, these
include: Production of table size fish, Construction of fish farms, Storage Processing and preservation of captured fish. Fish seed multiplication Transport Financing Reasons to invest in Nigeria Incentives: The Nigerian Government is willing to extend a number of incentives to serious investors.
A major challenge to the development of fish production is the poor marketability for fish farmers and fishermen. The government, therefore, sought an avenue to create a market through the Broodstock Development and Hatchery Management, for Increased Production of Improved Fingerlings, increased table fish production, fish feed development, fish processing and product development, all aimed at creating a viable fish market for Nigerians.
The federal government also took a foray into commercial fish farming, and through the ATA successfully installed fish cages at 21 strategic locations nationwide, while support was given to some cage fish farmers in Bayelsa State to cushion the loss suffered during the 2012 flood disaster. In the area of fish product development, the federal government, through the ATA established two large scale fish processing plants at Jebba, Kwara State and Borno States, while six cottage fish processing centres were established in Borno, Kebbi, Lagos, Delta and Imo states and the FCT under a public private partnership arrangement.
In creating a market for fish farmers, the federal government established three fish markets in Kebbi, Ogun and Cross River state, while two additional fish markets are being developed in Lokoja and Onitsha. In the area of fish/shrimp exports, the federal government, through the Adesina-led government, revealed that a total of 3,967.1705MT of fish, shrimp and their products were exported in 2012 at a value of US$45,990,640.85 to the EU and the United States of America (USA), while the Department of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture issued a total of 196 Catch Certificates to Exporters.
The sum of N192.9 million was generated as revenue through the issuance of different categories of fishing and shrimping licences in 2011 and 2012 only. In the development of fisheries, the federal government had also proposed three sites for the establishment of Staple Crops Processing Zones (SCPZ) in Lagos, Bayelsa, and Rivers. This will be special zones designated for fish processing, shrimps and other fishery products. Also laboratory equipment and consumables were procured for upgrade of the National Fisheries Laboratory, Lagos.

This notwithstanding, there is need to consciously harness the environment to enhance the country’s livestock and fishery development through the following:
Efficient livestock and fishery feeding: exploration of the environment and the country’s breeds of ruminant potentials for livestock and fishery industry development are yet to be fully harnessed. The larger proportion of the ruminant livestock in Nigeria lies in the hands of herders who keep them under extensive and semi-intensive management systems, whereby the animals only rely on natural pasture and crop residue for survival. The ruminants may though have access to enough forage during the rainy season; it becomes a great deal of challenge to efficiently feed the animals during the dry season. In order to sustain the animals and ensure better productivity, there is need to explore the available natural pasture for silage and hay making such that the animals could be adequately fed during the dry season. In addition, there is need for paddock establishment, especially in the rural communities or reserved areas, for grazing by the ruminants. Although, forage constitutes the bulk of food needed by the ruminants, supplementary feeding is equally essential, especially for the lactating animals. In view of this, the farm animals’ diet needs to be supplemented with meals such as cottonseed cake, wheat bran, molasses, drugs and mineral salt licks etc. In view of the fact that the indigenous cattle can gain an average of 0.9 to 1.2 kg per day on silage and concentrate rations [22], it suggests that the local breeds of cattle have the potentials for efficient utilisation of feed for better production performance.
Veterinary services: pests and diseases portend a major risk to livestock and fishery development in Nigeria, as incidence of pests and diseases are common in the country’s livestock system. Although, prevention is known to be better than cure, it is invariably impossible to out rightly prevent the farm animals from being infested with either pests or diseases. This premise thus calls for establishment of sound veterinary services where infected animals could be taken care of. This requirement has been a great challenge in the Nigeria’s livestock management system. Apart from inadequate veterinary services in the country, current veterinary therapy in Nigeria is suffering from both scarcity and the high cost of drugs thereby making it impossible to save the livestock industry as it were in the country. Although, the livestock herders may take to ethno-veterinary treatment of their animals, this becomes possible only when the symptoms become manifested, and by then a serious internal damage or impairment of the animals’ health might have taken place. The implication of this is that, it may be impossible to adequately treat the animals or ensure proper clinical remedy. This situation thus calls for government and non-government organisations intervention for development of the veterinary services such that it becomes affordable to be patronised by the stock herders. The easiest and most rational solution to the problem of livestock health is to develop acceptably effective drugs from reasonably inexpensive sources for use as supplements to commercial drugs. The veterinary traditional medicine practices may still be of value in the animal health care, but should be subjected to scientific investigation for efficacy. In the light of this, it becomes important to have baseline data about traditional ethno-veterinary practices for ethno-veterinary medical information generation. Combination of the orthodox and ethno-veterinary care could thus save the animals of impaired health and enhance productivity.
Livestock and fish breeding: livestock breeding is crucial to livestock development globally. Good system of management of the resulting breeds/offspring from the crosses – in terms of intensive keeping, good health care and feeding, is however crucial to better performance of the animals. Adopted poor management systems for farm animals in Nigeria and most other developing countries certainly accounted for the poor production performance of the local ruminant breeds. The same poor management system accounted for poor performance of the exotic breeds imported into the country in the 70 (Blench, 1999). Just as the exotic breeds are known to have performed excellently well in their countries of origin under good management practice, results from experimental stations results from stations and universities farms across Africa showed that productivity of the animals could be improved under more intensive management. Similarly, where crossing has been successful under good management practice, dairy cattle dairy cattle portrayed a linear increase in milk yield as the exotic gene is increased up to the 7/8 level. The F1 Friesian x Bunaji cow (50%) gives 1684 kg, the 3/4 (75%) gives 1850 kg and the 7/8 gives 2051 kg of milk in a lactation of about 260 days. This suggests that good practices and cross breeding with the exotic breeds of desirable quality stand the chance of enhancing the country’s livestock development.
Profitable livestock and fish marketing system: among all other agricultural enterprise production, livestock and fishery management remains a delicate and expensive venture; it however has the potentials of profitable returns. The livestock is delicate in the sense that the animals need to be adequately fed, not just with any ration, but a balanced ration for productive performance. In the same vein, the health of the animals cannot be forgone as healthiness of the animals is not only a vital for production performance, but survival and sustenance of the livestock venture. Placement of the ruminant on a good ration is certainly at a great deal of cost or financial incurment, the poor economic status of the ruminant keepers in the country however makes it extremely difficult to build the livestock industry. This situation may however be reverted through efficient marketing system of livestock and its products and by-products. Poor marketing system is one of the bane livestock development in the country, whereby the animals are locally sold either directly as live animal or meat.
Livestock and fishery research development: development of the Nigeria’s livestock and fishery industry will not magically occur, but through conscientious efforts in livestock research. This calls for baseline data generation about the breeds of ruminants in the country, their production performance and marketing. Other information-base that must be established include the common livestock feeds (pasture and feed meal supplements) and common pests and diseases of livestock and their effects on the animals. This will harm the livestock research institutes with the salient information as bench mark for research work and generation of livestock innovation. Social scientists inclusion in livestock research development is crucial as this disciplines helps to ascertain the psychology of the ruminant keepers and their economic status to adopt and adapt generated livestock innovation. Similarly, the social scientist, especially the economists, will help to ascertain the economic implications of the innovations and the market driving force for ensuring efficient production and marketing of livestock and its products.

CONCLUSION
The livestock and fishing industry as an important component of general agriculture is expected to be a key contributor to national development. Because of it’s extensive coastline and tropical climate, Nigeria has the potential to develop a diversified ecology for a range of commercially viable varieties of fish. The economic appeal behind fishing is tremendous, considering the secondary and tetiary enterprises it can generate.
More efficient methods of inland cultivation and coastal trolling, executed in an export oriented environment, can spur rapid growth of down-the-line industries. Fishing, by itself, has the potential of driving considerable enterprise development, transforming rural economies and generating direct and indirect employment opportunities in the process.
One of the many challenges facing livestock and smallholder farmers across Nigeria is lack of information on animal health and access to medicines and vaccines. The documents attached here are information-sharing systems that should help to transforming livestock production in Nigeria by providing farmers with up-to-date and accurate information on how best to care for their animals, new animal health practices, and the best ways to treat diseases, among others.

REFERENCES
• “Breeds of Livestock – Oklahoma State University”. Ansi.okstate.edu. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • “Cattle | Define Cattle at Dictionary.com”. Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • “Oldest Known Pet Cat? 9,500-Year-Old Burial Found on Cyprus”. News.nationalgeographic.com. 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • Muir, Hazel (2004-04-08). “Ancient remains could be oldest pet cat”. New Scientist. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
• • Marsha Walton (2004-04-09). “CNN.com – Ancient burial looks like human and pet cat – Apr 9, 2004”. Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • Northern Daily Leader, 20 May 2010, Dogs mauled 30 sheep (and killed them), p.3, Rural Press
• • Simmons, Michael (2009-09-10). “Dogs seized for killing sheep – Local News – News – General – The Times”. Victorharbortimes.com.au. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • “feed (agriculture) :: Antibiotics and other growth stimulants – Britannica Online Encyclopedia”. Britannica.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • Markets from research to outcomes, Farming Matters, Challenge Program on Water and Food, June 2013
• • “2011 U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report | Climate Change – Greenhouse Gas Emissions | U.S. EPA”. Epa.gov. 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• • http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294
• “Global warming breakthrough: way to stop cow gas – Unusual Tales – Specials”. Smh.com.au. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2011-12-10.

ALL ABOUT THE KIDNAP CHIBOK GIRLS IN NIGERIA

ALL ABOUT THE KIDNAP CHIBOK GIRLS IN NIGERIA
INTRODUCTION
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. Responsibility for the kidnappings was claimed by Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria.
As of 29 June, more than 200 students were still missing. Boko Haram has said that it wants to sell the girls.
Since 2010, Boko Haram has targeted schools, killing hundreds of students. A spokesperson for the group said such attacks would continue as long as the Nigerian government continued to interfere with traditional Islamic education. 10,000 children have been unable to attend school as a result of activities by Boko Haram. Boko Haram has also been known to kidnap girls, whom it believes should not be educated, and use them as cooks or sex slaves.
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, a group of militants attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. They broke into the school, pretending to be guards, telling the girls to get out and come with them. A large number of students were taken away in trucks, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest where Boko Haram were known to have fortified camps. Houses in Chibok were also burned down in the incident. The school had been closed for four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation, but students from multiple schools had been called in to take final exams in physics.
There were 530 students from multiple villages registered for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, although it is unclear how many were in attendance at the time of the attack. The children were aged 16 to 18 and were in their final year of school.[16] Initial reports said 85 students had been kidnapped in the attack. Over the 19–20 April weekend, the military released a statement that said more than 100 of 129 kidnapped girls had been freed. However, the statement was retracted, and on 21 April, parents said 234 girls were missing. A number of the students escaped the kidnappers in two groups. According to the police, approximately 276 children were taken in the attack, of whom 53 had escaped as of 2 May. Other reports said that 329 girls were kidnapped, 53 had escaped and 276 were still missing.
Amnesty International said it believes the Nigerian military had four hours advanced warning of the kidnapping, but failed to send reinforcements to protect the school. Nigeria’s armed forces have confirmed that the Nigerian military had four hour advance notice of the attack but said that their over-extended forces were unable to mobilize reinforcements.
Jonathan N.C. Hill of King’s College, London, has pointed out that Boko Haram kidnapped these girls after coming increasingly under the influence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and asserts that the group’s goal is to use girls and young women as sexual objects and as a means of intimidating the civilian population into non-resistance. Hill describes the attacks as similar to Islamist kidnappings of girls in Algeria in the 1990s and early 2000s.
AFTERMATH
The students have been forced to convert to Islam and into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with a reputed “bride price” of ₦2,000 each ($12.50/£7.50). Many of the students were taken to the neighbouring countries of Chad and Cameroon, with sightings reported of the students crossing borders with the militants, and sightings of the students by villagers living in the Sambisa Forest. The forest is considered a refuge for Boko Haram. Local residents have been able to track the movements of the students with the help of contacts across north eastern Nigeria.
On 2 May, police said they were still unclear as to the exact number of students kidnapped. They asked parents to provide documents so an official count could be made, as school records had been damaged in the attack. On 4 May, the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, spoke publicly about the kidnapping for the first time, saying the government was doing everything it could to find the missing girls. At the same time, he blamed parents for not supplying enough information about their missing children to the police.
On 5 May, a video in which Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappings emerged. Shekau claimed that “Allah instructed me to sell them…I will carry out his instructions.” and “Slavery is allowed in my religion, and I shall capture people and make them slaves.” He said the girls should not have been in school and instead should have been married since girls as young as nine are suitable for marriage.
Following the kidnapping incident, Boko Haram again abducted another eight girls, aged between 12–15, from northeastern Nigeria, a number later raised to eleven.
Chibok is primarily a Christian village and Shekau acknowledged that many of the girls seized were not Muslims: “The girls that have not accepted Islam, they are now gathered in numbers…and we treat them well the way the Prophet Muhammad treated the infidels he seized.”
On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town of Gamboru Ngala were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants after Nigerian security forces had left the town to search for the kidnapped students. On 9 May, former Boko Haram negotiator, Shehu Sani, stated that the group wanted to swap the abducted girls for its jailed members. On 11 May, Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State in Nigeria, said that he had sighted the abducted girls and that the girls were not taken across the borders of Cameroon or Chad. On 12 May, Boko Haram released a video showing about 130 kidnapped girls, each clad in a hijab and a long Islamic chador, and demanded a prisoner exchange.
A journalist-brokered deal to secure the release of the girls in exchange for prisoners held in Nigerian jails was scrapped at a late stage on 24 May after President Goodluck Jonathan consulted with U.S., Israeli, French and British foreign ministers in Paris, where the consensus was that no deals should be struck with terrorists, and that a solution involving force was required.
On 26 May, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff announced that the Nigerian security forces had located the kidnapped girls, but ruled out a forceful rescue attempt for fears of collateral damage.
On 30 May, it was reported that a civilian militia in the Baale region of Northeastern Nigeria found two of the kidnapped girls raped, “half-dead,” and tied to a tree. Villagers said the Boko Haram group had left the two girls, and killed four other disobedient girls and buried them. 223 were still missing.
On 24 June, it was reported that 91 more women and children were abducted in other areas of Borno State. On 26 June, it was announced that Levick, a Washington, D.C. public relations firm, had received “a contract worth more than $1.2 million” from the government of Nigeria to work on “the international and local media narrative” surrounding the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping.
On July 1, a businessman suspected of carrying out the kidnappings of the school girls, as well as the bombing of a busy market in northeastern Nigeria, was arrested. Military sources said that he was also accused of helping the Islamist militant group kill the traditional leader Emir of Gwoza.
On 15 July, Mohammed Zakari, a high-ranking member of Boko Haram was arrested at Darazo-Basrika Road while fleeing from the counter insurgency operations going on around the Balmo Forest.
REACTIONS
After the kidnapping, Governor Kashim Shettima demanded to visit Chibok, despite being advised that it was too dangerous. The military was working with vigilantes and volunteers to search the forest near the Nigeria-Cameroon border on 21 April. The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNICEF condemned the abduction, as did former Nigerian military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. The UN Security Council also condemned the attack and warned of action against Boko Haram Militants for abducting the girls.
Parents and others took to social media to complain about the government’s perceived slow and inadequate response. The news caused international outrage against Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. On 30 April and 1 May, protests demanding greater government action were held in several Nigerian cities. Most parents, however, were afraid to speak publicly for fear their daughters would be targeted for reprisal. On 3 and 4 May, protests were held in major Western cities including Los Angeles and London. At the same time, the hash tag #BringBackOurGirls began to trend globally on Twitter as the story continued to spread and by 11 May it had attracted 2.3 million tweets. A woman who helped organise protests was detained by the police, apparently because the First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan, felt slighted when the woman showed up for a meeting instead of the mothers of victims. The woman was released soon after. Reports said the First Lady had further incensed protestors by suggesting some abduction reports were faked by Boko Haram supporters. Several online petitions were created to pressure the Nigerian government to act against the kidnapping. On 30 April, hundreds marched on the National Assembly to demand government and military action against the kidnappers.
The President of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria called on Muslims to fast and pray “in order to seek Allah’s intervention in this precarious time.” Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, also called for prayers and intensified efforts to rescue the students. On 9 May, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State called on all Muslims and Christians to join in “three days of prayers and fasting.” On the same day, Muslims in Cameroon called on fellow believers not to marry any of the girls should they be offered to them. On the same day, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, joined other religious leaders in the Muslim world in condemning the kidnappings, describing Boko Haram as misguided and intent on smearing the name of Islam. He stated that Islam is against kidnapping, and that marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted.
The scale of the kidnapping was unprecedented, which led former United States Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell to declare that Boko Haram’s strength “appears to be increasing. The government’s ability to provide security to its citizens appears to be decreasing.” Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, J. Peter Pham, said “The failure of the government to even get a clear count further reinforces a perception of systemic governmental failure”.The Economist “labeled President Goodluck Jonathan as incompetent,” saying that Jonathan and the Nigerian military “cannot be trusted any longer to guarantee security for Nigerians,” adding that “the worst aspect of the Nigerian government’s handling of the abduction is its seeming indifference to the plight of the girls’ families. It took more than two weeks before Jonathan addressed the matter in public.” Jonathan later attributed his silence to his desire not to compromise the details of security efforts carried out to rescue the girls. President Jonathan also engaged a public relations firm, Levick, for $1.2m to improve the public presentation of his handling of the crisis.
On 22 July, the militant group again attacked the nearby villages, killing at least 51 people including 11 parents of the abducted girls. On 23 and 24 July, vigils and protests were held around the world to mark 100 days since the kidnapping.

AFRICAN COLLABORATOR AND THEIR ROLE IN NEW COLONIALISM OR INDEPENDENT AFRICA

AFRICAN COLLABORATOR AND THEIR ROLE IN NEW COLONIALISM OR INDEPENDENT AFRICA

INTRODUCTION
African collaboration was a pillar of European colonialism in Africa because collaborators were the nexus between the colonizers and the colonized. The position of chief surpassed all other forms of collaboration; it offered the holder more opportunities to acquire wealth, prestige and power. On the other hand, the chiefs made colonial rule less costly because they were poorly remunerated functionaries.
The issues of resistance and collaboration have dogged the writing of African history since the start, and always prove controversial. This post is more of a look at the historiography behind resistance. Actual discussion of events will happen soon, though.
African resistance and collaboration has been a focus of significant interest across the years, as attitudes to race and culture have changed as well as new evidence having come to light. Only from the 1960s onwards did the old-fashioned images of Africans as “passive Barbarians” begin to be seriously challenged, and this has allowed historians to rid their work of the resistor/collaborator dichotomy. Some African rulers, it is true, were manipulated by Europeans – but more often than not they pursued clear purposes of their own for the elimination of their rival and for personal financial gain.
Afrocentrist historians argue that African initiative, adaptation and choice played a dominant role in both resistance and collaboration during the Scramble and subsequently. Early colonial resistance in Mozambique suggests that this analysis is mostly sound, so long as we understand the capitalist context within which it occurred.
Resistance to imperialism, especially at the time of the Scramble for Africa was only one of several options open to African people in response to the arrival of the coloniser. Historiographically, there has been a tendency to overlook collaboration, and the resultant analysis has often lead to the suggestion that all Africans fought to maintain or regain independence. This is simply not true.
There was considerably territorial dispute between African groups during the period of the Scramble, and the result of this was often that oppressed or smaller groups/tribes/ethnicities turned to collaboration with the Europeans in order to ‘win’ some of their independence back or to quash the opposition. This tended to protect them against future incursions, as well as placing them favourably in the eyes of the Europeans.
Negotiating with Europeans from a position of strength was common: African expansionist ideals had as much influence on the Scramble as European ones.
RESISTANCE
The study of resistance in Africa tends to be relatively elitist: rebellions, it is often argued, tended to be lead from above, by the great thinkers, and those with educations. The way Africa turned out after independence is a clear indicator of why this is believed, although there were several forms of resistance which don’t fit this criterion. Marxist historians such as Davidson suggest that workers’ rebellions were more common than people believe; but they also argue for the influence of the Russian revolution on African struggles for freedom. This, it seems fair to say, is simply an exaggeration, despite the fact that it is true that the history of resistance tends to be shown through “great men” histories.
African resistance also tends to be studied in a fairly homogenous way, which, again, is ridiculous: Africa is a vast place with many differences in society, and to therefore suggest that all Africans rebelled in the same way for the same reasons is crazy. The lack of homogenous society in Africa also essentially illegitimises the idea that leaders started rebellions and the people followed blindly, because this cannot have been true in all circumstances as the people will not always have been inclined to follow their leader (leader, leader, follow the leader, oh!).
In fact, many leaders actively sought to avoid armed resistance, and engaged in collaborative relationships with Europe instead.
Unlike in the pre-colonial or Scramble periods, resistance once colonialism was established tended to be more directly aimed against the imposition of capitalism on African societies. Day-to-day resistance, which often included action such as tax avoidance, tended to be common, as direct confrontation was never usually viewed as a viable strategy. To this end, there are numerous (unverified) reports of indigenous peoples in the Rhodesias simply hopping across territorial borders when they saw tax collectors coming. Labourers often refused to turn up for work if specific conditions regarding their rights to work were met. Localised resistance tended to be directed against specific grievances rather than the exploitative system which produced them.
Non-violent forms of resistance are still resistance, whatever you might see some historians saying. The fact of the matter is that the cumulative impact of these various forms of resistance against the colonial regime often caused such imposition as to be serious issues for the imperial powers. That said, so long as the person engaging in resistance did so with the express aim of getting in the way of processes of the colonial state, their resistance was genuine.

CONCLUSION
Collaboration with colonial rule is often ignored in older historiographical work because of the bias of certain historians and historical processes: at the time of independence, the idea of collaboration did not fit in with the ideas of the ascendant independent African states, and as such as often been written out of conventional historical wisdom. But just as there were recurring patterns of resistance, so too were there patterns of collaboration.
The rulers of several African societies recognised that alliances with Europeans could assist with their own territorial aspirations.However, Europeans often selected those they wished to collaborate with; for example which chiefs would work for the, etc, and often those Africans who had already got a history of mission education and Western Christianity were often favoured because of the belief that they shared the same aspirations to modernity as the coloniser.
Leaders were not the only collaborators. The oppressed sometimes aided colonial forces, too, in order to help free themselves from their former oppressors, gaining some political ascendancy with the incoming forces at the same time.
However, economic incentives often proved to be the greatest reason for collaboration. Numerous treaties were signed between African leaders and European colonisers in which financial assistance was promised; or else Africans collaborated in the knowledge that this would extent their trading networks, particularly in societies that had an existing history of trade with the West.

REFERENCES
• Boardman, The Greeks Overseas, Penguin, Harmondsworth 1973 (1964) p. 114
• Boardman op. cit. p. 151f
• Boardman op. cit. p. 208
• Harden, Donald, The Phoenicians, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1971 (1962) pp 163–168
• Scullard, H.H. From the Gracchi to Nero, Methuen, London, 1976 (1963) pp. 37, 150, 216
• Khapoya, Vincent B., The African Experience, Prentice Hall, 1998 (1994) p. 112
• Khapoya, op. cit. p. 114
• Khapoya op. cit. p. 115f
• David Bensoussan, Il était une fois le Maroc
• Khapoya, op. cit. p. 126f
• Shillington, Kevin, History of Africa, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1995 (1989)
• Shillington, Kevin, op. cit. p. 340f
• Khapoya, op. cit. p. 131
• ibid
• Khapoya, op. cit. pp. 134–143
• Lovejoy, Paul E. (2012). Transformations of Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. London: Cambridge University Press.
• Ferguson, Niall (2003). Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. London: Allen Lane.
• Khapoya, op. cit. p. 148f
• Khapoya, op. cit. p. 177f
• Shillington, op. cit. p. 380f
• Shillington, op. cit. p. 385f
• Shillington, oop. cit. p. 391f

ACCOUNT FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEMS IN AFRICA

ACCOUNT FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEMS IN AFRICA
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is a significant time variation in weather patterns occurring over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as “global warming”.
Climate change in Africa pertains to aspects of climate change within the continent of Africa. According to Schneider et al. (2007), Africa is likely to be the continent most vulnerable to climate change. With high confidence, Boko et al. (2007) also projected that in many African countries and regions, agricultural production, food security and water stress would likely be severely compromised by climate change and climate variability.
Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models. A climate record — extending deep into the Earth’s past — has been assembled, and continues to be built up, based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles, cores removed from deep accumulations of ice, floral and faunal records, glacial and periglacial processes, stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers, and records of past sea levels. More recent data are provided by the instrumental record. General circulation models, based on the physical sciences, are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change.
CAUSES
On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the sun and the rate at which it is lost to space determine the equilibrium temperature and climate of Earth. This energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions.
Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or “forcing mechanisms”. These include processes such as variations in solar radiation, variations in the Earth’s orbit, variations in the albedo or reflectivity of the continents and oceans, mountain-building and continental drift and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings, while others respond more quickly. There are also key threshold factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change.
Forcing mechanisms can be either “internal” or “external”. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the climate system itself (e.g., the thermohaline circulation). External forcing mechanisms can be either natural (e.g., changes in solar output) or anthropogenic (e.g., increased emissions of greenhouse gases).
Whether the initial forcing mechanism is internal or external, the response of the climate system might be fast (e.g., a sudden cooling due to airborne volcanic ash reflecting sunlight), slow (e.g. thermal expansion of warming ocean water), or a combination (e.g., sudden loss of albedo in the arctic ocean as sea ice melts, followed by more gradual thermal expansion of the water). Therefore, the climate system can respond abruptly, but the full response to forcing mechanisms might not be fully developed for centuries or even longer.
CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEMS IN AFRICA
Africa has been dealing with the impacts of climate change since the 1970s. The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the African continent as the one that will be most affected.
Some of the problems Africa is set to experience may include:
• Significant increases in temperature by 2010, particularly in the Sahel and part of southern Africa;
• Dramatic decreases in precipitation, declining by more than 20% compared to levels 20 years ago; and
• More frequent and intense tropical storms—parts of the continent will see a 20% increase in cyclone activity.
The projected impacts for human security include:
• Between 75-250 million people exposed to water stress in the next 10 years, and as many as 1.8 billion by the end of this century.
• Agriculture fed by rain could drop 50% in some African countries by 2020. The IPCC report predicts that wheat may disappear from Africa by 2080, and that maize—a staple—will fall significantly in southern Africa.
• Arid and semi-arid lands are likely to increase by up to 8%, with severe ramifications for livelihoods, poverty eradication and meeting and maintaining the Millennium Development Goals.
These facts and figures underline the direct ramifications climate change is set to have on the social fabric of Africa.

CONCLUSION
Climate change will have serious and adverse consequences for many development sectors in Africa, and threatens the economies and livelihoods of many African countries. Whether the issue is climate change or development at large, the challenge is the same—human capacity is critical. One prequisite for this is good, solid internet connectivity. It not possible to be part of frontier science if you are cut off from the knowledge economy. And for the depth and breadth of challenges that Africa faces with climate change, the country desperately needs frontier/leap-frog science and entrepreneurship.
With debt burdens down, foreign direct investment up and many countries in Africa boasting economic growth rates pushing 6%, there is growing international recognition of the potential for high tech development, science and innovation in Africa. This is supported by the Japanese Government, which announced plans for 4 billion dollars in soft loans for Africa.
This positive message for Africa should be carried forward by measures introduced in the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit on 7-9 July 2008, in Hokkaido, Japan.

References
1. Schneider, S.H., et al. (2007). “19.3.3 Regional vulnerabilities”. In Parry, M.L., et al. (eds.). Chapter 19: Assessing Key Vulnerabilities and the Risk from Climate Change. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press (CUP): Cambridge, UK: Print version: CUP. This version: IPCC website. ISBN 0-521-88010-6. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
2. Boko, M., et al. (2007). “Executive summary”. In Parry, M.L., et al. (eds.). Chapter 9: Africa. Climate change 2007: impacts,. Cambridge University Press (CUP): Cambridge, UK: Print version: CUP. This version: IPCC website. ISBN 0-521-88010-6. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
3. “The worst drought in 60 years in Horn Africa”. Africa and Europe in Partnership. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
4. “Eastern Africa: Humanitarian Snapshot”. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
5. Nakweya, Gilbert. “Africa: Study Links Drought to Pacific Sea Temperature”. AllAfrica. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
6. Livelihood Security Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in the Sahel 2011
7. Fominyen, George. “Coming weeks critical to tackle Sahel hunger – U.N. humanitarian chief”. Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved 10 June 2012.

MAKE A CASE FOR HERITAGE EDUCATION FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENT

MAKE A CASE FOR HERITAGE EDUCATION FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENT
INTRODUCTION
Heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna and ecosystem types, together with associated geological structures and formations (geodiversity).
Heritage is that which is inherited from past generations, maintained in the present, and bestowed to future generations. The term “natural heritage”, derived from “natural inheritance”, pre-dates the term “biodiversity.” It is a less scientific term and more easily comprehended in some ways by the wider audience interested in conservation.
Heritage education is vital for student of sociology since we define Sociology is the scientific study of social behaviour, including its origins, development, organization, and institutions (all this talks about our collective heritage). It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, social disorder and social change.
WHAT IS HERITAGE EDUCATION?
Heritage education is an approach to teaching and learning about history and culture that uses information available from the material culture and the human and built environments as primary instructional resources. The heritage education approach is intended to strengthen students’ understanding of concepts and principles about history and culture and to enrich their appreciation for the artistic achievements, technological genius, and social and economic contributions of men and women from diverse groups. Heritage education nourishes a sense of continuity and connectedness with our historical and cultural experience; encourages citizens to consider their historical and cultural experiences in planning for the future; and fosters stewardship towards the legacies of our local, regional, and national heritage.
Heritage education occurs whenever we interact with the world around us. It also occurs in elementary and secondary schools whenever teachers introduce examples of the material culture and built environment into lessons in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social studies. By directly experiencing, examining, and evaluating buildings, monuments, workplaces, landscapes, and other historic sites and artifacts–objects in our material culture and built environment–learners gain knowledge, intellectual skills, and attitudes that enhance their capacities for maintenance and improvement of our society and ways of living.

A CASE FOR HERITAGE EDUCATION FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENT
Heritage education is compatible with proposals for a core curriculum and common learning advanced by Ernest Boyer, William Bennett, and many other curriculum reformers of the 1980s, because it includes “consequential ideas, experiences, and traditions common to all of us”–achievements and values tangibly represented by our built environment and artifacts. As part of a core curriculum in schools, heritage education for sociology students supports the unity of Nigeria, a force for cohesion in a society marked by pluralism. Heritage education, properly conceived, also emphasizes the rich diversity of the Nigerian people, which is reflected in the built environment. Thus, teaching and learning about the built environment enhance learning of a fundamental paradox of our Nigerian nation–unity with diversity.
Knowledge and appreciation of national unity with social diversity are requirements of cultural literacy and citizenship in the Nigeria state. Tension between preservation of common values and acceptance of new cultural influences and experiences is an inescapable part of our Nigerian heritage. So is a workable blending of continuity and change, of preservation of a common heritage and integration of new ideas and experiences into it, thereby recreating a sense of cultural coherence and commonality from the fresh contributions of newcomers.
HOW IS HERITAGE EDUCATION CONNECTED TO THE SOCIOLOGY CURRICULUM?
The content of heritage education fits easily into established subjects of the sociology curriculum, such as history and geography. Consider five main themes of education in geography: (1) location, (2) place, (3) human-environment interactions, (4) movement of people, ideas, goods, (5) formation and change of regions (Joint Committee on Geographic Education 1984). Teaching and learning about each of these five themes are greatly enriched through use of the built environment. The same point can be made about main themes of historic literacy, such as time and chronology, continuity and change, common memory, historical empathy, and cause-effect relationships which are all common in the concept of sociology. These ideas can be included in the curriculum more realistically and interestingly through use of historic places and artifacts.
The best means for including heritage education in the curriculum is infusion–integration with existing curriculum patterns–rather than creation of new courses or stand-alone units of study. Established goals and subjects in the social studies provide numerous points of entry for teaching and learning about artifacts and the built environment. And the content of heritage education provides opportunities for connection of the social studies to other subjects in the curriculum, such as languages, literature, and fine arts.
CONCLUSION
The African heritage has long been a characterized to be enchanting and enthralling experience to foreigners. Likewise, the heritage of Nigeria too has its vivid cultural and historical background to bank upon. One of the major aspects of Nigerian heritage lies in the fact that it provides an amazing glimpse of the traditional Nigerian life style and its different facets well preserved through monuments.
While many things are left to us, Heritage Education is centered on those things that are left to all of us, things that belong to every citizen, that have (or could have) meaning to all citizens. But documents, building, roads, songs, life’s work, trees, ideas, and various of things that count as heritage do not mean much unless and until we in the present accept the gift from the past as worthy of interpretation and preservation. Over time the accepted accumulated “gifts” from the past becomes embodied as our heritage, for us Nigerian citizens, our Nigerian Heritage.
While the mission of Heritage Education is to promote and preserve our founding principles as a nation, collaterally, we are also devoted to engaging citizens on the broader issues and contentions that involve public heritage education. Thus there is a greater need for students of sociology to offer heritage as a course in their chosen field of study.

REFERENCES
• http://maps.csc.noaa.gov/RoisDatabaseEntry/lawDetails.jsp?lawID=107 The creation of the Heritage Trust Commission, Georgia Heritage Trust Act, Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A.) Section 12-3-70
• • President Jimmy Carter
• • http://alumnus.tennessee.edu/issues/contents/spring-2007/ Paul Pritchard, founder and president of the National Park Trust
• • p. 311, The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004 By James F. Cook, ISBN 0-86554-954-0, 2005 Mercer University Press
• Kiely, Kathy (2009-01-22). “Lady Bird Johnson dies at 94”. USA Today. Retrieved 2010-05-20.

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VOTING AND VOTING SYSTEM

VOTING AND VOTING SYSTEM
Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum.
A voting system enforces rules to ensure valid voting, and how votes are counted and aggregated to yield a final result. Common voting systems are majority rule, proportional representation or plurality voting with a number of variations and methods such as first-past-the-post or preferential voting. The study of formally defined voting systems is called social choice theory or voting theory, a subfield of political science, economics, or mathematics.
With majority rule, those who are unfamiliar with voting theory are often surprised that another voting system exists, or that disagreements may exist over the definition of what it means to be supported by a majority. Depending on the meaning chosen, the common “majority rule” systems can produce results that the majority does not support. If every election had only two choices, the winner would be determined using majority rule alone. However, when there are three or more options, there may not be a single option that is most liked or most disliked by a majority. A simple choice does not allow voters to express the ordering or the intensity of their feeling. Different voting systems may give very different results, particularly in cases where there is no clear majority preference.
VOTING IN POLITICS
In a democracy, a government is chosen by voting in an election: a way for an electorate to elect, i.e. choose, among several candidates for rule. In a representative democracy voting is the method by which the electorate appoints its representatives in its government. In a direct democracy, voting is the method by which the electorate directly make decisions, turn bills into laws, etc.
A vote is a formal expression of an individual’s choice in voting, for or against some motion (for example, a proposed resolution), for or against some ballot question, for a certain candidate, a selection of candidates, or a political party. A secret ballot has come to be the practice to prevent voters from being intimidated and to protect their political privacy.
Voting usually takes place at a polling station; it is voluntary in some countries, compulsory in others, such as Australia.
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Different voting systems use different types of votes. A “Plurality voting system” does not require the winner to achieve a vote majority, or more than fifty percent of the total votes cast. In a voting system that uses a single vote per race, when more than two candidates run, the winner may commonly have less than fifty percent of the vote.
A side effect of a single vote per race is vote splitting, which tends to elect candidates that do not support centrism, and tends to produce a two-party system. An alternative to a single-vote system is approval voting.
To understand why a single vote per race tends to favor less centric candidates, consider a simple lab experiment where students in a class vote for their favorite marble. If five marbles are assigned names and are placed “up for election,” and if three of them are green, one is red, and one is blue, then a green marble will rarely win the election. The reason is that the three green marbles will split the votes of those who prefer green. In fact, in this analogy, the only way that a green marble is likely to win is if more than sixty percent of the voters prefer green. If the same percentage of people prefer green as those who prefer red and blue, that is to say if 33 percent of the voters prefer green, 33 percent prefer blue, and 33 percent prefer red, then each green marble will only get eleven percent of the vote, while the red and blue marbles will each get 33 percent, putting the green marbles at a serious disadvantage. If the experiment is repeated with other colors, the color that is in the majority will still rarely win. In other words, from a purely mathematical perspective, a single-vote system tends to favor a winner that is different from the majority. If the experiment is repeated using approval voting, where voters are encouraged to vote for as many candidates as they approve of, then the winner is much more likely to be any one of the five marbles, because people who prefer green will be able to vote for every one of the green marbles.
A development on the ‘single vote’ system is to have two-round elections, or repeat first-past-the-post. The winner must receive a majority, which is more than half. If subsequent votes must be used, often a candidate, the one with the fewest votes or anyone who wants to move their support to another candidate, is removed from the ballot.
An alternative to the Two-round voting system is the single round instant-runoff voting system (Also referred to as Alternative vote or Preferential voting) as used in some elections in Australia, Ireland and the USA. Voters rank each candidate in order of preference (1,2,3 etc.). Votes are distributed to each candidate according to the preferences allocated. If no single candidate has 50% or more votes then the candidate with the least votes is excluded and their votes redistributed according to the voters nominated order of preference. The process repeating itself until a candidate has 50% or more votes. The system is designed to produce the same result as an exhaustive ballot but using only a single round of voting.
In a voting system that uses a multiple vote, the voter can vote for any subset of the alternatives. So, a voter might vote for Alice, Bob, and Charlie, rejecting Daniel and Emily. Approval voting uses such multiple votes.
In a voting system that uses a ranked vote, the voter has to rank the alternatives in order of preference. For example, they might vote for Bob in first place, then Emily, then Alice, then Daniel, and finally Charlie. Ranked voting systems, such as those famously used in Australia, use a ranked vote.
In a voting system that uses a scored vote (or range vote), the voter gives each alternative a number between one and ten (the upper and lower bounds may vary). See cardinal voting systems.
Some “multiple-winner” systems may have a single vote or one vote per elector per available position. In such a case the elector could vote for Bob and Charlie on a ballot with two votes. These types of systems can use ranked or unranked voting, and are often used for at-large positions such as on some city councils.
ASPECTS
A voting system specifies the form of the ballot, the set of allowable votes, and the tallying method, an algorithm for determining the outcome. This outcome may be a single winner, or may involve multiple winners such as in the election of a legislative body. The voting system may also specify how voting power is distributed among the voters, and how voters are divided into subgroups (constituencies) whose votes are counted independently.
The real-world implementation of an election is generally not considered part of the voting system. For example, though a voting system specifies the ballot abstractly, it does not specify whether the actual physical ballot takes the form of a piece of paper, a punch card, or a computer display. A voting system also does not specify whether or how votes are kept secret, how to verify that votes are counted accurately, or who is allowed to vote. These are aspects of the broader topic of elections and election systems.