Aim: The use of various substances is very common among the populace. These agents are readily abused by adolescents and youths who are introduced to these substances at an early age in life. This thus leads to abuse and misuse that eventually has a catastrophic outcome to the society at large. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of substance use among in-school and out-of-school adolescents; a comparative analysis in Anambra State, Nigeria. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in schools, parks and markets of Onitsha municipal area of Anambra State, Nigeria, from September 2019-April 2020. Methodology: A total of 250 in-school and 250 out-of-school adolescents aged 10-19 years, within Onitsha municipal area was sampled through the use of a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire, that was adapted from a WHO designed instrument on drug use among non-student youths. Frequency distributions were developed, while associations between variables were tested using t-test, fisher’s test, and chi-square. Results: The results showed that most participants were males with mean ages of both sexes being 16.7 among the in-school and 16.1 in the out-of-school. There was statistically significant difference in alcohol consumption between in-school compared to out-of-school, p=0.001; and cigarette smoking, p=0.001. However, inhalants use was more among in-school compared to out-of-school, though not statistically significant. The overall prevalence of substance use was 58.4%, with 80.4% among the out-of-school compared to 36.4% with the in-school participants. Conclusion: Substance use is common among in-school and out-of-school adolescents. The prevalence of substance use was significantly higher among out-of-school compared to in-school adolescents. Parents should teach their children the dangers of substance abuse while Schools and governments should ensure inclusion of such in the curriculum.
The advancement in technology and its dynamic influence on work processes puts high demand on ICT skills, thereby necessitating the need of students undertaking training in their respective fields of specializations to be more versatile in current labour market needs so as to be qualified to work in the ICT inclined labour market. The study examined Information and Communication technology skill acquisition and graduates’ employability in Cross River State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. Survey research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised of all the 475 lecturers in the Faculty of Education, University of Calabar. The simple random sampling technique was used to sample 47% resulting to 223 respondents. The instrument for data collection was a modified four point likert scale titled; information and communication technology skill acquisition and graduates employability questionnaire (ICTSAGEQ). The reliability estimate obtained using Cronbach alpha reliability was 0.85. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer research questions. Findings revealed that information and communication technology skill acquisition has significant influence on graduates’ employability. The study further found that the challenges of ICT skills acquisition bothers around inadequate funding, inadequacy of ICT compliant manpower, poor power supply, lack of infrastructure among others. The study therefore concluded that ICT skill acquisition significantly influence graduates’ employability in Cross River State, to this end, it was recommended that Students should be encouraged and sponsored to acquire relevant ICT skills before graduation to enable them fit into the modern world of work or possibly set up their personal ICT services for self –reliance and creating jobs for others thereby reducing unemployment and by extension youth restiveness.
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