Background: This article argues that the lockdown policy of the Nigerian government, even though had proven to be effective in the control of the spread of the virus, adversely triggers household crises. These crises range from hunger, gender violence, shortage of food, low purchasing power and negative coping strategies. While intellectual resources have been remarkably outspoken about the effect of lockdown on Nigeria’s economy, the implications of the lockdown for household food security crisis have drawn little or no academic attention.Aim: Given this, the article examines the influence of the lockdown on households’ hunger and coping mechanisms. It further examines the nexus between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown and households’ low purchasing power.Setting: This is with the view to advance adequate strategy for minimising the effects of lockdown on food (in)security in Nigeria.Method: The article utilized a qualitative, descriptive research method. The article, is theoretical in nature, and drew its arguments from secondary sources, such as journals, books, newspapers, Internet sources, and official documents.Results: The finding indicates that the lockdown stimulates not only households’ hunger and negative coping habits but also low purchasing power.Conclusion: The article concludes that equitable and transparent distribution of palliatives is a good strategy capable of addressing households’ food (in)security crisis during Covid-19 lockdown in Nigeria.
This study examines the effect of Osun State Youth empowerment Scheme (OYES) on job creation and youth empowerment in the state and appraised its impact on capacity building of the youth. It also identified challenges in its implementation in the state. These were with a view to identifying gap between its expected outcomes and its achievements. Data for this study were generated through primary and secondary sources of data collection. The primary source of data includes a structured questionnaire and interview conducted among unemployed beneficiaries and OYES coordinators/inspectors. The secondary source of data includes books, journals, newspapers, periodicals, and internet materials. Quantitative data were analysed using univariate and bivariate analysis (chi-square test), while content analysis was employed for qualitative data. The results showed that 84% of the respondents were of the view that OYES was just a palliative measure that has helped to create few jobs and empowered youths in the state. It was also indicated by 57% of the respondents that the capacity building of youths was not improved because OYES scheme was more focused on unskilled menial jobs. In addition, 85% of the respondents were of the view that the implementation of OYES was faulty with challenges. The study concluded that there was gap between expected outcomes of OYES and its achievements so far in the Osun State.
This study examines the effect of using children as begging guides by people with sensory disabilities in Africa. It argues that in some African countries, visually impaired persons, especially parents and relatives, have devised the strategy of abusing their children or someone very close to them as begging guides for financial gain. While this strategy has remained a recurrent problem with severe social, economic, political, and legal implications, scientific research on addressing these implications is scarce. Given this, the article examines the rationale for using children as begging guides, its effects on the children and visually impaired parents, and mitigation strategies against abuse of children as begging guides in Africa. The qualitative research design based on key informant interviews (KIIs) complemented social exclusion and childhood theoretical underpinnings of the study. Results from (KIIs) showed that poverty, religion, cultural beliefs, financial profiteering, poor governance, breakdown in policy implementation against begging are among the rationale why children are abused and used as begging guides. The results also showed that these children experience low academic performance in school, harassment, psychological trauma, health complications from laborious trekking. At the same time, their visually impaired parents suffer from regrets and guilt of not being able to provide good parental care to their children. It concludes that good rehabilitation, vocational programmes, and prompt government supports for people with sensory disabilities would lessen the abuse and use of children as begging guides in Africa.
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