This study applied social disruption as a concept that highlights factors responsible for the breakdown of social relationships in societies. Social disruption has many forms, however, the focus in this study was on strikes, which create constant social disruption in Nigerian public universities and could have serious impact on students' information behavior. Two universities – Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) and Imo State University Owerri (IMSU) – were chosen for the study, and data was obtained through an online survey across sample of approximately 250 participants from the two selected public universities in Nigeria. The study applied the principle of least effort theory and the model of information search process to investigate the research questions of this dissertation which were: (1) what kinds of information do university students in Nigeria seek, and to what extent do strikes have implications on their information behavior?; (2) how do Nigerian students perceive the impact of strikes on their information source location and information resource usage?; (3) to what extent can information and communication technology (ICT) minimize the impact of strikes on students' information behavior?; and (4) how can universities in Nigeria prevent strikes from impacting students' information behavior? t-Tests were applied to test the hypotheses. Findings suggested that strikes negatively impacted students information behavior in certain areas of information needs, information use and information sources.

No exercício de comparativismo literário entre as obras Things fall apart, do escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe (1958), e Terra morta, do angolano Castro Soromenho (1949), é possível estabelecer aproximações e distanciamentos que dialogam entre si e podem trazer reflexões relevantes para o estudo das literaturas africanas. Enquanto a primeira oferece uma visão inédita a respeito do funcionamento interno da sociedade Ibo na Nigéria diante da situação colonial, a segunda transparece as frágeis relações dos colonos portugueses nas instituições políticas, econômicas e sociais do império na região da Lunda em Angola. Já por esse aspecto, os romances convergem para um panorama em comum ao apresentarem tanto o colonizado em Things fall apart quanto o colonizador em Terra morta de maneira distante dos estereótipos retratados pelas figuras coloniais, justamente por problematizarem questões internas e clivagens sociais e históricas. Assim, ao evidenciaram as fraturas internas, contribuem com a crítica sobre o sistema colonial ao mesmo tempo em que ajudam a construir outras visões históricas sobre o tema. Desse modo, as duas obras distanciam-se abertamente quanto aos contextos coloniais, que exigem, diante de uma leitura comparativa, um arcabouço teórico-crítico múltiplo que abarque as diferenças existentes nas dinâmicas coloniais e em seus contextos africanos específicos. O fato de os dois romances trazerem à cena regiões específicas na Nigéria habitada pelo povo Ibo e em Angola determinada como o espaço Lunda - e apresentarem uma multiplicidade de questões étnicas, raciais, sociais e identitárias, acaba distanciando os dois livros em perspectiva comparatista. Em termos aproximativos, no entanto, a problematização dos espaços e personagens retratados nas narrativas e a figura do narrador que assume posições políticas que se aproximam da categoria do autor implícito (BOOTH, 1983), permitem também uma leitura analítico-comparativa entre os romances. Se, por um lado, os contextos sociais e históricos distanciam os escritores e seus produtos literários; os romances se aproximam não apenas pelas categorias narrativas de personagens e espaço, mas também pela posição político-ideológica assumida por seus narradores. A consciência histórica e o compromisso político diante dos fatos narrados estão presentes na representação literária como uma tentativa de entender o funcionamento e apresentar uma crítica aos diferentes processos coloniais. / In the exercise of literary comparison between the novels Things fall apart, of the nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1958), and Terra Morta, of the Angolan writer Castro Soromenho (1949), its possible to establish similarities and differences that interact with each other and can evoke important reflections for the african literatures study. While the first novel offers an unprecedented vision concerning the inner functioning of the Ibo nigerian society on the colonial situation, the second exposes the fragility of Portuguese settlers in the political, economic and social institutions of the potuguese empire in the region of Luanda, Angola. About this last aspect, the novels converge into a common panorama when presenting an image of the settler that does not fall into a stereotypical perspective of that category, precisely by problematizing inner questions and social and historical cleavages. By exposing the inner fractures of the Angolan society, both novels contribute by criticizing the colonial system and, at the same time, helping to construct other historical visions about the issue. Therefore, both novels deviate from each other when presenting different colonial contexts that require, in terms of a comparative reading, a multiple theoretical and critical framework able to contemplate the differences observed in the colonial dynamics and in its african specific contexts. The fact that both novels bring into discussion two specific regions the Nigeria inhabited by the Igbo people and the Angola established as the Lunda space and present a multiplicity of social, racial and ethnic issues result in a detachment of the novels by comparative means. However, in approximate means, the problematization of spaces and characters portrayed in the narratives and the role of the narrator, who assumes political positions similar as the implied author category (Booth, 1983), also permit an analytical-comparative reading between the two novels. If, in one side, the social and historical contexts set apart the writers and its literary products, the novels are get closer not only by means of space and narrative categories, but also in terms of political and ideological positions assumed by its narrator. The historical conscience and the political commitment concerning the themes addressed in the novels are shown in the literal representation as an attempt to understand and present a critique to the different colonial processes.

The research work that underpins this thesis aims to investigate the viability of renewable energy technologies (RETs) and to develop a RETs implementation framework for providing sustainable electricity to Nigeria’s rural areas. As a result of electricity supply deficiency in Nigeria, rural communities have been negatively affected in their socio-economic activities. A strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis in combination with an assessment of sustainability indicators of RETs, identified the most appropriate technology for providing sustainable electricity in Nigeria's rural areas. Biomass energy technologies (BETs) are the most appropriate RET given significant resource availability. However, cost has been identified as the major barrier in adopting BETs. Both BETs and grid extension (GE) systems have been assessed. Whole Life Costing (WLC) and interview methods have been used to evaluate the economics of various capacities of BETs and GE systems, and assessed suitability of BETs respectively. Typical findings revealed that all the BETs capacities evaluated other than a 50kW direct combustion system are currently cost-competitive with existing fossil fuel (FF) sources used in generating electricity in Nigeria (US$0.13/kWh without incentives). BETs are identified as the preferable option than GE system for electricity provision to communities of demand capacity less than 50kW and distance less than five kilometre from load centres. Similarly, the interview method confirmed that BETs utilisation in the country’s rural areas are suitable and desirable. For implementation, all the identified drivers and enablers of BETs should be considered, along with the identified constraints to the adoption and development of BETs, some of which should be addressed before implementation. Further, a BETs implementation framework for sustainable electricity provision in rural areas has been developed through the selection of appropriate biomass feedstock and conversion technologies, and support through suitable incentive strategies. The framework was then evaluated and validated using six villages as case study. The benefit of the framework is ensuring successful electricity provision in rural areas. Thus, this study recommends that the existing rural areas energy policies be reviewed to include incentive strategies like economic subsidies in order to encourage investors’ participation given lack of energy infrastructures in rural areas.

No romance The Famished Road (1991), o autor nigeriano Ben Okri dá uma nova dimensão à figura da criança-espírito ou abiku, que é um motivo recorrente entre os iorubás e em diversas outras culturas da África ocidental. Como um fenômeno da crença dessas culturas, o abiku é um tema característico da narrativa oral africana, tendo sido usado também em várias obras da literatura africana de língua inglesa. Okri realiza, contudo, uma inovação ao transformar o abiku no narrador de seu romance. Uma vez que essa criatura é um in between, vivendo permanentemente na intersecção entre o mundo dos vivos e o dos mortos, a estrutura da obra literária é alterada pela realidade vista pelos seus olhos. A sua visão é composta pelas imagens da simultaneidade entre esses mundos. Na construção de seu romance, Okri tenta traduzir essa visão para um público leitor ocidental, utilizando ao mesmo tempo paradigmas da oralidade africana e da literatura ocidental. O romance se coloca, assim, num espaço de transição entre a cultura africana e a ocidental. São utilizados métodos e estratégias narrativas de ambas as tradições e o próprio fenômeno do abiku é investido por outras concepções mais ocidentais a respeito da ressurreição da alma. O objetivo desta dissertação é mostrar, de acordo com uma perspectiva crítica pós-colonial, como esse romance se constrói como uma obra híbrida entre os modos de se perceber e de se retratar a realidade característicos de cada uma dessas culturas. / In the novel The Famished Road (1991) Nigerian author Ben Okri gives a new dimension to the spirit child or abiku\'s image, which is a recurrent motif among the Yoruba and many other cultures from West Africa. The abiku is a characteristic subject of the African oral narrative and is also present in some African literature in English as the abiku is part of the belief of those cultures. However, Okri undertakes an innovation, turning the abiku into the narrator of his novel. Since this creature is an in between, living permanently in the intersection between the world of the living and the world of the dead, the structure of the literary work is altered by the reality as it is seen through his eyes. His vision is made up by the simultaneous images of those two worlds. In the construction of his novel, Okri tries to translate this vision to a Western reading audience, using paradigms from both the African orality and Western literature. Thus, the novel is placed in a transitional space between African and Western cultures. Narrative methods and strategies from both traditions are used and the abiku phenomenon itself is invested by other more Western conceptions about the soul\'s resurrection. This dissertation aims to reveal from a postcolonial theoretical perspective how this novel is constructed as a hybrid work between the modes of perceiving and depicting reality characteristic of each one of these cultures.

Poor sexual communication among Nigerian youth can create problems for health workers, medical practitioners, and the government in determining what is and is not working in their attempts to reduce sexually-related diseases. This quantitative study used self-administered questionnaires among 107 Nigerian university students, aged 18 to 35, to determine if a statistically significant predictive relationship existed between: (a) beliefs about alcohol, (b) HIV knowledge, (c) risk behaviors, (d) age, (e) religion, (f) gender, (g) sexual activity status, (h) dating status, (i) language, (j) sexual orientation, and (k) tribes of Nigerian university students and their sexual communication with partners. Previous studies did not use the AIDS risk reduction model (ARRM) as a theoretical framework to identify frequent risk factors in this population. This study was guided by the ARRM and used the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS), the HIV-KQ-18, the Revised Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ-3), and the Dyadic Sexual Communication Scale (DSC) to assess the participants. Independent-sample t tests were used to analyze the correlation of study variables and the results showed statistically significant differences only in tribal affiliation (p = .022), gender (p < .001; p =.016), dating status (p = .017), age (p = .006), and sexual activity status (p = .001). Linear regression analyses results showed no statistically significant predictive relationship, R = .322, R2 = .103, F (12, 94) = 0.904, p = .546, between HIV knowledge, beliefs about alcohol and risk behaviors of Nigerian students, and their ability to communicate sexually. These findings justify the need for more culturally sensitive studies and gender/age appropriate HIV intervention strategies in Nigeria.

The body of writing collectively referred to as third generation or contemporary Nigerian literature emerged on the international literary scene from about the year 2000. This writing is marked by attempts to negotiate contemporary identities, and it engages with various developments in the Nigerian nation: Nigeria’s past and current political and socio-economic state, different kinds of cultural hybridization as well as the writers increasing transnational awareness. This study argues that contemporary Nigerian fiction obsessively returns to the period from 1985-1998 as a historical site for narrating the individual and collective Nigerian experience of the trauma of military dictatorship, which has shaped the contemporary reality of the nation. The study builds on existing critical work on contemporary Nigerian fiction, in order to highlight patterns and ideas that have hitherto been neglected in scholarly work in this field. The study seeks to address this gap in the existing critical literature by examining third-generation Nigerian writing’s representation of this era in a select corpus of work spanning from 2000-06: Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain (2000), Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel (2002), Sefi Atta’s Everything Good will Come (2005), and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2006). The four novels chosen were written in response to military rule and dictatorship in the 80s and 90s, and they all feature representations of state violence. This study finds that, despite variations in the novels aesthetic modes, violence, control, silencing, dictatorship, alienation, the trauma of everyday life and resistance recur in realist modes. Above all, the study argues that contemporary Nigerian fiction’s insistent representation of the violent past of military rule in Nigeria is a means of navigating the complex psychological and political processes involved in dealing with post-colonial trauma by employing writing as a form of resistance.

No exercício de comparativismo literário entre as obras Things fall apart, do escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe (1958), e Terra morta, do angolano Castro Soromenho (1949), é possível estabelecer aproximações e distanciamentos que dialogam entre si e podem trazer reflexões relevantes para o estudo das literaturas africanas. Enquanto a primeira oferece uma visão inédita a respeito do funcionamento interno da sociedade Ibo na Nigéria diante da situação colonial, a segunda transparece as frágeis relações dos colonos portugueses nas instituições políticas, econômicas e sociais do império na região da Lunda em Angola. Já por esse aspecto, os romances convergem para um panorama em comum ao apresentarem tanto o colonizado em Things fall apart quanto o colonizador em Terra morta de maneira distante dos estereótipos retratados pelas figuras coloniais, justamente por problematizarem questões internas e clivagens sociais e históricas. Assim, ao evidenciaram as fraturas internas, contribuem com a crítica sobre o sistema colonial ao mesmo tempo em que ajudam a construir outras visões históricas sobre o tema. Desse modo, as duas obras distanciam-se abertamente quanto aos contextos coloniais, que exigem, diante de uma leitura comparativa, um arcabouço teórico-crítico múltiplo que abarque as diferenças existentes nas dinâmicas coloniais e em seus contextos africanos específicos. O fato de os dois romances trazerem à cena regiões específicas na Nigéria habitada pelo povo Ibo e em Angola determinada como o espaço Lunda - e apresentarem uma multiplicidade de questões étnicas, raciais, sociais e identitárias, acaba distanciando os dois livros em perspectiva comparatista. Em termos aproximativos, no entanto, a problematização dos espaços e personagens retratados nas narrativas e a figura do narrador que assume posições políticas que se aproximam da categoria do autor implícito (BOOTH, 1983), permitem também uma leitura analítico-comparativa entre os romances. Se, por um lado, os contextos sociais e históricos distanciam os escritores e seus produtos literários; os romances se aproximam não apenas pelas categorias narrativas de personagens e espaço, mas também pela posição político-ideológica assumida por seus narradores. A consciência histórica e o compromisso político diante dos fatos narrados estão presentes na representação literária como uma tentativa de entender o funcionamento e apresentar uma crítica aos diferentes processos coloniais. / In the exercise of literary comparison between the novels Things fall apart, of the nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1958), and Terra Morta, of the Angolan writer Castro Soromenho (1949), its possible to establish similarities and differences that interact with each other and can evoke important reflections for the african literatures study. While the first novel offers an unprecedented vision concerning the inner functioning of the Ibo nigerian society on the colonial situation, the second exposes the fragility of Portuguese settlers in the political, economic and social institutions of the potuguese empire in the region of Luanda, Angola. About this last aspect, the novels converge into a common panorama when presenting an image of the settler that does not fall into a stereotypical perspective of that category, precisely by problematizing inner questions and social and historical cleavages. By exposing the inner fractures of the Angolan society, both novels contribute by criticizing the colonial system and, at the same time, helping to construct other historical visions about the issue. Therefore, both novels deviate from each other when presenting different colonial contexts that require, in terms of a comparative reading, a multiple theoretical and critical framework able to contemplate the differences observed in the colonial dynamics and in its african specific contexts. The fact that both novels bring into discussion two specific regions the Nigeria inhabited by the Igbo people and the Angola established as the Lunda space and present a multiplicity of social, racial and ethnic issues result in a detachment of the novels by comparative means. However, in approximate means, the problematization of spaces and characters portrayed in the narratives and the role of the narrator, who assumes political positions similar as the implied author category (Booth, 1983), also permit an analytical-comparative reading between the two novels. If, in one side, the social and historical contexts set apart the writers and its literary products, the novels are get closer not only by means of space and narrative categories, but also in terms of political and ideological positions assumed by its narrator. The historical conscience and the political commitment concerning the themes addressed in the novels are shown in the literal representation as an attempt to understand and present a critique to the different colonial processes.

No romance The Famished Road (1991), o autor nigeriano Ben Okri dá uma nova dimensão à figura da criança-espírito ou abiku, que é um motivo recorrente entre os iorubás e em diversas outras culturas da África ocidental. Como um fenômeno da crença dessas culturas, o abiku é um tema característico da narrativa oral africana, tendo sido usado também em várias obras da literatura africana de língua inglesa. Okri realiza, contudo, uma inovação ao transformar o abiku no narrador de seu romance. Uma vez que essa criatura é um in between, vivendo permanentemente na intersecção entre o mundo dos vivos e o dos mortos, a estrutura da obra literária é alterada pela realidade vista pelos seus olhos. A sua visão é composta pelas imagens da simultaneidade entre esses mundos. Na construção de seu romance, Okri tenta traduzir essa visão para um público leitor ocidental, utilizando ao mesmo tempo paradigmas da oralidade africana e da literatura ocidental. O romance se coloca, assim, num espaço de transição entre a cultura africana e a ocidental. São utilizados métodos e estratégias narrativas de ambas as tradições e o próprio fenômeno do abiku é investido por outras concepções mais ocidentais a respeito da ressurreição da alma. O objetivo desta dissertação é mostrar, de acordo com uma perspectiva crítica pós-colonial, como esse romance se constrói como uma obra híbrida entre os modos de se perceber e de se retratar a realidade característicos de cada uma dessas culturas. / In the novel The Famished Road (1991) Nigerian author Ben Okri gives a new dimension to the spirit child or abiku\'s image, which is a recurrent motif among the Yoruba and many other cultures from West Africa. The abiku is a characteristic subject of the African oral narrative and is also present in some African literature in English as the abiku is part of the belief of those cultures. However, Okri undertakes an innovation, turning the abiku into the narrator of his novel. Since this creature is an in between, living permanently in the intersection between the world of the living and the world of the dead, the structure of the literary work is altered by the reality as it is seen through his eyes. His vision is made up by the simultaneous images of those two worlds. In the construction of his novel, Okri tries to translate this vision to a Western reading audience, using paradigms from both the African orality and Western literature. Thus, the novel is placed in a transitional space between African and Western cultures. Narrative methods and strategies from both traditions are used and the abiku phenomenon itself is invested by other more Western conceptions about the soul\'s resurrection. This dissertation aims to reveal from a postcolonial theoretical perspective how this novel is constructed as a hybrid work between the modes of perceiving and depicting reality characteristic of each one of these cultures.

The problem with which this study is concerned is to determine the relationship between the motivations to work for Nigerian lecturers and their perceptions of their academic organizational climate. The related purposes of the study are to determine the motivations to work for Nigerian lecturers, their perceptions of the academic organizational climate in which they work, and the relationships that exist between motivations and type of organizational climate.

The purposes of this study are to describe the past and the present systems of secondary education in the Cross River State of Nigeria; to examine the goals, achievements, and failures of each with special consideration for the period from 1970 to 1981; and to make recommendations for improvement of the secondary educational system in the Cross River State of Nigeria.