Search results

Purpose – Flooding has become a recurring phenomenal in most cities in Nigeria. The 26 August 2011 flooding disaster which occurred in Ibadan is only an indication of magnitude of flooding problem in Nigerian cities. This chapter examines the impacts, vulnerability factors and disaster risk management framework in Ibadan metropolis.

Methodology/Approach – The survey design was used for the study and covers eleven local government areas (LGAs) affected by the flood. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. The primary data were obtained by physical observation and in-depth interview of affected households. In-depth interview was also carried out with key officials of State Ministry of Environment and Housing. The study also relies on the data from the Oyo State Government Task Force on Flood Prevention and Management report.

Findings – The chapter shows that the 26 August 2011 flood disaster in Ibadan metropolis caused monumental destructions in the city. The continuous construction on flood plains, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, excessive rainfall and deforestation were identified as the main vulnerability factors. The chapter shows that there is no adequate framework for disaster risk management in the city.

Research limitations – About 250 affected households in 11 LGAs were interviewed for the study due to time and budget constraints. This figure is considered meagre considering the number of affected households by the flood disaster. However, the random selection of affected households and key government officials helped to address this limitation.

Originality/value of chapter – The simultaneous identification of impacts, vulnerability factors and disaster risk management framework in the city provides an opportunity for the development of a holistic and proactive disaster risk management strategy in Ibadan metropolis.

Many scholars have reflected on Ricardo’s comparative advantage theory, but little has been said about Yoruba economic thoughts, especially in the exchange and distribution of articles of trade. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans and their activities in the economy of Yorubaland in the pre-colonial period, communities had traded in local, distant markets and across frontiers with neighbours in exchange for products different to the ones they produced. This happened because different towns had specialised in the production of articles which were environmentally suitable to it. Soil fertility, dictated by environmental factors, was a determining factor in what was produced, as agriculture was essentially the predominant economic activity. Textile industries were also established which equally stimulated long-distance trade as specialised clothes were made for export to neighbouring regions. A number of Yoruba towns have been selected for this analysis. The work presents Yoruba economic thoughts and initiatives, and the activities of the indigenous people in the pre-colonial period in Yorubaland and critically assesses the articles which different towns produced for export to other cities and kingdoms in Yorubaland and beyond. Primary source in form of interviews were conducted, proverbs, and secondary sources such as books and journals were also consulted for this work. The economic thought of the people based on specialising in advantaged goods or what they easily produced and achieved is worth historical investigation as a means of celebrating their economic thoughts in a free market.

Microcredit schemes fashioned after the Grameen Bank model are widely acclaimed for their potential for empowering the poor through access to credit based on social collateral. However, women market vendors in Ibadan refer to microcredit loans as owo komulelanta, a term which translates as “resting the breasts on a hot kerosene lantern,” a plain critique of the stringent conditions of loan repayment. This paper presents the lived experience of borrowers based upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2019. It reflects on the Nigerian state's neoliberal policies of microfinance and the experience of women borrowers. The paper argues that social–emotional vulnerability of women borrowers is exacerbated by the acceptance of a loan due to the rigid system of repayment and harassment from providers.

The family remains the primary institution responsible for child socialisation particularly as it inculcates norms, values, sanctions and rewards. Restrictions within the family institution have implications for children's voices, especially within the cultural context of the Yoruba people. This chapter examines how children adapt to or negotiate changes to family rules, thereby contributing their voice to systems reproduction. Discussions in this chapter are based on case studies of children in Ibadan, a traditional setting with steady rate of modernisation. Data were collected through a total of 50 in-depth interviews (IDIs) within 4 local government areas of the metropolis. 40 children and 10 parents were included in the IDIs. Robust findings were made and explained within the framework of structuration theory.

Ọsẹ dúdú production and sale constitute a major indigenous business among the Yoruba people. Scholars have noted that the business is capable of boosting the socio-economic status of black soap entrepreneurs and of countries. However, ọsẹ dúdú enterprise has some significant threats and problems that are yet to be researched. This chapter examined the challenges of osẹ dúdú entrepreneurs in Southwest Nigeria. Twenty-six interviews were conducted among indigenous black soap producers and sellers in Ogun, Oyo and Lagos States. Data were analysed in themes. Weather, financial, spiritual, copyright and succession challenges, as well as issues such as a large number of sellers, debt, lack of support, pricing and brand competition, were found to be problems faced by black soap entrepreneurs. This chapter concluded that certain controllable and uncontrollable factors were not only capable of limiting the development of osẹ dúdú business but also have adverse implications for the achievement of the sustainable development goals through the indigenous resource. This chapter suggests that osẹ dúdú business actors such as mechanical engineers, local fabricators, financial institutions, and governmental and non-governmental agencies collaborate with black soap entrepreneurs to ameliorate the challenges of the latter. It is only through this alliance that black soap entrepreneurs can contribute to indigenous business development and the achievement of sustainable development goals in Africa.

Children in many societies are often seen as immature in issues and therefore should be dependent on adults for provision of basic needs participation. This gives the impression that it is only at adulthood that members of society can make contributions to personal, family and societal development. This is particularly so in African societies. Most African societies consider children as omo kekere (small people/children) and inexperienced people and therefore should be under watch and socialisation of adults who often compromise their rights particularly to participation even when the United Nations’ advocacy guaranteeing the right of children to participate in decision making and other issues concerning them exists. This chapter therefore examines the real experiences of children in a traditional but modernising setting of Ibadan, Nigeria. This is a very relevant research setting since traditional and modern socio-cultural values and forces moderate child rights. Hence, this chapter exposes ways and manners children are treated and, possibly, negotiate cultural systems in the contexts of families to exist within family rules and cultural ethos that define their belongingness and participation in decision making and associated issues. This chapter is placed within the policy framework of implementation of UN Child Rights Charter and Nigerian Child Rights Act which have been found to be largely ineffective in most African societies and Nigeria. This chapter benefits from many years of primary insights and scholarly engagements with children’s experiences and participation in families in Africa. Families with children within the ages of 5–10 in Ibadan were also systematically and extendedly observed. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 children in their family environments after getting informed consent of their parents. Findings show that culture, traditions and institutionalised gerontocracy remain negatively formidable and hold sway in perpetuating systemic child disempowerment and alienation in families. This chapter provides theoretical, professional and policy settings and environments of child rights and childhood in Nigeria with implications for Africa and globally.