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The purpose of this study was to examined the health effects of raw and cooked aqueous and methanol extracts of Vigna unguiculata on kidney function in Wistar rats.

Thirty-six Wistar rats (weighing 160 ± 10 g) were randomly assigned into nine (9) groups (n = 4). Group I (control): no extract. Groups II and III (aqueous extract of the cooked 350 mg/kg and 550 mg/kg). Groups IV and V (methanol extracts of cooked 350 mg/kg and 550 mg/kg). Groups VI and VII (methanol extracts of raw 350 mg/kg and 550 mg/kg). Groups VIII and IX (aqueous extract of raw 350 mg/kg and 550 mg/kg). After the seventh day of the trial, the rats were euthanized with chloroform, and blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis.

Results showed that the doses applied for cooked and raw V. unguiculata significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced kidney functions by increasing the body weight, glucose level, concentration of serum urea, creatinine, total protein, potassium and chloride in test groups compared with control. The packed cell volume and haemoglobin concentrations of raw aqueous extract at 550 mg/kg (36.5 ± 5.1; 12.3 ± 2.8) were significantly (p = 0.001) higher (29.8 ± 11.8; 10.3 ± 3.9) than the 350 mg/kg dose of the same extract, and cooked aqueous extract at 350 mg/kg dose was significantly (p = 0.001) higher (28.0 ± 10.1; 9.3 ± 3.4) than that of 550 mg/kg (25.8 ± 4.9; 8.8 ± 3.9) dose of the extracts.

The nutritional content of V. unguiculata potentially can augment the nutritional content of a diet and to a large extent, the regular consumers’ health. Essentially, V. unguiculata is composed of both macro and micronutrients capable of promoting normal kidney function.

This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services.

The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles.

The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing coupled with the costs of vote-buying, which has become informally institutionalized, intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality “force” citizens into a vote-buying culture which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians; thus, perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife.

The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation.

While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example) which reduce public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.

The main aim of this paper is to explore the influence mechanisms of perceived organizational politics (POP) on employee performance (EP). Drawing on the job demands-resources theory (JD-R), this paper investigates opportunistic silence (OS) as a mediating factor and job level as a moderating effect in the POP-OS-performance relationship.

This study’s data were collected from 203 employees working in Indian high-power distance organizations (HPDOs), such as the military, police and security forces. Mediation and moderation analysis were conducted using PLS-SEM, and the moderated mediation index was calculated using Hayes PROCESS Macro.

The results indicate that OS fully mediates the POP-performance relationship – specifically, POP as a job demand activates OS, which acts as an energy/resource depleting mechanism and further deteriorates task performance. Interestingly, the overall negative influence of POP and OS on EP was stronger for employees at lower job levels than those at senior job levels.

This paper offers a unique set of findings that enrich the understanding of factors responsible for employees’ performance in the highly political environments of HPDOs. By using the lens of JD-R theory, this paper draws attention towards the tendency of employees to indulge in self-serving behaviours like OS in politically charged contexts which is detrimental to their performance and may also undermine overall organization’s productivity. Furthermore, this paper also highlights the conditional effects exerted by job level in the unique nexus of POP, OS and EP.

Banditry and terrorism constitute serious security risks in Nigeria. This follows the fact that Nigeria is rated as one of the leading states in the world that is plagued by terrorism. Terrorists and bandits usually embark on predicate crimes such as kidnapping, smuggling, narcotics trade, and similar trades to finance their terrorist enterprises in Nigeria. The funds realized by criminals from nefarious sources such as sales of narcotics and ransom from kidnapping are usually laundered to make their criminal enterprises self-sustaining. Thus, all “dirty” money is laundered so as not to attract the attention of law enforcement agents. The funds realized through receipt of ransom from kidnapping, smuggling or funds from sponsors are laundered through channels such as bureau de change, which are difficult to monitor by the Nigerian authorities due, in part, to flaws and loopholes in the current anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist laws. This paper aims to adopt a doctrinal and qualitative desktop research methodology. In this regard, the current anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist laws are discussed to explore possible measures that could be adopted to remedy the flaws and loopholes in such laws and combat money laundering and financing of terrorism in Nigeria.

The article analyses the regulation and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Nigeria. In this regard, a doctrinal and qualitative research method is used to explore the flaws in the Nigerian anti-money laundering laws so as to recommend possible remedies in respect thereof.

It is hoped that policymakers and other relevant persons will use the recommendations provided in this article to enhance the curbing of money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Nigeria.

The article is not based on empirical research.

This study is important and vital to all policymakers, lawyers, law students and regulatory bodies in Nigeria and other countries globally.

The study seeks to curb money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Nigeria.

The study is based on original research which is focused on the regulation and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing activities in Nigeria.

Engaged employees assure organizational competitiveness and sustainability. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between job resources and employee turnover intentions, with employee engagement as a mediating variable.

Data were collected from 934 employees of eight wholly-owned pharmaceutical industries. The proposed model and hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Construct reliability and validity was established through confirmatory factor analysis.

Data supported the hypothesized relationship. The results show that job autonomy and employee engagement were significantly associated. Supervisory support and employee engagement were significantly associated. However, performance feedback and employee engagement were nonsignificantly associated. Employee engagement had a significant influence on employee turnover intentions. The results further show that employee engagement mediates the association between job resources and employee turnover intentions.

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s pharmaceutical industry focus and cross-sectional data.

The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and decision-makers in the pharmacuetical industry to develop a proactive and well-articulated employee engagement intervention to ensure organizational effectiveness, innovativeness and competitiveness.

By empirically demonstrating that employee engagement mediates the nexus of job resources and employee turnover intentions, the study adds to the corpus of literature.

Using conservation of resources (CoR) theory, this study investigates the role of emotional energy as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between workplace ostracism and employees' service-oriented behaviour, as well as the moderating result of workload on the relationship between emotional energy and service-oriented behaviour.

The opinions of 554 customer-contact employees working in Bangladesh are collected via convenience sampling. Partial least squares structural equation modelling is performed to test the model.

Workplace ostracism and emotional energy are negatively related. Emotional energy is positively associated with service-oriented behaviour and mediates the link between ostracism and service-oriented behaviour. Workload significantly and negatively moderates the association between emotional energy and service-oriented behaviour.

Hoteliers need to improve employees' emotional energy, distribute workload appropriately and fairly and implement effective strategies to minimise workplace ostracism.

The findings contribute to the CoR theory by explaining the mediating role of emotional energy and moderating role of workload in the Bangladeshi hospitality industry.