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There have been various forms of regulatory intervention by the central banks of countries to streamline microfinance activities and ensure effective corporate governance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Considering the limited amount of research in this area and the need to ensure regulatory effectiveness, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of regulatory provisions on the attainment of effective corporate governance in MFIs in Nigeria and Zambia.

Interviews were conducted with regulators at the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Zambia, directors and executive management officers of MFIs and executives of apex associations of MFIs in both countries.

The paper presents five significant findings which are that the regulations have enabled negative outcomes in areas such as board composition, the ownership requirements in the regulations have resulted in differing governance implications, the certification requirements for board members are problematic in practice, supervision by regulators is ineffective and has impacts on risk management and the principle of consultation with stakeholders is inadequate in both countries.

Regulatory provisions must be robust and fit for purpose to ensure the microfinance initiative in emerging economies achieves the objectives of enhancing financial inclusion and economic development of the society.

The paper addresses an area of limited research and provides empirical findings in relation to regulation and corporate governance in developing economies, which would help to ensure regulatory effectiveness.

Sex work migration involves a huge number of females from Nigeria, and has attracted concerns within and across the country. To add to ongoing conversations about responsible migration, our review underscores the prevalence of sex work migration in Edo State, Nigeria, the drivers and interventions.

The review adopted exhaustive search terms coined with the aid of “Boolean Operators”. Search terms were entered into several search engines and databases to elicit peer-reviewed and grey literature within sex work migration and human trafficking for commercial sex. An output of 578 studies was recorded with 76 (43 academic papers and 33 grey literature) meeting the inclusion criteria.

The study acknowledged wide-spread prevalence of sex work migration involving Nigerian females who are largely from Edo State. It achieved a prioritization of the factors that drive sex work migration based on how frequent they were mentioned in reviewed literature: economic (64.4%), cultural (46%), educational (20%), globalization (14.5%) and political factors (13.2%). Several interventions were highlighted together with their several limitations which include funding, absence of grass-roots engagement, dearth of appropriate professionals, corruption, weak political will, among others. A combination of domestic and international interventions was encouraged, and social workers were found to be needful.

Our systematic review is the first on this subject, as none was found throughout our search. It seeks to inform policy measures and programmes, as well as horizontal efforts poised to tackle the rising figures of sex work migrants and attendant consequences in Nigeria.

Over the years, the impact of Nollywood on the promotion and development of Nigerian culture has cut across geographical boundaries. In terms of film production quality, the industry has made significant progress, even though there remains great room for improvement. In recent times, output from the industry gained global recognition, with films such as Lion Heart, King of Boys and Chief Daddy, to mention a few, attaining great landmarks in the film world in 2019. A significant feature in the Nigerian film industry is the wealth of diversity which reflects the true Nigerian nation. The involvement of Igbo indigenes in the Nollywood industry has helped put the Nollywood ideology into the consciousness of Nigerians and the world. Therefore, this chapter examines the relevance of the Igbo traditional business model in sustaining the dominance of Igbos in the distribution network of films in the Nigerian film industry, also known as Nollywood.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the management of institutional repository (IR) in Nigerian universities.

The study took the form of a descriptive survey, gathering data from academics and repository mangers from 15 universities that have their IR captured on OpenDOAR.

The results showed that most academics submit their work for archiving in IR, and the types of materials submitted are mostly journal articles and conference proceedings. Contents are archived, using self-archiving and mediated submission. Some universities do not provide support and motivation towards the research works of their staff.

The implication of the study lies in the adoption and implementation of the framework presented in this work to ensure the growth and sustainability of IR.

The study is based on the findings presented a framework to guide repository managers to ensure effective management of IR.

Given that institutional and cultural factors affect the transfer of HRM practices between multinational companies (MNCs) and their subsidiaries, the paper set out to investigate the explanatory mechanism for the replication of transferred HRM practices and the factors likely to influence the choice of transfer mechanisms.

Using an exploratory qualitative approach, 40 interviews were conducted with senior managers and employees in two MNC subsidiaries located in the alcoholic beverage and oil industries in Nigeria.

The findings suggest that organizational culture (OC) was the mechanism for MNC HRM replication and inhibition. In addition to explaining the mechanisms for HRM practice replication, the authors developed a conceptual framework to explain how clan and hierarchical OC influence the extent to which human resource (HR) practices are replicated or inhibited and how institutional and cultural factors influence the choice of OC.

The study uncovered that MNCs deploy hierarchical OC to oversee the replication of transferred practices. Interestingly, the authors found that institutional and cultural environments were key factors that influenced the choice of mechanism for overseeing the replication of HR practices. The conceptual framework can help managers of MNCs to understand how to replicate transferred HRM practices in developing countries.

The courtyard form of the traditional African house responds to people's culture and traditions. Nevertheless, in the era of globalization, the private open space (POS) is fast disappearing in African homes due to neglect and lack of awareness of its value. This study, thus, aims to explore how culture relates to open space design in traditional houses of three major ethnic groups (Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo) in Nigeria. This is with a view to encouraging planners and designers to create open spaces in housing developments according to people's cultural values and needs.

This study is based on qualitative and quantitative research approaches involving a literature review, focus group discussions and a questionnaire survey. The quantitative survey was designed based on the literature review of the concept of culture and the use of space in traditional courtyard houses. Focus group discussions were conducted to identify the specific cultural components that dictated the use of the courtyard as a POS in the Nigerian context. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was carried out to determine the importance of each cultural component in the outdoor sociospatial design. Through systematic sampling, one of every five traditional houses in the study area was selected to determine where respondents were surveyed.

The results reveal that the cultural components that influenced the design and use of the open space were gender and privacy, family and social relations, religious practice and belief, and status and lifestyle. However, the importance attached to each of the cultural components varied from one culture to another in Nigeria. The findings also showed that the open space is used for a variety of purposes, such as ancestral worship, family gatherings and reunions, small-scale ceremonies, and leisure activities.

This study offers professional planners and designers helpful insights to protect culture in housing development and improve daily living in residential environments.

Based on Amos Rapoport's theoretical framework, this study dismantles the concept of “culture” into different components and examines how they affect outdoor sociospatial design in a developing country. The study also provides researchers with ideas and inspiration to study the culture of POSs in traditional housing.