The study investigated the relationship between personality traits and academic performance of senior secondary school students in North Central, Nigeria. Three objectives, three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The research employed a correlational-descriptive survey design. The population comprised 748,140 students in North-Central, Nigeria. The sample was four hundred (400) students. An adapted questionnaire titled Big Five Inventory (BFI), also known as Five Factor Model (FFM), developed by John and Srivastava (1999), was used for the study. A reliability coefficient index of 0.86 was obtained using test-retest. The data collected were analysed using mean scores, standard deviation and an independent samples t-test. The findings reveal that senior secondary school students in North-central Nigeria manifest the attribute of extraversion personality traits. The students also show agreeableness traits such as forgiveness, trust, and being unselfish. The result also shows no significant relationship between male and female students’ personality traits, and that no significant relationship exists between urban and rural students' personality traits. Based on the findings, it was recommended that school administrators should implement structured counselling programmes that help students understand their personality tendencies and develop adaptive study habits. Students low in conscientiousness should receive explicit training in planning, time management, and goal setting. Read more

This study investigated personality factors and the utilisation of educational media resources by secondary school teachers in Ogun State, Nigeria. It sought to identify personality traits influencing media use, determine the type and frequency of media resources utilised, and establish the relationship between teachers’ personality factors and media utilisation. A descriptive correlational research design was adopted. The study population comprised 4,225 teachers and 265,332 students in public junior secondary schools. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 1,170 teachers and 733 students were selected from 28 schools across eight Local Government Areas. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that teachers exhibited high levels of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, with low neuroticism, suggesting positive personality profiles. The study also found a high level of utilisation of educational media resources, particularly audio materials, realia, and computer-assisted tools, while visual and audio-visual media were less frequently used. A significant positive correlation (r = .598, p < .05) was found between teachers’ personality factors and the utilisation of educational media resources, implying that teachers with strong positive personality traits are more likely to effectively adopt and use educational media in their instructional practices. The study concluded that teachers’ personality characteristics play a critical role in their willingness and ability to integrate instructional media for effective teaching and learning. It recommended regular training to enhance teachers’ creativity and media-handling skills, improved access to instructional resources, and the inclusion of personality development courses in teacher education programmes to foster positive traits that support effective media utilisation. Read more

This research was a comparative study on the depiction of heroism in selected Kiswahili epics of Fumo Liyongo, Mikidadi na Mayasa and Swifa ya Nguvumali. The objective of the research was to comparatively identify heroes and heroines according to universal traits of African heroes in the selected Kiswahili epics. The choice of the research topic was informed by the existing academic gap. Even though many researches have been done on heroism, the researcher is yet to encounter a research work on the comparative analysis in depicting heroism in selected Kiswahili epics of epic of Fumo Liyongo, the epic of Mikidadi na Mayasa and the epic of Swifa ya Nguvumali. This research was guided by mythology theory by Rank (1909) and Raglan (1936), and later expounded by Okpewho (1979) and Mulokozi (2002). This theory has identified and listed specific traits that an African epic hero or heroine should be depicted with. This research was library based. Different libraries including e-library were used. The research target population was Kiswahili epics, and it purposefully sampled three Kiswahili epics. The selected epics were; epic of Fumo Liyongo, (Kijumwa, 1913) epic of Mikidadi na Mayasa (Bashir 1972), and epic of Swifa ya Nguvumali, (Ismaili 1968). Data was collected by use of content analysis. The selected Kiswahili epics were read in depth. Specific data connected with the objectives was documented as guided by the three theories and then cross checked in a comparative way. Data was then analyzed descriptively, and results presented in a written document. The research identified heroes and heroines as guided by universal traits of an African epic hero in the selected Kiswahili epics. The research concluded that not all heroes and heroines have all the universal African hero traits in the selected Kiswahili epics. The results of the research are expected to be an important source of reference to scholars on the topic of heroism in Kiswahili epics. This research is a bridge to future research and an important addition to researches already done on heroism in Kiswahili epics. Read more

Owing to the growing number of animal breed development centers around the world and the profitability of their production, comparative studies to evaluate superior strain and sex performance in breeders became an important endeavour for researchers. Hence, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of strain and sex on body weight and linear body morphometric traits of 2-broiler chickens during the starter and finisher phases. Arbor-Acre and Cobb-500 chicks (n=192) were raised under controlled conditions and monitored over a 56-day period. Weekly measurements of body weight and linear body traits were recorded. Data subjected to multivariate analysis using the SPSS package revealed that strain significantly (p<0.05) influenced growth, with Arbor-Acre broilers exhibiting superior body weight performance, particularly during the starter phase, weighing 799.50g compared to 669.11g for Cobb-500. This result implied that selecting for improved growth performance during the starter phase (week four) was an important consideration for breeding farms. However, the sex and age factors, as well as the linear body traits in both strains, yielded similar economic results at 8 weeks. Male broilers consistently outperformed their female counterparts in body morphometric traits during both phases. The sex-based differences observed in this study varied across developmental stages, emphasizing the importance of sexual dimorphism in broiler management. These findings recommended that strain and sex were important factors to consider in optimizing broiler production, providing critical insights for broiler breeders and farmers to enhance production efficiency through strategic selection of strains, sex, and other environmental factors. Read more

The study was designed to assess rural women entrepreneurial traits/skills possessions in household-based enterprises in Katsina state, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted and 216 rural entrepreneurs were sampled from the population of registered rural women entrepreneurs in the state using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected on the socioeconomic characteristics, involvement in rural household-based enterprises, benefits derived and traits/skills possessed using structured interview guide. Frequency counts, percentages, means, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were employed in data analysis. The study revealed that majority were young, married, low income earners, Muslims, had Quranic education, and appreciable years of experience. Levels of involvement, benefits derived, and traits/skills possessions were high. On the other hand, scale of access to intervention was low. Whereas, entrepreneurs’ levels of traits/skills possessions differ significantly among senatorial districts; age, marital status, years of experience, educational attainment, benefit derived and monthly income did not significantly determine the scale of household-based enterprise traits/skills possession by rural women entrepreneurs. It is concluded that high level of benefit derived existed regardless respondents’ low levels of intervention access and relevant operational traits/skills. Government should provide complimentary assistance by institutionalizing policy framework that will targets rural women entrepreneurial capacity building programmes on business management and sustainability. Read more

The purpose of this study was to look at the impact of personality characteristics on profession decisions among secondary school students in Enugu State, Nigeria. The survey design was used for the investigation. The research's sample of 200 kids was recruited from ten public schools in the study region using a stratified random selection procedure. The main data collecting instrument was the personality traits and students' career choices questionnaire (PTSCDQ), and the data obtained was analyzed using the independent t-test technique. At the 0.05 level of significance, the null hypotheses were tested. The findings suggested that attitude and perception personality characteristics had a substantial effect on secondary school students' profession decisions. Based on these and other findings, it was determined that students' profession choices are impacted not only by their parents and image models, but also by their attitude, perception, and individual attributes based on how they think about such careers. As a result, it was suggested that professional counselors, parents/guardians, teachers, and administrators work together to raise career knowledge and pay greater attention to the personality traits of attitude and perception demonstrated by students. Read more

The study examined some personality traits of secondary school girls aspiring to STEM careers in the Benin metropolis of Edo State in Nigeria. This study is a descriptive survey with a correlational design. The population of the study consisted of senior secondary school girls in sciences selected from federal, state and private schools in Benin metropolis of Edo State, Nigeria. Five hundred (500) female students formed the sample for the study. The data were analyzed using frequency counts, mean, standard deviation and chi-square. The hypotheses were tested using the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the multiple regressions. The findings of the study among others were: age and course of interest have a significant influence on girls aspiring to STEM careers; flexibility, self-esteem, enterprising, team spirit, social, and stress tolerance were exhibited by the girls; and that personality trait is a significant predictor of girls aspiring to STEM careers. It was concluded that the personality traits identified affects the single sex and mixed schools in about the same way. This implies that school type does not affect the personality traits of the girls much. Therefore, all secondary school girls have fairly equal chances of excelling in STEM careers. The study therefore recommended among others that: Parents, teachers and all stakeholders in education should be enlightened on participation of girls in STEM. Gender discrimination by employers should be discouraged. Secondary school students especially females should be encouraged to develop STEM competencies and disabuse their minds from the fear of some STEM subjects. Read more

Studies relating to African cultures and sustainability have increased patently over the last few decades - a trend that has not yielded much for the sustainability of the African cultural identity and Art. This mounting unsustainability of African culture is partly due to the methods and perspectives adopted as many of the studies approached the sustainability challenge from the colonial, post-colonial or westernised viewpoints which considerably subtly exclude vital aspects of the pre-modernised African culture. Therefore, this study approached the sustainability of the African culture via a proposed Traits-Threats-Sustainability (TTS) theory view point in which specific threats to shared cultural traits/values (of the pre-modernised African culture) were identified. The neutralisation of the threats, the theory proposed, will ensure the sustainability of the shared cultural traits. 12 core threats to 11 shared African cultural traits were identified as derived from a review of relevant literatures, genealogical tales and direct observations. This study therefore recommended an unbiased neutralisation of the identified and other related threats as a means of ensuring the sustainability of African Art and culture without hindering the sustainable development of Africa. Read more