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The moribund nature of railway system in Nigeria due to lack of indigenous engineering and funding facilitated the renewed interest in Sino-Nigerian partnership largely framed by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) process, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop Nigeria infrastructure. Consequently, despite the cooperation from China, through Sino-Nigerian partnership, there is uncertainty surrounding the Chinese skills transfer to Nigerian rail workers towards sustainable maintenance of Nigerian railway system. The paper explores the nature and level of skills transfer in Sino-Nigerian rail transportation partnership, and ascertained the employment considerations vis-à-vis skills transfer in the rail transportation partnership. It also examined the challenges and hindrance of skill transfer in Sino-Nigerian rail transportation partnership in Nigeria. Descriptive research design was engaged through qualitative approach. The approach relied on interviews as a form of primary data in sourcing for relevant information from participants. Quota and purposive (with snowball) sampling technique were engaged to select participants for the study. Content analysis was engaged for data analysis. The findings showed that non-technical workers were the major beneficiaries of Sino-Nigerian skill transfer through on-the-job training. Thus, the knowledge transfer was slower than expected and the Nigerian engineers who were supposed to acquire the most important skills in SGR project were not given the opportunity by the Chinese. The study concluded that there is an apt need for Nigeria to develop her own indigenous technology that will be viable for long-term usage of railway sub-sector without relying on external technology.

Property in Igbo traditional land and culture refers to wealth in the forms of houses, lands, money/cash, fruit trees and animals. These are transferred from the father to his children at the man's death. Property inherited from the family usually forms part of a person's wealth in Nigeria. However, in Anambra, Igbo, women are not allowed to inherit property either from their father or their husbands. Under this arrangement, a woman is seen as an inheritable property and, therefore, not expected to own properties. The paper examines the practice of women as inheritable property of the Anambra, Igbo; analyses how these practices have impacted women's health; and ascertains whether there have been changes in these practices. The paper concludes that women as inheritable property impoverishes women and constitutes a barrier to women attaining their full potentials in Igboland, which has serious implications for their health.

Globally, breast milk has been recognized as the best nutrient for newborns and infants. It is also known to be very nutritious in providing all the necessary elements needed for infants’ health during the first six months of their lives and thereafter, essentially for their growth and survival. Recently, the high morbidity and mortality rates of babies and infants in Nigeria have re-awakened this interest of scholars; health practitioners as well as the general public who started the agitation for exclusive breastfeeding for babies at least for six months. While mothers play their part in providing breast milk to their babies, the role of men (fathers) role as one of the strongest influences on the success of breastfeeding among mothers has been overlooked. In Nigeria, it is still believed that breastfeeding is an exclusive responsibility of the nursing mothers alone. It has been found that father’s support has a strong influence on a mother’s decision to initiate and continue breast feeding in the developed countries. Though mothers recognize fathers as a primary source of support for the continuance of breast feeding in Nigeria; little is known about the nature of this support. This is because fathers are poorly informed and educated about the role they should play in successful breastfeeding of their children. There is need therefore; to document the extent their role can affect successful breastfeeding in their women in Nigeria. This paper describes the role men (fathers) should play in promoting successful breastfeeding in Nigeria. It suggests that men (fathers) should support their wives by providing assistance during pregnancy and after the baby is born. It also proposes that men (fathers) should encourage their pregnant wives to feed well, help in carrying babies while the mother is resting, look after the older children as well as providing assistance in domestic chores. The paper concludes that playing such supportive roles will go a long way in making breast-feeding campaign successful.

Management of sickle cell disease is key to improved quality of life of people living with the disease in Nigeria. This paper examined management strategies utilized by health workers in managing sickle cell patients in Obafemi Awolowo University health centre, in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to explore health workers definition of the disease, the observed symptoms by the health workers, drugs and non-drug strategies employed by these health workers in the management of the patients and the adequacy of health facilities for managing sickle cell patients. With structured in-depth interview schedule, fifteen health workers including nurses and doctors were interviewed. It was indicated that unanimously, health workers defined the disease as an inherited blood disorder which is highly symptomatic with a lot pains all over the body especially in joints and chest and that the sufferers are often admitted in the hospital. Also, the health workers use antibiotics, folic acid, analgesics, anti-malaria drugs, intravenous fluids and blood transfusion as drug regimens for managing the sufferers. The non- drug strategies employed by the health workers were counselling, education for self-care and psychotherapy. Furthermore, the health workers indicated that inadequate health facilities hamper their capacity to deliver effective management to people living with the disease. The paper concludes that health workers employ both drug and non-drug management strategies that promise improved quality of life for sickle cell patients in Nigeria but are constrained by inadequate health facilities and consumables.

Sexual harassment is a topical issue in Nigerian universities due to its high occurrence. The research examined its prevalence, determining factors, nature and the perceived health implications identified by students of Obafemi Awolowo University. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 180 randomly selected undergraduates in nine halls of residence through the administration of questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that 46.7 percent of the respondents had experienced sexual harassment and that absence of deterrence, failure of victims to report, drug abuse and lack of respect for the opposite sex were some of the determining factors. The nature of sexual harassment in the University included unwelcome hugging, sexual assault/rape, threats, sexual jokes and sexual gestures. it was also reported that victims suffer depression, anxiety/panic, sleeplessness, abortion and trauma among others. It was concluded that the students perceive sexual harassment as high and as a product of patriarchal gender relations which has permeated the university system. Strict implementation of the university’s sexual harassment policy will go a long way to reducing the incidence sexual harassment in the institution.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is one of the worst epidemics that have been experienced by humankind. It is indeed a major event of our time. The pandemic has killed so many people around the world and Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst hit. The nature of the pandemic lent it to stigma and discrimination, which have made caring for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) a big problem. It has also brought so much suffering on PLWHA around the world. This article examines the role of culture and the family in the care for PLWHA in Anambra State. Quantitative and Qualitative data collection methods (questionnaire and in-depth interviews) are used to elicit information from respondents. A total of 1000 copies of a questionnaire were administered on adult males and females and 914 were completed and analyzed. Furthermore, in-depth interviews were conducted on 10 opinion leaders using an interview guide. Data were analyzed in themes based on the objectives and the data from in-depth interviews were used to support data from the questionnaire. The results showed that certain cultural practices such as cultural obligations to sick, blood relations, collective ownership of children, affinity to blood relations, and strong marital bond enhance care and support for PLWHA. Also, the burden of care for PLWHA was found to be on the family in the study area. In conclusion, cultural practices and the family play major roles in the care for PLWHA in the area and should be harnessed in order to make life more comfortable for PLWHA.

Perception is fundamental in the fight against stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). Perception generally influences discriminatory attitudes towards PLHIV which exacerbates their problems and quickens the degeneration of the disease from HIV to AIDS. This study examined the Anambra people’s perception and knowledge of HIV/AIDS with the goal of creating knowledge on these issues in order to design effective intervention programmes towards the reduction of social stigmatization associated with the pandemic. The study was carried out in Idemmili North and Oyi local government areas of Anambra State. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to elicit information from respondents who were adult males and females of 18 years and above. The research instruments were questionnaires and in-depth interview schedule. Questionnaires were administered on 1000 respondents while 13 people were interviewed in-depth. Analysis of quantitative data were conducted by using the Statistical package for Social Sciences. Univariate analysis in the form of frequencies were conducted which generated the distribution of respondents across the research variables. Furthermore, multivariate analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses and sought for relationships among variables. The qualitative data were reported in themes based on the research objectives and were analysed jointly with the quantitative data. The findings were that majority of the respondents viewed HIV/AIDS as a disease that afflict immoral people and as a punishment from God. Only a handful of them saw the disease as a disease that could afflict anybody. Also, many of the respondents said that AIDS is real but showed a low level of knowledge. It was further indicated that there were significant relationships between educational level, sex, occupation, income influence perception and peoples’ reactions to HIV positive status of a relative while there were no significant relationships between these variables and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. It was concluded that these negative perceptions were as a result of the people’s low level of knowledge and cultural belief systems, which see a strange illness as punishment from God for disobedience. Furthermore, the fact that most of the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents had significant relationship with perception and reaction to HIV was an indication that most people in the study area had a uniform perception. It was also an indication that government HIV/AIDS awareness programmes were not effective. It was recommended that strategies for effective HIV educational programme should be sought and carried out in the study area. Effective intervention programme have the power to change behaviours and would likely change the people’s negative perception and low level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS, thereby reducing stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS.Keywords: perception, disease, epidemic, knowledge, PLHIV, HIV/AIDS and stigmatization

The issue of maternal mortality has been very topical due to recent focus on sustainable development and because of the fact that maternal mortality is very high in many developing countries. In Nigeria, maternal mortality is very high and one of the highest in the world. There are cultural and social factors that exacerbate the problem in Nigeria. This paper reviews the influence of poverty, lack of education, cultural food taboos and gender relations on maternal mortality in Nigeria. The review was done using existing literatures on the subject. It was found that many women are illiterates and this affects their level of knowledge and exposure and also their level of income and all these impinge on their nutritional status. This situation also affects their ability to exercise their rights as human beings. Moreover, the introduction of user charges in government hospitals made unafordable for many women and make them patronize faith clinics and traditional medical practitioners and in this way, many avoidable deaths occur. The gender relations was also found to be a very important factor in life chances and pregnancy outcomes of women and women‟s health generally. It was therefore concluded that the high maternal mortality in Nigeria is as a result of these socio cultural factors. These factors and issues should be addressed if Nigeria is truly sincere in curbing the menace of high maternal mortality. Key words : maternal mortality, poverty, education, culture, gender and employment.

The maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is still very high and as such has been topical. This problem is partly a result of patriarchy and therefore has been of great interest to many scholars. This study was aimed at creating knowledge on reproductive behaviour of career women and the role of men in such behaviour. The study was carried out in Ile-Ife and Lagos. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Quantitative method was used to get a larger sample and qualitative was used so as to bring out those things that can not be elicited from the questionnaires. The research instruments were in-depth interview schedule and questionnaires. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 200 respondents. Only 133 respondents completed the questionnaires and 10 respondents were interviewed in-depth. The respondents were selected from 10 different professions-medicine, law, teaching, police, banking, accountancy, nursing, pharmacy and administration. The findings were that professional women got married and had their first babies slightly later than their illiterate sisters, patronize good hospitals for antenatal care and delivery of their babies and use mainly orthodox family planning methods. It was equally found that men play a major role in the reproductive health behaviour of professional women. It was concluded that the knowledge perception and attitudes of men towards the reproductive health of women have a lot of implication for women's health, survival and that of their children. It was therefore recommended that any intervention programme towards change of women's reproductive behaviour should also target men if it is to be successful. Gender & Behaviour Vol.3 2005: 406-422