This paper examines some violent cultural practices such as widowhood discrimination, female genital mutilation, wife battery, and early girl child marriage perpetrated against Igbo women in the three senatorial districts of Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of this study, four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The questionnaire was one the instruments used for data collection. The second instrument: Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was also employed to compliment the questionnaire method. The multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select samples in stages in the three senatorial districts of the state. One hundred respondents were selected as sample from each district, and in all, three hundred (300) respondents were selected as sample for the study. Chi square (X 2 ) was adopted to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The results rejected the null hypotheses, and accepted the alternate hypotheses. The rejection revealed that these cultural practices were inimical to the development of women. Sequel to this, the paper suggests that the Ebonyi State House of Assembly should make laws to protect women from these violent and obnoxious cultural practices. Government at all levels, particularly in Ebonyi State should empower women through education (free tuition) and also through free micro-credit facilities to enable them embark on small-scale businesses to improve their poor economic status, and also their persons without any inhibitions from cultural practices.The Igbos are culturally endowed, and a good grasp of their cultural anthropology and cosmology show the pride with which they uphold their distinctive way of life. However, some of these cultural practices have been observed, according to Chukwu (2006), to be very archaic, dangerous, and damaging to the psyche of women. Corroborating this trend earlier, Ebirim (2005) argued that the situation was even worse for women who had low literacy level. In a similar strand Ritzer (1996) averred

Celebration of childbirth, among the Igbo, is looked upon as an occasion of feasting and so every festal feature, especially good music is made available as a mark of thanksgiving to God. The birth of a new child is announced with a special kind of song called irri muo, and it is sung in celebration of the birth. Songs sung at childbirth are called umanwa, while in neighbouring communities, they are egwu omugho. Umanwa music is exclusively performed by women, and has survived until today in its original form through oral tradition. This paper, therefore, examines the celebration of childbirth through dance and the demystification of the male child in the Igbo Patriarchal Society. Among the findings, the paper acknowledges that there is always some excitement, merriment, joy and intoxication, mixed with some sparks of faith when the new entrant is added to a household. In addition, the paper recognizes that women are never fully recognized as mothers until the birth of a boy child. Disturbing as the preference is, this paper wonders and questions why women are being easily ridiculed, subjugated and divorced when and where the Y-chromosome, the sole determinant of the birth of the boy child is the exclusive preserve of the male gender. With this, the paper argues that since human personality, a prerogative and quality of every human being does not rest on gender, but on ability; the emphasis on the boy child is absolutely unnecessary because it does not add anything to ability. The paper further calls on the educated elite to enlighten their people to be aware that the dignity of the girl child is fundamentally, essentially and unquestionably equal to the dignity of the boy child. Finally, the paper concludes that, the male child has not in most cases fulfilled the long awaited expectations of being the second father in the house.

After about twenty years of military rule in Nigeria, Nigerians seemed to have lost the ability to insist on their fundamental human rights. In this vein, any attempt to talk about human rights has been very controversial since the return of democracy in 1991 because the police seem to have taken over the lawlessness of the military as no day passes without a daily occurrence of extra judicial killings, accidental discharge, and other notorious acts against innocent citizens all over the country. Therefore, with police brutality observable in every nook and cranny of the Nigerian society, this study evaluates human rights abuses in Nigeria's democracy with a view to restoring man's dignity that is at lowest ebb today than ever. Since government seems confused on what steps to take to put a stop to the series of abuses of human rights, hypotheses were formulated and literatures related to the variables reviewed. Survey research design was adopted and a total sample of 150 respondents was selected through purposive sampling technique and simple random sampling technique. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significant levels and the results of the findings show that all the null hypotheses were rejected and the alternate hypotheses accepted at same significant levels. Among the findings, the study shows that the rule of law in Nigeria has fallen short of the expectations of the citizens. Secondly, the police force has become a stumbling block to the effective administration of Justice and efficient maintenance of law and order as cruelty against citizens are widespread. Furthermore, the sheer disrespect of rules of engagements with imunity by the police not only questions the ability of the government to protect its citizens but also undermines its credibility. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have not only abdicated their constitutional functions, responsibilities and obligations to Nigerians, but are deeply engaged in human rights abuses, bribery, and extortions of money not only from motorists plying our roads but also in our habitudes at the least opportunity. In this light, the study recommends that as a security organization in a democracy, the Nigeria police should understand that democracy demands that the human personality in its course of development should be allowed to proceed without artificial forces or barricade so long as it actively does not violate the safety and reasonable right of others. In addition, there should be other far-reaching reforms and reorientations necessary to bring Nigeria's policing operations into conformity with constitutional and international human rights standards.

Gender education and entrepreneurship have become worldwide phenomena for women, particularly in patriarchy societies where all kinds of discriminations, subjugation against them are frightening realities of contemporary times. As a result, female entrepreneurship has been weighed down by poor education, social norms, and lack of access to free credit facilities. It is in this context that this paper examines the impacts of gender education on female entrepreneurship in Enugu urban, Enugu state, Nigeria. A survey design was employed and 300 respondents were selected using the simple random sampling technique. Out of this number of respondents, only 280 (90.33%) structured questionnaire were returned and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The distribution of the respondents showed 210 (75%) were female entrepreneurs, while 70 respondents (25%) were male entrepreneurs. Among the findings, an overwhelming majority of the respondents are of the view that the female entrepreneurs are important for the socio-economic transformation of the Enugu State, and by extension, Nigeria. Secondly, the study agrees that there is hardly a society where gender stereotypes do not exist but that these aspects of the gender belief system which are anti- female entrepreneurs' development have been over taken by the power of gender education. In addition, the study shows that gender education is the most viable and veritable vehicle for guaranteeing and sustaining female entrepreneurs to continue to expand entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Thirdly, this study has presented a different picture of women making some tremendous efforts in spite of all odds cannot be underestimated because their contributions have been remarkable despite the challenges they face in their quest to transform the patriarchal Igbo society, especially Enugu State. Based on this, the study concludes that the contributions of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria's entrepreneurship development cannot be underestimated because their contributions have been remarkable despite the challenges they face. In this vein, the study suggests that gender education should be a priority to halt all forms of discriminatory practices against female entrepreneurs and in the same vein, calls for elimination of prejudices and customary practices that are based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either sex or on stereotyped roles for men and women. Above all, government should, through financial institutions, grant free interest loans to encourage female entrepreneurs plunge themselves into businesses to sustain the breaking of the glass ceilings.

Religious threats continue to pose a real threat to security and survival of the nascent democracy in Nigeria, especially with the widespread and incessant killings of Igbos in some selected Northern States. Bombs explode regularly, killing huge numbers of people, especially at crowded squares in these states. Igbos who, dominate the Northern commercial landscape, have in their large numbers have been one of the worst hit. And one of the more notorious groups, the Boko Haram, the ultraviolent Islamic militant group that condemns western education, has always accepted responsibility for the killings. Their unwholesome activities which, have been impacting negatively on the various segments of society; creating the psychological basis for arbitrariness are compounded by the intense use of State authority by an effective minority of the Northern extraction to cover up and dismiss these detestable killings and abuses as being only the maturation of long festering extremist impulses that run deep in the social reality of Northern Nigeria, while doing nothing to halt the incessant atrocities against Igbos, as if they are responsible for the decades of failed government and elite delinquency finally ripening into social chaos therein. Thus, the main thrust of this paper is to assess religious threats to security and democracy in Nigeria with special focus on the incessant killings of Igbos. To achieve the purpose of this study, four research hypotheses and two theories, the Strain and differential association theories are used as theoretical framework to guide the study. Literatures related to the variables are reviewed including the adoption of the survey research and the construction of a four-point Likert type questionnaire to elicit information from a total of 290 respondents who constituted the data for the research. To test the hypotheses, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis Statistical technique was employed. The findings show among others that the group, Boko Haram itself, is an effect and not a cause; a symptom of decades of failed government and elite delinquency in Northern Nigeria and queries the rationale why Igbos should be sacrificed to correct the failings of the Northern elite. In addition, the paper also finds out that religious threat is a clog to the corporate existence of Nigeria despite democratization. As a result, this study recommends that the Federal Government should brace up to whatever are the grievances of the Boko Haram with a view to seeing how its members can be persuaded to renounce their warring posture, allow peace to reign in order to save the country's nascent democracy. Finally, the paper concludes that since Nigeria is a pluralist society, the Government through the mass media should enlighten the people on the essence of peaceful co-existence so as to engender national integration and save the country's nascent democracy.