Globalization an offshoot of imperialist capitalist expansion had come to be regarded as what no country of the world can ignore in order to achieve sustainable development. However, though taunted as a panacea for development, it had equally been recognized as having negative effects, of which had aggravated unemployment through economic liberalization practices, thereby exacerbating the level of poverty among developing countries, including Nigeria. There had equally been rising trend of human trafficking in Nigeria as globalization continued to expand. The study therefore examined the relationship between globalization and rising level of human trafficking in the country. Utilizing descriptive survey design, the study which adopted triangulation method, used multi-stage sampling technique to locate respondents from 3 states in Nigeria; Edo, Lagos and Ogun. The methods of data collection were questionnaire, interview and focused group discussion; 544 copies of the questionnaire was administered, 15 key informants interviewed and 2 focused group discussions conducted. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data was content analyzed. The study found that globalization had a direct link to rising human trafficking in the country. The government should moderate the influence of globalization, in order to reduce the level of unemployment and poverty thereby discourage the craze for greener pastures.

The practice of representative democracy across Africa for close to two decades without interruption had not translated to reduction of the level of poverty for the world"s poorest continent. Over the last decade, there had been increase in the level of participation in the political process by grassroots women, especially in Ghana and Nigeria. Does active participation of grassroots women in the political process translate to formulation and implementation of viable poverty reduction programmes by elected officials? The study examined the effect of grassroots women political participation on poverty reduction in two African countries; Ghana and Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was collected from 500 respondents (250 respondents) from each country using multistage sampling technique. The response rate was 87.4%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics while hypotheses were tested using regression. Grassroots women political participation had significant effect on poverty reduction in Ghana (β=.167, t (240) =2.600, R 2 =0.28, p<0.05), and in Nigeria (β=.082, t (197) =1.145, R 2 =0.07, p<0.05). Grassroots women organizations need to critically appraise new strategies that would facilitate getting more women into decision making roles.

Women's empowerment and its relationship with women's health in Africa is the focus of this chapter. Studies show that the higher the level of women's education and their economic empowerment, the more they are able to take independent decisions, including those that affect their individual health, as well as their capacity to contribute to the processes of making policies that affect them. Governments across Africa have not been proactive in addressing women's health issues, in spite of signing various international conventions. Lack of empowerment of women has resulted in lack of essential health services for women, and governments are therefore unable to effectively tackle various women's health challenges including rising incidence of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health problems. Governments need to plan holistic empowerment programs that

Solid waste management is an essential social service of the local government system in Nigeria. The lack of adequate funding of the local governments has created a situation where most of the cities are dirty as solid waste is disposed indiscriminately resulting to various public health issues. The establishment of the ecological fund has not provided effective relief to the problems of environmental governance, including solid waste management. The study examined the relationship between solid waste management and public health challenges in Ibadan city, Nigeria. The study adopted survey design, while the population of study was Ibadan city in Oyo State, Nigeria. Quantitative data was collected using validated questionnaire with response rate of 100%. Correlation coefficient and ANOVA were employed in the testing of the hypotheses. The study found that there was significant relationship between Politicization of Waste Management and Public Health Challenges (r = .325, p&lt;.05). In addition, there was significant relationship between Ineffective Management of Solid Waste and Public Health Challenges (r = .662, p&lt;.05). Indiscriminate Disposal of Solid Waste, Politicization of Solid Waste and Ineffective Management of solid waste had joint significant effect on Public Health Challenges (F(3, 296) = 22.078, Adj. R2 = .696, p&lt;0.05). The study concluded that the politicization of solid waste management in the selected local governments had resulted in ineffective management of solid wastes, with the residents being exposed to several public health challenges. It was recommended that there should be improved funding of the waste management agencies to enable them adopt modern waste disposal techniques.

Federal character was adopted in Nigeria to ensure that no group or section suffers imbalance or marginalization of any kind. However, it implementation had been fraught with criticism by scholars and public servants who see it as an instrument of favouring some sections against others. It had been linked to the high level of administrative inefficiency experienced by the civil service system in spite of myriad of reforms over the years. The study examined effect of federal character principle on appointment in the civil service system, using Federal Ministry of Education. Descriptive survey design was adopted, while simple random sampling was used in selecting the 300 respondents from the ten departments of the ministry. Questionnaire was the research instrument and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while inferential statistics was carried out using T-test and ANOVA. As federal character increases by 1%, it will result to a multiplier effect of 63% in appointment into civil service system in Nigeria. There is a strong positive correlation between federal character and appointment into the civil service system, r = 0.756. Federal character negatively affects appointment into civil service in Nigeria, as merit is sacrificed on the altar of quota or representativeness.