In every society, language and culture are two interwoven important aspects that constitute the makeup of mankind. The word Ngwa, refers to the dialect, the people and the geo-political area known as Ngwa land. The Ngwa people are found in Abia State in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Of the seventeen Local Government Areas in Abia State, seven belong to the Ngwa people. These Local Government Areas are: Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa South, Obingwa, Osisioma, Aba North, Aba South and Ugwunagbo. Some of the objectives of this paper are: to illustrate that every cultural aspect of man has its own linguistic repertoire, to demonstrate that culture is the dignity of man, to show that culture determines the extent that a norm is observed and the constraints it places on a people. The theoretical framework on which this paper is discussed is ethnography of communication. This theory is concerned with the sociocultural rules that form the basis of every linguistic act. The method of data collection for this paper is participant observation, where the researcher is absolved into the speech community for a period of time in order to perceive the salient features in the culture of a people. Some of the findings of this paper are: that language and culture are indispensable aspects of humanity, that personhood (humanity) is sustained by the constrains which culture places on man in his society, that every culture has its unique cultural behavior and linguistic repertoire and finally, that the acquisition of the appropriate cultural and linguistic behaviour of a person in a certain society is part of that person‟s social competence for existence as a person in his community.

Moral decadence has permeated almost all facets of human endeavour in our contemporary society, and as a result, has raised issues of moral concern in the body of literature, social media and public debates. The entire constituents of the human moral structure have been wrecked by inordinate quest to eke out a living in a malaise society. The contemporary African society is one that is predicated on the negated relativist (subjectivist), hedonist, eudemonist and humanist world views and other forms of philosophical interpretations of moral values on the one hand, and in another hand, a lopsided conception of technology, civilization and learning that are anchored on physical development, materialism and market driven economy at expense of good moral values, good character orientation and attitudinal development. In effect, these negated interpretations of the concepts of development, morality, technology, civilization and learning and their agencies have compounded and ruined almost anything that has to do with the moral aspect of the human person. Given this anomie, this paper takes recourse to revisit the moral fabric of the human person and to re-examine the interpretations of these concepts with the view to showing how they and what they represent have led to the damage done to the foundation of human moral values. The paper further highlights points such as interdisciplinary approach, enthronement of value orientation, living philosophy, positive indoctrination, compulsory teaching of morals, as some of the ways to rebuild the broken foundation of human moral values in order to re-humanize the personhood in our contemporary times. The approach of this discussion will be essentially expository and analytical.

The paper seeks to examine peculiar creative expressions used during the 2019 general elections process in Nigeria with a view to carrying out a lexico-semantic analysis of the terminologies within the situational context they were used in consideration of the time, political space and interactants. The study adopts the Contextual Theory of Meaning as the relevant theoretical framework. Data for the study were collected by means of participant observation and such comments during political interactions in campaigns, social media platforms, political gatherings, news items and written materials. The findings indicate that, there were numerous of such terms generated and used during the various stages of the electoral process by the major actors such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its adhoc staff, political parties, party loyalists and the electorate. The lexical items demonstrate the dynamic nature of language and its utterers to produce words or expressions for immediate needs-based communication which is politically motivated in this circumstance. It is observed that the semantic value of such lexical choices are contextually restricted and situationally restrained to, and comprehensible by the users within the 2019 electoral milieu driven by the peculiarity of the events. Aside from the fact that the study has broaden the scope of language used during political activities, the study also recommends multi-dimensional investigations into the political language in Nigerians in order to increase the already enlarging register of English for political discourse.

The position of this paper focused on the dignity of the human person vis-a-vi his human right. Every human being has a purpose in life and an inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected irrespective of their status, gender or social class. Dignity is a concept which talks about a person‟s intrinsic worth- a value of all people, which they are born with as human beings while human rights are “the basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled” such as rights to life, rights to work etc. The main thrust of this paper is based on the observation of the writer that the dignity and right of the vulnerable groups in Nigeria seem not to be adequately addressed. Some of the challenges observed as faced by these groups range from oppression, affront, discrimination, contempt and the impending effective implementation of the universal declaration of human rights and the dignity of the human person as enshrined in the proclamation of the General Assembly of the United Nations resolution 217 A in Paris on 10th November, 1948 as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations which is based on the fact that: all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood (Article 01 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Possible measures to eradicating the identified challenges will be presented in ensuring that the dignity and right of the vulnerable groups are protected. Way forward and conclusion are drawn based on the discussion.

Corruption is a universal phenomenon, a global challenge which has debilitated the growth and development of many countries, especially developing nations. It has impeded the general and holistic welfare of their citizens making them to live lesser than human. However, the level of corruption in Nigeria is alarming; manifesting itself in diverse forms particularly in the form of gift-giving in exchange for favour, injustice, nepotism, bribery, kickback, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds among others. The magnitude and effects of these are diverse forms of social menaces which have collectively succeeded in ranking Nigeria the 144th corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2018 corruption Perception Index reported by Transparency International. Understanding that corruption is cankerworm to any national advancement, various administrations of government devised different strategies and measures to combat corruption. Yet, the problem keeps aggravating because those strategies fail to take cognizance of African‟s worldview to solve the problem of Africans. It is against this backdrop that this paper adopts critical method to show that African humanism is rich and dynamic to solve the problem of corruption in the contemporary society, for it gives credence to the dignity and welfare of man and emphasizes the need to eliminate corruption which is injurious to human life. The paper concludes that African Humanism a paradigm which takes roots in African culture and identity is important in fashioning solutions to the myriads of Africa‟s problems and challenges of corruption.

Literature is perceived as the production of a literary work or a body of written works produced in a particular language, country or age. It is conceptually viewed as a mirror of life or life itself as it is primarily concerned with all those things that deal with life. It is also considered as a portrait of man and his environment, held up for him to be seen by the artist, so that he can have profound reflections about his life, the world and that of the generation in which he belongs. Part of the components of life is the environment, which is a segment of nature. The literary environmentalist, as an eco-critic, is preoccupied with the study of nature and the environment. Eco-criticism perceives nature as the hub on which human being and its environment rotate. As a study that deals with the relationship between literature and the physical environment, eco-criticism usually adopts an earth-centred approach to literary studies. Eco-criticism views the earth as a natural aesthetic endowment with its values, (i.e. landscape – fertile and desert lands – seas, oceans and rivers, the green vegetation, mountains and rocks, valleys and highlands and other phenomena that constitute the environment); all of which contribute positively to man‟s existence and sustenance. It is a literary writing in which the eco-writer/poet delves into issues of environmental concern and particularly the effect of pollution on nature. Eco-criticism‟s major pre-occupation, as exemplified in the various writings of the eco-writers/poets/critics, is to condemn the atrocities usually perpetrated by man to nature, which, in the main, have penurious effects on the same man. The concern of the eco-writers/poets/critics corroborates Adie Edward‟s position that “the world‟s attention has been drawn towards the urgent need for the preservation of and maintenance of the environment as it is faced with the daunting phenomena called global warming and environmental degradation” (2019:18). In this paper, an eco-critical analysis of selected poems of Niyi Osundare and Tanure Ojaide is done, with a view to using their poems as a clarion call on government and other concerned agencies for necessary repair to the unjustifiable damage done, and are still being done to the Niger-Delta zone of Nigeria and other places negatively affected. The damage, which is of high magnitude and unquantifiable, is the major pre-occupation of the literary environmentalists. This paper therefore posits that man should stop its maltreatment of nature. Nature should be treated as a phenomenon without which man‟s existence can be in jeopardy.

This study examined the effect of language on the technological development of Nigeria. It views Language as an essential tool for conducting the most mundane transactions of our lives. Language is inexorably tied to the effective existence of man in the society that any meaningful discussion of man must rely on. Senior secondary school students from five (5) selected senior secondary schools in Odogbolu local government, Ogun state, Nigeria were used for the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for this study. A predetermined number of one hundred and fifty (150) students of selected secondary schools in Odogboiu Local Government Area of Ogun state were selected using simple random sampling technique. Self-Structure questionnaire was used as research instrument. Data collected was analysed using frequency tables and simple percentage. The hypotheses were tested using students Chi-Square. Result of the findings shows that there is significant relationship between language and technological advancement among secondary school students in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State. The outcome of the result also revealed a significant effect of language as a concept of technological advancement of developing nation. Based on the result of the findings, recommendations were made that there is need to establish the importance of language in technological advancement of any nation. Policy makers and curriculum planners should also revisit the position of indigenous language in the Nigerian National policy on Education. People should be encouraged to use their indigenous language to bring out the potentials in them. In other words, priority should be given to indigenous languages, made it popular among the youths for them to exhibit the endowed talents in them.

NEPAD (i.e., the New Partnership for Africa‟s Development) is an overly ambitious continental development programme, purportedly committed to advance the standard of living of Africans, majority of whom live below the poverty line of less than two dollars a day – an indication that many Africans live dehumanized. Presumably, latent in NEPAD is the quest to re-humanize Africans. To do this, NEPAD endorses and without amelioration applies the neoliberal economic model of development, an offshoot of the traditionalist development orientation. This way, from its onset NEPAD fails to address the fundamental causative factors of Africa‟s underdevelopment by ignoring the philosophies of dehumanization and (neo-) capitalist imperialism underlying neoliberalism. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the policy thrusts of NEPAD with a view to highlighting the inner contradictions that obstruct its re-humanization agenda. The major question this paper addresses is, how can the western economic model, with the intrinsic design to conquer and dehumanize the African person, be employed for his rehumanization? In other words, does the philosophy of NEPAD contain internal contradictions capable of thwarting its set goals? This paper holds that the western traditionalist development orientation, otherwise conceived as the linear development paradigm is the root of Africa‟s under-development. Specifically, the western paradigm of [neo-] capitalist imperialism, which has been the key instrument for the actualization and perpetuation of Africa‟s defeat, cannot be the solution to Africa‟s re-growth. Rehumanization of the African, therefore, requires breaking away from all forms of imperialistic economic theories or models. The research methodology is expository, analysing data derived from primary and secondary sources.

This paper advocates the harnessing of theatrical performances in achieving entrepreneurship education in Nigerian Universities. This is predicated on the fact that, many Undergraduates in Nigerian Universities who offer Entrepreneurship Studies as a compulsory course under General Studies treat it with levity given that, it is not directly related to their core courses of study. However, given the nature of the Nigerian economy and the difficulty of acquiring white color jobs, it is paramount to bequeath our Undergraduates with entrepreneurial skills to be independent and self-employed upon graduation. Considering the significance of entrepreneurship training in Nigeria, it is imperative to employ all measures to achieve this noble objective. Consequently, theatre being a performative art form can be employed to make entrepreneurship education more graphic, feasible, interesting and attractive to Undergraduates offering it. The paper therefore submits that, entrepreneurship training should be made interesting and feasible through the instrumentality of the theatre using creative and improvisational drama, songs, music and dance for easy understanding and assimilation.

Re-humanism is a process in which empathetic situation is made to reemerge without employment of violence. That is, to reignite innovation with adoption of passion then the need for re-humanization must not be underestimated. This calls for people‟s ability to clearly understand first, who they are as people which make for identity. To establish peoples‟ identity, there exists distinguishing character or personality of individual or group that is exhibited to make them different from confusing them for another person or group. It has been noted that black peoples‟ cultural identity has become controversial, because they have allowed new religion affiliation and foreign culture to super impose on their own cultural identity. The big question now is: How can Africans re-humanize belligerent issue of cultural identity as it has taken over the world space discussion? Scholars in Art Education have realized this mirage of Africans‟ cultural identity hence the introduction of Creative Arts to be taught in schools. Creative Arts Education is made available to be the reviving means of re-humanizing the Africans‟ cultural identity because it integrates all arts and culture under one umbrella. This paper is aimed at discussing re-humanizing and identity of Africans‟ cultural heritage in extinction through the use of Creative Arts Education. The paper will suggest means of improving on using creative arts to better the approach for cultural identity.

Pluralism is a set of intentions and a practice that seeks to institutionalize the recognition of difference and respect for diversity as civic culture. In Nigeria, manifold ethnicity, religious differences, diverse political affiliations, multiple indigenous languages and dialects are the core characteristics of the country. Over the years, these differences have resulted to different forms of violent conflicts and terrorism. The resultant effects are in most cases defined in the area of destruction of lives and properties which is described as „development in reverse‟. The question is “Does diversity work against development? How can a plural state progress on the part of development?” Using Ola Rotimi‟s Hopes of the Living Dead as a benchmark, recognition of diversity itself as a precursor to pluralism can serve as a pathway and create a common ground for sustainable development. This investigation highlights the concept of pluralism and diversity and adopts development theories for data analyses. The study concludes that politics and policies of inclusion, inter-ethnic accommodation and inclusive institutions can promote a sense of belonging, loyalty and peace in the country. It also sees connection as a link to different creative views and self-sufficiency essential for sustainable development.

A human person is “an individual substance of rational nature”. This classical definition confers on him a dignity that is his right by nature. Human rights are the basic entitlements which belong to all humans, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. The greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase depict the human person as subject of rights, respect and dignity. The greatest achievement of the modern society is the discovery of the human rights. This is evident in various declarations of human rights and the many initiatives at the local and global levels. Many countries today make affirmations and declaration of the rights of individuals and peoples in international assemblies and societies as their primary objective and pride. However, besides the ancient scourges of poverty, hunger, endemic diseases, violence and war, new threats to human dignity and life are emerging on an alarmingly vast scale, such as: sub-human living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, kidnapping, modern and ancient slavery, women/children trafficking, human organ trafficking, disgraceful working conditions, etc. These treat people as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons. This paper therefore aims to stress the ethical implications of these threats to the human person as an individual and to the entire human society. It also calls for a practical implementation of human rights policies in order to enhance the integral respect, defense and promotion of the human person.

Human subject experimentation is one of the ways by which scientists and medical practitioners seek advancement for their profession in relation to preventive and curative medicine. Though many have argued in support of human subject experimentation to the effect that it increases the number of lives saved, as well as improves the quality of lives, however, it is dehumanizing for it exploits human subjects and degrades their worth, dignity, rights, autonomy and personhood. How then can one balance or justify exposing human subjects to risk for the sake of the advancement of science? Can the desire for knowledge ever justify the inhumane or unethical treatment in experiments on human beings? Hence, this paper seeks to examine the various ethical problems associated with human subject experimentation. It shall also explore the theological and religious responses to the use of human subjects for experimentation and argue that theological and religious responses have humanizing trends for human subject experiment.

The question of ‘Being’ as raised by an ancient philosopher Parmenides has been a perennial problem in philosophy and has continued to dominate philosophical debates till date. For some scholars, the mystery of being is itself a mystery; being is „the indefinable’. This fact results to the enigmatic invitation for a proper contextual philosophical reflection into the nature of being. This is a demand for a philosophical inquiry into the state of our shared Humanity in the present day „broken world‟. The situation of ‘the broken world’ is a state of loss of sense of being. Its consequence is the degradation of being, which in our own case, has indirectly contributed to the worsening insecurity and destruction of lives and properties in Nigeria. The demand for being gives rise to being. Gabriel Marcel in his ontology taught of the question of existence of man as a mystery in which being attains fullness by participating in this mystery. It is something that cannot be investigated by scientific experimentation like the case of objects. One naturally feels superior to anything that is within his mental and physical grip. Some philosophies of being have considered being including the being of man from the perspective of something within human manipulation and control. The consequences of this approach is a form of reductionism in which man is considered as any other object out there that can be tooled. In this sense human dignity is judged by his/her social output and human relationship is built on utility. It is against this background that this paper titled; “Gabriel Marcel’s idea of ‘longing for transcendence and re-humanization in Nigeria”; an existential anthropology of Gabriel Marcel, was chosen as a template for rehumanization in Nigeria. It argues that despite the fact that our own country is plagued with corruption, insecurity, anxiety from unemployment, terrorism, poverty, nepotism etc; it is optimistic that it (Nigeria) can still be re-humanized through restructuring of thoughts, restoration of human dignity and promotion of ideal human relationships via love, fidelity and patriotic acts, thereby discovering the true meaning of life in our meaninglessness situation.

The desire and aspiration of the founding fathers of Nigeria was to bring into existence a vibrant and stable nation where an all-round development would be recorded shortly after the attainment of independence. This vision greatly influenced the nationalist leaders who fought for the country’s liberty from the shackles of the British colonialists. It is rather unfortunate that almost sixty years after Independence, Nigeria is yet to be recognized on the global economic, industrial, educational and strategic cum security arenas. This is due mostly to bad leadership and compromising followership as those who have been directing the nation’s affairs are self-centred and rapacious. There is no doubt that the relegation of the study and application of Humanities Particularly History, Indigenous Religions (IR), Christianity and Islam is responsible for this sad development. As a result, the vast majority of Nigerian leaders and followers lack sense of history and also soil their hands in corruption and other vices that were frowned at in the pre-colonial African / Nigerian societies when the traditional gods occupied the centre-stage of virtually every stratum of African life, Christian and Islamic teachings. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to address how both History and Religions can be used in instilling sanity in our society without which the nation will continue to be at the back seat of development in the contemporary global system.

The current global emphasis on technological development for societal advancement in the face of disciplinary dichotomization between art and science leaves one wondering where art as a discipline fits in. Today, technology is fast becoming another synonym for science or the scientific. Inventions and technological apparatuses, such as computers, chips and all such gadgetries and inventions that enhance productivity and advance society, fall under the purview of the science. This view seems to relegate the arts to the background, in technology and development discourse. Surprisingly, the advancement of technology as researches reveal, is not a single disciplinary effort. The assumption that art and science have no meeting point falls like a pack of cards when considering disciplinary inputs in the area of film animation. This paper examines the potentials of the arts in technology-induced developmental strides and argues that the field of arts has always added and will continue to add to the milestones achieved by science. This is because art and science converge and are inextricably linked in several areas of human endeavour. These areas, one can say, make both disciplines of equal importance in the scheme of the development curriculum. This work x-rays the disciplinary inputs in film animation creation, to show the interrelationship between art and science.