Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories, Social Media and Response to Vaccination Campaigns (Published)
Following the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 virus in Wuhan City, China in 2019 and the subsequent metamorphose into a global pandemic in the first quarter of 2020; the world was thrown into frenzy due to information overload about the cause, nature, origin, aim, effect and likely solution to the virus. There was a preponderance of conspiracy theories from all quarters: health, academic, religion, politics, cosmology and mythology about the subject matter. The media, especially social media played a huge role to fan the embers of the theories. Four years on from the outbreak, a lot of the propositions have been proven while many have become obsolete and others have been discovered as false alarm. In addition, globally the fight against the pandemic has moved to the vaccination stage. Accordingly, this study sought to find out the extent and influence of the different conspiracy theories on the vaccination campaigns. 393 adult and educationally advanced residents of Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria were sampled via an online Google questionnaire. The questionnaire was purposefully distributed through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram etc. Findings from the study revealed first, high level of exposure to conspiracy theories about COVID-19 on social media. Second, despite the high level of exposure to such fake news on the subject matter, the exposure did not influence the acceptance or otherwise of the COVID-19 vaccines by the respondents. The study recommended among other things, promotion of media literacy education among the citizenry and strengthening of legal framework to detect and prosecute erring members of society or who originate fake news.
Keywords: COVID-19, Social media, conspiracy theories, fake news and vaccination campaign.
The Impact of Monetary and Fiscal Policies On the Performance of the Industrial Sector in Nigeria: A Bounds Test Approach (Published)
This study explicitly digs into the separated impact of fiscal and monetary policies as government stabilization policies on the Nigerian industrial sector performance as a real sector, from 1986-2021, using the ARDL Bounds Testing Approach. The data were filtered with use of Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test while Johansen cointegration test was used to justify the long-run relationship among all included variables. Annual data were gathered from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and World Bank Indicators (various issues). It was discovered that government stabilization policies are potent determinants on the industrial sector output in Nigeria both in the short-run and long-run. An appropriate monetary and fiscal policies mix and adjustments to match the dynamic nature of the economy would not only develop and sustain the Nigerian industrial sector but also enhance the living standard of the people.
Citation: Emmanuel Oghenekome Akpoghelie (2022) The Impact of Monetary and Fiscal Policies On the Performance of the Industrial Sector in Nigeria: A Bounds Test Approach, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.4, pp.1-22
Keywords: COVID-19, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, bounds test approach, industrial output, stabilization policy
Covid-19and Education: A Case for Experiential Learning Theory (Published)
Education is a key player in addressing any social problem; it provides individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to cope with any eventuality. Conceiving the fact that the school is a veritable tool to fixing the society in all spheres of life, including outbreak of diseases such as COVID-19, this study makes a case for Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) as an appropriate pedagogical approach so that information and facts about the disease can be brought to real life situations. Opinions and ideas on COVID-19 were obtained from secondary sources and analysed qualitatively leading to the suggestion that schools should reopen for students to leverage the opportunities which COVID-19 has presented to education.
Keywords: : Experiment, COVID-19, Disease, Learning, Teachers, distancing