Professionalization of Community Development: Challenges and Prospects in Nigeria (Published)
The focus of the paper is on professionalization of community development with its challenges and prospects in Nigeria. The paper explored the concept of professionalization as a process by which any trade, work or occupation transforms itself into a profession of high standards, integrity and competence in human environment. The paper identified the characteristics of professionalization to include educational and professional qualifications, training, area of specialization, formal certification, code of conduct, establishment of professional body, self regulatory association among others. The paper identified lack of professional culture, lack of interest to promote professionalization of community development, weak professional association, lack of control entry among others as the challenges which militate against professionalization of community development in Nigeria. The paper identified establishment of appropriate educational qualifications, appropriate professional body, self regulatory association, code of conduct, employment of community development professionals and issuance of operational licence to community development professionals as some of the prospects of professionalization of community development in Nigeria. The paper recommends among other things a policy framework to enact a law to make the practice of community development an exclusive domain of community development professionals to practice their profession, entrenchment of professional values and issuance of operational licence to only qualified community development professionals to practice community development as a profession in Nigeria.
Keywords: Community, Development Challenges, Professionalization, Prospects
Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Implementation in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects. (Published)
Businesses generally are created or established to maximize profit through effective and efficient management of human and material resources in line with their predetermined vision, mission, policy and goal(s). In the course of maximising profits companies annex natural resources- foreign and local, as a result impacting positively and negatively in the environment where it exists. In other to remedy the problems brought about by the operations of these companies to the people and environment where they operate, the management of these businesses through rendering of some social services in turn pay back to the community, hence the concept corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is in line with the above statement that this paper aims at studying the commitment of foreign as well as local businesses in achievement of corporate social responsibility in Nigeria. The research adopted the qualitative research, as it reviews the literature relating to the problems of implementing CSR in Nigeria. After critical x-ray of related write-ups on the topic under study, we found out that some factors such as inability of Nigeria Government to enforce CSR into Law, corruption and selfishness, lack of interest in implementing CSR, political and social insecurity poses as a serious obstacle to companies to implement CSR effectively and efficiently in Nigeria. Finally the study recommended among other things that the Government of Nigeria should put into law, which is providing a legal framework for companies on Corporate Social Responsibility. This will make CSR to be taken seriously and seen as obligatory as against non-obligatory.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, Implementation, Problems, Prospects