Knowledgebase & Articles

Merriam Webster dictionary defines a woman as an adult female human being. The roles of women in the society cannot be overemphasized (Ajayi, 2014). According to Kalu et al (2018) Nigerian women have been playing important roles in politics and in building the political structure of Nigeria. This can be exemplified by the activities of some women in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Nigeria. In no particular order, notable personalities among these women include Olufunmilayo Kuti, Madam Tinubu, Margaret Ekpo, Queen Amina, Prof Adetoun Ogunseye, Prof. Grace Alele Williams, Ladi Kwali, Mariam Babangida, Prof. Dora Akunyuli, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala among several others. The enormous roles played by women at the home front is so important to the survival of the society as women contribute in no small measure to the socialization of newborn and other members of the society (Ajayi, 2014). They also play economic roles which involve trading and managing resources available at home for the family. In addition, women instill religious values in members of the family. Besides the traditional roles of women which involve procreation and rearing of children, cooking and housekeeping; in recent times, the roles of women cut across all spheres of endeavors such that it is now difficult to have a clear-cut distinction between the roles of men and women. Today, women are found in careers that used to be reserved exclusively for men. This brought about a lot of challenges and role conflict which calls for attention. For instance, women in contemporary times have to play the role of a wife, mother and career woman at the same time. Unfortunately, some of the services offered by women are unpaid. No one pays a woman for cooking for the family, for babysitting, or washing clothes of family members. It is a general assumption that such duties belong to women especially wives and mothers. Yet, the same woman who does household chores is expected to resume work and close at the same time as her male counterparts. The same woman is expected to carry pregnancy all through the nine months gestation period and meet the target of the organization that employed her. Conversely, this same woman is seen by most African societies as a second-class citizen who should be humble and subservient to her husband and the male folks. This indeed is the dilemma of women in Nigeria and African societies. Preference for male children and the humiliating treatment of widows among other challenges such as genital mutilation, forced marriage, underage marriage and in recent years kidnapping, abduction and forceful conversion of girls or women to another religion against their wish by terrorist groups coupled with denial of opportunity for western education has become an Albatross around the neck militating against the wellbeing of women in some parts of Africa. The clarion call is on all and sundry to recognize the fact that all men and women are created equal as noted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and also documented in America’s Declaration of independence. No man or woman should be subservient to another. We can easily surmount the challenges facing women today if we are ready to put all hands on deck for the emancipation and liberation of women. References Ajayi, O.A (2014). Contemporary challenges in roles of women and students’ academic performances in Ilorin South L.G.A. Kwara State. A PGDE Dissertation submitted to National Teachers’ Institute, Kaduna Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815-1897 (NY: Schocken Books, 1971; reprinted from T. Fisher Unwin edition, 1898), p. 20. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Collections of the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2004670381/) https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/-all-men-and-women-are-created-equal-the-life-of-elizabeth-cady-stanton.htm Kalu, K. Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T (2018). Youth and Big Men Politics Ngozi Nwogwugwu Africa‟s Big Men London: Routledge. 136-155. Merriam Webster Dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woman   Dr. Ajayi, O.A is a Lecturer1 at the School of Art, Management and Social Science, Skyline University Nigeria (SUN). He has completed his PhD in Sociology at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. . You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria

Change is the law of nature and the latest technological advancements have influenced all walks of life. Transformation occurs rapidly and we should all update our skills regularly to be able to handle day-to-day activities in our jobs. Today, everyone must have a basic understanding of the latest technology. We should all know how it affects various activities so that we can adapt and use these technologies for better decision-making and increasing productivity. Artificial Intelligence, along with other emerging technologies, will play a key role in the future and will eventually replace many existing jobs with new ones. To address this issue all higher educational institutions across the world have the responsibility of sensitize and train students on the emerging technologies that will disrupt the way organizations are going to perform in the future.  In addition to technological skills, we have to train students on how to handle uncertainty and manage risks of the future. The concept of happiness, and how to be happy with an ethical bent of mind, is essential. The need of the hour is for students to be taught about the importance of mindfulness. There are many definitions given by researchers for mindfulness. According to Epstein (2003) “mindfulness means paying attention, on purpose, to one’s thoughts, feelings and judgments… it is the practice of being fully present in our attention to where we are, what we are doing and what is happening at the moment”. Mindfulness comprises of three components namely conscientiousness which focusses on here and how (Dane 2011), the mind is focused on “here and now” what it focused on includes internal and external stimuli in equal measure (Brown & Rayan, 2003, Dane 2011: Glomb et al., 2011) and open acceptance of experiences, “without imposing judgments, memories or other self-relevant cognitive manipulations on them” (Glomb et al., 2011). All higher educational institutions should have at least one course on emerging technologies and other courses on developing core life skills and happiness. In the latter, students should be trained on the importance of goal setting, maintaining good interpersonal skills, the importance of sustainability, having an ethical bent of mind. Further focus should be placed on mindfulness in not only taking decisions correctly and managing emotions but also gaining satisfaction with life (Pradhan & Ajithkumar, 2019). Students who have a good grasp of core life skills and have a good understanding of happiness will be successful in their careers. These skills will help students to handle uncertainty and risks in the workplace in this COVID era. The current pandemic has made all of us realize the importance of focusing on the health and wellbeing of all stakeholders in an organization and this should be part of core life skills. These skills should be developed by activities and experiential learning by giving projects, playing simulations etc. so that students are engaged. This, in turn, will help them to develop and apply these skills in future contexts.  References: Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(4), 822. Dane, E. (2011). Paying attention to mindfulness and its effects on task performance in the workplace. Journal of management, 37(4), 997-1018. Epstein, R. M. (2003). Mindful practice in action (II): Cultivating habits of mind. Families, Systems, & Health, 21(1), 11. Glomb, T. M., Duffy, M. K., Bono, J. E., & Yang, T. (2011). Mindfulness at work. In Research in personnel and human resources management. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Pradhan, S., & Ajithkumar, V. V. (2019). A Study of the Effect of Vipassana Meditation Practices on Employees’ Satisfaction with Life. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 5(3-4), 481-499.   Professor Ajith Kumar V.V is the sitting Vice-Chancellor of Skyline University Nigeria (SUN) . He has completed his PhD in the area of Human Resource Management from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria

Overview of Management Consultancy Management consultancy is the process of offering professional, expert services and support to organizations in a way that helps them to establish performance standards or improve performance outcomes (Srinivasan, 2014). Iornem (2019) notes that every organization, large or small needs this professional advice to boost their performance and wield a better competitive advantage. Palpably, by proving businesses and organizations with solutions to various challenges, management consultants also receive enormous professional and experts rewards. A senior management consultant in this sector for instance stands the opportunity to earn as much as one million US dollars per annum in the US. Meanwhile international management consulting and auditing firms like McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC make or have made over fifteen billion US dollars in revenue (See Consulting.com, 2019).  To build and nurture a career in management consultancy encompasses the combination of training and experience over time, which builds the competence required. Allen (2021) also notes that to succeed as a management consultant, intellectual, communication, leadership, and technical competencies are required. This follows the pattern of structural planning, execution, assessment and reassessment of strategies that must be consistently reviewed to match set goals (Iornem, 2019). Following this pattern circumspectly, will enhance the accomplishment of the individual amongst other benefits (Seema and Sujatha, 2013). Allen (2021) thus adds that successful management consultants are strategic thinkers, who provide specialized and strategic counsel to businesses and firms in areas such as organization design, mergers, operations, finance, governance, risk management, human resource, ICT etc. Similarly, as with other professional career jobs, a career in management consultancy begins from the entry position to the managerial cadre. The entry-level position is usually called the business analyst position which requires the analyst to have an undergraduate degree in business management, economics, or accounting. The experience requirement is low and sometimes not necessary. The second stage is the management consultant cadre itself which now requires a good number of years of experience, with additional professional qualifications and certifications.  The third stage is the senior management consultant cadre which requires one to possess a postgraduate degree such as an MBA, MSc, or MA. In addition to six or more consulting years of cognate experience (see Forbes, 2021). The fourth career stage is the peak called the principal consultant or managing partner. This level requires one to possess a postgraduate degree and ten or more years of cognate experience. It is important to note that this progression depends on the individual ability, zeal and enthusiasm towards developing the requisite skills and competencies (Pavulens, 2015; Seema and Sujatha, 2013).  Management Consultancy in Nigeria Nigeria holds enormous prospects for investments in various sectors including education, renewable energy, hospitality, health and pharmaceuticals, etc some of which are presently lacking both local and foreign direct investment (Deloitte, 2018). Worst still the economy is heavily dependent on the crude-oil sector thus causing so many injuries to it due to crashes in world oil prices. Indigenous invests lack a solid comprehension of appropriate strategies, methods and models to drive their businesses (Bala, 2003; Ogar et al., 2018). Many investors have great business ideas that can be translated into huge profitable ventures but they do not have the wherewithal in technical, entrepreneurial and managerial skills and expertise (Srinivasan, 2014). Meanwhile, a lot of others, have no or little strategies and competence to pilot their firms to a competitive growth -stage. On the part of businesses that have fully grown and even become internationalized, there is sometimes the need to either sublet part of their management to consultants from time to time, or employ the professional services of management consultants. This gap has created a large market opportunity for management consulting firms in Nigeria. In 2014, the worth of the African Management Consulting sub-sector was estimated to be over US$1.5 billion with a growth rate of 5-9 percent (Consultancy. UK, 2014). In these same statistics, West-Africa led by Nigeria dominated the market share with nearly 90 percent and a 26percent growth rate. Nigeria’s management consulting sector is diverse, consisting of a wide range of consulting firms that comprise international strategy and technology firms like International Business Machines – IBM and Accenture. Others are mega accounting, auditing and tax expert firms such as PwC, Deloitte and KPMG alongside niche firms such as Novatia Consulting and Philips Consulting, etc (Nigerian Infopedia 2019). Despite that Nigeria has a number of global giants in the management consulting industry, the number of firms and qualified personnel in this sector is below the national demand for management consultants. The major actors in this sector tend to pay more attention to large business organizations, and MDAs (government, ministries, departments and agencies). Therefore, they tend to neglect the micro, small and medium firms and start-up businesses that can be served by younger and smaller consulting firms (Ogar et al. 2018). The customer base in this sector thus, comprises public, private and government sectors with entrepreneurs and business owners who are normally dissatisfied with their current performance. These clients are probably running or owning businesses that are worth between a thousand US dollars and over five billion US dollars, with business growth rates ranging from less than one percent to over ten percent.  Challenges in this Sector The main bottlenecks being faced by management consultants and the firms in this sector in Nigeria is the uncertain business and economic environment that is being caused by worsening harsh economic realities facing Nigeria. Covid-19 pandemic has had a strong negative toll on many economies of the world but Nigeria’s case has been worsened by poor foreign exchange earnings from oil. The crash in global oil price drove Nigeria’s economy into a year-long recession in 2016 resulting in the winding up of many SMEs and heavy layoff of workers by large firms (IMF, 2018; Ugwuanyi and Obiekwe, 2017; Shafiu, 2018).  Despite the recovery in 2018 and 2019, the economic and business environment remained uncertain and then worsened by the sudden hit of the covid-19 pandemic. Currently, there is cut-throat competition

As we all know, computers are becoming the language of the future. With computers, we can carry out our tasks more accurately and quickly. It as well, save a large amount of our energy and time. There are many interesting fields in computer science some of which are listed below for reference. 1. Artificial Intelligence and Robotics 2. Big data and Data science analysis  3. Cyber security I am taking this opportunity to discuss in detail the career options and future in the Cyber Security field. As the name describes, cyber security refers to the security of computer systems, networks and big data. The word security or protections covers a wide range of applications which includes protection of information and data from disclosure, theft/damage to hardware and software, as well as protection from disruption or misdirection of data. Demands for cyber security professionals are growing at a breakneck speed, with three times more job openings when compared to IT fields. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the industry will experience job growth of 31% between 2019 and 2029. Cyber security job opportunities in turn have various subfields like Security Analyst, Security Architect, Ethical Hacker/Penetration tester, Security Software Developer, Crptoanalyst, Security Engineer, Security Administrator, Cryptographer, security consultant, CISO (Chief Information Security Officer), etc. The Job description of a Cyber security professional in a broad sense could simply be defined as follows. The cyber security professional is expected to safeguard the defense mechanism of an organization’s secured data and network, which also includes installing firewalls, creating security plans and monitoring security breach activities. If a breach occurs, the concerned professional is responsible for identifying the problem and finding a solution quickly. Talking about the educational requirements to pursue a career in cyber security. The minimum requirement for an entry-level cyber security job will be a bachelor’s degree or under graduation degree in information technology or computer science and software engineering. As an added advantage, cyber security professionals used to earn professional certification to boost career opportunities. Security authorizations are also essential for those who are interested in Government agencies. The top ten cyber security certification courses to enhance your career include ISACA’s CDPSE certification, CISSP, CISA, CISM, SECURITY++, CEH, GSEC, SSCP, CASP, and OSCP. Thus to conclude, Cyber security could be that particular job that may be a stepping stone to loftier ambitions with a 31 percent job growth rate and six-digit salary figure. The key idea is to cultivate professional growth, knowledge in a cyber-security career to improving your professional skills and appropriate knowledge.  References: Mathilde Frot, (2021). “5 Trends in Computer Science Research”, Retrieved from https://www.topuniversities.com/courses/computer-science-information-systems/5-trends-computer-science-research Coursera, (2021) 10 Popular Cybersecurity Certifications [2021 Updated]. Retrieved from https://www.coursera.org/articles/popular-cybersecurity-certifications Dr. Vijay Arputharaj is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, Skyline University Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria

Introduction Heavy metal contamination, without doubt, represents a major environmental threat due to toxic effect of metals and their invasion, and subsequent proliferation into the food chain, which results in serious ecological and health issues (Hrynkiewicz and Barum 2014). Contamination due to chemicals like heavy metals is a problem that may have a debilitating influence on the biosphere. The concentration of metals in our environments namely; air, water and soil are increasing at an exponential rate, with contributions mainly from different variety of industrial and domestic sources. The existing heavy metals in the industrial wastewater is a major global concern due to toxicity as well as persistence within the environment, thus necessitating physical extraction (Jina Tanzadeh, 2017). Currently, attention is turned to the biological removal of these recalcitrant heavy metals from the environment via the process known as an bioremediation. Bioremediation is a branch of environmental biotechnology used as alternative process for the removal of toxic contaminants from the environment (Maria et al., 2015). It is regarded as a cleaner, greener, cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach for removing pollutants and converting them into less toxic forms using microbes to degrade and detoxify hazardous substances (Maria et al., 2015). Bioremediation uses biological agents, mainly the conventional microbes to tidy up contaminated environments (Breisha et al., 2010). However and more recently, attention is shifted towards the use of halophilic microorganisms to accomplish this task. What are halophilic microbes? Halophilic microbes otherwise known as salt-loving or salt-tolerant microorganisms are organisms that thrive in an environment with extreme salinity. They are salt-loving organisms that live and thrive in environment with extreme salt concentrations that will destroy most other microbes. They can grow in a hypersaline environment and require a minimum of 0.2 M salt concentration for their growth and metabolism (Bhuva et al., 2013). These organisms can be isolated anywhere with a salt concentration ofsea water. Halophiles have been able to adapt to extreme physico-chemical situations because they have adopted certain molecular mechanisms that will enable them to thrive in such environments (Delgado-Garcia et al., 2012). They are either non-sporing rods or cocci, red to orange in colour. Generally, the salt concentrations in the surrounding environment greatly influence the morphology of the growing cells. Halophiles that can grow in various high concentrations of salt and at the same time survive in the absence of high salts are termed as halotolerant (Margesin and Schinner, 2001). Halophiles may be grouped into 5 main categories based on their salt requirement as; non-halophiles, slight halophiles, moderate halophiles, borderline extreme halophiles, and extreme halophiles (Arora et al., 2014). Bioremediation application of halophilic microbes Different traditional methods namely; membrane filtration, chemical precipitation, oxidation and/or reduction, evaporation, ion exchange, and electrochemical treatment process have been used to remove heavy metals from industrial wastewaters. However, these techniques are no longer favorable because of their high cost and ineffectiveness. Bioremediation which involves the use of biological materials to sequester heavy metals using a variety of strategies like bioaccumulation and biosorption is now considered inexpensive, considerably efficient and environmentally friendly alternative (Zmorrod et al., 2021). Microorganisms adopt different mechanisms such as biosorption, biotransformation of heavy metals into less toxic form, extrusion, exopolysaccharide production, and degradative enzymes for heavy metals bioremediation (Igiri et al., 2018 and Orji et al., 2021). Heavy metals are frequently found in saline and extreme saline environments because of evaporation in such environment, and also as a result of several industrial activities. Hence, some halophilic bacteria and archaea have developed tolerance to heavy metals. Several works (Sowmya et al., 2014, Amoozegar et al., 2012; Zmorrod et al., 2021; Orji et al., 2021) have reported the ability of halophilic microbes to tolerate and remove heavy metals from industrial effluents. These studies revealed the current trend andprospects of salt-tolerant microbes in bioremediation field. Conclusively, this short but informative research update provides valuable information for exploration and possible application of halophilic microorganisms in bioremediation technology for potential restoration of heavy metals contaminated saline environments.     References Amoozegar, M. A., Ghazanfari, N. and Didari, M. (2012). Lead and cadmium bio removal by Halomonas sp., an exopolysaccharide-producing halophilic bacterium. Progress in Biological Sciences. 2(1): 1-11. Arora, S., Vanza, M. J., Mehta, R., Bhuva, C. and Patel, P. N. (2014). Halophilic microbes for bio-remediation of salt affected soils. African Journal of Microbiology Research, 8(33), 3070–3078. Bhuva, C. G., Arora, S. and Rao, G. G. (2013). Efficacy of halophilic microbes for salt removal From coastal saline soils. National seminar with the theme: “microbes and woman welfare”, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappali, India. Bonete, M. J., Bautista, V., Esclapez, J., García-Bonete, M. J., Pire, C., Camacho, M. and Naofumi, (2015). New uses of haloarchaeal species in bioremediation processes. Advances in Biorem ediation of wastewater and polluted soil. 1st Ed. InTech, 23-49. Briesha, G.Z. and Winter, J. (2010). Bio – Removal of nitrogen from wastewaters – a review. J.             Am.Sci. 6(12): 508-528. Delgado‐García, M., Valdivia‐Urdiales, B., Aguilar‐González, C. N., Contreras‐Esquivel, J. C. and Rodríguez‐Herrera, R. (2012). Halophilic hydrolases as a new tool for the biotechnological industries. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 92(13), 2575–2580. Hrynkiewicz, K. and Baum, C. (2014). Application of microorganisms in bioremediation of             environment from heavy metals. Dorchrecht: Springer, 2115 – 27. Igiri, B. E., Okoduwa, S. I., Idoko, G. O., Akabuogu, E. P., Adeyi, A. O., and  Ejiogu, I. K. (2018). Toxicity and bioremediation of heavy metals contaminated ecosystem from tannery wastewater: a review. Journal of Toxicology; 2. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2568038.   Dr. Haliru Musa is a Lecturer II in the Department of Biological Science in Skyline University Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Bioprocess Engineering from Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia. You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria

Introduction Rapid urbanization and the growth of large cities in developing countries have been accompanied by the expansion of highly vulnerable urban communities living in informal settlements, many of which are on land exposed to extreme weather (IPCC 2014). Nigerian cities particularly Kano is among the cities in developing countries that experienced such expansion of communities living in an informal settlement and extreme weather, which the temperature reached 40 to 45 in °C between March and May. Concept of Urbanization  Urbanization is a process of population concentration that proceeds through the multiplication of points of concentration and the increase in the size of individual concentration seems quite appropriate (Barry, 1973). Hope and Lekorwe, (2009) defined urbanization as the annual rate of change of the percentage of people living in urban areas, or the difference between the growth rate of urban population and that of the total population. It is the process of transformation that affects geographic regions when they become more urban, and that during the processes of urbanization, a growing share of a region’s land and people become included in cities (Pivo, 1996). Environmental impacts Urbanization causes a lot of environmental impacts, in Nigeria two dimensions of impact can be identified thus; Site impact The wider regional impact Site impact These are negative effects of urbanization that are noticeable within each urban center. They are common to almost all towns and cities in Nigeria, they are;  Air and Noise Pollution Air pollution; Most of the gases and particles that people are subjected to while breathing air, came from combustion (burning) processes. That is the furnace in factories, homes, and office buildings, the engine in automobiles, airplanes and other motor vehicles, and the burning of garbage and trashes are the major sources of pollution from combustion. Pollution from these sources has a wide variety of effects. Noise pollution; Noise is the composite of many different sounds generated by human activities and it’s getting worse by the day. Audiologists reported that urbanization is the major source of noise. Part of this pollution results from population growth as there are more people making noise. In addition, homes and workplaces must be built and food has to be raised for a growing population. People need transportation to travel between home and workplaces. In their leisure time, they enjoy sport most especially watching football in view centers. All these needs and activities are further sources of noise. Solid waste problem Solid waste is probably the most visible form of pollution. People throw-away billions of tons of solid material each year. Much of these wastes end up littering roadsides and collecting in ugly dumps. These problems are most common in populated areas in and near cities. One of the common methods of disposal of solid waste in Nigeria is dumping, in which people simply dumped their wastes on open ground. Wider regional impact Urban regional impact is a reflection of the enormous demand which urban center make on regional resources. These includes; Fuel wood demand, Road construction demand and Building materials demand. Fuel wood is brought into the urban center from the surrounding regions on a daily basis. It is extracted from the farms and dead trees in the forest. Increasingly, live trees are being cutting down daily and their stems are converting into fuel wood. This demand increase with the rise in level of urban poverty and with ever increasing of price of kerosene. Urban road network construction requires laterite, sand and gravels, which are obtained from quarries in the surrounding areas. The quarries are often abandoned later and become gullies or stagnant water ponds. Slumping, collapsed valley and roadsides are also associated with these quarries. Lastly, the bulk of materials needed for construction of building in cities like Kano are derived from the surrounding regions. These materials include sand, gravels, stones and wood. Excavation of sand, gravels, and stones create menacing quarries in the environment. Conclusion It could be concluded that the demand made by urban centers on the resources of their surrounding areas has led to indiscriminate exploitation of these resources and therefore, environmental degradation policies and measures must be spelled out and implemented to guide the behavior of urban dwellers and the exploitation of environmental resources. Recommendations Firstly, Programmeme of education and awareness aimed at bringing about attitude change with regards to environmental sanitation is highly recommended. Secondly, a waste management board and not just an environmental sanitation agency is highly needed for our urban center. Thirdly, land use regulations in the urban centers should be adhered to. When activities are carried out in their proper and district locations, the result is a clean healthy and beautiful environment devoid of conflicts. Reference Berry B. J. L. (1973), Human consequences of urbanization. The University of Chicago Press. Hope K. R. and M. Lekorwe, (2009). Urbanization and the Environment in Southern Africa: Towards a Managed Framework for the Sustainability of Cities. Journ. Environ. Plann. Mgt. 42:6. 837–59. IPCC, (2014), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of working group II to the fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, 1132pp. Pivo, G. (1996). Towards Sustainable Urbanization on Main-street Cascadia Cities. Int. Journ. of Urb. Policy and Plan. 13:5, 1314 – 1319.   Aliyu Mohammed Lawan is a Lecturer II in the Department of Geology in Skyline University Nigeria. He holds a Master’s degree in Applied Geophysics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria

Watch on YouTube In the last 3 years, Skyline University Nigeria has grown significantly in terms of providing a technologically enabled platform for innovative research and education with focus on creativity and entrepreneurship for the overall development of its students’ community.

Watch on YouTube Whether through virtual or traditional classroom environment, Skyline University Nigeria (SUN) has since its establishment in 2018, focused on developing and adding value to the global community. In terms of boosting appropriate skills amongst its stakeholders as well as members of the immediate community, and prospective students looking to gain entry into the university, SUN has recently organized a ‘Changing Gear’ Seminar and campus tour for the Students of Lufaloy School, Kano. See what members of Lufaloy school are saying about us.

Introduction Man’s pursuit of knowledge has led to a shift in development, from the industrial era to the information age with vast amounts of information being created and collected. Information collected has been used to revolutionize critical aspects of development, central to activities that have come to be known as the “information sector’’ including education and research, media and publishing, Information systems, and comprehensive information services such as financial services, consulting, and trade which have become more easily understood. Information is also important to the delivery of health care and public services. Concept of Information The term information is used by various individuals of diverse disciplines in a wide array of aspects to aim to develop an understanding of their disciplines and to relate different aspects of their body of knowledge. Today’s definitions of information are so diverse that it is largely impossible to reconcile them, however, information definitions should nevertheless incorporate one or more of the following features: is a set of symbols with some structure which users of information can read and understand to some extent (Meadow; 1992). Information Society The change in technological developments and globalization towards the end of the 20th century saw the introduction of the term “information society.” The concept of information society brings together the new world order, in which the position, strength, richness, and influence of nations depend increasingly on their access to and use of information. The development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has significantly increased the amount of available information and the speed and facility at which it is distributed. The ICT is increasingly able to build an acceptable society for all, that is, to build knowledge societies with their use to make global access and networking available. How Information Serves as an Indicator to Nigerian Environment The importance of information as an indicator of the Nigerian environment can not be underestimated. The specific benefits of information to the different sectors of the national, economic, and educational life of a nation that has led to a contribution to sustainable national development are mentioned thus. The use of information in business management has provided a lot of interaction and communication between the manager and employees. Information serves as a means of check and balance to the government. Education focuses on the use of information for teaching and learning only; with genuine information, educational institutions will be able to live up to their social and political responsibilities. Legal systems use the information to practice law and for them to have effective and efficient service delivery in cases relevant information must be employed. Conclusion The information has become the engine of the 21st century and beyond, since it serves nations, especially in developing countries for their economic, religious, cultural, legal, and social life. Information has affected various sectors of the economy in Nigeria. It is a matter of fact that information is essential for Nigeria’s drive for sustainable development. The potential advantage of information for sustainable development in Nigeria as an imperative paradigm should be recognized. Reference Diso, L.I. (1994). Information policies and government guidance in Nigeria: What hope for communities? Resource Sharing and Information Networks 9 (2):141–151. Ukodie, A. (2004). Ekuwem: Nigerian striking force: Icons of ICT in Nigeria: Their passion, vision, thoughts. Lagos: ICT Publications Omekwu, C.O. (2005) Management Imperatives for Libraries in the Information Age (Paper presented at the 2005 Annual Workshop of the Nigerian Library Association, Lagos Chapter, Badagry, September),4-5 Dawson, A. (2012). Information Society. London: Department of Information Studies, UCL   Mr Abdulqawiyyu Mustapha is a  Library Assistant in Skyline University Nigeria. He has a Degree in Library Science from Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kano. You can join the conversation on Facebook @SkylineUniversityNG and on Twitter @SkylineUNigeria