Published in VERITAS – Volume 4 No. 2 February 2013
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Academic Journal of St Clements Education Group VERITAS Volume 4 No. 2 February 2013 Promoting Renewable Energy in Sub-Saharan Af rica Disaster Risk and Climate Change in the Achieving Sustainable Middle East Peace in the Acholi Sub-Region in Uganda Private Education and Economic Development The Creation of Social in Nigeria Order in Communities Many Leaders: Strategic Planning in Jockeys to an Apocalypse District Assemblies in Ghana Statistical Methods Learning Styles and and Cost Effectiveness in Grade Achievement Clinical Trials in Computer Programming The Old Libyan Inscription Important disclaimer The publishers, authors and editors are not responsible for the results of any actions on the basis of information in this work, nor for any errors or omissions. The publishers, authors and editors expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in respect of anything and the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, in whole or part, on the contents of this publication. The views expressed in this work are not necessarily the official or unanimous view of the office bearers of the St Clements Education Group. Copyright © St Clements Education Group All rights are reserved. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Please contact [email protected] if you require permission. VERITAS* is the official Academic Journal of the St Clements Education Group REGISTERED OFFICE: 2nd Floor Yellowman & Sons Building, Off Old Airport Road, Grand Turk TURKS & CAICOS Islands - British West Indies Reg. No. E 14905 Web Site: www.stclements.edu Email: [email protected] EDITORIAL TEAM : Editor: Dr John Potter Deputy Editor: Dr Bruce Duncan CONTRIBUTIONS: Contributions should be forwarded to Dr John Potter at [email protected] We accept: Lead Articles Short Papers Summaries of Dissertations & Research Reports Notes Book Reviews Letters to the Editor Please note the Notes to Contributors at the back of this edition COPYRIGHT : The contents of this Journal are covered by normal copyright conditions. Portions of the text may be quoted providing that the Journal No., author’s name, the title of the article and the page number are given. LANGUAGE POLICY : Veritas is an English Language publication and the Editorial Board aims to ensure that contributors use grammatically correct and idiomatically appropriate English language. However, for many of our contributors English is a second and even third language and from time to time a strict language policy is modified to ensure that good articles are not excluded simply because they do not meet the highest English standards. We also hold it to be important that material be not over edited, providing its message is considered to be clear to the majority of our readers. The general objective that Veritas is to create conditions whereby all informed persons are able to contribute to the ongoing debates, regardless of their English language competence and their lack of familiarity with accepted journal protocols. *Veritas is Latin for truth, reality. VERITAS THE ACADEMIC JOURNAL OF ST CLEMENTS EDUCATION GROUP Volume 4 No. 2 FEBRUARY 2013 Bio-Fuel on the Slopes of Zomba Mountain, Malawi Photo JSP IN THIS ISSUE Promoting Renewable Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa – Nya Joe Jacob Disaster Risk and Climate Change in the Middle East – Kemal Yildirim Private Education and Economic Development in Nigeria – Gabriel Udendeh Many Leaders: Jockeys to an Apocalypse – Bruce Duncan Statistical Methods and Cost Effectiveness in Clinical Trials – Godfred Kwame Abledu The Old Libyan Inscription – Abdullaziz Saeed Swei Learning Styles and Grade Achievement in Computer Programming – Thomas Yeboah Strategic Planning in District Assemblies in Ghana – Ernest Asamoah The Creation of Social Order in Communities – George Reiff Achieving Sustainable Peace in the Acholi Sub-Region in Uganda – Oyat Christopher PROMOTING RENEWABLE primary energy resources, commercial energy use is the lowest in the world and the average per capita final ENERGY IN SUB-SAHARAN commercial energy consumption is less than 300 kg of AFRICA petrol equivalent per inhabitant/annum, compared with 7,905 kg in North America and the world average of Nya Joe Jacob* 1,434 kg (World Bank Index 1996). The most optimistic estimates have the ratio of consumption Woody biomass from forest management is a between the North and South stagnating at 5.6:1 over renewable, low-carbon feedstock that can substitute for the coming decades (6.5: 1 in 1985). In terms of fossil fuels in the production of energy and other electrical energy use, the gap is even more glaring - products — a potentially important tool in the national 40% of the population of the world (essentially in the strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and resist third world) is completely excluded. This raises global climate change. Markets for logging residues, questions concerning under-consumption on the one small diameter trees, and other low-value forest hand and the ‘quality’ of energy consumed by Africans products can add value to working forests, help provide south of the Sahara on the other. financial alternatives to land clearing and development, and create incentives for investing in sustainable forest More than half the countries of the region spend 20 to management. Forest thinning and removal of small- 35% of their total export earnings on petroleum. The diameter, low value trees, are integral parts of forest main forces driving the demand for energy are management for a number of values and objectives population growth and economic development. The including biodiversity conservation, ecological exposure and vulnerability of sub-Saharan African restoration, wildfire prevention, and timber stand economies contributed to the severe economic improvement. There is also the potential for increased downturn during the period of high oil prices in the demand to drive unsustainable levels of harvesting, 1970s and early 1980s. The distribution of primary with negative consequences for biodiversity, soil, and energy resources across the region is uneven. Nigeria water conservation. and Angola have 32% of Africa's proven oil reserves while virtually the rest, 65%, is in North Africa. Government policies should strive to ensure the Nigeria has 33% of Africa's proven gas reserves, while sustainability of woody biomass harvesting; this will North Africa has 56%. South Africa has 88% of go a long towards winning the public trust that is so Africa's proven coal reserves. Of the 308 GW of hydro- essential if bioenergy is to be become a trusted and power potential, 64% is located in East and Central utilized component of the national energy system. Africa and 34% in West Africa. Regional trade in both Today, concerns about the environmental impacts fuels and electricity is relatively low. associated with fossil fuel use, particularly global climate change, have added new immediacy to the There are numerous difficulties associated with development of alternative energy systems. Biomass compiling information on the energy situation in sub- energy systems are among the alternative systems Saharan Africa. To begin with there is a paucity of data under development. There is enormous biomass - there is no single work dealing with the entire potential in Africa that can be tapped by improving the situation in all its aspects in existence, though such a utilization of existing sources, developing more work is under production at present. This is partly due efficient and advanced technologies to convert raw to the relatively recent acquisition, on the part of most biomass into easy-to-use carriers (electricity, liquid or states, of central institutions to deal specifically with gaseous fuels, processed solid fuels) and by increasing this problem, and partly due to the unique context of plant productivity. Therefore, much more useful energy the regional energy scene. An enormous section of the could be extracted from biomass than at present, African economy is informal, and this applies bringing significant social and economic benefits to particularly with regard to energy resources, the both rural and urban areas and to the environment. majority of which are produced and received utterly without reference to the commercial sector. Data must BACKGROUND then be compiled from sources other than market tracking - surveys, and estimations of use of resources. Sub-Saharan Africa has 9% of the world's population, Information coming from many different bodies, and is responsible for 2.5% of world economic activity governmental, international or NGOs, is often out of measured by volume. It comprises 48 countries, most synch, and frequently contradictory, depending not of which have a high percentage of low income and only on the source but also on the viewpoint of the largely rural agrarian communities. researcher on the major problems to be addressed. In addition, many countries do not have sufficient The region consumes 2.7% of world commercial tracking mechanisms of their energy resources and primary energy. It has 2% of world proven oil reserves, usage (22% of regional countries regard energy as a 3% of world proven gas reserves and 6% of world ‘subordinate activity’, according