EBSU Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

EXPENDITURE OF GOVERNMENT AND ITS RELATIVE IMPACT ON THE EXPANSION OF THE ECONOMY

Ijeoma Victoria Ogbu — 2026-06-12

This study examined the expenditure of government and its relative impact on the expansion of the economy, using Nigeria as a case study. The study adopted ex-post facto research design which focused on investigating relationship between variables especially where relationship already exist and cannot be manipulated. The study began with a conduct of unit root test using the Augmented Dickey- Fuller technique to determine the stationarity properties of the data employed and the result showed that the variables were stationary at first differencing and integrated of order one. The Johansen co-integration test was used to determine the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. The result showed presence of long run relationship between government expenditure and gross domestic product. The result also indicates that government recurrent expenditure has negative and insignificant effect on real gross domestic product while government capital expenditure had positive and significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concluded that government capital expenditure has huge significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria and recommended among others that; government should make effort to ensure that both recurrent and capital expenditure are managed in a way they can transform the country’s growth through strict adherence of the budget principle. Capital projects like construction of dams, roads, and building of hospitals should be undertaken and properly monitored by separate government agency as they tend to promote economic growth.

MAX WEBER’S CONCEPT OF POLITICAL PERSONALITY

Godswill-Philip Nnaemeka Agashi — 2026-06-12

Max Weber’s concept of political personality and his endorsement of an ethics of responsibility including his view on ethical neutrality have attracted the attentions of many scholars His theory of value conflict and his realistic comprehension of politics and also the manner he understands the relation between politics and ethics have influenced his concept of a political personality. He considers the two opposing ethics (ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility) only when taken together can constitute the basic nature of human being. He emphasizes that a political personality must have three qualities; passion, a sense of responsibility and a sense of proportion. Most importantly, his idea of the two ethics constituting the basic nature of a human being and his emphasis of a politician having a sense of responsibility thereby arguing for an ethics of responsibility to be appropriate for politics remains a point of analysis. Moreover his emphasis on the ethics of responsibility for politics does not remove the inherent or intrinsic nature of ethics of conviction in a human being which a political personality is involved. The balancing nature of the two ethics remains fundamental for an ideal politician. It is necessary and can be of great importance for sustainable governance. Then not only that they are fundamental but they are the key factors for an ideal leader. Through critical analytical method, his ideas of ethical neutrality, political personality and the relation between politics and ethics would be considered.

KANT'S CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE AND THE DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY OF JUDICIAL REVIEW

Godswill-Philip Nnaemeka Agashi — 2026-06-12

The compatibility of judicial review with democratic governance remains one of the most contentious issues in contemporary political and legal philosophy. While judicial review is often defended as a mechanism for protecting constitutional rights and limiting governmental excesses, critics argue that it grants unelected judges excessive authority over decisions that ought to be determined by the people and their elected representatives. This paper examines the democratic legitimacy of judicial review through the lens of Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative. Drawing primarily on Kant's conception of justice, freedom, and universal law, the study argues that democratic institutions derive their legitimacy from moral principles rooted in rationality, equality, and accountability. The paper contends that the categorical imperative provides an ethical foundation for democratic governance because it requires individuals and institutions to act according to principles capable of universal application. Employing a conceptual and critical philosophical methodology, the study evaluates the relationship between democracy and judicial review and assesses whether judicial institutions, particularly in Africa, operate consistently with democratic values. It argues that judicial review becomes democratically legitimate only when judicial authority is exercised in accordance with universal principles of justice, accountability, and public responsibility. The paper concludes that strengthening judicial accountability and ethical leadership, while preserving judicial independence, offers a viable pathway for reconciling judicial review with democratic governance in contemporary African states.

ELLIPSIS, COMPRESSION AND HYBRID SYNTAX IN NIGERIAN DIGITAL ESL COMMUNICATION

Uchenna Jonathan Usulor — 2026-06-12

This study examines ellipsis, compression, and hybrid syntax in Nigerian digital ESL communication through the analysis of naturally occurring WhatsApp interactions among Nigerian undergraduate students. Situated within the theoretical domains of computer-mediated discourse and interlanguage studies, the paper investigates how digitally mediated communication reshapes syntactic performance within a multilingual second language environment. The study adopts a qualitative discourse-analytic design using purposively selected online interactions drawn from academic, interpersonal, and social communication contexts. The findings reveal that Nigerian digital discourse is profoundly characterised by contextual ellipsis, syntactic compression, graphological reduction, and hybrid English–Nigerian Pidgin constructions shaped by interactional immediacy, processing economy, multilingual resource deployment, and discourse recoverability. The study further demonstrates that many digitally reduced structures arise not from outright grammatical incompetence but from performance-based adaptation to technologically mediated communication conditions. At the same time, certain structures reveal genuine instability involving agreement, tense morphology, article usage, and countability distinctions within Standard English grammar. Particularly significant is the pervasive influence of Nigerian Pidgin tense-aspect systems, negation patterns, focus constructions, and discourse particles within digitally mediated ESL interaction. The paper argues that Nigerian digital discourse constitutes a complex interactional domain in which multilingual competence, technological affordances, discourse pragmatics, and variable grammatical control converge in the shaping of syntactic production. The study contributes to scholarship on digital applied linguistics, computer-mediated discourse, Nigerian English, and multilingual second language communication.

LANGUAGE, GENDER, CLASS, AND SOCIAL BALANCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Ugochukwukwu Chinedu Noke — 2026-06-12

In today’s digital age, language is no longer just a tool for communication – it also reflects who we are in terms of gender, social class, and our place in society. This paper looks at how digital platforms shape the way people use language, and how these patterns can either reinforce or challenge existing social inequalities. Using insights from sociolinguistics and digital discourse analysis, the study examines how people from different gender and class backgrounds communicate on platforms like social media, messaging apps, and online forums. It explores whether online communication simply mirrors the inequalities we see offline, or whether it creates space for more equal and open interaction. The paper also discusses the rise of new digital forms of expression and how they help people construct and express their identities. In addition, it considers how algorithms influence which voices are heard and which are pushed aside. Particular attention is given to how marginalized groups use digital spaces to make themselves visible and question dominant language norms.Overall, the study shows that digital communication has a double effect. On one hand, it can reproduce existing social imbalances, but on the other hand, it offers real opportunities to challenge them and promote inclusion. The findings suggest the need for more thoughtful digital literacy policies and more inclusive approaches to content creation, especially when considering how language connects with gender and class in today’s interconnected world.

SPOUSAL EDUCATIONAL GAP AND INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE (IPV) RISK ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE

Henry D. Ajuzie — 2026-06-12

The paper discussed the association between the education level of inequality, the educational difference between spouses, and the likelihood of life course intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of the socio-economic situation in Abia State, Nigeria. Using qualitative data, on 24 participants. The study investigated the level and orientation to which educational variations contributed to marital behavior, conflict and most probably IPV. On the one hand, the findings indicate that educational disparities have had certain differences based on the life stage of couples: the younger couples tend to have more tensions in the relationships in case they have one, particularly in early marriages, and that they are frequently supplemented by childbearing, dreadful job and financial limitations. However, the marriage after a certain age has been found to adapt more, as the life experience makes the differences in education less sensitive as a source of conflict. However, unemployment and economic instability wherever it thrives enhance risk factors of IPV. The present study demonstrates that to achieve effective IPV interventions, it is necessary to engage in multi-level approaches that would foster educational equity, undermine damaging gender norms, and increase economic empowerment.

YOUTH BULGE, DIGITAL MIGRATION AND URBAN INEQUALITY

Goodluck I. Nwaogwugwu — 2026-06-12

The study looks at how internal migration affects young people in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in light of the region's youth population, internet technologies, and urban inequalities. Data was collected from 500 young migrants in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Hacourt using a mixed technique that included questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. The results show that even while many young migrants have access to electronics and are well-educated, they still struggle to obtain steady employment, and the majority of them wind up working informally and living on the streets or in dangerous neighbourhoods. Despite being widely available in many locations, internet connection typically does not lead to stable employment for the majority of people due to both ineffective infrastructure and a lack of digital literacy. The lives of young migrants are shaped in part by housing and job issues in urban areas, which has a greater impact on female migrants. More collaborative and youth-focused initiatives are needed to promote digital access, assist with housing, enhance skills, and safeguard the lives of young people, since it reveals gaps in the present policies.

EFFECT OF PEER ASSESSMENT ON SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ANXIETY IN IGBO LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE, ENUGU STATE

Ezinne Blessing Kanu — 2026-06-12

The study investigated the effect of peer assessment on senior secondary school students' anxiety in Igbo language essay writing in Nsukka Education Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria. one specific purpose with corresponding research question and one null hypothesis guided the study.The study adopted the quasiexperimental factorial research design, specifically, the pre-test post-test non-equivalent control group design.The population of the study comprised all the 3,357 senior secondary two (SS 2) students in all the 62 public secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone.A sample of 111 SS2 students in two intact classes was drawn for the study through multistage sampling procedure. The instrument titled: Igbo Language Narrative Essay Writing Anxiety Inventory (ILNEWAI) was developed by the researchers were used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Arts Education (Language Education Unit) and one from Science Education (Measurement and Evaluation Unit), University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of ILNEWAI yielded .89. The result showed that the instrument was reliable for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research question while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.The finding of the study showed that peer assessment has more positive effect in reducing students’ anxiety in Igbo language essay writing than the teacher assessment technique.Based on these finding, it was recommended among others, that Authorities should formally integrate peer assessment as a part of the curriculum in Igbo language essay writing in the secondary schools in Enugu State; Igbo language teachers should be provided with in-service training or professional development opportunities to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to implement effective peer assessment practices; Teachers should encourage a collaborative learning environment that promotes peer interaction and feedback in Igbo language by emphasizing peer learning and cooperative work.