Socio-economic Correlates of Marital Status and Marriage Timing Among Adult Men in Nigeria

There is a gradual tendency towards prolonged bachelorhood among men in Nigeria. Studies have linked this to socio-economic factors, but this evidence is sparsely explored in the context of Nigeria. Hence, this study fills the knowledge gap. The 2016/17 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data of 7803 adult men (aged 18–34 years) was analysed by using descriptive and fitting binary logitic regression and Cox regression models. Results show that slightly more than one-third of adult men in Nigeria (35%) had a marriage history and their median age at first marriage was about 24 years. Educated men (than the uneducated) and those in middle wealth group (than the poor men) were less likely to have ever been married and to delay marriage, respectively. Wealthy men were more likely to delay marriage. Employed men were more likely to have a marriage history and to delay marriage.

Individual choices and universal rights for drinking water in rural Africa

More than 500 million rural Africans lack safe drinking water. The human right to water and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal SDG6.1 promote a policy shift from building water infrastructure to sustaining water services. However, the financial calculus is bleak with the costs of “safely managed”’ or “basic” water services in rural Africa beyond current government budgets and donor funds. The funding shortfall is compounded by the disappointing results of earlier policy initiatives in Africa. This is partly because of a failure to understand which attributes of water services rural people value. We model more than 11,000 choice observations in rural Kenya by attributes of drinking water quality, price, reliability, and proximity. Aggregate analysis disguises alternative user priorities in three choice classes. The two larger choice classes tolerate lower service levels with higher payments. A higher water service level reflects the smallest choice class favored by women and the lower wealth group. For the lower wealth group, slower repair times are accepted in preference to a lower payment. Some people discount potable water and proximity, and most people choose faster repair times and lower payments. We argue policy progress needs to chart common ground between individual choices and universal rights. Guaranteeing repair times may provide a policy lever to unlock individual payments to complement public investment in water quality and waterpoint proximity to support progressive realization of a universal right.

Drivers of transactional sexual relationships among students in a Nigerian University: implications for elimination of reproductive rights violation

Background: The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence and drivers of transactional sex in a Nigerian University.Methods: Data was collected through Mobile Data Collection platform (Google form). The dependent variable was transactional sex. The independent variables are self-reported household wealth group, gender, current age, marital status, age at sexual debut, family structure, consumption of alcohol, and use of psychoactive drugs. Two binary logistic regression models were fitted.Results: The prevalence of transactional sex was 23.85%. The odds of transactional sex were higher among females (OR=1.642, 95% CI: 1.499-1.799) and older students, but lower among undergraduates who were 18 years or older at the time of first intercourse (OR=0.842, 95% CI: 0.764-0.927). Results further revealed that while being from richest household wealth group (OR=0.587, 95% CI: 0.486-0.710) and being from a nuclear family structure (OR=0.446, 95% CI: 0.213-0.933) lowers the odds of transactional sex, the use of psychoactive drugs and alcoholic consumption increased the likelihood of transactional sex among undergraduates.Conclusions: The drivers of transactional sex in tertiary institutions in Nigeria are age, age at sexual debut, family structure, use of psychoactive drugs and alcoholic consumption. Promoting responsible sexual behaviour of undergraduates is imperative in the country.

Livelihoods and Mobility in the Border Regions of Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s borderlands are key sites of population mobility and migration. Not only do these areas host most of the 800,000 refugees who have entered Ethiopia from neighbouring countries, they also are home to populations whose movements are heavily influenced by the livelihoods, trade, environment, and border management regimes working in their areas. These systems create opportunities for, and blockages to, movement within borderlands and across the country’s borders. This chapter analyses the social, political, and economic influences on mobility decisions in the border regions of Ethiopia. It considers the ways that these decisions are undertaken differently according to gender, youth, and wealth group, given the different resources and constraints that people face at individual and group levels. The chapter also considers the ways in which shocks—including natural hazards, violence, political turmoil, or economic pressure—impact upon livelihood systems and influence mobility decisions.

The Effect of Religious Denomination on Wealth

The wealth of probated decedents from late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century Ontario is analyzed for evidence of the impact of religious affiliation on the level of wealth and rate of wealth accumulation. After controlling for age, birthplace, occupation, gender, urbanization, and other factors, the results suggest that relative to Anglicans, the wealth of Methodists and Roman Catholics was significantly lower. Moreover, when religious denomination and birthplace are interacted, Canadian-born Anglicans emerge as the dominant wealth group, while the English-born of any denomination and Methodists of any birthplace seem to fare the worst. When wealthage profiles are examined by denomination, Baptists have the steepest profiles, followed by Anglicans and Presbyterians. The data do support the hypothesis that religious affiliation, particularly when interacted with birthplace, has an impact on wealth, though the exact nature of the mechanism is unclear.