https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase CUJPIA is an open access, peer reviewed, multidisciplinary committed to expanding the bounds of knowledge in politics and international relations and becoming a foremost journal that publishes ground-breaking research reports that the world has been waiting for. The journal is with the mission to advance<br />the cause of robust academic conversations and debates through the creation of quality outlet for well-researched papers that are products of sound judgment. en-US Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2354 - 3558 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2746 This study examined the link between company governance and its fiscal returns, using director's stock ownership, in the Nigerian banking sector. The 2009 banking scandals and their aftermath effects in the Nigerian banking sector, which arose from poor corporate control, amongst other factors, paved the way for research in this discourse, its importance has attracted attention over time, and even in the 21st century. Directors’ stock ownership was used to proxy company governance, with leverage, liquidity, and corporate size controlled for. Firm performance was proxy by Returns on Asset with keen interest on deposit money banks. This study used a purposive sampling technique of fourteen (14) deposit money banks from 2014 – 2018 as the sample of the study, which was sourced from the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) annual publication 2018. The Panel Least Squares methodology was employed to examine the variables and their effects. The panel Fixed Effect as selected by the Hausman test result shows that director’s stock ownership and liquidity were statistically significant on banks' returns in Nigeria, while leverage and corporate size have no significant consequence on banks performance in Nigeria during the period under review. To this end, the study suggests that; the regulatory bodies should strengthen the corporate governance framework to improve bank performance in Nigeria. Secondly, strategies should be put in place to boost up liquidity level to enhance more liquidity for its effect to remain positive and significant to bank's performance in Nigeria. Peter Eriki Courage Ose Eburajolo Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2747 Due to the proficiency and application of ICT, COVID-19 pandemic was effectively managed and mitigated to prevent the absolute destruction of human lives which the volatile nature of the corona virus threatened to attain; this is because the potency of ICT was leveraged on to cushion the effects of the disease. Hence, ICT and its tools are identified as the strategic hope of mankind for providing suitable tools in keeping humanity close, informed, united, interact, knowledgeable, protected, etc in time of danger that forbids mankind from socio-economic activities such as evident in COVID-19. The nexus between COVID-19 and ICT is traced within the context of health and safety (Human Resources) of people, and the socio-economic impacts. Data was derived from secondary sources and analyzed. COVID-19 is identified as a paradigm shift that dislocated normal human life activities thereby introducing new norms that altered the sequence of human resource activities, as measures to contain the spread. The concept of “e-everything” was proposed and underscored as the strategic hope of mankind to explore opportunities and navigate uncertainties in time of crisis, as evident in strategic contingency theory that is leveraged on through ICT to navigate COVID-19 in the analysis Okechukwu Eme Benjamin Amujiri Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2756 Prior to the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), accounting functions were predominantly processed manually. The emergence, however, introduced the use of intelligent machines to perform functions cleverly as humans, which minimises reasonably the processing time of accounting transactions when compared to manual processes. This study investigated the relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Accountants’ Approach to Accounting Functions (AAAF). The study used the research design method through a structured questionnaire. The targeted population and the sample size was 205, which comprises accountants with experience in systems' application for accounting and other financial transactions' functions. A purposive sampling technique was adopted to determine the respondents. The results of the logit regression analysis revealed that with the t-calculated of 3.183 &gt; t-tabulated of 0.002 at a 5% level of significance, artificial intelligence has a significant positive impact on accountants' approach to accounting functions. This implies that when AI is adopted, accountants will significantly change their approach to functional activities. The study recommended the need for accountants to be better equipped with diverse AI technologies and accounting software packages through training and retraining, to enhance their functional abilities, effectiveness and efficiency. Israel S. Akinadewo Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2749 Manufacturing firms are key initiators of innovation and economic growth but fail in attempt to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Achieving competitive advantage in any organization through various marketing strategies is pertinent to achieving organizational success. The formulation of theories that help explain how organization can achieve sustainable competitive advantage has increased in recent time. Through the lens of theoretical review, this paper aims to explore the key theories in literatures that best explain how sustainable competitive advantage is achieved through marketing strategies. The review exclusively makes use of systematic sampling in reviewing existing literatures on marketing strategies and sustainable competitive advantage from 1960s to 2019. The finding reveals four major normative theories that are distinctively competitive and marketing oriented: resource advantage theory, organizational capability theory, industrial organization theory and theory of competitiveness. Although there is no consensus that one theory is the best practice considering the future and turbulent nature of business environment, the paper further singled out resource advantage and capability theory as the best theory that can help organization achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Hence, business owners should put in place adequate resources and capabilities to help them gain sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors. Mukhtar M. Aliu Emmanuel O. Oni Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2750 Due to frequent conflict in the workplace, organizational sustenance is becoming a critical concern for most stakeholders in the organization. This therefore requires management to adopt appropriate workplace conflict management strategies that would ensure that the organization did not just survive but thrive. Thus, the aim of this study was primarily to examine conflict management strategies’ influence on organizational sustainability in manufacturing companies located in Kwara State, Nigeria. Fifty line managers were randomly chosen from five purposely selected manufacturing companies domiciled in Kwara State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was employed as the instrument of collecting primary data. The hypotheses that were formulated in accordance with the research questions were tested using multiple regression analysis, with the aid of SPSS. Results revealed that while the communication and negotiation conflict management strategies significantly and positively influence organizational sustainability, third party intervention conflict management strategy negatively influenced it. The study concludes that manufacturing companies that effectively adopt appropriate conflict management strategy would outperform and outlived those that do not. Nuha Salihu Aremu Adewale Emmanuel Adeyemi Abiodun Peter Abogunrin Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2751 This paper developed a framework for enabling both small and large business enterprises remain profitable in business by making use of multi linear regression technique in predicting her business growth from the Big Data collected from respondents about the various external factors affecting a business entity such as, (i) the purchasing power of the people, (ii) existence of similar competitive products/services, (iii) availability of retail outlets, (iv) means of advertisement, and (v) means of transportation. A simple linear regression model was formulated in respect of each of these external factors (which are the independent or predictor variables) and its causality effect to the growth of a business (which is the response variable). An algorithm written in Java was used to simulate 10,000 input values for both the predictor and response variables in order to determine the parameters for each of the regression models. The derived parameters from the respective models were used to formulate the multi linear regression model for predicting the overall growth of a business. Results showed that the model gave very good predictions of a business growth index whenever the values of the external factors were varied to represent a typical real-life scenario. Business managers for small, medium, and large enterprises will therefore find the developed framework highly invaluable for strategic planning in order to increase their profit margins. Gregory Emeka Anichebe Nnaemeka Emeka Ogbene Emmanuel C. Ukekwe Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2752 The goal of sustainable development in organizations, societies and nations are to enhance the quality and standard of living of the citizenry. However, in the absence of strategic and adaptive leadership, achieving innovation and sustainable development may be difficult if not impossible. This study examined how strategic and adaptive leadership help to foster business innovation and sustainable development in corporate Nigeria ambience, in the information age of the 21st century. To achieve these objectives, articles from indexed journals with high impact factors related to strategic and adaptive leadership, business innovation and sustainable development were reviewed. Findings from the literature reviewed and that of focus discussion group of senior executives of corporate organizations confirmed the importance of strategic/adaptive leadership in fostering business innovations and sustainable development of corporate organizations. Dearth of strategic/ adaptive leadership skills in managing change and innovation are also reported as major challenges militating against innovation and sustainable development in corporate Nigeria. This paper, therefore, recommend that captains of industries in Nigeria should adopt a more pragmatic strategic leadership practices in mainstreaming innovation: continually finding important corporate problems, solving those problems and implementing the solutions; and a determination to building global leadership competencies and budgeting of more fund for research and development, that we lead to the development of new products and service that will improve the standard of living of the citizenry. Adekola R. Adekunle Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2753 The immerse adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in any country will play a pivotal role in suppressing the spread of the digital divide and ensuring sustainable development. This is the reason most developed countries are advanced in the implementation of ICT. This paper is developed from the researcher's interest in the effect or impact the digital divide has had on attaining sustainable development in Nigeria, specifically the actualisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDG4, which centers on the quality of education in Nigeria. An evaluation of Nigeria's educational sector reveals that the country's educational system is in substantial jeopardy of being outshined despite its role as a significant and active driver of economic recuperation in the short term and sustainable development and transformation in the longer term. This paper adopts an empirical review of how the digital divide can be mitigated and sustainable development, especially (SDGs) 4 in the country. The researcher, therefore, opines, among others, that the government should establish an empowering and developing program that will involve the citizens, especially those at the grassroots. Thereby educating them on e-literacy skills and the knowledge required to use, maintain, and improve as ICT advances. Jesutofunmi O. Adeyemi Samuel Oni Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2754 The objective of paper is to investigate how innovation and technology can boost agriculture productivity increases and sustain food security in Nigeria. Exploratory qualitative research technique was adopted. This technique gave insight and understanding on how innovation and technology can be enablers in behavioural change in food production and its sustainability. Data were collected from key-informant interviews made up of five agricultural experts. Data from secondary sources were collected from previous empirical studies in journal articles, textbooks, internet, government published reports and newspapers. Data were analyzed using content-analysis and secondary data analysis methods within the constructed conceptual system framework to answer research questions. Results revealed that traditional agricultural practices and research outcomes based on government subsidies have not yielded adequate food productivity increases that promoted food security. The paper concluded that innovation using science and technology would promote food security in Nigeria. The study suggested that agriculturists should adopt organic and bioengineering technology in combination with research-based climate smart agriculture to promote productivity increases and sustainable food security in Nigeria. Augustine Nduka Eneanya Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13 https://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpiase/article/view/2755 In the digital age, especially the advent of the Internet, companies now have complimentary media or outright substitute media for passing information to stakeholders, thus giving stakeholders better access to information and providing equity of access to information. Annual reports and other financial reports are now posted on companies’ websites and are freely accessible. Spoken communications, hitherto made during live meetings, are now commonly done through earnings calls. The study sample consists of 25 deposit money banks in Nigeria. The banks’ websites were visited to access conference calls records from the First Quarter of 2008 to the year-end of 2019. A dichotomous non-weighted scoring method was used to assess the availability of earnings conference calls, while a weighted scoring method was adopted for the types of earnings calls disclosed. The study found that most quoted deposit money banks have adopted earnings conference calls to interact with analysts and investors, while unquoted deposit money banks are left behind. The study also found that while conference calls are made either as audio-only or video, most banks only post the transcripts of such interaction. The study recommends that banks that have not adopted earnings conference calls should adopt this medium to convince stakeholders that the banks are not hiding anything bad. Furthermore, the original form of the conference calls should be made available on the banks’ websites in addition to transcripts. Ismaila Yusuf Oyindamola Ekundayo Copyright (c) 2021 Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affairs (Special Edition) 2021-11-13 2021-11-13