UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

Background: Academic-related stress has become a growing concern among university students, particularly those in medical and allied health disciplines. Previous studies have established that medical and health science students experience higher stress levels than their counterparts in other fields, yet limited data exist for students of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Benin. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, patterns, and determinants of academic-related stress among students of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Benin, as well as to identify their coping strategies. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed using stratified random, sampling. Data were collected from 300 undergraduate students across departments such as Nursing, Physiology, and Anatomy through a structured questionnaire incorporating the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and academic stress indicators. Descriptive and inferential statistics including Chi- square, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used to analyze relationships between demographic variables, departmental differences, and stress levels at a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: Findings revealed that 86% of respondents experienced moderate stress, while 13.3% reported high stress levels. No significant gender differences were observed (p = 0.412), but significant variations existed across departments (p < 0.001), with Nursing students showing the highest stress levels. A positive correlation (r = 0.411, p < 0.001) was found between academic related stress and overall perceived stress. The most common coping strategies included talking with friends (24.7%), engaging in physical activities (24.7%), and religious practices (23%), while only 17% sought professional counseling. Conclusion: The study concludes that academic-related stress is highly prevalent among Basic Medical Science students at the University of Benin. Academic workload, frequent assessments, and clinical exposure were major stressors. Institutional interventions such as counseling services, stress management workshops, and curriculum review are recommended to enhance students’ psychological well-being and academic performance.

This study examined the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the challenges associated with monitoring political party campaign financing in Nigeria. Campaign financing has become a major issue in democratic governance due to the increasing influence of money in electoral processes, which often affects transparency, accountability, and fairness during elections. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of INEC in regulating and monitoring political party finances, identify the major challenges confronting the commission, and examine the implications of poor monitoring on democratic development in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected through questionnaires administered to selected respondents, while secondary data were gathered from textbooks, journals, official reports, and relevant publications. The findings revealed that INEC faces numerous challenges in monitoring political party campaign financing, including inadequate manpower, insufficient funding, weak enforcement mechanisms, corruption, lack of transparency by political parties, and political interference. The study also found that excessive campaign spending and poor financial disclosure by political parties undermine free and fair elections in Nigeria. The study concluded that although INEC has the constitutional responsibility to regulate campaign financing, several institutional and political challenges limit its effectiveness. The study therefore recommended that the Nigerian government should strengthen electoral laws, provide adequate funding and independence for INEC, enforce strict penalties against defaulters, and promote transparency and accountability in political party financing. These measures would enhance credible elections and strengthen democratic governance in Nigeria.

This study examined the relationship between organizational silence and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) among lecturers in the University of Benin. The study sought to determine how the dimensions of organizational silence, acquiescent silence, defensive silence, prosocial silence, and supervisor silence climate influence the display of OCB among academic staff. The research was driven by concerns that silence in academic institutions may limit participation, reduce innovation, and hinder voluntary behaviours that promote institutional performance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data were collected from a sample of 100 lecturers across various faculties using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to summarize responses, while Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses were employed to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that prosocial silence recorded the highest mean (M = 4.04, SD = 0.90), indicating that lecturers often withhold information for altruistic or constructive reasons, such as maintaining team harmony or protecting colleagues. Conversely, acquiescent silence (M = 2.73, SD = 1.39) and defensive silence (M = 2.88, SD = 1.10) were relatively low, suggesting that most lecturers do not remain silent out of fear or a belief that their opinions will not matter. The regression model yielded R = 0.304, R² = 0.093, F(4,91) = 2.325, p = 0.062, indicating that the combined effect of the four silence dimensions on OCB was not statistically significant. Further analysis showed that none of the individual silence dimensions significantly predicted OCB (p > 0.05), though prosocial silence exhibited a weak positive relationship (β = 0.185, p = 0.082). The correlation analysis confirmed these findings, revealing weak and statistically insignificant relationships between organizational silence dimensions and OCB. The study concludes that while organizational silence exists within the University of Benin, it does not significantly influence lecturers’ willingness to engage in citizenship behaviours such as altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue. The findings suggest that lecturers’ engagement in OCB is primarily driven by intrinsic motivation and professional commitment rather than silence dynamics. The study recommends that the university should continue to foster open communication channels, participative decision-making, and supportive leadership practices to sustain a positive organizational culture that encourages voluntary, extra-role behaviour among academic staff.

This study investigated the sociocultural factors influencing sport participation among female athletes in the University of Benin. The study specifically examined the relationship between family cultural background, family educational background, religion, socioeconomic status, and the participation of female students in sports. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population comprised female athletes from various faculties in the university, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 105 completed questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Findings revealed that a majority of the respondents came from modern or mixed cultural backgrounds, families with tertiary educational qualifications, and predominantly Christian households. Family cultural background showed a weak and statistically insignificant relationship with sport participation, while family educational background demonstrated a stronger positive influence. Religion exhibited minimal restrictive effects, as most respondents reported that their faith does not hinder their involvement in sports. Socioeconomic status also showed a positive but moderate relationship with sport participation, with respondents from business and civil servant households participating more actively than those from farming backgrounds. The study concludes that improved awareness, supportive family structures, and inclusive institutional policies can enhance female participation in sports within the University of Benin. It recommends targeted sensitization programs, increased provision of female-friendly facilities, and sustained encouragement from families and the institution to promote gender- balanced sports involvement.

This study investigated the implications of political violence on the electoral participation of university students during Nigeria's 2023 general elections. The impelus for this inquiry was the pressing need to identify the elements that inhibit youth participation in democracy, particularly given their substantial proportion of the population. The study sought to determine the correlation between direct or indirect encounters with political violence and subsequent voter discouragement.It further explored the connection between the ferocity of inter-party competition and the frequency of violent occurrences. The methodology employed a survey-based research design, utilizing a structured questionnaire to gather data from a sample of one hundred (100) university students. The resulting data were subjected to analysis through descriptive statistics, including frequency counts and simple percentages. The proposed hypotheses were evaluated using the Simple Percentage Method. The findings indicate an alarmingly low level of student involvement in the electoral process, with a mere 30% of respondents participating in the presidential election. A substantial majority, 58%, identified fear of violence as their primary reason for abstaining from voting. The research documented a high occurrence of violence, with 54% of students reporting direct witness or knowledge of physical assaults. The testing of hypotheses established a significant correlation between the nature of the political violence experienced and the degree of voter discouragement. Furthermore, a significant relationship was confirmed between the intensity of political party rivalries and the prevalence of reported incidents of political violence. In conclusion, this study establishes that political violence, exacerbated by intense party rivalries, serves as a critical barrier to student electoral participation, effectively disenfranchising a vital segment of the nation's educated youth. In light of these conclusions, the study proposes the implementation of targeted security protocols in campus areas, the enhancement of voter education programs to emphasize safety rights, and a renewed commitment from political parties to conduct peaceful campaigns.

Academic performance of students in universities has been associated with underlying problems, one of which is that of students’ stress. This study therefore aims to determine the influence of stress on the academic performance of undergraduates in University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. In order to carry out the task, four research questions were raised and one hypothesis formulated which was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 6576 undergraduates. The data was collected using simple random technique and a sample size of 380 undergraduate students from the eight (8) departments in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin city, was used for the study. The research instrument used for the study was a self-structured questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was subjected to scrutiny and the test-retest reliability technique was used to ascertain its reliability. The correlation coefficient computed was 0.82 indicating that the instrument was reliable. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages and means, while chi-square statistics was used to test the hypothesis. Results revealed that undergraduate students of University of Benin were having stressed times in certain areas of their academic life such as: overall study habits, organizing time, listening and taking notes, writing test/examinations, financial concerns/hardships, campus environment, and course requirements. Majority (66.6%) of the respondents reported to have high stress levels while, the stress level for 18.9% of the respondents is moderate and for 14.5% of the respondents, it is low. The chi-square test carried out confirmed that there is a significant relationship between students’ stress levels and their academic performance in the University of Benin. In conclusion, students have to set priorities in light of their resources to avoid stressful situations. Recommendations were made that stress intervention programs be designed to address stress of University students. Coping strategies that deals with one's own thoughts and feelings can be facilitated by accessible professional and peer counselling, student support groups, and adequate course advising. Also, students themselves must develop effective study habits by giving appropriate time that must fulfil the demand of their course.

Background: The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into higher education has transformed how students access information, complete academic tasks, and engage with learning. While AI offers significant benefits in efficiency and academic support, growing concerns exist regarding excessive student reliance on these tools, with potential implications for critical thinking, cognitive autonomy, and academic integrity. Despite near-universal AI adoption among students globally, empirical data on the nature and extent of AI dependency among Nigerian undergraduates remain limited. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 588 undergraduate students selected from the Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire that assessed AI tool awareness and usage, patterns of AI use, and level of AI dependency using the validated 22-item Artificial Intelligence Dependence Scale (AIdep-22), which measures four domains: functional dependence, cognitive dependence, emotional dependence, and loss of control. Factors associated with AI dependency were also explored. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 29.0; frequencies, proportions, and means were computed for descriptive statistics, while chi-square tests assessed associations between categorical variables at a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 22.73 ± 4.65 years, with 52.9% being male. Internet access (99.1%) and smartphone ownership (98.6%) were nearly universal. AI tool awareness was reported by 99.3% of respondents, and 98.1% were active users, with ChatGPT being the most recognised (99.0%), most commonly used (83.2%), and most frequently used (83.2%) tool. The primary academic applications were research assistance (72.3%), summarization of materials (69.7%), and writing support (66.7%), with over half reporting daily use. Regarding usage behaviours, 77.9% reported verifying AI outputs relatively more frequently while 58.8% modified AI-generated content before use more frequently, and 15.0% admitted to unethical use including examination malpractice. In terms of dependency, 49.8% of students exhibited low AI dependency, 40.1% moderate dependency, and 10.0% high dependency. Domain-level mean scores were highest for functional dependence (2.86), followed by emotional dependence (2.55), cognitive dependence (2.50), and loss of control (2.27), with an overall AIdep-22 mean of 2.55, corresponding to moderate dependency. Verification behaviour (p = 0.004) and modification of AI outputs (p = 0.05) were significantly associated with dependency level. The key factors associated with AI dependency were heavy academic workload, high performance expectations, ease of AI access, and fear of making errors. Conclusion: AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, have become deeply embedded in undergraduate academic life at the University of Benin, with near-universal awareness and adoption. Most students exhibited moderate AI dependency, with functional dependence being the most prominent domain. Verification behaviour and output modification were significantly associated with dependency level, underscoring the importance of critical engagement with AI-generated content. These findings highlight the urgent need for institutional guidelines, AI literacy programmes, and pedagogical strategies that promote responsible AI use while preserving students' intellectual independence and academic integrity.

Background: Sleep is a fundamental physiological process necessary for optimal cognitive function, emotional stability, physical health, and academic performance. Medical students are particularly vulnerable to unhealthy sleep patterns due to demanding academic activities, prolonged study hours, clinical responsibilities, and psychosocial stressors. Poor sleep among medical students has been associated with impaired concentration, daytime dysfunction, reduced academic productivity, and mental health problems. This study assessed the sleep patterns of medical students of the University of Benin and evaluated associated factors, sleep-related behaviours, and awareness of behaviours linked to unhealthy sleep patterns. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 427 undergraduate medical students from 200 to 600 level at the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select respondents. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire comprising standardized instruments including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI), and Sleep Beliefs Scale (SBS). Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 27. Descriptive statistics were summarized using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, while Chi-square tests were used to determine associations between variables at a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 22.56 ± 3.02 years, and 55.3% were male. The mean sleep duration was 5.5 ± 1.2 hours per night. Overall, 187 (43.8%) respondents had disturbed sleep patterns, while 240 (56.2%) had normal sleep patterns. The most commonly reported sleep disturbances were waking up in the middle of the night or early morning and nocturnal awakening to use the bathroom. Place of residence was significantly associated with sleep patterns (p = 0.043), with on-campus students demonstrating better sleep patterns than off- campus students. Sleep behaviours (p = 0.002) and awareness of sleep-related behaviours (p = 0.007) were also significantly associated with sleep patterns. Although 55.0% of respondents demonstrated good sleep behaviours, only 15.9% had good awareness of behaviours associated with healthy sleep. Conclusion: A considerable proportion of medical students at the University of Benin experienced disturbed sleep patterns and inadequate sleep duration. Poor sleep behaviours and low awareness of healthy sleep practices were significantly associated with disturbed sleep. There is a need for targeted interventions, including sleep hygiene education, mental health support, and institutional policies aimed at promoting healthy sleep practices and improving the well-being of medical students. Keywords: Sleep patterns, medical students, sleep quality, sleep hygiene, awareness, University of Benin.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical global public health threat, significantly driven by the irrational use of antibiotics. University students represent a key demographic whose medication-related behaviours influence community resistance patterns. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding antibiotic use and resistance among undergraduate students of the University of Benin, Edo State. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 430 students were selected using a multi-stage probability sampling technique across eight faculties. Data were collected using a structured, pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire. Analysis was performed using IBM SPSS version 27.0, utilizing descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests to determine associations between variables. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 20.3 ± 2.9 years. The study revealed a high prevalence of antibiotic use, with 58.8% of students having used an antibiotic in the preceding six months. Overall, 81.6% of respondents demonstrated poor knowledge of antibiotics and AMR. Misconceptions were widespread: 78.1% incorrectly believed antibiotics are effective against viral infections (flu/coughs), and only 10.0% correctly identified the biological mechanism of resistance. Attitudes were predominantly negative (70.2%); notably, 51.0%perceivedsharingleftover antibiotics as a "helpful social gesture." Regarding practices, 50.7%demonstratedpoorbehaviour. The most common source of antibiotics was Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors xiv (29.3%), while only 18.8% obtained drugs via a doctor’s prescription. Faculty of study (p=0.005)and Level of study (p=0.005) were significantly associated with knowledge levels, with medical students and seniors performing better. Attitude was a significant predictor of practice(p<0.001). Conclusion: There is a concerning deficit in antibiotic literacy and a high prevalence of inappropriate practices among students at the University of Benin. The reliance on unregulated vendors and the social normalization of medication sharing underscore the need for urgent interventions. It is recommended that the University administration integrates antimicrobial stewardship modules into the General Studies (GST) curriculum and strengthens the campus health services to reduce reliance on informal medication sources.

This study assessed the perceived impact of clinical nursing practice on the academic performance of undergraduate nursing students in the University of Benin. Across-sectional survey design was employed, gathering data from 282 students through structured questionnaires. Findings revealed that 44.9% believed their workload during clinical practice adversely affected their learning, while 76.4% found instructor feedback helpful in enhancing clinical skills. Limited access to resources was reported by 40.6% of participants, and56.4%experienced stress that influenced their perception of clinical practice. Although clinical practice significantly enhanced professional development—49.1% strongly agreeing—it also presented challenges: 83.6% struggled to balance academic and clinical demands, and61.8%cited inadequate resources. Additionally, 50.9% reported insufficient supervision and mentorship, while 54.5% experienced high stress levels. Recommendations to address these issues include enhancing resource availability, strengthening mentorship, managing workloads, and providing stress management training. These interventions could optimize the learning environment and better prepare students for professional practice, emphasizing the need for ongoing evaluation and improvement of clinical training programs to align with healthcare demands and student needs