BENIN CITY

This study examined the influence of brand positioning strategies on consumer preference for beverage products in Benin City, Nigeria. Four key elements of brand positioning, price positioning, product differentiation, unique selling propositions (USP), and physical evidence, were analysed to determine their impact on consumers’ purchasing behaviour. Data were obtained through structured questionnaires administered to 385 respondents and analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that product differentiation (β = 0.564, p < 0.001), USP (β = 0.290, p <0.001), and physical evidence (β = 0.271, p < 0.001) significantly influenced consumer preference, while price positioning (β = -0.141, p = 0.077) showed no significant impact. An R² of 0.868 indicated that 86.8% of the variation in consumer preference was explained by the independent variables. The study concludes that consumers in Benin City are more responsive to beverage brands offering unique features, clear value propositions, and appealing physical attributes than to pricing strategies alone. It recommends an integrated approach to brand positioning to improve market competitiveness. The study enhances understanding of consumer behaviour in emerging markets and provides practical insights for marketing strategists in the beverage industry. Keywords: Brand positioning, consumer preference, product differentiation, unique selling proposition, physical evidence, Benin City, Nigeria.

This study examined the influence of brand positioning strategies on consumer preference for beverage products in Benin City, Nigeria. Four key elements of brand positioning, price positioning, product differentiation, unique selling propositions (USP), and physical evidence, were analysed to determine their impact on consumers’ purchasing behaviour. Data were obtained through structured questionnaires administered to 385 respondents and analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that product differentiation (β = 0.564, p < 0.001), USP (β = 0.290, p < 0.001), and physical evidence (β = 0.271, p < 0.001) significantly influenced consumer preference, while price positioning (β = -0.141, p = 0.077) showed no significant impact. An R² of 0.868 indicated that 86.8% of the variation in consumer preference was explained by the independent variables. The study concludes that consumers in Benin City are more responsive to beverage brands offering unique features, clear value propositions, and appealing physical attributes than to pricing strategies alone. It recommends an integrated approach to brand positioning to improve market competitiveness. The study enhances understanding of consumer behaviour in emerging markets and provides practical insights for marketing strategists in the beverage industry.

Thaumatococcus daniellii, commonly known as the miracle plant or sweet prayer plant, is widely used in Nigeria for wrapping traditional foods such as rice, moi-moi and agidi, leading to the generation of substantial leaf waste. The discarded leaves, if properly analysed for nutrient could serve as a potential resource for animal feed formulation, organic fertilizer, or biodegradable packaging materials. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the proximate and mineral composition of Thaumatococcus daniellii leaf wastes collected from rice and moi-moi wrapping in Benin City, Nigeria. Fresh leaf wastes were collected, air-dried, milled, and analyzed for proximate and mineral compositions using standard analytical procedures. The proximate analysis revealed appreciable levels of crude protein (18-23%), crude fibre (21-26%), and carbohydrate (28-34%), with moderate lipid and ash contents (6.67-6.83%). The mineral analysis showed significant amounts of essential nutrients such as Calcium (3.313_4.168mg/kg), Potassium (0.129_0.008 mg/kg), magnesium (1.737_0.019 mg/kg), phosphorus (2.263_0.147 mg/kg) and iron (0.270_0.215 mg/kg). These findings indicate that the leaf wastes from rice and moi-moi wrapping are rich in proximate and mineral nutrients that can support both nutritional application for livestock. The study concludes that Thaumatococcus daniellii leaf wastes, often considered agricultural waste could be
explored as an alternative raw material in feed production. This would not only promote environmental sustainability but also enhance economic value through waste resource utilization.

This study examined the effect of Industrial conflict management strategies on employee performance in healthcare centers in Benin City. In specific terms, the study determined the relationship among accommodating, collaborating, compromising, competing, as avoiding as a conflict management strategy affect the employee performance in the health care centres in Benin City. A survey research design was employed, and 362 employees from the University of Benin Teaching Hosptail (UBTH) participated in the study. A questionnaire was used to obtain data from the respondents, which was then analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that accommodating and collaborating conflict management strategies have a positive and significant relationship with employee performance, while avoidance has a significant negative relationship. Compromising and competing strategies did not exhibit a statistically significant relationship with employee performance. The study highlights the importance of fostering understanding, flexibility, and teamwork to enhance the overall effectiveness of healthcare professionals. It also underscores the detrimental effects of conflict avoidance in healthcare settings, emphasizing the need for interventions that encourage open communication and constructive problem-solving. To address these findings, the study recommends that healthcare centers in Benin City prioritize training programs that enhance accommodative and collaborative conflict management skills among their staff. Additionally, communication training programs should be implemented to encourage open and constructive dialogue, addressing the negative impact of conflict avoidance.

This study investigated security measures and school effectiveness in University of
Benin, Benin City. To achieve the purpose of the study, four research questions were raised and examined. The sample for the study is 150 undergraduates. With the aid of the simple proportionate sampling technique, 10 students each were selected from each of the 15 faculties thus making a total sample size of 150 respondents. The questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. The descriptive survey research design was adopted in carrying out the study. An analysis of data was done using mean and standard deviation. The findings from the study include there is a high level of security consciousness among students in University of Benin, Benin City. It was concluded that there is a significant impact of security measures on school effectiveness in University of Benin, Benin City. The study recommended among others that the University should develop and maintain a comprehensive emergency response plan for natural disasters, accidents, and security incidents.

In some advanced countries, property tax is seen as a major source of revenue, this is not the case in Nigeria. The main aim of this study was to examine the willingness of property owners to pay property tax in Benin City. Specific objectives were to ascertain the level of awareness of property tax by residents; determine the percentage of property owners that pay property tax; determine the correlation between respondents’ awareness of property tax and their compliance; and ascertain the significance of the relationship between public governance quality and property tax compliance. The hypothesis was also proposed namely: property tax payers’ compliance has no significant relationship with laws made by the government that is seen to provide citizens with basic amenities. A combination of stratified sampling technique and simple random sampling technique was used to administer questionnaires to 400 respondents in Benin City. Simple percentage, Likert’s scale analysis, Pearson Product Correlation technique, and chi-square test were deployed in data analyses and interpretation. The result showed that majority of the sampled respondents 56% were male while 44% were female while majority of the respondents 220 (55%) were also married. It was also found that majority of respondents (80%) were aware of the existence of property tax and just 55% of them had paid. The study also showed that there is a moderately positive relation between property tax compliance and property tax awareness, with a correlation coefficient of 0.58. At 95% level of confidence, it was established that there is significant relationship between government transparency and property tax compliance. Also that public governance quality in general promotes willingness to comply
with property tax by property owners. It was recommended that government must provide public services such as security, good roads that satisfy the expectations of the property owners; that the government should engage in enlightenment campaigns concerning what property tax is; and that the government should be transparent about how revenue acquired through property tax is spent as this would motivate and cause the property owners to be willing to pay property tax.

This study seeks to examine the factors responsible for students' failure in the English language taking Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State as a case study. The blame has continued to be shifted from teachers to parents, government, students and the society regarding who is responsible for students' failure in the English language in secondary schools. It is against this background the study seeks to find out who is responsible, with close attention to the poor formative assessment practice of English lessons by teachers and promotion of students irrespective of their failure in English at a lower level. Four research questions were raised to guide the study, and a survey research design was adopted for the conduct of the study with the use of a questionnaire as the instrument for gathering data to answer the research questions. The use of mean, standard deviation, frequency count and tables were used to present the results for ease of discussion and interpretation. The results show that teachers, government, students and parents contribute to the existence of this problem. The study concluded that the poor formative assessment practice by English teachers and the practice of promotion of students irrespective of their failure in English at a lower level contribute highly to students' failure in their certificate examinations. Finally, appropriate recommendations like regular supervision of teachers' classwork to ensure formative assessment is practised etc were given to solve the present and recurring problem.

This study was designed to ascertain the integration of The Influence of Societal Attitudes on The Academic Performance of Pupils with Hearing Impairment in Secondary Schools at Ihogbe College Study. Five (5) research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey. The total population of special in Benin metropolis is 100 students in all the schools for special needs, children. Public secondary schools in the sampled area. A total number of 100 students made up the population of the study. The random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for this study. The research instrument for the study was a Questionnaire titled: “The Influence of Societal Attitude On The Academic Performance Of Pupils With Hearing Impairment In Secondary Schools At Ihogbe College Study (POBASSIPSSES)”, which was distributed to the respondents and collected immediately after completion from respondents. The simple percentage and mean score were used in computing the responses of the questionnaire items. To account for the reliability of the study, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used which gave a value of 0. 955. At the end of the study, the findings in examining the influence of societal attitudes on academic performance, it is evident that respondents overwhelmingly agree that people's opinions about students with hearing impairment significantly impact their performance in school. Negative opinions, in particular, are perceived to hinder their academic success,while positive attitudes are believed to foster better academic outcomes. However, there is some discrepancy regarding whether positive attitudes directly contribute to academic improvement, with a significant proportion of respondents disagreeing with this notion.

This work studied women participation in community development with special emphasis on Egor Local Government Area, Edo State. The exercise was carried out due to the observed lag in women participation in community development all over the country. The work had four key objectives which it sought to realize. These include: to ascertain the barriers to women participation in agriculture within the local government, to ascertain the impact of low level of education on women participation in community development, to determine how to enhance women participation in the politics of Egor Local Government Area and finally to identify ways of empowering the women for optimal participation in the overall development of the communities. The researcher made use of both primary and secondary sources of data to generate data used for the study. These data were presented in tables and analysed using simple percentage. The researcher found out the various barriers to women participation in community development to include cultural practices, low level of women education, poverty among the rural women and violent that characterize the country’s politics. It is therefore recommended that cultural practices that deny women free access to community development should be abrogated; Government should provide modern farm implements to the rural women farmers and also educate them on how to use these implements to enhance productivity; girl child education should be made free and also compulsory at least at secondary school levels. The study also recommend that social workers should be ready to actively participate in the involvement of women participation in community
development.

Land reform remains a critical issue of great relevance in developing countries such as Nigeria. This study therefore examined the impact of land reform in Benin City; a comparative study of Obagie and Ogheghe community. The study used secondary dataobtained from physical observation and respondents in the Ministry of Physical Planning, Housing, Urban and Rural Development. It was found that there is a spatial distribution and arrangement of different types of land uses within the study area. The study tends to show the implications of the land reform policy on land use pattern within the study area.