Revising Islamic Studies Courses for Improving Cordial Interfaith Relations in Nigeria: A Case Study of Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina, Nigeria

Nigeria has been, for the last four decades, struggling with the menace of inter-religious hostilities between Christians and Muslims who formed the largest religious groups in the country. Numerous policies and programs brokered by various Governments and non-Governmental organizations to curtail the situation failed to yield the desired result. Islamic studies as one of the widely offered programs in the Nigerian universities has the prospect of offering solution to the predicament. However, the courses taught in the program are mainly studies on the Qur’an, Hadith, Tauhid, Ibadat, Fiqh, Islamic civilization, thought and history without single course on interfaith relations. Taking Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina (UMYUK)-Nigeria, as a study case, this paper attempts to draft and propose the inclusion of interfaith relations courses in the curriculum of Islamic Studies programs at the university level in Nigeria for realization of peaceful coexistence in the country. The researcher uses primary data from the Qur’an and sunnah as well as secondary data from different sources. The paper employs exegetical methods and adopts content analysis in the process of conducting the research. The article recommends merging of duplicated courses in the existing curriculum and inclusion of the proposed courses by the Nigerian universities and other institutions of higher learning that offer various Islamic studies programs for the attainment of peaceful interfaith relations in the country.

Impact of Leadership, Training and Compensation on Project Performance: A Case on Detail Design of Rehabilitation and Up-Gradation of Lower Bari Doab Canal LBDC System

Human Resource (HR) is one of the important aspects for any organization to accomplishing its management tasks in an effective manner. In this research, three human resource factors were studied and analysed for their impacton project performance. These factors are chosen on the basis of project natureand these factors are Leadership, Training &Compensation. The objectives of this research is to check the impact and significant correlation of leadership, training and compensation on the project performance also to find out the reasons of delay and how to boost-up the performance of this project. The case project has been delayed by 1.5 years. There is need to increase the efficiency of this project by addressing the three factors and analysing their significant correlation and impact on the project performance. Data was collected through questionnaire from companies who formed joint venture for this project and their departments specially HR department and different engineering departments which are working together on this project. This project needs strong leadership, effective training and comparatively high compensation for success. The results were described by using descriptive statistics, check the validity through reliability analysis, analyzed by Factor Analysis using Principal Component Analysis, Bivariate Correlation among the independent variables (Leadership, Training and Compensation) and dependent variable (Project Performance) and Regression analysis which shows results was reliable andmodel was best fit because the factors have a positive significant impacton the performance of the project. The multiple regressions shows the significant impact of independent variables (Leadership, training and Compensation) on dependent variable (Project Performance).