English is the study of the English language. The goal is to improve communication skills by practicing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language rules like pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
Those who have been following the argument for and against the deregulation of the oil industry in Nigeria may have got the impression that deregulation connotes lack of control or indifference on the part of the government. But there is nothing so far from official quarters to suggest that deregulation will cause the government to relinquish its control of the oil industry because the absence of direct control does not mean that it will surrender all its rights to the entrepreneurs who may want to participate in the industry. Yet the opposition expressed so far against stems from the fear that the government would leave Nigerians at the mercy of a heartless cartel who would command the heights of the oil industry and cause pump price of fuel to rise above the means of most Nigerians.
`As a result of such fears, many Nigerians have become resentful of deregulation and in fact the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to ‘deregulate’ the government if it should go ahead with the deregulation plan. But Nigerians have not fared any better with the economy totally in government control. Until recently, the most important sectors of the economy were in the hands of the government. Today, the deregulation of some of these sectors has broken its monopoly and introduced healthy competition to make a little easier for Nigerians. A good example is the breaking of the stifling monopoly of Nigeria Airways. Today, the traveller is king at the domestic airports as opposed to the struggle that air travels used to be under Nigeria Airways monopoly. Before, it was almost easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for travellers to board a plane.
Following from this, the apostles of deregulation rightly heap all the blame for the problems associated with petroleum products distribution in this country squarely on the government, which owns all the refineries and which sells fuel to local consumers through its agency, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). In the same way, the government argues that if the current NNPC monopoly were broken with the introduction of entrepreneurs to the refining and sale of petroleum products in the country, the Nigerian people would be all the better for it. It stands to reason that once the government continues to fix maximum prices would be all the better for it. It stands to reason that once the government continues to fix maximum prices for petroleum products in this country, the deregulation of the oil sector should bring some relief to the people by ensuring that wastage, corruption and inefficiency are reduced to the minimum. Consumers will also have the last laugh because competition will result in the availability of the products at reasonable prices. This appears to be the sense in deregulation.
Choose the option nearest in meaning to the underlined words :
His summary of the meeting was brief and to the point
Options:Although our aim is to nurture healthy children, Nigerian children are still subjected to severe physical and mental stress as they develop.
So far our interest and activities have been to ensure their physical well-being through the reduction of high mortality and morbidity rates, still inadequate as this may be. But we need to examine from time to time the other needs of the Nigerian child which will ensure a totally healthy development.
We are split between two cultures – our traditional and the Western, a relic of our colonial past. This also affects our child-rearing practices. Therefore, these practices must have a very important bearing on how the child is prepared for our world of today so that he fits into our disturbed cultural milieu.
Different styles of child-rearing and education can produce different personalities in terms of motivation, aggressiveness, achievement and integration of the individual into the community socially and culturally. It is important that, while we struggle with the visible organic disease, we fix our gaze on the other important measures to attain this end – a healthy child.
The process of social adjustment begins from the moment of birth. Many of our traditional birth practices ensure that the mother either carries or suckles her child immediately after birth. The baby therefore comes into close contact with the mother at this critical time.
Moreover she is forced to stay indoors with the baby for varying periods of time. By this means, the attachment of the baby to the mother, so essential for the child’s ability to relate to her in future is secured.
This crucial moment in the baby’s life is now being recognized in the Western countries, whilst birth practices in some hospital and maternity homes separate mother and child immediately after birth to the extent that their ability to develop a close relationship may be jeopardized.
Our Nigerian child of today may, therefore, be worse off than that of yesterday. As we move towards the training of our traditional birth attendants with a view to incorporating them into our health services, healthy practices such as the one described above must be maintained and encouraged
Unless the training of our traditional birth attendants is based on healthy practices Options:Choose the word/expression which best completes each sentence :
Ikorodu is not far from here, it is only an _____
Options:In the past, learning English as a separate subject seemed relatively easy. The textbook selected and graded items of language which were put into context and then practiced intensively. New items were carefully controlled do that the student could cope quite easily. Now that English used as a medium of instruction, however, all this has changed. Unknown items of grammar and vocabulary appear in texts which attempt to explain new and often difficult information. Difficulties with the language interact with difficulties as regards the subject matter. The student’s reading in his own subject slows down and his comprehension becomes less secure. He expresses himself slowly and often fails to convey his ideas exactly. He is disappointed to find that under pressure he makes a lot of unnecessary mistakes in area where he knows the correct language forms. His social relation are difficult as he cannot find the right phrase quickly enough to keep a conversation going; so his language often betrays him into dullness, coldness, or worst of all rudeness. Instead of the students being in control of the language, the language seems now to be in control of the student.
All of this can be very depressing and the student can start to feel very anxious. Working in a foreign language is also very tiring, and the concentration and self-discipline required to correct one’s mistakes is very great indeed.
The most likely source of difficulty for the student working with English as a medium of instruction is Options:Fill in the blank spaces in the following sentences making use of the best of the five options :
He devoted himself ______ homeless children.
Options:Choose the most appropriate option for each group for questionsAlice, a small fragile-looking Ugandan mother, is dying of AIDS. She lives with her son and daughter in a tin-roofed shack on the .....1... of Kampala. When her husband died of AIDS in 1987, Alice discovered she was HIV positive. Frequent ...2..... of sickness forced her to give up her embroidery job. She was so depressed that she just wanted to eat. ....3.... by a neighbour, the mobile care unit from Nsambya hospital went to her home. They convinced her to start taking proper ..4....... After three months of ....5.... treatment, she regained her will to live. The AIDS time bomb .....6... on relentlessly. The World Health Organization ....7.... that 1.8 million Ugandans are HIV positive, nearly one in eight of the total population. The Ugandan AIDS Commission set up by President Museveni ..8...... the spread of the disease. However, under-porting and the lack of post-mortem and ...9..... makes it impossible to establish exact figures. No one ....10.... that it is a disaster far worse than the years of civil war.
Alice, a small fragile-looking Ugandan mother, is dying of AIDS. She lives with her son and daughter in a tin-roofed shack on the .....1... of Kampala.
Options: