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Crowdfunding, blockchain, and smart contracts in Islamic finance: Evaluating compliance with Maqasid al-Shariah.
(2026) Adekunle, Daoud Balogun
The rapid advancement of financial technology (FinTech) offers significant opportunities to strengthen Shariah-compliant financial systems through innovations such as crowdfunding, blockchain, and smart contracts. These technologies can enhance transparency, governance, and financial inclusion in line with the ethical and socio-economic objectives of Maqasid al-Shariah. This study systematically reviews how Islamic FinTech innovations are designed, implemented, and governed, and how they contribute to key maqasid objectives, particularly justice, transparency, and inclusive finance. A systematic literature review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Thirty-six peer reviewed conceptual, empirical, and case-based studies were analyzed to examine the structures, applications, and governance mechanisms of Islamic FinTech solutions. The findings show that Islamic crowdfunding effectively mobilizes capital for SMEs and social-impact initiatives when based on equity and profit-sharing contracts, although governance and Shariah oversight challenges remain. Blockchain technology demonstrates strong potential to improve auditability, reduce information asymmetry, and support Shariah-compliant validation across zakat, waqf, and sukuk. Smart contracts offer promise in automating permissible transactions and strengthening compliance, but require careful jurisprudential design to maintain contractual intent and flexibility. Collectively, these technologies advance maqasid objectives such as wealth protection, justice, equitable distribution, and financial inclusion, subject to regulatory harmonization and robust Shariah governance. The study provides a consolidated maqasid-oriented synthesis of Islamic FinTech research, highlighting gaps in empirical validation and maqasid-based evaluation frameworks. The findings inform regulators, Islamic financial institutions, and FinTech developers seeking to design ethical, inclusive, and transparent Shariah-compliant financial systems.
An Analysis of Public Relation Paradigm, Trust and Institutional Performance among Selected Public Organizations in Nigeria.
(2025) Adekunle, Daoud Balogun
The focus of this study was to examine the public relations management practices in selected public organizations in Nigeria, with a focus on the role of public relations (PR) practices, strategies, and their influence on public trust and organizational performance. Anchored on Excellence Theory and Relationship Management Theory, the study has conceptualized PR as a communicative governance mechanism central to legitimacy, accountability, and citizen engagement. A descriptive survey design was utilised to collect quantitative data from 150 purposively selected respondents across ten public organisations with established PR units. Instruments for data collection included a structured questionnaire, and responses were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling via SPSS. The findings revealed that public organizations rely heavily on press releases and social media platforms as dominant PR tools, while community outreach and crisis communication were inconsistently applied. PR strategies were found to align with organizational goals and enhance public image, yet were undermined by weak monitoring, underfunding, and political interference. The study further established that timely responses, transparency, and honest crisis communication significantly enhance public trust, although inclusiveness, particularly towards marginalized groups, remained limited. The study concluded that the institutionalization of PR as a strategic function of governance, underpinned by ethical leadership, requisite resources, and evaluation of performance, can improve the indices of trusts, transparency, and efficiency in the public sector. It recommended that public organizations should strengthen crisis communication and community engagement, and improve inclusiveness in PR practices. The research contributes to the global discourse on communication governance by bridging the Western theoretical model and African empirical realities, offering evidence-based policy insights for strengthening institutional legitimacy and citizen-centered administration.
Child Labour Practice and the Legal Perspectives: The Nigerian Public Sector Corruption as Antecedent
(2024) Adekunle, Daoud Balogun
Children are born to this world to enjoy parental care till the age of maturity when they are able to decide rationally on their choices in life. Therefore, the purpose of this study investigates the legal perspective against Child labour, one of the factors that prevents children’s access to education attainment that left them with no option than to serve under the forced labour. It also examines the effect of the prevailing corrupt political system in Nigeria as one of the major factors, it also explores global and regional legal frameworks preventing child labour and measures for eradication. The study is library research that makes use of international and domestic law doctrines. The future of the young segment of the society has no direction under corrupt leadership that may have devoured the national resources before the children come of age and consequently leave the society with no option than to be heavily involved in odd jobs to survive. This paper examines and exposes the practical implication of the role the poor governance, under a weak leadership play in thwarting the future of intelligent, ambitious and potentially reliable children due to poor education and failure of social policy implementation. The theory is based on the fact that the work is exploitative in nature, while the parents of the children in child labour lacks the true information as to the nature of the work. The theory established that the worst form of poverty is the driven force that pushed the children to child labour and must be critically addressed by the policymakers to phase out child labour phenomenon. Research found that majority of the factors that responsible for the engagement of the children in child labour are endlessly found within the government’s faulty policy perspectives. All the studied factors are within the possible control of the concerned countries’ leadership, even when parents living in abject poverty agreed to off children for child labour to sustain the family.
Exploring Denial Strategies against Climate Change across Agents and Media Platforms
(2022) Adekunle, Daoud Balogun
Climate change represents a highly detrimental issue with long-term undesirable consequences on global humanity. Whilst concerted efforts are being made to curtail the effects of climate change, disinformation continues to be a significant obstacle to meaningful actions. Therefore, via content analysis, this study aims to explore the strategies employed by agents to deny the scientific evidence of climate change across media platforms. The data were gathered from a sample of two Malaysian online newspapers: The Star and New Straits Times. A total of 124 articles on climate change disinformation were gathered from the digital archives of the selected newspapers between August 2015 and October 2021 using “disinformation” and “climate change” as keywords. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test. The findings revealed that politicians, organizations, and anonymous agencies use more strategies to deny climate change compared with other agents such as academics, business tycoons, and celebrities. Additionally, social media, broadcast media, and online news represent the most frequently used platforms to deny climate change. These outcomes suggest the critical role of politics in sabotaging the efforts against climate change disinformation. This study could provide governments and activists with useful information to help mitigate disinformation against climate change.
Good Governance and the use of Social Networks for Agribusiness in Nigeria
(2021) Adekunle, Daoud Balogun
The world population increases rapidly, and hence food supply, proportional to the need of the teeming population, remains a critical challenge confronting stakeholders. Thus, there is a need to develop strategies to boost agriculture, and this course must be planned, arranged, tested, evaluated, and implemented. In this context, good governance and the use of social networks are proven to make a tremendous contribution in boosting agricultural outputs. Nigeria was an agro-based nation until oil products were discovered in the middle of the 1950s. This discovery led to the country’s over-dependence on oil products, which negatively altered its level of food production. However, the current administration is determined to “diversify the country’s oil-denominated economy by investing more in agriculture and encouraging farming. Thus, this paper discusses how good governance and the use of social networks can help promote agribusiness in the Nigerian context. Discussion of this kind is crucial as good governance determines the success or failure of a given nation, and society depends, to a certain extent, on the media for information about various aspects of life, including agriculture. The outcomes of this study are expected to advance our knowledge and suggest further evidence-based research on good governance and the use of social media for agribusiness promotion.