ABSTRACT. Currently in Nigeria, The Federal Government has unveiled its plan to link each citizen’s bank verification number (BVN) with their national identity card data and driver’s license data in the year 2016, by producing a unified multi-purpose e-ID card for each citizen. This paper proposes that a citizen’s secured healthcare information should be integrated with the upcoming unified multi-purpose e-ID card. This would be helpful particularly in administering better and faster point-of-care health services to road accident victims. The Nigerian FRSC (Federal Road Safety Corps) officials that are stationed at various intervals of the federal high ways usually have a team of healthcare emergency responders with them, to administer first aid treatment to the accident victims before moving them to the nearest hospital. Smart unified card implementations would be adopted to secure access to cloud-based health information systems so as to protect the citizen’s health information. Therefore only authorized emergency responders will use the unified card to access the health information stored on a server in the cloud, by swiping the card or finger print of the victim on their card reader. The emergency responders will be given permission to access only necessary information that will be useful to them, and if there be need for more detailed information the victim’s personal healthcare provider or doctor can be contacted. In this proposal, we consider the implementation, operation, and, security and privacy implications of integrating health information with the National multipurpose e-ID card.

ABSTRACT. Abstract The intolerance that triggered genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s looms in many other parts of Africa. What often begins as mild expressions of dislike easily develop into institutionalized discrimination, psychological trauma, physical abuse, and hate crimes and brutal killings. Xenophobia is not a recent phenomenon; the South African society is a fragile society coming from the apartheid area of humiliation, suffering, extreme discriminations against the blacks. The blacks in South Africa were subjected to abject poverty, denial of basic needs. The literature is exhaustive on violent manifestations of xenophobia, but there is a dearth of studies on the impacts of Xenophobia on the Migrants. The more recent history of South Africa’s xenophobia can be traced to the transition from apartheid to a democratic government. In 1994, the freedom felt within South Africa came with the ideology that the country must be protected from “outsiders”. In light of South Africa’s history, it is expected that the country needed to put its citizens first in line for transformation and change. However, the closed-door migration policies, sluggish development and increase in poverty and inequality have provided a breeding ground for xenophobia.South African policy responses to migration have failed to grasp the bigger picture, focusing only on specific issues and overlooking important linkages between such related areas as the “brain drain” phenomenon, increasing inequality among citizens, unemployment and HIV/AIDS. A comprehensive overview of regional migration and its implications for South Africa is lacking, and much needed.This study examines the xenophobic attacks on African migrants and its impacts on the economic development on these migrants. The analytic method which is qualitative in nature, relying on facts and figures, histories from scholarly articles, books and newspaper will be used to make valid conclusions and generalizations.

Keywords: Xenophobia, Migration, Economic Development, South Africa.

ABSTRACT. This study explored the effect of varying concentrations of Aloe vera gel on rat liver mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) in vitro and in vivo. Twenty-five male Wistar strain albino rats ranging between 120-140 g were grouped into five of four animals for the in vivo and the remaining five employed for the in vitro analysis. A solution of anhydrous CaCl2 was used as a triggering agent to induce mitochondrial swelling and spermine for the reversal of calcium-induced pore opening. The in vitro analysis utilized solutions with 20 g/ml, 40 g/ml, 60 g/ml, 100 g/ml and 140 g/ml concentrations of A. vera gel to assess mitochondrial swelling in the presence and absence of calcium. The animals in groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 for the in vivo experiment were treated via oral administration for thirty days with 1, 2, 2.5 and 3g/kg bodyweight A. vera gel respectively while the control group (group 1) was given distilled water. The animals were sacrificed via cervical dislocation and respective liver tissues rapidly excised, homogenized in buffer at 4 oC and prepared for mitochondrial isolation and swelling assay. Mitochondrial permeability transition was determined spectrophotometrically as a measure of decrease in absorbance within the time space of 12 minutes and swelling rate quantified as ∆A540/min/mg. The assessment was carried out in triplicates. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed between the mean changes in absorbance of untreated (control) rats and Aloe vera gel-treated rats; whereas a significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed when compared with calcium-induced mitochondria. A. vera gel did not open rat liver MPT pore in the absence of calcium, neither reversed the opening of the pore in its presence. This implies that the A. vera gel has the potential of maintaining the integrity of the mitochondrial membrane in the absence of exogenous calcium and excessive oxidants.

ABSTRACT. This paper is a product of popular demand of individual subscribers, corporate organizations and small or medium scaled businesses in Nigeria and Africa at large on how to improve call quality and mobile numbers’ availability. It is a common experience to find it very difficult if not impossible to make or receive calls in a busy environment such as market places or large gatherings like Shiloh, Congress, Conventions, etc. This work presents a lasting solution to the menace. It begins with detailed information about the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) processes, the mode of operation and further explains the call making (call setup) process including Handover processes and its effects, frequency partitioning, dynamic and fixed frequency assignment techniques. It continues by extensively reviewing already existing cell capacity enhancement techniques; comparing their merits as well as short falls. Finally, it offers the solution of deploying the software that will have the capability of monitoring the entire network in real time. Aside real time network monitoring; the program will also execute other functions such as cell capacity determination, frequency threshold setting and frequency usage among other network functions.

ABSTRACT. Pipelines exist for the transport of crude and refined petroleum, fuels - such as oil, natural gas and biofuels - and other fluids including sewage, slurry, water, and beer. With its infrastructures vastly distributed across Nigeria, to ensure continuous supply at the places needed, the monitoring of these pipelines for protection and operational safety has become very important given the numerous cases of vandalization and crude-oil theft. This has proven to be a challenging task considering the numerous security infrastructures and agents required, hence expensive in nature.

Despite the Oil and gas operator’s and Government’s efforts to deploy military personnel to these pipeline pathways, there is hardly any record of the reduction in rate at which vandalization occurs. When oil pipelines are attacked, it’s very hard for the security agents to take prompt action because of their location in distant or riverine areas, being inaccessible, and sometimes too secluded for them to even notice immediately that the pipelines are being vandalized or tampered with.

The author has proposed the solution of using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for real-time monitoring and surveillance of the entire pipeline network. The overall aim is to build a drone that acts as a surveillance system and reacts to attacks on above-ground oil pipelines, majorly for areas not easily accessible by security personnel.

This paper presents the practical use of a pipeline monitoring system in conjunction with a Quadcopter, all programmed to monitor oil pipelines in Nigeria. The pipeline monitoring system comprises of sensors and a GPS module. It works by sensing of attacks (excessive impact on the body of the pipeline), once it determines that the impact is enough to be considered as an attack, it sends a message to the control center. The message consists of the attack and the GPS coordinates. The GPS coordinates can then be used to direct the quadcopter to fly to that location autonomously and inspect and report via a live video feed.

This system provides a working method to monitor pipelines and have a first response solution to the problems of vandalization and crude-oil theft of pipelines in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT. With the advent of the Internet comes not only the opportunity to send and receive data from our peers or fellow humans, but also the opportunity to send and receive data from our devices. This concept is known as the concept of Internet of things (IoT), and it proposes immense opportunities, part of which can be applied to solving the growing issue of power/energy management. The consumption of electricity has skyrocketed in recent years, and methods which are costly and of harm to the environment are also mostly used in electricity generation. Therefore, energy management and efficiency is of utmost importance to improve the power sector of any economy. A solution to the growing issue of energy monitoring and management is a cheap and smart electricity socket that could show the users the amount of energy they spend at every point in time for each of their devices (in monetary terms). The socket allows users to set limits to their power usage by switching their devices on and off remotely. A database of home appliances is also worked on to enable awareness on the various energy profiles for different devices and appliances and proffer energy efficient alternatives to such devices based on usage and region, using intelligent web systems. The Smart Socket makes use of the IoT concept of Smart Metering to measure key energy consumption data and will send instantaneous data to a web server to be saved to a database and accessed by permitted users. This project primarily addresses the need for access to data and proper information in making informed decisions concerning energy management and usage.

ABSTRACT. David Arinze ⃰ 1 Adisa Adelakun ⃰ 2 Electrical and Information Engineering Electrical and Information Engineering Covenant University Covenant University Ota, Nigeria Ota, Nigeria david.arinze@covenantuniversity.edu.ng adisa.adelakun@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

In our world today with growing global concerns about climate change and global warming, the need to reduce carbon emissions from the transport sector cannot be overemphasized especially in populous developing countries of the world, where the petrol-powered passenger tricycle with its high-carbon emissions is a common means of commercial transport for the masses.

The paper analyses the design of an electric solar-powered tricycle for use as a commercial means of transportation. The tricycle uses an electric brushless direct current motor connected to the rear wheels of the tricycle using the chain and sprocket mechanism. This motor is powered by direct current from the battery bank. The battery bank is charged via a commercial solar trike-port designed and installed solely for this purpose; and also compensated via a solar PV system directly installed on the roof of the tricycle. This enables the panel to charge the battery bank while the tricycle is in motion. The tricycle also employs the regenerative braking system which also charges the battery every time the brake is initiated. These sources of energy that are employed to recharge the battery bank, help ensure there’s zero carbon emission and If effectively deployed, an estimated 32tonnes of CO2 emissions is calculated to be the CO2 savings effected by this energy system annually.

Conclusively, this paper addresses the need to provide a sustainable and affordable solution to commercial passenger transportation in developing countries of the world.

ABSTRACT. A culture of diversity maximizes different perspectives, ideas, and personalities and takes advantage of inclusion, in order to tap into the best of the talent base; thereby fostering innovation and attaining differentiated value for all stakeholders. A truly inclusive sphere of influence is attained where diversity is an integral part of the organisation’s building block, thus making the most of each individual’s strength in attaining the entire big picture. It is about an environment where each individual is able to fulfill their potential and maximize their contributions whilst valuing, supporting and respecting differences. It is an atmosphere where individuals are acknowledged and valued for the different perspectives, ideas and experiences that they bring to the workplace. The new digital economy is where everyone and everything in society is connected to a network, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and it improves the efficiency of how networks are built and operated. An inclusive environment maximizes its workforce diversity as it fosters innovation and technological advancement to attain a networked society, where every person and every industry is empowered to reach their full potential. The Networked Society enhances the transformational power of ICT to spur socio-economic development, promote responsible career and business practices, as it takes advantage of diverse work place experiences that have an inclusive culture. Inclusive engagement of all workforces especially the female workforce can improve a company's financial base, as diversity is maximized through a shared vision and value system, amidst differences in personalities and perspectives. Inclusion is a corporate responsibility for any trans-generational organization that wants to remain relevant and sustain its essence in a highly competitive environment. This can be attained by these (just to mention a few): • Acquiring and managing talents with a good and unbiased succession plan • Engaging the workforce, especially the female workforce in order to promote gender diversity at advanced educational and career levels where the percentage of high profile individuals include women • Reaching out to young girls to improve their ICT skills and advance their education in order to tap into a rich depth of unimaginable talents and skills. • Making the most of collective mixture of individuals, cultures and experiences that spurs innovation and delivers high performance results in order to beat the competition in the sphere of influence.

In a truly networked society, more connections, more communication, more function, and new behaviors; shape the future, create a positive legacy for generations to come as the fundamentals of diversity and inclusion continually form the building blocks for its sustainability.

ABSTRACT. To evaluate the technical feasibilities study of setting up a compressed natural gas mother station in an urban area such as Ilasamaja in Lagos state. This is because of the unharnessed gas in the country and the increasing demand for natural gas. This was done by meeting certain requirements: procurement and contract strategy, surveys and geotechnical/soil investigation studies, design and engineering management, materials procurement, construction management, technical assistance during installation, obtaining the necessary licenses and permit, commissioning and initial operation, training and knowledge transfer. With these requirements met, in Setting up a 150,000 SCMD compressed natural gas mother station the quantity of certain equipment was deduced in order to achieve the desired capacity of the station and the impacts of setting it up. The implementation of the engineering specifications and mitigation measures would enhance reduction of risks associated with natural gas utilization.

ABSTRACT. The need to support the small and medium scale industries involved in palm kernels, led to the design, fabrication and evaluation of a horizontal shaft palm kernel cracking machine. All the materials were sourced locally in Nigeria which makes it affordable for small and medium scale farmers involved with palm kernel. The basic features of the machine include a horizontal shaft, hopper, cracking chamber, pulleys, bearings with housing, discharge outlet and electric motor (prime mover). The mean efficiency of the machine under good operating conditions is 75.5 %. The production cost of the machine excluding electric motor was estimated to be one hundred and fifty-one dollar forty six cent (US$151.46), based on the exchange rate when it was manufactured. The cost can further be reduced, if mass-produced.

ABSTRACT. Wearing Personal protection gear primarily for safety is a basic requirement in riding two-wheel vehicles with Helmet being the most important of them. The continuing avoidance of the use of helmet among Nigerian motorcycle riders calls for investigative studies on its user friendliness and sustainability. This study investigates the effect of available makes of helmet on riders’ comfort, safety and attitude towards the use of the protective gear in the study area. Five nodal points were identified for testing of temperature change with time of riding business and the effect on performance and riding behaviour. Riders’ awareness of safety rule and level of compliance were investigated. Unavailability of adequate variety of helmet and attitudinal challenges were observed to have significant effect on the safety and performance of business riders of motorcycle in Nigeria. Development of effective anthropometry database was suggested for the design and production adequate

ABSTRACT. The consideration of facility engineering principles in the design of sustainable workstations in manufacturing industries remains inadequate with the increasing intensity of observed misfit between facility arrangement and human demand for comfort, safety and effective operation of work system. Associated with these inadequacies are the problems resulting from improper workplace design, ill structured jobs, chaotic workplace, adverse environment, poor human-machine system design and inappropriate management programmes. This study investigates the work related health hazards among fabrication workers in Nigeria. Participatory Ergonomic Intervention Approach (PEIA) and analytical approaches were employed to drive the investigation towards achieving a safe, productive and ergonomic workstation which provides significant shift in the existing paradigm in metal fabrication industry. Poor work posture such as bending, twisting, over reaching, kneeling, under hazardous environment of heat, noise, smoke, dust and optical radiation were identified as hindrances to effective operation. Likewise, health related issues as neck pain, back pain, wrist pain, knee pain, leg muscle cramp, elbow and shoulder pain with wrist pain assume significant prevalence accounting for 29% of the workforce. The study established standard anthropometric dimensions for the construction of assembly workstation for metal fabrication industry. The improved workstation boosted workers’ morale, reduced Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorder (WRMD) and enhanced productivity.

ABSTRACT. It is a generally acknowledged fact that African nations are largely dependent on industrialized, and mostly, developed nations for machineries needed by industries for the production of consumer goods from primary and secondary raw materials. This contributes in no small measures, to the pressure on the external reserves of these nations that are in the main, poor, and barely developing. This is despite the fact that African nations are blessed with an abundance of primary raw materials, and without doubt, most, like Nigeria, with engineering manpower of different specialities that have not be galvanized to tackle the obvious challenge of lack of modern, indigenous, raw materials processing machineries; designed, developed, implemented, tested and manufactured in Africa, and for use in Africa and elsewhere outside Africa. The purpose of this paper is to highlight to industry and academic based engineering professionals that no doubt, has the onerous burden of tackling this challenge for Africa, the need for, concerted, multi-disciplinary, raw materials processing machineries project teams’, targeted at machineries for processing various raw materials to consumer goods, and other secondary raw materials. The nature of the team-based approach to needs’ realization is well explained and illustrated in the paper.

ABSTRACT. ABSTRACT

Africa is blessed with renewable resources that can be harnessed for sustainable energy. It is becoming increasingly needful to take advantage of these resources, especially as it relates to electricity supply. Electricity availability has been closely linked with economic growth in many countries. Yet, many rural communities do not even have electricity supply of any form and many urban areas do not have a reliable electricity supply. Microgrids have been proposed as a solution to these challenges.

Microgrids provide a platform to integrate several Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) using centralized control. African Communities can take advantage of their abundant resources by using Distributed Generation that can be fuelled by locally available materials. Solar energy, wind energy and biomass abound in many communities for localized electricity generation with backups from fossil fuel generation like commonly available diesel and petrol generators. An important element of DERs is Energy Storage which can be used to store energy at low-demand periods for later use during high-demand periods and also for emergencies. Microgrids also incorporate Energy Management Systems to promote energy efficiency.

Microgrids have been installed in many parts of the world with high success rates. Governments can take advantage of Microgrids for Rural Electrification projects without incurring significant Transmission and Distribution costs associated with large scale power systems. The benefits of Microgrids are numerous and they can be designed to meet specific community needs.

This paper explores Microgrid applicability in African countries and the use of renewable resources for electricity generation to facilitate a sustainable energy future.

ABSTRACT. Current manually operated gates at the railway cross levels of developing countries are stressful and time wasting. This has exposed pedestrians to high rate of accident resulting to loss of lives and drastic reduction of the country’s economy. Different systems have been developed to prevent rail accidents at the level crossing but they are not effective and in most cases are too expensive to implement. This study presents a prototype model of an intelligent railway cross level gates and signaling system using Mamdani fuzzy logic control technique. The intelligent system has the ability to detect the arrival/departure of a train and close/open the cross level gates respectively. The system response was evaluated with respect to time. The results after the evaluation of the developed system showed that the system with fuzzy intelligent control technique has a high response with respect to time compared to a system without an intelligent technique. The large scale implementation of the developed intelligent railway cross-level gate and signaling system can be used to prevent avoidable accident occurrence at the level crossings and thus, reduces loss of lives as well as improvement of the nation’s economy through efficient delivery of goods and services in Africa.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the relationship between bank credit and income inequality in Africa using data from a sample of 43 African countries selected from Central Africa, East Africa, South Africa and West African sub-regions over the period 2000-2013. Gini index was adopted as proxy for income inequality (dependent variable) while ratio of bank credit to deposit, liquidity (% of GDP), ratio of financial sector deposits to GDP, ratio of private sector credit to GDP (financial variables) and GDP per capita, government expenditure, trade openness, population, inflation and corruption (control variables) were adopted as independent variables. Quantitative research technique based on ex post facto design was adopted for the study. Econometric method based on pooled ordinary least squares estimation method was used for data analysis. The study shows that all the financial variables have significant negative effect on income inequality in Africa. This implies that enhanced access to credit, particularly by the poor and financially vulnerable economic units significantly reduces income disparity. For the control variables, the results are mixed. There is evidence of significant positive impact of GDP on inequality in Africa; an indication that at higher levels of GDP, the inequality gap widens. Also, the estimated coefficient for government spending is positive and statistically significant indicating that a rise in government spending is associated with higher level of inequality. Another important finding is that trade openness is negative and statistically significant. This result suggests that barriers to trade should be dismantled in order to reduce inequality in Africa. The study further reveals a significant positive effect of population on income inequality, implying that increase in population exacerbates income inequality. There is evidence that corruption index has a significant negative impact on income inequality. This suggests that policies designed to eradicate or minimise corruption will also improve income distribution. With respect to the sub-regions, East Africa, Central Africa and South Africa (SA) are all statistically significant. The parameter estimates were based on 1 per cent level of significance. The findings suggest that the adverse distributional consequences of income inequality can be mitigated through adequate financial reforms that promote enhanced credit flow. It is therefore recommended that policies on financial inclusion be implemented in order to reach out to the unbanked, particularly in the rural areas, while access to credit, by the poor and financially vulnerable group should be enhanced. In addition, institutional reforms, export promotion and population control is recommended as antidote to the widening income gap in the continent.

ABSTRACT. The term development is generally linked to growth, evolution, implying a favorable change, a step from the simple to complex, from inferior to superior from worse to better. The rising influence of Soviet Union forced USA President Truman to come up with a vision of development that would engage the loyalty of the decolonizing countries in order to sustain his struggle against communism. Since 1949 the term development was popularized to describe a process whereby newly independent, developing countries were to be transformed into modern societies. But the meaning of development and its changes in the course of time have practical implications, for it involves a certain development paradigm that explains the causes of underdevelopment and defines modalities to achieve development. Theoretical analysis of development economics produced three major paradigms: To the original modernization paradigm, the hegemonic paradigm up until the 1960s, opposed the dependency theory formed in the 1950s by economists associated with the UN Economic Commission for Latin America. Both focused on economic development, identified with economic growth and promoted economic development on the assumption that other aspects of development will follow. Both were replaced in the 1990s by the human development approach. Development is one of the four principal pillars of the United Nations' activity. Already in 1945, the UN Charter indicated the determination to promote social progress and better standards for life in larger social freedom. The UN activities in relation to development include the gradual establishment of an institutional framework to assist developing countries as well as programs aiming at achieving particular goals of development of developed countries. Our paper examines the evolution of the UN programs for development in the light of the three paradigms aforementioned. In particular, we examine the content of successive UN General Assembly Resolutions, beginning from the First Development Decade to the Millennium Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in order to define the development paradigm that served as source of inspiration for the objectives and the policy measures recommended by the UN. In our analysis, we argue that until the 1970s, the UN focused on industrialization and planning in line with the modernization paradigm even though at times a number of policies were inspired by the dependency paradigm. The bitter experience of the 1980s, the so-called lost decade for development led to a new approach. Development policies promoted by the UN since the Fourth Development Decade clearly subscribe to the human development approach.

ABSTRACT. Gender-based violence started gaining national and international attention and concern since the 1990s due to its effects on pregnancy outcomes, and the physical, emotional, and psychological state of the victim. The increasing attention and interests on this behavior led to the United Nations General Assembly declaration on total elimination of violence against women. Intimate partner violence is a type of gender-based violence that occurs among males and females who have intimate relationships either as husbands and wives, or are in cohabiting relationship. This paper examines factors likely to influence gender-based violence and effects on pregnancy outcomes among males and females in intimate relationships in Nigeria. The study used the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) couple data set of 8658 couples aged 15-49. Analysis employed univariate, bivariate, and multivariate techniques i.e. binary logistics regression. Pregnancy outcome, measured as either live birth or stillbirth is the ultimate dependent variable. Explanatory factors are of two types (1) intervening factors are, physical, sexual, and emotional violence, and (2) background factors including age, residence, education, employment status, and religion among others. The results showed that region, employment status, religion and partner’s age were significant factors explaining emotional, sexual, and physical violence among couples (p<0.05) while physical violence and emotional violence were significant factors predicting pregnancy outcome of either a live birth or still birth (P<0.05). The odds of having a terminated pregnancy was higher among women in south east and south west and also with women who are not working, while the odds of emotional breakdown is higher among women who’s spouses are in the older ages and those in other religion. These findings have significant implications for policy and programmes geared to improve on gender equity, and reproductive health of women in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT. Nigeria is among a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa with consistently low contraceptive use of 15% among married women whose average fertility rate is 5.5 from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) report. The NDHS report showed that while fertility rate of 5.5 in 2013 was a slight drop from previous years of 5.7 in 2003 and 2008, contraceptive use has experienced only a gradual increase of 2% from 2003 figures. This study examines the relationships between socio-demographic factors influencing contraceptive use of married women and how this affects their fertility preferences now and in the future. The study used the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data sets. Analysis employed univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analytical techniques. Initial findings show that contraceptive use was significantly associated with age of women, residence, educational level, wealth index, age at first sex, and state of respondent in the region (p-values = 0.000). Also, contraceptive use was varied significantly by religion (p-value = 0.002). Future policy and programming effectiveness will need to consider these factors to improve contraceptive use among women in the region.

ABSTRACT. Every day in developing countries, 20,000 girls under age 18 give birth. On yearly basis, tens of thousands die of causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Asides leading these young ones to their early grave, adolescent fertility has consequences on the level of educational attainment, health status of their children, their social and economic status and on the macro environment both in the short run and in the long run. This study investigates the trend of adolescent fertility (number of live births of females ages 10-19) in Nigeria in three successive years, 2003, 2008 and 2013, using pooled survey data by the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The study also examines the effects of adolescent’s level of educational attainment, income level of parents and place of residence as factors that may have influenced this trend. These objectives are to be achieved using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) econometric approach. From its findings, this study intends to provide policy recommendations which will curb this menace in the Nigerian society, therefore tremendously improving our economy.

ABSTRACT. Globalisation and its attendant consequences have become raving issues that have far reaching effect on nations’ sustainable development from gender perspective. Cognisance of the pillars of sustainable development (economic, environment and social) is relevant to discussions of gender equality and invariably to achieve sustainable development, gender equality is a pre-requisite. An important element of sustainable development is the need to manage the natural resource base on which human activity depends, but different responsibilities imposed by societies on females and males have implications for how they interact with their local environment. Socially-constructed roles of men and women clearly manifest in lifestyles, consumption patterns, access to resources and power, decision-making and environmental effects (including climatic change). Hence, reducing poverty today, without causing environmental degradation, social and economic inequality tomorrow is sustainable where gender-based differences are recognised and harmonised. The study adopted the review of secondary data and information in exploring gender issues within and across the economic, social, and environ¬mental facets of sustainable development, emphasizing the need to draw on both women’s and men’s perspectives to inform the green economy. Subsequently, it advocates that investing in women and girls (in all its ramifications) and supporting their specific needs as entrepreneurs, workers, home-based producers and consumers, and drivers of low-emission climate-resilient economies will enhance gender equality and achieve more sustainable development. This is obviously steps in the right direction as it accelerates progress towards achieving the millennium development goals and the sustainable development framework that confronts the discriminatory social norms and practices inherent in gender inequality. The study contributes to knowledge in the fields of environment, sustainable development and gender studies where furtherance of gender-responsive policy focus, planning and implementation is the major thrust.

ABSTRACT. The study examines the relationship between the board of directors’ gender diversity and tax aggressiveness of selected firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Using cross-sectional survey research design as the blue print for data collection in this study, data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 21. The results shows that firms that possess female directors’ exhibit lower degree of tax aggressiveness after controlling for firm characteristics and governance mechanisms. In addition, it was observed that the board size of firms with female directors is not significantly associated with the level of tax aggressive behaviour. The results are consistent with the ‘women risk aversion’ theory which stipulates that gender diversity through a varied risk attitude can influence corporate decisions of firms. Based on the result of this study several recommendations were made, amongst which was that companies should be encouraged, or otherwise mandated, to incur the services of women as board members to harness their expected benefits.

ABSTRACT. Historically, women had been subjected to serious marginalization in the male dominated patriarchal society. Discriminatory and stereotyped cultural practices accompanied by weak legal frameworks had a significant place in the women’s suffer. The current regime of Ethiopia has been aggressively working in the revision and enactment of several laws and policies so as to ensure the protection of the rights of women. Nevertheless, the change brought has not been satisfactory. The deeply rooted stereotype perception and bad cultural practices remained to pose challenges in the protection and promotion of women’s rights. There is also awareness gap especially in the rural areas pertaining to the rights of women. Besides, lack of uniformity among family laws of the country continues to contribute for the domination of women. Moreover, lack of capacity of women’s institutional machineries has also contributed to the prevailing problems. Thus, though the laws of the country are informed by the principle of gender equality women are still subject to serious violations of their rights. The study, therefore, calls for strong commitment of the government in the practical implementation of women’s rights, to modify such bad culture to be friendly with women’s rights, to undertake awareness campaign, to encourage regional states to make laws in line with the federal family law and to build the capacity of women’s institutional machineries.

ABSTRACT. Low income earners constitute a large percentage of the Nigeria’s population. With this high percentage there is a need to assess the mobility dynamics of these unique income earners because mobility is one of the most essential needs of human. This study elucidates the germane factors affecting the modal choice of low income household in Nigeria with special focus on the female gender in Okene, Kogi state. To achieve this descriptive study, questionnaires were distributed to respondents in the study area using 1 in 15 dwelling units. It was buttressed with the use of focus group discussion method and the open data from national population commission was also adopted as a source of secondary data. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, trip pattern, modal split and frequency of trips were analyzed with the aid of statistical tools. Female gender showed the highest frequency of trip and per capita trip with 64% and 6.8 respectively. The regression analysis showed a positive correlation between income and modal split. This will aid government at all levels in providing an effective and sustainable mass transit scheme to cater for the high density residential dwellers with special focus on the female gender.

ABSTRACT. Science is the key to technological and economic development of a society. Over time, science field has been a male dominated branch of study. Advancing women equality in this field of study will influence the world’s economy positively. Assessment of gender parity index in tertiary institutions is a tool that will enable the recruitment of female students into the sciences. Ten (10) years of undergraduate and five (5) years of postgraduate students data of Covenant University were used for this study. It was observed that more female opted for biological sciences. The total number of female science students was found to range from 5.0-14.8 %, 6.5-36.7 % and 9.1-50.0 % for first, second and doctorate degree respectively. The result showed 90 % disparity in favour of males for science undergraduate students, 40 % disparity for masters and 90 % for doctorates’ students. Strategies to win more female into the sciences should be encouraged.

ABSTRACT. The central objective of this study is to uncover the role of empowering women and achieving gender equality to the sustainable development of Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, the researcher employed qualitative methodology, with secondary sources as instruments of data collection mainly books, journal articles, unpublished materials and websites. Based on the data analyzed, findings of the study show that the role of women across different dimensions of sustainable development is less reflected in the country. Accordingly, the use of women’s labor force in the economic development of the country is minimal. Political sphere of the country is by and large reserved for men alone. The place of women in the society is also relegated thereby contributing minimal to the social development of the country. Besides, women’s rights are not properly being protected to participate in various issues of their country, rather subjected to abysmal violation records. Moreover, women are highly affected by environmental problems and less emphasis is given to their participation for the protection thereto. The researcher concluded that unless women are empowered and gender equality is achieved to play their role across economic, social, political, environmental areas, the country will not bring sustainable development with the recognition of men’s participation alone in all areas. The fact that women constitute half of the entire population of the country makes empowering them a compelling circumstance to be active part of all the development initiatives of the country. Hence, the paper calls for the strong commitment of the government to empower women and utilize all potentials of the country to bring sustainable development.

ABSTRACT. Evidence from the literature show that in developed countries where considerable proportion of women participation in the labor force, total fertility and population growth rate are considerably low. This is in sharp contrast to most less developed countries like Nigeria where women’s involvement in the labor force is low, and total fertility and growth rate are both consistently high. This study examines the relationships between factors influencing the relationships between women’s involvement in the labour force and fertility preferences with focus on south-south region of Nigeria. The study employed the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data sets. Analysis applied univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analytical techniques. Preliminary results show that current working status of women in the region vary significantly by age, education, no of co-wives, state of residence, and age at first sex of the respondents (p-values = 0.000). Other factors with positive significant association with current work status are; religion (p-value = 0.034), and wealth index (p-value = 0.030). Earnings of women in the south-south region of the country were significantly associated with age, residence, education, religion, wealth index state of residence, and age at first sex (p-values = 0.000). These results have importance significance for policy and programmes geared to increase women’s labour market involvement in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT. Many of the studies by social scientists had established the relationship between socioeconomic factors and under-five mortality in developing countries, while researchers in the medical sciences had also established the effects of maternal/biological factors on under-five mortality and found significant relationships for many of such factors. Whereas socioeconomic factors exert indirect effects on under-five mortality, the maternal and biological factors exert more direct effects on under-five mortality. But only few studies have tried to examine how the socioeconomic factors could operate through the more direct factors to influence under-five mortality. Among one of such direct factors is spacing of births. Birth spacing (or interval) is an important predictor of child survival. A short interval between births has a negative impact on child survival. This is because, mothers that waited for about 2 years or more before having the next baby would have regained most body nutrients and blood loss during previous pregnancy and breast feeding. The primary objective of this study is to determine the extent to which birth spacing mediate between socioeconomic factors and under-five mortality in Nigeria. The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey dataset (NDHS), 2013 was used in this study. Univariate, Bivariate and Multivariate statistical analyses were employed. The bivariate analysis examines the effect of individual background variable, and the proximate variable (i.e., unadjusted effect) on the outcome variable. The multivariate analysis examines the independent effects of the background variables on child death. Multivariate Analysis utilizes the “Binary Logistic Regression” technique. Result of the logistic regression showed that, the model without the proximate variable (i.e. Birth Spacing) had a Likelihood Ratio of 18879.80 on 11 degrees of freedom, while the model with the proximate variable had the Likelihood Ratio of 18348.32 on 14 degrees of freedom. The difference between the two models was 531.48 with a P-value of 0.0000. This is very highly significant, implying a highly significant proximate determinants of under-five mortality for those underlying variables in the study. In conclusion, our findings showed that birth-spacing is indeed a very significant proximate variable through which socioeconomic variables such as mothers’ education, age, place of residence, and wealth status influence child mortality. We must however add that birth-spacing could not have been the only proximate variable through which these socioeconomic variables influence child mortality. This is evident from the fact that these variables still maintained significant association with child mortality even in the presence of child-spacing in the model. Other biological, environmental and behavioral factors not included in the model could also have been significant proximate determinants through which the socioeconomic variables influence child mortality. However, from the findings of this study, it is obvious that any policy that can influence mothers to limit the frequency of births through appropriate spacing of births (say for 3 years) will help to minimize under-five mortality in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT. Malaria is a major public health problem associated with high mortality, morbidity rates and undue economic burden in sub-Saharan countries. Presently, every year, 300 to 500 million people suffer clinically from malaria and 90% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. About 1.5 to 3 million people die of malaria every year and 85% of these occur in Africa. One child dies of malaria somewhere in Africa every 20 second, and there is one malarial death every 12 sec somewhere in the world. This is also a damaging economic burden for these sub-Saharan Africa countries as huge work force time and resources are expended for treatment. Plasmodium falciparum (hence forth Pf) is the most severe of all the human malaria parasites. This organism is continuing to develop resistance to all known drugs and therapeutic regime. One of the mechanisms of resistance in Pf is the modification of the drug target. Hence, it is expedient to continuously discover novel drug targets in Pf and to discover or develop new drugs against such targets. Drug-able signaling pathways have been shown to have inherent mechanism capable of deterring drug resistance. Using computational techniques, we have identified some proteins in the signaling pathways of Pf as putative targets for anti-plasmodia drug. RNA pseudouridylate synthase, which also plays a key role in RNA synthesis and ribosomal function, is one of such proteins. Initial virtual screening of this enzyme against drug and chemical databases has been performed to identify compounds that can inhibit this enzyme. This led us to compounds which inhibit nucleotide metabolism. This is a work in progress whose current state is hoped for presentation at this conference. In order to determine the identified compounds IC50, the identified compounds will be screened in vitro against the enzyme. We are currently working to establish the enzyme functionally expression in E. coli and purification. Thereafter, the drugs will be screened for their anti-plasmodia activity using cultured Pf and the IC50 for each drug will be determined. In order to assess their safety, the selectivity index of compounds that showed in vitro anti-plasmodia activity will be determined using human cultured cell lines. The last stage of this study will involve screening the compounds in an in vivo mouse model of malaria. It is hoped that the result of this study will prove this enzyme as a novel target for antimalarial drug. And provide as input, critical drug targets in to our established Structure Based Drug Design (SBDD) pipeline.

ABSTRACT. All over the world there are shared concerns about the state and sustainability of environmental, economic and social dimensions of today’s and tomorrow’s world. These concerns are expressed through the concept of Sustainable Development. Sustainable production and consumption are at the centre of the journey towards sustainability. Social life cycle assessment (sLCA), a relatively new technique that is under rapid development, is one of the tools that are used to analyze social impacts of products, processes and various economic activities. More case studies and methodologies are therefore necessary to improve its reliability and relevance. In the last two decades sachet water production and consumption has become prevalent in most of the Nigerian cities. This has some environmental and socio-economic implications. In this paper, a Social Lifecycle Assessment Methodology was developed to evaluate social effects of sachet water production on workers and on the entire community where production is taking place. A case study on Sachet Water production in Sango-Ota was performed. The sLCA model was based on UNEP/SETAC guidelines and information gathered from interviews conducted. All stages in the life cycle of the product were considered. These include types and sources of materials used, how the water is processed, the packaging, distribution, consumption and final disposal of the plastic sachet. Results of such sLCA study would inform relevant companies about which aspects of their production are human friendly and where they can improve. It would also educate those who seek to produce or purchase on how to do it responsibly. Furthermore, the developed sLCA model and the case study would provide a platform for comprehensive sLCA study of a number of our economic activities in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT. Air pollution is one of the leading causes of human mortality in the world. Within a space of one year, 396,000 deaths arising from indoor air pollution (IAP) in sub-sahara Africa was reported in 2006. Besides the loss of human lives, public health challenges such as pneumonia in children, asthma, tuberculosis, upper airway cancer and cataract are caused or aggravated by IAP. A study was conducted among households in Lagos and Ogun States in order to determine risk patterns of IAP among residents through the distribution of questionnaires to 2000 households. Random sampling was adopted in the distribution of the questionnaires. A total of 1,616 responses (81% return rate) was achieved. Questions addressed include type of building, smoking habits of residents, use and location of electricity generating sets, location of cooking, cooking methods and use of alternative lighting system in the event of power failure. Results indicate that 62% of the residents live in buildings where some form of commercial activities are taking place. Also, 6.4% of the residents admit to smoking within living quarters, 9.7% use electricity generators within the building confines; about 50% use kerosene stoves for cooking; and 3.3% of the respondents cook in kitchens where there is no proper ventilation. 18.3% of the respondents used candle for lighting in closed rooms while 14.4% used palm oil lit lamps. It was concluded that the use of IAP enhancing methods of illumination and cooking within the households were informed by poverty, poor ventilation within households, security related issues. The enforcement of building codes and environmental regulations could forestall avoidable deaths in future.

ABSTRACT. Unrestricted flaring of natural gas and burning of fossil fuel (gasoline and diesel) in vehicles have contributed significantly to national CO2 with the long term impact of these activities taking its toll on the environment and human. In this paper, the current trend of gas flared, and distribution of gasoline and diesel in the country coupled with their costs were employed to investigate the potential use of natural gas as alternative transportation fuel. Also, the level of CO2 released into the environment from the consumption of the fuels (gasoline, diesel) and quantity of gas flared was considered alongside gradual reduction (33% – 1%) in the volume of gas flared in the country for the year 2014. National data on gas flared, gasoline and diesel distributed in Nigeria were sourced from bulletins on Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation website. The result obtained revealed that 33% of the volume of gas flared (3.718 billion cubic meter) in 2014 is slightly equivalent (in energy terms) to the volume of gasoline and diesel distributed in the same year. In this study, the use of the reduction in the volume of gas flared as transportation fuel led to 30% reduction in CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, and around 60% (gasoline) and 30% (diesel) decrease in the cost of fuel. With the available technology (compressed and liquefied natural gas, and gas-to-liquid), infrastructure and the huge amount of money paid as subsidy on gasoline, natural gas can be used as a tripartite tool for gas flaring and CO2 reduction, removal of fuel subsidy and availability of fuel in the country for sustainable development.

ABSTRACT. Nigeria has a vast natural resources especially forestland with the majority of its households relying on solid biomass such as charcoal and firewood as their cooking fuels. Combustion of solid biomass is a significant source of particulate and carbon monoxide emissions. However, the increasing demand and use of charcoal and firewood has led to an escalation of deforestation and the emission from the combustion of these fuels have been highly correlated to harmful health effect among other related problems. Bio-waste as an alternative fuel for cooking in Nigeria is still in its infancy and hence the need for this research. The research was carried out using binders (starch and spent oil) and biomass (rice husk and sawdust) to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) often referred to as pellets. Properties such as moisture content (%), ash content (%), tensile strength (N/mm) and higher heating value (kJ/kg) were determined for the RDF. Prior to the production of the RDF, the moisture and ash contents of rice husk and sawdust were 5.72% and 17.14%, and 15% and 10.23%, respectively. After the production of the RDF from rice husk, moisture content, ash content, higher heating value, and tensile strength of 0.908%, 11.5%, 6160.7 kJ/kg and 508.7 N/mm2 of tensile strength, respectively, were obtained. Also, for the RDF produced from sawdust, moisture content of 0.93%, ash content of 16.5%, higher heating of 7808.1 kJ/kg and tensile strength of 576.8 N/mm2 were measured. These results were found to be in agreement with previous studies on RDFs sourced from bio-wastes. Conclusively, the RDF seems to be a good substitute to wood as cooking fuel and would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus save our environment from effects of climate change.

ABSTRACT. Atmospheric aerosols pose a serious threat to environmental quality and health of the public. Several studies in Nigeria have documented the pollution levels from coarse particles but very few have elucidated the nature of the fine particles in the context of air quality index. Our investigation therefore focused on air quality index in relation to ambient fine particulate and composition of PM2.5 collected from an industrial area (IA), agricultural site (AS) and a university community (UC) in Ogun State, Nigeria. The PM2.5 samples were collected according to standard methods with environtech gravimetric sampler. The Morphology and elemental composition of PM2.5 were assessed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray system (EDX). The SEM images of fine particles indicated the following clustered groups: soot particles, alumino-silicates, silica and mixture of silica with soot. Energy dispersive X-ray spectra show the most abundant elemental composition in all samples in the order: O> Si> C>Na> Ba> Zn> Al> K> Ca. Possible source emissions of elements identified by principal component analysis are industrial processes, vehicle emissions, crustal dust, fuel-oil and biomass burning. Air quality index (AQI), for particulate pollution was calculated for each location. Fine particle pollution indices scaled from 51 to 500, reflecting six out of the seven AQI categories in varying proportions. The absence of 0 to 50 gradation representing the good AQI category is conspicuously highlighted. Results indicate that most AQI values were above 100. Possible adverse health concerns mostly for the vulnerable populations are indicated considering the unhealthy air quality state of studied locations.

ABSTRACT. Exposure to the media advertising is known to help change attitudes and behavior of a targeted population. This study examined multiple exposures to Information about Family Planning and Contraceptive use among Women in Nigeria. The study used 2013 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) data set. Data analysis included Univariate, Bivariate, and Multivariate (binary logistic regression) techniques. Bivariate analysis findings showed that exposure to family planning information via radio, television, newspapers and told at health facility are significantly related to contraceptive use in Nigeria (p-value = 0.000). Also, Contraceptive use is significantly related to women characteristic such as age, marital status, residence, region, work status, religion, education and wealth index. (P-value = 0.000). Binary logistic regression showed that show that married women who heard FP information at health facility were 1.5 times as likely as those who did not, to report using contraception, and those exposed to multiple channels of family planning information were 2.5 times as likely as those who were not exposed to use contraceptive methods. Therefore policies that encourage more qualified health workers should be put in place so as to persuade women to use contraceptive. Also, NGO and family planning programmers should make use of multiple media channel for their campaign strategy in order to increase contraceptive use in Nigeria. 

ABSTRACT. Environmental security is totally relegated in countries of West Africa. The monitoring of the aerosols loading over Bamako was the aim of this study. The outcome of our finding has salient links to food security, aviation and communication industry, thermal comfort and climate system of Bamako and Mali. Bamako is located on longitude 12.65 oN and latitude 8 oW. Fifteen years data was obtained from the multi-angled spectro-reflectometry (MISR). The aerosol loading was monitored using analytical and statistical techniques. The outcome is expected to enrich policy making in the nation of Mali.

ABSTRACT. A radiometric assessment of the activity concentrations of 238U, 235Th and 40K was conducted in covenant university dump site located about 200-400 meters behind Daniel hall. For this study the RS-125 Super Spec hand held radiation detector was used alongside a GPS to take down location coordinates. Fifteen stations were measured, in the dump site, some meters away from the dumpsite, by the sides and in front of the Daniel hall. The activity concentration of radionuclides varies from 11.42 ± 0.3 to 44.76 ± 0.2 Bq/kg with a mean value of 27.31 Bq/kg for 238U, 33.29 ± 0.8 to 213.96 ± 0.4 Bq/kg with a mean value of 69.14 Bq/kg for 252Th and 31.3 ± 0.2 to 1017.25 ± 0.6 Bq/kg with a mean value of 275.96 Bq/kg for 40K. The absorbed gamma dose rates exposed to students around the area varies from 81.56 to 442.31 nGry-1 with a mean value of 152.25 nGry-1. This value obtained was not the effect of the dup-site, rather, the radiation that are emanating from the crushed granitic rocks used for the constructions near the hostel. Comparing this present study with average world standard by the ICRP (international commission on Radiological protection) and UNSEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation) recommended standard it is within the range.This work suggest weekly evacuation for a safer environment