Utilization of wildlife resources in Nigeria

1987 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Primary purposes of this study were to determine: which wildlife species are being used by the people, in what quantity, and during what season; the effect of religion, culture, and tribal festivals on game species utilized; the game species utilized or consumed in different ecological zones; which game species and parts of wild animals are used for healing and preventive medicine in each ecological zone; and to assess the economic and recreational values of the utilized wildlife. The three ecological zones surveyed for consumptive uses of wildlife resources in Nigeria were: savanna (Bauchi, Plateau, Niger, and Kwara states), deciduous (Anambra and Bendel states), and rain forest (Oyo and Cross River states). For nonconsumptive uses, three national parks (Kainji Lake National Park, Yankari Game Reserve, and Jos Wildlife Park) and four zoological gardens (Ibadan, Jos, Enugun, and Ogba) were surveyed. Data were collected from farmers, hunters, and visitors in each of the conservation areas through a person-to-person questionnaire interview. This study confirmed that small game were the most abundant wild animals in the three zones surveyed and most of them were located in the savanna region. This study indicates that a major proportion of animal protein consumed by farmers and hunters in the regions came from wild animals. Farmers and hunters in the savanna preferred using small game (rodents) and big game (duikers) more than in the other zones. Wildlife species were used more during installation ceremonies (of a new chief, Emir, Oba, and Obis) than in other cultural festivals. In the rain forest more species were used for installation ceremonies than in any region surveyed. During Muslim festivals in Nigeria, farmers rarely used wildlife species, but some were used to supplement income. Christians used many different wild animals for religious festivals, but more were used during the Easter period in the deciduous region than the rain forest and savanna regions. Expenditures per visitor in the three national parks showed more per capita expenditures from foreigners than Nigerians. The number of nights stayed in the national parks and game reserves is the major factor in determining how much money the visitor spent

Teachers’ Psychosocial Characters and Students’ Achievement in Basic Science and Technology

Teachers plays an important role in the education of students in acquiring knowledge needed in the society they intend to live. The National Policy of Education (1981), Section 5, 32a and b dialogue on the acquisition, development and inculcation of the proper value-orientation for the survival of the individual and society; the development of the intellectual capacities of individuals to understand and appreciate their environments. It is in the view of this intention that this study aimed at examining influence of teachers’ self-efficacy, motivation and pedagogical competence on student’s academic achievement in Basic Science and Technology (BST) in Ijebu-North Local Government of Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 150 BST students from 3 schools in Ijebu North Local Government of Ogun State. The study made use of validated BST achievement test and questionnaire for self-efficacy, motivation and pedagogical competence. The results of variables of study showed significant outcomes and recommendations were made accordingly in the study i.e emphasis should be laid on teachers’ pedagogical competence in terms of training for teaching effectiveness while factors of motivation should be given adequate attention. Keywords: Psychosocial characters, self-efficacy, motivation, pedagogical competence, behaviours, communication skill, conceptual clarity, personality and psychological equanimity, achievements, Basic Science and Technolog

Enhancing the Performance of Three White-rot Fungi in the Mycoremediation of Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

Contamination of soils by petroleum hydrocarbon is on the increase, particularly in the oil producing areas of Nigeria. White-rot fungi have enzymes which are capable of turning these organic compounds into harmless substances. This work investigated the performance of three white-rot fungi (Pleurotus tuber-regium, P. ostreatus and P. pulmonarius) for the remediation of different concentrations (0, 1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 20% w/v) of crude oil contaminated soils with sawdust and poultry manure as bedding materials. Ten grammes of each of the white-rot fungi were separately inoculated in each bottle containing exhaustively cropped topsoil (200 g), rice straw (40 g) and wheat bran (20 g). Each treatment was conducted in three replicates and arranged in a 3 x 6 x 3 complete randomised design. The bottles (54) were incubated for zero, one and three months in a dark room, exposed to light, watered daily thereafter for twelve days for fruiting bodies to spring out and harvested. P. ostreatus had best agronomic performance and P. tuber-regium removed hydrocarbons and heavy metals more than either P. ostreatus or P. pulmonarius under similar experimental conditions. The yield and mycoremedial performance of the three tested white-rot fungi demonstrated potentials for cleaning-up petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil, but their performance reduced from 5.0% (w/v) crude oil substrate contamination

Discovery and Emancipation of Basic Science and Technology Students’ Behaviour from School Environment Constraints

The study investigated the school environment as one of the predictors to students’ behaviour in Basic Science and Technology. The design of the study was survey type while the population comprised (50) Basic Science and Technology teachers and (450) public and private junior secondary school students in the selected local government areas in Ogbomoso Educational zone of Oyo state. A self-developed questionnaire on School environment predictors of Students behaviour in Basic Science and Technology was prepared for data collection. The instrument was validated, a cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient method was employed to ensure the reliability of the instruments. One research question and one null hypothesis guided the study. The result were analyzed using frequency count, mean and simple percentage, while t-test statistics was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that unattractive school environment, non-availability of highly equipped library, non- availability of standard Basic Science and Technology laboratory, non-availability of necessary infrastructure like chairs, tables, chalkboard and shelves, Poor school principal’s inspection, Noisy environment, Indiscipline on the part of the principal, teachers and students, Insurgence and poor welfare condition. All these have significant effect on behaviour of Nigerian students towards Basic Science and Technology and also call for immediate emancipation for the sake of effective learning. Based on these findings, recommendations were made. Keywords: School environment, students’ behaviour and Basic science and Technolog

Scaffolding Assisted Instruction on Students’ Academic Achievement in Basic Science and Technology

The poor performance of students in the core science subjects in the senior secondary school is often traced to the faulty foundation at junior secondary school basic science and technology. The major fault with this foundation among other things is the teaching strategy the teacher adopts while teaching basic science and technology. Therefore, this study examined the effect of scaffolding instructional strategy on students’ achievement in basic science and technology. This study adopted the pretest-postest quasi experimental research design, The population of the study were all Basic Eight students in public secondary schools in Odeda Local Government in Ogun state. A total of 100 pupils formed the sample of the study. The instrument used for data collection was basic science achievement test. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and estimated marginal means. The findings revealed that students taught with scaffolding instructional strategy had a significantly better achievement than the students in the control group. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that teachers should teach basic science using scaffolding instructional strategy. Keywords: Scaffolding, Students’ academic achievement, Basic Science and technology

Electricity generation and multi-purpose applications from biogas and biomethane

Biogas produced from biomass is a renewable energy resource with high value potential to support sustainable development. This study presents abridged advances and pathways from biogas and biomethane to electricity with opportunities and challenges in generation, conversion, and storage needed for use in many areas like transportation, power generation and storage, building, and industrial heat production sectors. A high knock resistance, making it suitable for use in thermal systems with high compression rate, characterizes biogas combustion. Various prime movers using biogas as fuel can be used for electricity generation, including direct conversion through fuel cells, which is a significant pathway to sustainable energy storage. Biogas to electricity conversion by a generator set is much more practical today. Turbines, micro turbines, Stirling engines, diesel engines, and petrol engines are only some of the viable possibilities for converting biogas to electricity. Biomethane can be used as a substitute for natural gas in all its applications with little or no modifications to the fuel infrastructure. Finally, this study discusses biogas and biomethane’s limits and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, and 17

Female Labour Force Participation and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from Nigerian Economy

This paper examines the female labour force participation and economic growth nexus in Nigeria. Time series data for the period of 1981 to 2015 were used. With the establishment of cointegrating relationships, we used the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation technique to obtain the long run elasticity coefficients. The major finding shows an inverse relationship between Female labour force participation and economic growth. Therefore, the study recommends that active labour market policies are needed particularly in Nigeria to promote women’s labour market participation in the interest of overall economic growth and development in Nigeria

EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

This study focused on the experimental evaluation of an air-conditioning system of its coefficient of performance. The performance of any vapor compression system is evaluated by the operational coefficient of performance (COP). The aim was to evaluate the effect of parameters that affect the COP of a refrigeration system. Measurements of important operational parameters such as the evaporator and condenser temperatures were studied and measured from the system. Other relevant parameters such as the humidity of both the supply air and that of the space to be conditioned were also studied and measured. Experimental data were generated for 30 days to determine the performance of the air-conditioning system. Performance evaluation of the system was determined in terms of refrigerating capacity and COP. In this present study, the load was estimated, refrigerating effect, work input, and COP was estimated. The estimated results from the experimentation showed that the operational COP of the air-conditioning system range from 3.41 0.02 to 4.98 0.02. Efficiency requirement in Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) for the air- conditioning system was estimated as 9.2. The coefficient of determination, R2 value also showed that the variables being compared have a strong correlation

Biomethane Production and Applications

Biomethane production generally involves the cleaning to remove minor unwanted components of biogases such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and moisture (H2O) and upgrading in a process that involves the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) to increase the concentration of CH4 to 95–99% and reduce CO2 concentration to 1–5%, with little or no hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Biomethane gas is a flexible and easy to store fuel having similar properties and applications as natural gas with no need to modify the settings for natural gas devices and equipment. Biomethane can be used for industrial and domestic applications ranging from thermal and power generation and feedstock for processes like the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) for fuel manufacturer and direct power generation in hydrogen or biogas fuel cells like production of green hydrogen. Therefore, biomethane promises to play a leading role in the energy transition through hydrogen, electricity, and other renewable fuels production. Biomethane production by biogas upgrading methods include the pressure swing adsorption, which has an option of temperature swing adsorption, absorption technics based on amine, membrane separation, cryogenic separation, and biological separation. The technology adopted may depend on factors such as costs, quality of products, location, and technology maturity and requirements