Regulating assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in Nigeria: lessons from Australia and the United Kingdom

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), are innovative, non-coital medical procreative procedures, that have brought respite to a number of childless persons and couples, just as it also raises a number of ethical and medico-legal issues. A number of countries including Nigeria, are still struggling to find the appropriate legal framework to provide guidelines for this reproductive process to curtail inherent unethical practices associated with that development. The paper explores the available regulatory instruments in Nigeria and in cognate jurisdictions such as Australia and the United Kingdom, through a comparative study to ascertain the efficacy of the existing instruments in ensuring that unethical practices and abuses associated with ART are eradicated. The findings indicate that the regulatory instrument in Nigeria requires significant improvement in line with the legal frameworks in operation in the cognate jurisdictions to effectively guard against potential unethical practices and abuses associated with the application of ART. Keywords: Assisted reproduction, law, ethics, Nigeria, Australia, United Kingdom Les technologies de procréation assistée (TAR) sont des procédures médicales de procréation innovantes et non coïtales, qui ont apporté un répit à un certain nombre de personnes sans enfants et de couples, tout comme elles soulèvent un certain nombre de problèmes éthiques et médico-légaux. Un certain nombre de pays, dont le Nigéria, ont encore du mal à trouver le cadre juridique approprié pour fournir des directives pour ce processus de reproduction afin de réduire les pratiques contraires à l'éthique inhérentes à ce développement. Le document explore les instruments réglementaires disponibles au Nigéria et dans des juridictions apparentées telles que l'Australie et le Royaume-Uni, à travers une étude comparative pour vérifier l'efficacité des instruments existants pour garantir que les pratiques contraires à l'éthique et les abus associés aux TAR sont éradiqués. Les résultats indiquent que l'instrument réglementaire au Nigéria nécessite une amélioration significative conformément aux cadres juridiques en vigueur dans les juridictions apparentées pour se prémunir efficacement contre d'éventuelles pratiques contraires à l'éthique et les abus associés à l'application de l'ART. Mots-clés: Procréation assistée, droit, éthique, Nigéria, Australie, Royaume-Un

The Impact of Information Communication Technologies in the Strategic Management of Financial Institutions

ICTs have contributed a lot in the strategic and operations management of financial institutions all over the world. Today, ICT is employed in all the departments of most financial institutions such as operations, customer services, marketing, administration, human resource, procurement, accounting, financial management, etc. The general consensus among various academicians is that ICTs have improved the processes of operations and management. It has also played significant roles in strategic and operational management and also determined the marketing mix, strategic decisions, ownerships, management and partnerships such as alliances and mergers. This study investigated the role of ICTs in the strategic and operational management of financial institutions using a qualitative research method involving the interview of top managements and operational staffs of four selected banks in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Findings revealed that ICTs have indeed contributed a lot in improving the functioning of all departments of the selected banks such as marketing, operations, HR, finance, call centers, customer services, etc. The benefits gained by the various banks after the implementation of ICTs include better online and offline support for their customers, ROI justification, profitable sales volume, reduction of queues in the banking halls, and very interactive websites. There are however, many departments and other functional areas where ICTs have not been fully utilized. Moreover, many financial institutions have not fully adopted and applied ICT to all functional areas. The study recommends that these can be resolved through proper training, i.e. the provision of ICT related training to employees with respect to the strategic and operational management of the banks as well as exploration of the importance of the recruitment of external consultants who are specialized in their respective fields to render solid support

A Comparative Study of Biosurfactant Synthesis by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Clinical and Environmental Samples

Evaluation of emulsifying activities indicates that biosurfactants were produced by an environmental (strain EP1) and a clinical (strain CP1) species of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During growth on hydrocarbons, the organisms produced biosurfactants. Both strains grew luxuriantly on motor oil and readily synthesized abundant surfactants at the expense of easily metabolizable substrates. During a 12-day cultivation on motor oil, the organisms produced growth-associated extracellular surfactants with emulsification activities of 71 and 38% for EP1 and CP1, respectively. The generation times obtained for EP1 and CP1 were 1.74 and 2.66 days. The biosurfactants that could not be secreted on glucose were partially purified and putatively identified as rhamnolipids. The surface-active compounds present high emulsification activity and stability in the pH range of 3.0–10.0, temperature range of 4°C–100°C, and salinity range of 16–44% and are capable of stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions with several hydrocarbons. Typical emulsions produced were stable for several weeks. The results also showed that the biosurfactants were able to remove a significant amount of crude oil from contaminated soil; for instance, strain EP1 surfactant removed 54%, CP1 41%, detergent 42%, and water 30%. The rhamnolipids from these strains represent a new class of biosurfactants that have potential for use in a variety of biotechnological and industrial applications where extremes of pH, thermal, and saline conditions would have little or no effect on activity

Foreign Direct Investment: Catalyst for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria

This is a conceptual review (content analysis) of the effect of foreign direct investment as a catalyst for sustainable economic development in Nigeria. The major objective is a comparative analysis of 87 developing countries with the capacity to attract FDI and proffer possible solutions that will catapult Nigeria as a globally acceptable haven for foreign investment. The secondary data were sourced from Investing Across Borders (IAB) 2010 report where 87 developing countries across the globe were assessed using the IAB indicators. The major conclusion drawn from the survey is that Nigeria as a country is yet to maximize its potentials (given available resources and market size) at attracting foreign investment. It also concludes that the process of foreign business establishment/ownership in Nigeria need to be improved upon to encourage high patronage of foreigners in economic activities. This study therefore recommends that Government should make policies that will encourage equity ownership of investments in Nigeria by foreigners. The authorities should put in place machineries that will ensure a transparent and simple business registration and ownership process

IMPEDIMENTS TO E-BANKING SERVICES MARKETING IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES – A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BANKS

The extant body of literature are awash with various studies on e-banking services marketing both in the developed and developing economies. Within the developed economies, studies have been done in virtually all strands of electronic banking services; however same cannot be said of developing economies. This paper aims to critically investigate the impediments to e-banking services marketing within the Nigerian state. This study adopted a mixed method approach – comprising of both interview techniques and the use of questionnaires for data collection. Findings are multi-faceted and viewed from three angles viz: the user based, institutional based and the government related roles. Findings further revealed among others the poor educational imbalance especially between the North and South and the lack of adequate policy framework to safeguard customers’ money as some of the challenges. The strategic implications of all these are clearly discussed and clear cut recommendation derived for implementation by all concerned

Bioluminescent bacterial flora of Nigerian coastal fish species

The scarcity of studies on bioluminescent bacteria in fish species along the coastal and marine environment of Nigeria prompted the assessment of abundance of bioluminescent bacteria and possible isolation on three common coastal fish species (Drepane africana, Sardinella maderensis and Mugil cephalus) displaying luminescence. The population of the luminescent bacteria among the three fish species ranged from 2.95×105 to 6.68×106 cfu ml-1 and the corresponding percentage to the heterotrophic bacteria was between 0.01 and 0.34 %. The surface water had 2.00×105 cfu ml-1 with 0.20 % ratio to heterotrophic bacteria. The predominant luminescent bacteria observed were gram-negative short rod. Further study of these bacteria showed that growth and light emission occurred concurrently without the exhibition of lag phase; however, maximum luminescence was observed at mid-exponential growth phase suggesting quorum sensing phenomenon. The 16S rRNA gene sequence showed 92.81 % homology to Vibrio campbelli, Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio rotiferianus. This study highlights the occurrence of bioluminescent bacteria in skin of tropical coastal fish species in Nigerian coastal waters and also serves as a fundamental basis for future studies on the biotechnological application of this unique characteristics

Adoption Triggers and Barriers of Mobile Banking Services in Nigeria

There has been tremendous growth in mobile banking penetration in many countries in the developed and developing economies and most interestingly in a number of developing countries such as Nigeria. Yet there are numbers of opportunities and threats in the mobile banking systems. However the major threat of mobile banking is its non-adoption by the banking customers. This research focuses on the perceived barriers to mobile banking adoption in Nigeria as a developing economy. The study adopted an exploratory qualitative method and this was conducted among banking customers spread across three regions of North, West and East of Nigeria. The basis of participants’ selection was being active customers of the Nigerian banks. Findings indicate that there is intention to adopt the mobile banking services; unfortunately, the intentions cannot be translated into action due mainly to lack of trust on issues such as the delivery channels/technology, communication infrastructures, government policies, etc. Findings further revealed that majority of respondents do not use internet and mobile banking services, due to several identified barriers. There is however a preference for the traditional banking approaches as opposed to the mobile banking services. The study recommends that banks and other financial institutions embark on massive awareness campaig

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF OPERATIONAL RISKS IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Risks abound in all spheres of life and mitigating same and its effects has become an uphill task especially for profit making organisations and financial institutions all over the world. The global financial crisis of 2008 has been attributed to depletion of trust in the banking sector and demise of some business organisations. One wonders if the banks and organisations concerned are doing anything to manage the risks of market failures with a view to maintaining good reputations in order to win back customers’ trusts and loyalties. The new formidable cyber warfare was also x-rayed with a detailed exploration of its debilitating effects on business continuity. In achieving the objectives of this study, the risk management strategies adopted by banks and other business organisations was explored. And the organisational culture was also explored to ascertain the extent of its effects on the risk management strategies adopted. Among others, this study recommends that in the spirit of contributing to the international convergence of modern supervisory practices, organizations and financial institutions must extend their arms of cooperation to other international bodies