An Assessment of Factors Affecting Banks’ Risk Exposure in North Central Nigeria

The recent ethics of bank management have highlighted the need to balance between liquidity, asset, liability, capital adequacy, credit and interest rates risks, in order to mitigate against their loss in earnings. Consequently, the factors that may affect these risks are significant indicators to invent appropriate strategies for better bank management. It is therefore the rationale of this study to identify the factors that add to the risks that are constantly faced by commercial banks in North Central Zone of Nigeria. The factor analysis conducted indicated that liquidity and interest, domestic market, international market, business operation and credit were the factors affecting banks’ risk exposure. For this reason, banks in the zone have to critically consider these factors in formulating an effective risk management strategy that can effectively curtail any possibility of loss in income that may ultimately led to bank’s collapse. Keywords: Bank risk, Market risk, Factor analysis, North Central Zone

Development of a Voice Controlled Electric Wheelchair to Aid the Movement of the Physically Challenged

Nigeria is said to have the highest number of physically challenged in Africa and second only to India in the world. Traditional Electrical Wheel Chair has some limitations. In order to assist the physically handicapped, this paper presents the development of a voice controlled wheelchair. The user can control the wheelchair by voice commands, such as “jagaba (go forward)” in Hausa. A grammar-based recognition parser was used in the system. The system comprises of a wheelchair motorize by a DC motor, works on inputs such as voice commands via an android phone and navigates according to the command and battery powered. Voice command input was taken from android mobile and converted into text which is transmitted to microcontroller via Bluetooth module to control the operation of DC motors. Also an IR detection system was used to detect the obstacle in the path of wheelchair to avoid its collision. The chair enables the handicapped person to independently move around. A running experiment with three (3) persons was carried out on speech recognition. 95.4% and 94.0% of the movement command and the verification command were obtained respectively. Keywords: Control, Home Navigation System, Microcontroller, Physically Challenged, Voice Command, Voice Recognition and Wheelchair

Effects of the ethanolic stem bark extract of pterocarpus erinaceus poir (fabaceae) on some isolated smooth muscles

Effects of the 70% ethanolic stem bark extract of Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir were investigated in some isolated smooth muscles preparations of experimental animals. Preliminary phytochemical studies of the ethanolic extract revealed the presence of tannins, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids flavonoids and steroids. The ethanolic stem bark extract of P.erinaceus (6.4mg/ml) relaxed the isolated pregnant rat uterus. Oxytocin induced contractions of the pregnant rat uterus was blocked by the extract at a higher dose. The studies on isolated guinea- pig ileum and rabbit jejunum smooth muscles demonstrated that the ethanolic stem bark extract of P.erinaceus produced a dose dependent relaxation of these muscles. The extract also attenuated the contractile effects of acetylcholine on these tissues dose dependently. This finding might lend credence to the use of the stem bark of the plant in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery traditionally. From the results of this work and information from literature, flavonoids and tannins identified during phytochemical screening of the extract may be the biologically active components responsible for the gastrointestinal effects of the ethanolic stem bark extract of P.erinaceus

The relationship between canopy width, height and trunk size in some tree species growing in the Savana zone of Nigeria

In this study, the relationships between canopy – width, height and trunk size of the following tree species growing in Kano (12oN, 8.5 – 8.7oE), a town located in the Sudan Savanna Zone of Northern Nigeria were examined: Parkia biglobosa, (Jacq-Benth), Khaya senegalensis (A. Juss), Eucalyptus species, Adansonia digitata (Linn). Cassia siamea (Lam), Azadirachta indica (A. Juss), Delonix regia (Boj, ex Hook) and Acacia nilotica (Linn). Twenty trees of each species ensured to be free from obvious ecological disturbances were selected for the study. Analyses of the data obtained indicate that, with the exception of Eucalyptus sp. and A. digitata, the relationship between height and trunk size is linear. A linear relationship between canopy width and trunk size was also observed in the eight tree species studied, except A. digitata. The canopy width/height study showed a linear relationship in all the tree species. The results are discussed in the context of their adaptive significance and use in determining suitability of the trees for afforestation, forest regeneration and establishment of shelter belts to arrest desertification

Energy Poverty and the Security Challenges in Northern Nigeria-Incidence and the Potential for Renewables

A Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) has been used to study the incidence of energy poverty in Nigeria. Secondary data from the United States Agency for International Development was collated from over 44,000 households, from which calculated MEPI for the various regions of Nigeria show that the southwest had the least incidence of energy poverty, while the northeast region had the highest energy poverty. Cogent connections have been made between recent security challenges in the northeast with energy poverty. Reports taken from studies and the mass media show that vast majority of attacks occur in the geopolitical region. Thus, renewables such as solar and wind energies abundant in northeast Nigeria have been identified as potential solutions to ending energy poverty and hence a strategic pathway to arresting the current security challenges

Offshore Topside Rotating Packed Bed as Process Intensified Alternative for Natural Gas Sweetening and Dehydration

This work is aimed at investigating the benefits of replacing conventional process unit operations with process intensified ones in offshore applications. This ensures that better use is made of raw materials, lower energy consumption and a reduced plant volume was achieved. Specifically, a rotating packed bed technology has been used for gas dehydration and sweetening. To achieve the aim of this study, a process intensification approach is used to redesign mature absorption processes to more compact and efficient one. Process simulation using Aspen Hysys was carried out for Triethylene glycol dehydration and monoethanolamine sweetening. More than 36-fold absorption unit size reduction was achieved thereby effecting large decrease in capital and operating costs compared to the conventional packed columns currently utilized in the offshore oil and gas industry. The process intensified technologies therefore can be deployed for offshore applications where space and size considerations are of utmost importance

State of sorghum downy mildew in maize in the Sudan and sahel savanna agro-ecological zones of Nigeria

The incidence, distribution and prevalence of downy mildew in maize were investigated during the 2008 growing season following a planned–two time survey across the Sudan and the Sahel savanna agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. The occurrence of the disease was investigated in 102 and 120 farmers’ fields in 34 and 40 locations in the first and second surveys respectively. Average incidence (%) of the disease was obtained from a sample of 100 plants each from three farms per stop; each farm representing a replicate. Simple random sampling technique was employed in the selection of plants. Results of the survey have revealed that 20 out of the 34 locations visited during the first survey had maize with early symptoms of the disease while only 4 out of the 40 locations visited in the second survey was having the symptoms of the disease. The incidence of the disease was 8.20% and 1.12%, in the first and second survey respectively and therefore significantly different (p>0.05) indicating that the disease was more prevalent at seedling than at grain filling stage which is an indication of the absence of certified, sorghum downy mildew (SDM) free seeds in most of the regions surveyed. The incidence was also higher in the Sudan than in the Sahel savanna (16.28% and 3.28% first and second visits respectively). This might be probably because of differences in climate of the two zones and the fact that maize was grown more in the Sudan than in the Sahel savanna zone. Although the incidence was generally low, proper measures should be taken to avoid unexpected epidemic of the disease in the future

Development of a Pseudo-Closed Loop Solar Collector Sun Tracking System with Optimized Set-Point Paths for Flat Plate Payload

This paper provides the theoretical framework for the development of a pseudo-closed loop solar tracking system incorporating a microcontroller for a flat payload, where the outputs of the system (the slope and the azimuth angles of the payload) are observed and the set-points for the system are to be optimally computed by the microcontroller. It also presents, from literature, the equations and models solar angles and incident angles for the development of the optimum set point path for the tracking, and gives the outline of the signal flow plan, as well as the corresponding flowchart, for the tracking system’s components interaction. The concept would provide a cheaper and simpler alternative to dual axis solar tracking incorporating solar sensors. The models presented here are adaptable to any geographical location in Nigeria and globally

Strategic Slug Flow Attenuation in Pipeline-Riser Systems

Oil and gas activities across the globe now take place deep offshore. To operate in this harsh environment, there are numerous challenges. These can be in the form of high cost of production, space constraints, operational and technological demands. The co-transportation of oil and gas in same pipeline is one of the operational and technological approaches adopted in the industry to meet the transportation of produced crude. This approach comes with its attendant flow assurance difficulties. Slugging is one of such problems which can constitute operational hitches resulting in production reduction and sometimes eventual plant shutdown. Existing attenuation techniques are limited in various ways. Therefore, seeking a reliable solution to this problem is highly desired. In this study, an experimental study of multiple techniques for slug attenuation was attempted. A passive device-the intermittent slug absorber, strategically combined with topside choking as well as topside separator were investigated. The theoretical analysis showed that slug attenuating devices can be combined in parallel to reduce the resistance posed on flow, leading to increased flow. The experimental results showed that a combination of the methods proves to be more effective compared to individual techniques. A significant reduction in riser- base pressure of up to 39% was achieved. This is advantageous and translates to an increase in oil recovery. Thus, the proposed strategy helps to achieve system stability and improved production at a lower cost

Ciprofloxacin Susceptibility Pattern in a Secondary Health Care Facility in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Antibiotic resistance is a major challenge in management of infectious diseases globally, and particularly in developing countries. There are few studies that have analysed the impact of such abuse on the development of bacterial resistance in Nigeria and sub Saharan Africa. To this end, we retrospectively analysed ciprofloxacin susceptibility patterns in a secondary healthcare facility in Northwest Nigeria over a four year period. Three hundred and thirty six pathogens isolated from 370 patients were analysed in this study. The common pathogens isolated from wound infections were Staphylococcus aureus (29, 7.84%), Pseudomonas spp (10, 2.7%) and Proteus spp (7, 1.89%). In stool samples, Proteus (11, 2.97%), Escherichia coli (8, 2.2%) and Salmonella (6, 1.62%) were the most commonly isolated organisms respectively. While for urine samples, isolates were S. aureus (105, 28.37%) followed by E. coli from urine samples (62, 16.76%). During the study period, we observed there was a high degree of resistance to ciprofloxacin among Proteus spp (50%), E. coli (41.3%), S. aureus (20.6%), Klebsiella (20%) and Pseudomonas (20%). Government and stakeholders need to urgently develop antimicrobial stewardship programmes that will address the issue of antibiotic resistance in the country