Annulment of Oil Licences in Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum Sector: A Legal Critique of the Costs and Benefits

Owing to various reasons, tenable and untenable, successive governments in Nigeria have annulled licenses duly granted to identifiable upstream petroleum operators. With due sense of circumspect, when irregularities manifest in the process and the grant of substantive licences, such does not vest in the government an unfettered right to annul the licence. There are evidences of such occurrence in spite of established procedures regulating annulments, commonly referred to as revocation or cancellation. This paper is a critique of the annulment of oil licenses and the associated contractualregulatory dimensions. The validity of the Federal Government’s actions also comes to the fore, particularly in the light of renewed drive to attract investments into the upstream sector. Thus, as some benefits are accruable to the players, it is also important to appraise the consequential costs attributable to undue annulment of oil licenses. The paper adopts a descriptive analytical method of available facts, expounds requisite statutory provisions and utilizes judicial precedents to highlight the context of the study. It is imperative that the Federal Government adheres to established procedures on oil license annulment, as a contrary posture will amount to several negative outcomes

Prevalence of baseline FI components, in non-frail adults.

<p>Prevalence of baseline FI components, in non-frail adults.</p

Average eleven-year frailty trajectories in five-year age cohorts (50–54; 55–59; 60–64; 65–69; 70–74; 75–79; 80+) of non-frail adults, predicted by baseline physical activity status.

<p>FI = frailty index.</p

Baseline sample characteristics (N = 8,649).

<p>Baseline sample characteristics (N = 8,649).</p

Tungiasis.

<p>a. Tunga lesion right little toe, b. two periungual lesions proximal nail fold right great toe, c. grouped tunga lesions right heel, d. eggs of <i>Tunga penetrans</i> and tunga lesions, e. dermoscopic view of tunga lesion, f. tunga lesion right forearm, g. eggs <i>tunga penetrans</i> and nail dystrophy, h. koilonychia, i. paronychial changes with partial nail loss.</p

The prevalence and association with health-related quality of life of tungiasis and scabies in schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia

<div><p>Background</p><p>The prevalence of skin disease in low and middle income countries is high and communicable skin diseases are a significant public health problem. Tungiasis is an ectoparasite infestation caused by the flea <i>Tunga penetrans</i>, which has a widespread geographical distribution. Tungiasis causes painful skin lesions and may affect activities of daily living.</p><p>Objective</p><p>We wished to determine the prevalence and impact of tungiasis and scabies in schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A cross-sectional study was performed in which students were examined by dermatologists and the skin disorders recorded. Individuals with pyogenic skin infections, scabies and tungiasis were also invited to complete the Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index.</p><p>Results</p><p>There was a high burden of skin disease amongst this cohort with more than 40% having an ectodermal parasitic skin disease. The majority of these were due to tungiasis. Tungiasis was evident in more than a third of children and was associated with onychodystophy. There was a significant association between wearing “closed” footwear and a greater number of tungiasis lesions but not tungiasis <i>per se</i>. Dermatophyte infections, acne and plantar maceration secondary to occlusive footwear were also common.</p><p>Scabies and tungiasis appeared to have a significant negative effect on quality of life.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Tungiasis is highly prevalent in schoolchildren in the part of Ethiopia where the study was conducted and is associated with a deleterious effect on quality of life. The role of footwear in both preventing and possibly exacerbating cutaneous ailments in this setting requires further study.</p></div

<i>Mycobacterium leprae</i> induces TLR2 but not TLR1 in keratinocytes.

<p>Since activation of the TLR2/1 complex leads to keratinocytes expression of hBD2 and hBD3, increase in TLR2 and/or TLR1 may similarly lead to increased hBD expression. To evaluate whether the expression of TLR2 and TLR1 are induced by <i>M. leprae</i>, HaCaT cells were stimulated with 1 nM of the TLR2/1 agonist Pam3CSK4 or 100 µg/ml <i>M. leprae</i> for 24 hours. Both Pam3CSK4 and <i>M. leprae</i> significantly up-regulated stable transcript levels of (A) TLR2 but not (B) TLR1 in HaCaT cells. *p<0.05 or n.s. (no significance) were determined by an unpaired t-test when compared to the controls.</p

Prednisolone suppresses keratinocyte up-regulation of human beta-defensins 2 and 3 by <i>M. leprae in vitro</i>.

<p>To determine whether prednisone suppresses keratinocyte expression of hBD2 and hBD3, HaCaT cells were stimulated with 100 µg/ml <i>M. leprae</i> and 0 (Control), 1, 10, and 100 nM of prednisone for 24 hours. Prednisolone caused a dose-dependent suppression hBD2 (A) and hBD3 (B). To confirm the suppression of hBD3 by prednisolone on the protein level, HaCaT cells were cultured in chamber slides with media alone (Control), 1 nM Pam3CSK4, 100 µg/ml <i>M. leprae</i>, or 100 µg/ml <i>M. leprae</i> and 100 nM prednisolone. Strong intracellular hBD3 expression is observed in cells treated with Pam3CSK4 or <i>M. leprae</i>. Prednisolone reduces the level of intracellular hBD3 produced by HaCaTs in response to <i>M. leprae</i> (C). IgG controls are represented by the bottom panel images. Significance (*p<0.05) was determined by an unpaired t-test.</p

Human beta-defensin 3 is up-regulated in the skin of leprosy patients with Type 1 reactions.

<p>Skin biopsies from leprosy patients with Type 1 reactions (T1Rs) and leprosy patients without T1Rs (Controls) were assessed for their expression hBD2 and hBD3 as measured by qPCR. The skin of patients with T1Rs showed non-significantly elevated (A) hBD2 expression and a significant increase in (B) hBD3 expression. (C) Cellular infiltration in the T1Rs and the Controls show no significant differences. For the statistical analyses, values were first converted to a Gaussian distribution by taking their square and subsequently an un-paired t-test was performed. *p<0.05 is considered significant.</p

Prevalence of skin disorders diagnosed.

<p>Prevalence of skin disorders diagnosed.</p