Socio Economic Determinants of Poverty Status Among Ginger Farmers in Southern Kaduna, Nigeria

Poverty in Nigeria is pervasive, endemic and is predominantly so in the rural areas where majority of the households are farmers. This study was conducted in the Southern parts of Kaduna State covering three Local Government Areas (LGAs); Kachia, jaba and Kagarko, to determine the factors that influence poverty and its intensity among ginger farmers. Multi stage sampling procedure was used to select the 3 LGAs, 9 wards and 440 respondents. Data were generated using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results showed that over 56% of the respondents fell below the poverty line of N684 (US$ 1.90) per day. The results also revealed that the poverty gap index was 41.71% while the poverty severity index was 29.40%. Major factors that significantly determined the poverty status of the respondents were level of education, farm income and dependency ratio, while only farm income and dependency ratio significantly (P<0.01) influenced the intensity of poverty. Inadequate capital, poor pricing of produce and delays in the supply of inputs and credit were among major constraint identified. Recommendations were proffered to include the formation and membership of cooperative and farmers groups. Key words: Determinants poverty status ginger farmers. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-8-02 Publication date: April 30th 201

Curbing Youth Restiveness and Conflicts Through Effectual Structural Policies for Rural Employment Generation in Nigeria

The apparent neglect of Nigeria’s rural sector has provoked daunting challenges including youth restiveness, ethno-religious conflicts, unemployment and pervasive poverty. It is logical to finger rural unemployment as the antecessor of those other consequences. While it has been argued that the rate of unemployment is higher in urban than rural Nigeria, the nature and magnitude of rural unemployment (mostly underemployment) is becoming worrisome. For instance, youth unemployment in the country averaged 23.63 percent from 2014 until 2018 reaching an all-time high of 38 percent in Q2 of 2018 and a record low of 11.70 percent in Q4 of 2014. Furthermore, the Labour Statistics Report of Nigeria in Q4 of 2017 showed that there are about 7.9 million Nigerian youths aged 15 – 34 that are unemployed, mostly in the rural areas. Thus paper makes an introspection into what went wrong and explores vistas through effectual structural policies on rural infrastructures, agricultural transformation, skills acquisition, robust and sustainable credit and so on. These policies are aimed at realizing the multi-pronged goals of curbing youth restiveness, checking rural – urban migration, generating income and employment and transforming the agricultural sector for meaningful contribution to the country’s GDP. The need is imperative and there is no better time for these policies than now. Keywords: Youth restiveness policies rural employment generation DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-16-20 Publication date: August 31st 201

Impact of Household Electricity Consumption on Standard of Living in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of household electricity consumption on standard of living in Nigeria with level of education, poverty rate, per capita income and life expectancy as proxy for standard of living. Deviating from the popular electricity consumption and economic growth nexus, this present study focused on the impact of electricity consumption on the components of standard of living within the period of 1981 to 2017. The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bound Test in estimating the long-run and short-run relationship of the variables of the model. The study, therefore, found a positive long-run relationship between household electricity consumption and level of education, poverty rate, per capita income and life expectancy. The study also found significant short-run relationship between household electricity consumption and level of education, poverty rate, per capita income and life expectancy. From the outcome of the study, the researcher concluded that household electricity consumption impacted positively on standard of living in Nigeria although the impact is not large as expected. The study, therefore, recommends amongst others, that government should significantly improve power generation and distribution in order to enhance access to electricity consumption among her citizens in order to improve standard of living. Keywords: Household Electricity Consumption (HHEC), Standard of living, Poverty rate, Income per capita and Educational enrollment DOI: 10.7176/JETP/10-1-05 Publication date: February 29th 2020

Adsorption Efficiency of Activated Carbon Produced From Corn Cob for the Removal of Cadmium Ions From Aqueous Solution

Studies were carried out to evaluate the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon produced from corn cob for the removal of Cd II ions from aqueous solution. The studies were carried out with due consideration of standard analytical procedures and instrumentation. Increase in the Cd II ions concentration from 90 to 180mg/l decreased the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent from 89.273 to 65.770%. Increase in the adsorbent’s dosage from 0.5 to 2.0g increased the adsorption of Cd II ions from 81.522 to 91.980%. At pH of 5.0, the adsorption process attained equilibrium with a peak adsorption of Cd II ion at 93.628% . At a contact of time of 30mins between the adsorbate (Cd II ions) and the adsorbent; the adsorption of Cd II ions reached a peak value of 92.410%. The adsorption of Cd II ions on the surface of the activated carbon increased from 90.436 to 93.210% with increase in temperature from 40o to 160oC. The decrease in Gibb’s free energy of adsorption of Cd II ions on the surface of the activated carbon revealed that the adsorption was favourable at high temperatures. The positive values of ∆H and ∆S shows that the adsorption process was endothermic. Keywords: Corn cobs, Adsorption efficiency, Aqueous solution, Cadmium ion, and Activated carbon. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-8-06 Publication date: August 31st 2019

Heavy metal in banana (Musa acuminata) varieties sold by fruit vendors in Enugu state, Nigeria

Background: The use of ripening agents to trigger uniform and quick ripening of banana have been associated with heavy metal intoxication. Determining the levels of heavy metals in banana which is a common fruit consumed in Enugu State and Nigeria guides relevant authorities to regulate the use of pesticides and ripening agents used by banana sellers to make every food safe for consumption. Objective: The study evaluated the presence of heavy metals in four varieties of banana consumed in Enugu State. Methods: Samples of each banana variety were obtained from different banana vendors at different markets in Enugu State respectively. Edible portion of similar varieties from different vendors were homogenized after removing the peel. The homogenized samples were analyzed for heavy metal (arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium) content using standard methods. The weight of the banana varieties were measured to estimate the average size of the edible portion of a single banana. The data were subjected to statistical analysis to compare the mean of the heavy metal scores of the banana samples. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Green Mutant banana variety had the lowest lead content (0.0107 mg/kg). Mercury was not present in all the banana samples. Arsenic was only found in Red Dacca banana variety, (0.0007 mg/kg). Red Dacca banana variety presented the highest value (0.0030 mg/kg). Conclusion: The study provided invaluable information on the heavy metal composition of banana varieties commonly consumed in Enugu state. The findings revealed that Red Dacca banana variety contains a significant amount of heavy metals which can contribute significantly to its build up in body cells. Keywords: Banana; heavy metals; food contaminants; fruit

Well Water Quality Assessment: A Case of Gaba and Zuma Communities, Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria

The sixth Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underscores the need for clean, accessible water and good sanitation for all as an essential part of the world we live in. However, water scarcity still affects more than 30% of the world’s population. Many communities, especially in Africa, have resorted to substandard and cheaper sources of water for consumption, and hand dug well is one of them. In this study, the physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological assessment of well water samples from Gaba 1, Gaba 11 and Zuma 11 communities in Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria were carried out as a case study to determine the quality of well water. The American Public Health Association (APHA) standard analytical methods were adopted and results were compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ). From the results obtained for the physicochemical parameters, turbidity and colour did not meet up with the WHO and NSDWQ standard. Colour ranged from 330±20PtCo to 57.60±14.50PtCo as against 15PtCo by WHO and NSDWQ, turbidity ranged from 45.2±0.2NTU to 7.19±0.4NTU as against 5NTU by WHO and NSDWQ. Other physicochemical parameters were within WHO and NSDWQ limit. The bacteriological and biochemical results showed the presence of E-coli and other coliforms in all the samples. The total coliforms count for all the wells ranged from 1.55x102 to 1.775x102 CFU/ml, indicating a noncompliance to the zero count per 100ml by WHO. Well water from these communities pose a great health risk to the consumers. Keywords: Well water, Quality assessment, Physicochemical parameters, Microbiological, WHO