Information Asymmetry, Financialisation and Financial Access

This study investigates whether information sharing channels that are meant to reduce information asymmetry have led to an increase in financial access. The study employs a Generalised Method of Moments technique using data from 53 African countries during the period from 2004-2011 to examine this linkage. Information sharing channels are theoretically designed to promote the formal financial sector and discourage the informal financial sector. The study uses two information sharing channels: private credit bureaus and public credit registries. The study found that both information sharing channels have a positive and significant impact on financial access. The study also found that public credit registries complement the formal financial sector to promote financial access. The policy implications are discussed

Choosing a Forecast Model for Prediction of Students’ Enrolment in Multiple Programmes of the National Open University of Nigeria: Towards Course Materials Production Planning

Budgeting for highly capital-intensive activities such as course material development, hiring of facilitators and conduct of examinations in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions rely greatly on the number of students admitted yearly. The need for an effective forecast model for the prediction of students’ enrolment in ODL institutions can therefore not be overlooked. In this study, we tested seven different exponential smoothing forecasting models on sampled data of students’ admission into the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) programmes for a period of 16 years, in view of finding a single forecast method that will be effective in forecasting future enrolment of students into all programmes of NOUN. The students’ enrolment data were collected twice a year corresponding to admissions made in each semester of the year as practiced in NOUN, forming a time series with 32 observations for each programme. The stationary R2, MAPE and MAE goodness-of-fit measures obtained from the methods were compared to obtain the best performing model. The Holt Winters Additive model performed better than others with a mean stationary R2 of 0.583 and a very low mean standard error (SE) of 0.127 for the sampled programmes, hence it was chosen as the forecast model for prediction of future outcomes. The result of this work is useful in describing the pattern of students’ enrolment in NOUN over the past years and for forecasting of student population in each programme offered in NOUN. Résumé : La budgétisation d'activités à forte intensité de capital telles que le développement de matériel de cours, l'embauche de facilitateurs et la conduite d'examens dans les établissements d'enseignement ouvert et à distance (EOD) dépend fortement du nombre d'étudiants admis chaque année. La nécessité d'un modèle de prévision efficace pour prédire le nombre d'étudiants dans les établissements d'enseignement ouvert et à distance ne peut donc pas être négligée. Dans cette étude, nous avons testé sept modèles différents de prévision par lissage exponentiel sur un échantillon de données relatives à l'admission des étudiants dans les programmes de l'Université nationale ouverte du Nigeria (NOUN) sur une période de 16 ans, afin de trouver une méthode de prévision unique qui soit efficace pour prévoir les inscriptions futures des étudiants dans tous les programmes de NOUN. Les données relatives aux inscriptions des étudiants ont été collectées deux fois par an, ce qui correspond aux admissions effectuées au cours de chaque semestre de l'année, comme cela est pratiqué à NOUN, formant ainsi une série temporelle de 32 observations pour chaque programme. Les mesures stationnaires R2, MAPE et MAE de qualité d'ajustement obtenues à partir des méthodes ont été comparées pour obtenir le modèle le plus performant. Le modèle additif de Holt Winters a donné de meilleurs résultats que les autres, avec un R2 stationnaire moyen de 0,583 et une erreur type moyenne très faible de 0,127 pour les programmes échantillonnés, et il a donc été choisi comme modèle de prévision des résultats futurs. Le résultat de ce travail est utile pour décrire le modèle d'inscription des étudiants à NOUN au cours des dernières années et pour prévoir la population étudiante dans chaque programme offert à NOUN. Mots-clés : Prévision des inscriptions des étudiants, modèle de lissage exponentiel, SPSS, analyse des séries temporelles, enseignement ouvert et à distance

Reliability Assessment of an Electronic System :A Case Study of a British Siren in Nigeria

Abstract: This paper assesses the reliability of a British Siren used in Nigeria. The Part Stress Method was used to assess the reliability of the system. Data on the failure rate of the various system components were used, with special consideration given to factors like environment of use, quality of power supply and service personnel. A comparative assessment was made on the reliability of the system, when operated within the Nigerian environment and when operated within the environment for which it was designed (Britain). The result shows that lower reliability level is associated with the use of the British Siren in Nigeria, as compared with the reliability level when in use in the country for which it was designed

Alleged rape: an analysis of management of cases seen at specialist hospital Gombe, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to determine how patients who presented following sexual assault were managed at a secondary health facility in Gombe, Nigeria. The case notes of patient who presented at the Accident and Emergency Unit of State Specialist Hospital Gombe after serious sexual assault from August 1 2016 to July 30 2018 were retrieved and the data were entered into SPSS Version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and summarised as proportions. Of the 15,613 patients who presented, 277 were alleged rapes which constituted 1.77% of presentations. Two hundred and one of the patients were females with a total of 2341 admissions at the gynaecological ward representing 8.6%. One hundred and seventy one (67%) of the patients did not receive any form of care, 127 (54.0%) were not given antibiotics prophylaxis against STIs, 117 (42%) did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV/AIDS and 80% of the women between the ages of 15–45 had emergency contraception. One hundred and ninety seven (71.1%) did not receive any psychological support. Rape is common. Measures should be put in place to improve the clinical management of survivors.Impact statement What is already known on this subject? Rape is common in Gombe, Nigeria, and a standard management protocol has been developed with a view to reduce the adverse consequences associated with it. What the results of this study add? The results of this study show that survivors of rape in the developing countries like ours do not receive adequate clinical and psychological care when they present at the hospital. What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Given the results, there is the need for physicians managing rape cases to pay attention to details so as to minimise both immediate and long-term complications associated with rape

Research Note 1: Detection of helminth parasites of ruminants in hedgehog Atelerix albivetrix

Parasitological investigation on the gastro-intestinal contents of hedgehog was conducted. Samples were scrubbed from the length of gastro-intestinal tracts of road kills and casualty hedgehogs collected from the road site(s) during the early hours of the day and transported to the laboratory before post-mortem changes sets in. Of the ninety-nine road-kills hedgehogs collected and used for the studies, 5.26% (5) and 2.10 % ( 2) prevalence rates of infestation with Haemonchus contortus and Dicrocoelium dendriticum that are classical ruminant helminthes were detected respectively. Thus, the findings confirmed hedgehog as a host in the epizootiology of helminth parasitosis in ruminants; further investigation is required to determine if hedgehog could act as a secondary intermediate host in the epizootiology of helminthes infection in ruminants. Keywords: helminth parasites, hedgehog, ruminants, helminthosis. Nigerian Journal of Parasitology Vol. 28 (2) 2007: pp. 129-13

Characterisation, in vitro digestibility and expected glycemic index of commercial starches as uncooked ingredients

When selecting a native starch for specific food purposes, it is important to consider the differences between starches of varying botanical sources (cereal, tubers and roots). In this study uncooked starches as ingredients (corn, rice, wheat, tapioca and potato) were characterized according to microstructure, some (physicochemical, functional and thermal) properties, in vitro digestibility and expected glycemic index. There was a significant variation in the granule shape and size distribution of the starches, when studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and particle size analysis. Particle size results distinguished among starches in monomodal (corn, tapioca, potato) and bimodal (rice, wheat) populations. Among all the samples, the potato showed the biggest size distribution granules while the rice showed the lowest. The examined properties and nutritional characteristics of starches were significantly different. Thermal properties were studied by means of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). DSC studies found that the transition temperatures (58.8 °C - 78.7 °C) and enthalpies of gelatinization (2.3 J/g - 8.2 J/g) of the starches appeared to be greatly influenced by microstructure and chemical composition (e.g. resistant starch). Potato and corn starches were hydrolyzed more slowly and to a lesser extent than ones. In particular, the highest resistant starch was recorded for potato. Nutritional properties such as slowly digestible starch and expected glycemic index values followed the order: rice > wheat > tapioca >corn > potato. In general, these results provide the baseline information on the development of novel foods or native starch blends with tailored functional properties such as slow digestibility