Original dataset on urban infrastructure related displacements in Nigeria: Insights from national and sub-national levels

The data presented here is related to the research article titled "Evicting the poor in the 'overriding public interest': Crisis of rights and interests, and contestations in Nigerian cities" [1]. This data brief presents relevant national and sub-national data on patterns, trends, and impacts of reported urban infrastructure-related displacements in Nigeria between 2010 and 2016. The data of reported cases of displacements in Nigeria are presented in tabular matrix. On the horizontal side are nested rows designated as the six geopolitical zones (South East, South South, South West, North Central, North East, and North West), 36 States of the country, and Abuja Federal Capital Territory. It was also necessary to identify particular local government areas where displacements occurred or were imminent (case locations). On the vertical side, 14 columns itemized diverse variables such as type of infrastructure project, as well as the mode/type, status, and mechanisms of displacement. Other columns include reasons given for displacement, project funder/initiator, number of project affected persons (PAPs), reported social characteristics of PAPs, response of PAPs, actions/outcomes, information sources and link, date(s) of reported displacement in addition to a section for notes. Besides chronicling urban infrastructure-related displacement cases in the period under review, this brief might equally serve as a benchmark for a prospective national displacement register. It will also function as a useful information resource not only for facilitating advocacy and research in built environment disciplines and civil rights campaigns, but also serve to conscientize policy makers and development practitioners on the cumulative cost implications of displacement. Further interpretive insights could be achieved through data mining and cross-tabulation

Urbanisation-induced displacements in peri-urban areas: Clashes between customary tenure and statutory practices in Ugbo-Okonkwo Community in Enugu, Nigeria

Rapid urbanisation is precipitating wide-ranging and often irreversible changes in cities and at the shifting peri-urban areas around the world. As a significant factor of change in the 21st Century, urbanisation is irreversibly transforming everything on its path―air, land, water, and ecology, including institutions, customs, and lifestyles. The subject scope of urbanisation research is therefore quite wide and diverse. Yet, urbanisation-induced attritions and substitutions of customary tenure practices, coupled with the associated politics and resistances, remain utterly overlooked. Using a mixed method approach (involving desktop research, remote sensing data and stakeholder interviews), this paper examines the clashes between customary tenure regime and statutory practices dictated by urban laws, and how different stakeholders are appropriating them both to promote and resist displacement or eviction. Amidst growing encroachment pressures on peri-urban communities in Nigerian cities, a new imperative for enhanced tenure security and integrated planning approach are proposed

Comparison of the microbial composition of African fermented foods using amplicon sequencing

Fermented foods play a major role in the diet of people in Africa, where a wide variety of raw materials are fermented. Understanding the microbial populations of these products would help in the design of specific starter cultures to produce standardized and safer foods. In this study, the bacterial diversity of African fermented foods produced from several raw materials (cereals, milk, cassava, honey, palm sap, and locust beans) under different conditions (household, small commercial producers or laboratory) in 8 African countries was analysed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing during the Workshop “Analysis of the Microbiomes of Naturally Fermented Foods Training Course”. Results show that lactobacilli were less abundant in fermentations performed under laboratory conditions compared to artisanal or commercial fermentations. Excluding the samples produced under laboratory conditions, lactobacilli is one of the dominant groups in all the remaining samples. Genera within the order Lactobacillales dominated dairy, cereal and cassava fermentations. Genera within the order Lactobacillales, and genera Zymomonas and Bacillus were predominant in alcoholic beverages, whereas Bacillus and Lactobacillus were the dominant genera in the locust bean sample. The genus Zymomonas was reported for the first time in dairy, cereal, cassava and locust bean fermentations

Microbial quality of some commercially available brands of toothpaste marketed in Eastern Nigeria

No Abstract. Bio-Research Vol. 5 (2) 2007: pp. 244-24

Evicting the poor in the ‘overriding public interest’: Crisis of rights and interests, and contestations in Nigerian cities

Forced eviction is unquestionably a global humanitarian crisis. Africa and, particularly, Nigeria bear a major brunt of this ‘global epidemic’, which carries enormous material and human costs. Yet, eviction is frequently hidden behind forms of displacements which operate within the law, and are justified on the basis of public interest rationales. Drawing on a research project into urban infrastructure-related displacement in Nigeria, this paper explores the reported incidence, patterns and trends of urban displacements and their impacts in Nigeria over a period of six years (2010–2016). Through the prism of the holistic approach, it interrogates the conflicting ‘publics’ and ‘interests’ in the diverse displacement contexts, and argues that the ‘public interest’ behind official rationale for displacement is, in reality, a highly contested affair. The paper recommends that displacements, where unavoidable, ought to be planned inclusively against the background of meaningful engagement and procedural safeguards

Structural, Antimicrobial and in Silico Studies of Some Schiff Bases of Trans-paramethoxycinnamaldehyde Derivatives

Communication in Physical Sciences 2020, 5(4): 544-566 Received 29 May 2020/Accepted 29 July 2020 Three Schiff bases viz; 3,5-bis[(E)-[(2E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-ylidene]benzoic acid (3,5-DA), 2-[(E)-[(2E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-ylidene]amino]phenol (OAP) and [3-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-allylidene]-[2-(2-{2-[3-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-allylideneamino]-ethoxy}-ethoxy)-ethyl]-amine (TPMC/DDE) are reported. The Schiff bases were synthesized from the condensation reaction of trans-paramethoxycinnamaldehyde and the primary amines (3,5-diaminobenzoic acid, 2-aminophenol and 1,8-diamino-3,6-dioxaoctane respectively), in dry methanol. The synthesized Schiff bases were characterized using UV-Visible, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopies. The In vitro antimicrobial screening of the Schiff bases were carried out on gram-positive bacteria: (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtillus) and gram-negative bacteria: (Pseudomonasaeruginosa, and Escherichia. coli strain13) and against the fungi, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans using the agar well diffusion method. The ligands 3,5-DA and OAP only showed activity against the fungus, Candida albicans with inhibition zone diameter (IZD) of 10 mm and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 5.0 mg/mL and 3.0 mg/mL respectively. The ligand, TPMC/DDE also showed varying activity against the bacteria, Pseudomonas aeroginosa with an IZD of 8.0 mm and MIC of 7.5 mg/mL while Escherichia coli displayed inhibition with an IZD of 10.0 mm and MIC of 1.9 mg/mL. According to molecular docking studies, the binding affinity of the compounds towards two validated antibiotic and antifungal drug targets (DD-transpeptidase–DDPT and N-myristyol transferase-NMT) were in agreement to their observed in vitro antimicrobial activities. Moreover, their retrieved binding poses explained intermolecular forces behind the interactions that exist between the proteins and the ligands, a knowledge which is very useful in structural modification for activity optimization. &nbsp