Deprivation, Despoilation And Destitution: Whither Environment And Human Rights In Nigeria\u27s Niger Delta?

Upon the inception of the new civilian administration on May 29\u27 2000, after almost twenty years of military rule, President Olusegun Obasanjo set up, inter alia, an eight-member Human Rights violation Investigation Commission

Access to Justice for Victims of Oil Pollution in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Exploring Contemporary Judicial Trends and Implications for Sustainable Development

The rich natural environment of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has been devastated by oil pollution arising from the activities of oil companies operating within the region. This is promoted or aided mostly by the ineffective implementation and enforcement of environmental regulations in Nigeria, a state of affairs that oil companies have taken advantage of in focusing exclusively on profits while disregarding the impacts of their activities on the fragile ecosystem of the Niger Delta region. The inability of the relevant authorities to effectively implement and enforce compliance with environmental regulations should necessitate the intervention of private citizens and non-governmental organizations in seeking the enforcement of environmental regulations in order to protect human health and well-being from the adverse impacts of environmental pollution. However, this is subject to their ability to have access to court for judicial redress. This article explores the recent judicial trend in enhancing access to justice for victims of oil pollution and the implication for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Keywords: oil pollution, human rights, right to a healthy environment, public interest litigation, Niger Delta DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/134-01 Publication date:July 31st 202

The Impact of Infrastructural Development on Nigeria's Industrial Sector

The importance of infrastructure to the industrial sector of any economy cannot be overlooked, thus making its development key to the survival of the sector. The purpose of this study is to analyse the effects of infrastructure on the industrial sector of Nigeria. In that vein, ordinary least square method of regression analysis was adopted, using time series data spanning from 1990 to 2015. Industry value-added (% of GDP) was used as an indicator of Nigeria’s industrial sector performance, while index of electricity consumption, gross capital formation, and federal government spending on transport and communication were used as indicators for infrastructural development. The results of the regression showed that the index of electricity consumption exerted a positive but insignificant impact on industry value-added; gross capital formation and federal government spending had a negative but significant impact on industry value-added on industry value-added (on a 5% confidence level). The study recommended that measures to revamp and maintain the power sector of Nigeria must be taken seriously to ensure better supply of power. It was also recommended that corruption be curbed and projects, for which funds are disbursed, be properly monitored so as to ensure that efficient and long-lasting infrastructure will be built and properly maintained to encourage greater industrial output.Key Words: Industrial sector, Infrastructure, Power supply

Fail-Safe Local Area Networking Using Channel Redundancy.

Local area networks represent a major development in data communications. The ring topology is the most popular of the local area networks. Its inherent problem, however, is the breakdown of the entire network in the event of a station failure resulting in total shut-down until repairs can be made. This dissertation is a study of designs for fail-safe local area networks. Two methods for maintaining the operation of a ring network are analyzed and compared. The first method uses a double-ring where the inner loop is optically coupled to the outer ring whenever a node failure occurs. The analysis performed here in terms of the scantime reveals that, for a breakdown in the network, the additional delay is at most equal to the single channel scantime delay. When a (defined as the propagation time divided by the transmission time) is less than 1, the throughput for the double-ring is comparable to that for the single-ring for all protocols studied. However, for a greater than 1, the throughput is lower. For the token-passing ring protocol, the throughput drops to a value of half the single-ring value. The second method uses spokes in the ring that are activated to make a logical ring network connection when a node fails. This design\u27s performance is superior to that of the double-ring in scantime, efficiency under heavy load, and throughput performance. The analysis is based on the assumption that the activation time for the spoked-ring and the double-ring reconfiguration time are negligible. The redundancy in double-ring and spoked-ring networks that allows network operation during station breakdown is not put to any use during normal conditions. This dissertation presents a new design of ring operation where normal operation does use the \u27redundant\u27 hardware. A network called dual access bi-ring network (DABNET) is proposed where the stations are divided into two sets (rings) so that most of the communication is ordinarily between stations of each set. A protocol is designed so that communication across rings is allowed. This new concept of two rings that allows communication across them in the event of ring breakdown or when stations across the rings wish to transfer information could be generalized to more than two rings, though the protocols governing such rings would be quite complex

GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRIC ANALYSIS OF METHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF LANNEA KERSTINGII AND NAUCLEA DIDERRICHII, TWO MEDICINAL PLANTS USED FOR THE TREATMENT OF GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT INFECTIONS

ABSTRACT Objective: The leaves of Lannea kerstingii and Nauclea diderrichii are traditionally used for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections. The aim of this work is to determine the phytochemicals that are present in the leaves. Methods: Phytochemical screening was carried out to determine the type of phyto-components present while a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was to separate and identify the different phytochemicals that are present in the leaves. Results: The phytochemical screening showed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, saponins, and steroids in the methanolic extracts of both plants while only steroids were present in the n-hexane extract of N. diderrichii. Alkaloids, anthraquinone glycosides, and terpenoids were absent in all extracts. The GC-MS revealed 16 compounds in the methanolic extract of L. kerstingii with dodecanoic acid, methyl ester as the predominant compound (24.276%) and 26 compounds in N. diderrichii with phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl) - (17.253%) as the most abundant. Seven compounds were identified to be common in the two plants methanol extracts. Some of the identified compounds possess biological activities. Conclusion: Some of the identified compounds could be responsible for the biological activity of the plants leaves, especially its effect on gastrointestinal pathogens. Keywords: Lannea kerstingii, Nauclea diderrichii, Gastrointestinal infection, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometri

An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Electroosmotic Mixing of Non-Newtonian Fluid in a Microchannel with Obstacles and Zeta Potential Heterogeneity

This paper investigates the electroosmotic micromixing of non-Newtonian fluid in a microchannel with wall-mounted obstacles and surface potential heterogeneity on the obstacle surface. In the numerical simulation, the full model consisting of the Navier–Stokes equations and the Poisson–Nernst–Plank equations are solved for the electroosmotic fluid field, ion transport, and electric field, and the power law model is used to characterize the rheological behavior of the aqueous solution. The mixing performance is investigated under different parameters, such as electric double layer thickness, flow behavior index, obstacle surface zeta potential, obstacle dimension. Due to the zeta potential heterogeneity at the obstacle surface, vortical flow is formed near the obstacle surface, which can significantly improve the mixing efficiency. The results show that, the mixing efficiency can be improved by increasing the obstacle surface zeta potential, the flow behavior index, the obstacle height, the EDL thickness