Oil Theft and Corruption: Pathways to under Development in the Niger Delta

The mean aim of this paper is to examine the nexus between oil theft and corruption as it affects development in the region. Niger Delta is the store house of petroleum resources, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s revenue and more than 90 per cent of the total exports. Oil theft is the criminal act of siphoning crude oil from government oil facilities. The study findings shows that there is quest for personal wealth accumulation, criminal tendencies by the local and international oil traders, security lapses, stakeholders  negligence for the region development among others were responsible for oil theft and corruption. The findings shows that there is increase in state insecurity, Economic loses, Environmental degradation, fire disasters explosions, lost of life and material resources. The paper concludes that, until oil theft and corruption are curbed, the Niger Delta region will still be underdeveloped and the region will be elusive of sustainable peace and development. Keywords: Oil Theft, Corruption, Niger Delta and Development

Genetics of Latin American Diversity Project: Insights into population genetics and association studies in admixed groups in the Americas

Latin Americans are underrepresented in genetic studies, increasing disparities in personalized genomic medicine. Despite available genetic data from thousands of Latin Americans, accessing and navigating the bureaucratic hurdles for consent or access remains challenging. To address this, we introduce the Genetics of Latin American Diversity (GLAD) Project, compiling genome-wide information from 53,738 Latin Americans across 39 studies representing 46 geographical regions. Through GLAD, we identified heterogeneous ancestry composition and recent gene flow across the Americas. Additionally, we developed GLAD-match, a simulated annealing-based algorithm, to match the genetic background of external samples to our database, sharing statistics (i.e., allele and haplotype frequencies) without transferring individual-level genotypes. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of GLAD as a critical resource for evaluating statistical genetic software in the presence of admixture. By providing this resource, we promote genomic research in Latin Americans and contribute to the promises of personalized medicine to more people

Reassessing the Empirical Relationship between Health Expenditure, Governance and Economic Growth in Africa: Analysis of Nigerian Data

As an aspect of human capital, a positive association exists amongst health, productivity, and growth in output per capita. On the other hand, social infrastructure defined by the institution of governance has a direct effect on the environment upon which productive activities take place to determine outcomes. Nigeria like most African countries is bedevilled by the high prevalence of inadequate health financing and poor governance. Health financing for Nigeria consistently has fallen short of the AU health funding commitment of 15% of annual budgetary allocation to the health sector. Secondly, poor governance conditions available resources and shape the state of infrastructure, particularly health infrastructure and socioeconomic conditions. In turn, this determines individuals’ level of exposure to health risks and their capacity to actively contribute to productive activity for growth stimulation and sustainability. Against this backdrop, this study added to the existing literature in the context of Nigeria, by theoretically applying the Solow augmented Mankiw-Romer-Weil structural model in the examination of the impact of government size and governance quality in the health sector, on economic growth. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was adopted in the estimation. Findings show that governance quality adversely affects growth and this reduces the capacity of health spending to stimulate growth by an almost equal margin. As a result, this study recommends legislative backing to the AU health funding commitment in Nigeria

EXCHANGE RATE VOLATILITY AND DYNAMICS OF NON-OIL TRADE: Evidence From Nigeria

Motivated by the high prevalence of possible endogeneity bias among Nigerian specific studies, this study examined the effects of exchange rate volatility shocks on non-oil trade using the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) (p, q) and the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) methods of analysis. Theoretically, the model for the study was founded on the relationship between trade and the size of price and foreign exchange elasticities of Nigeria and her trading partners. The result shows that non-oil import exhibited unending positive and negative swings in response to positive shocks on exchange rate volatility, as against a minimal negative effect on export which became muted after the third and half period. This suggests that exchange rate volatility is more relevant for the determination of non-oil import than export. On the basis of this, the study concluded that exclusive reliance on exchange rate adjustment as a policy management tool for non-oil trade can be counterproductive for Nigeria. As a result, the study recommended the establishment of industrial clusters to drive domestic production of internationally competitive non-oil products

Predictors of interruptions in antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV in Nigeria: a retrospective cohort study using the Nigeria national data repository.

This study aimed to identify predictors of time to first interruption in treatment (IIT) and predictors of ever being interrupted in ART treatment among PLHIV in Nigeria using a national longitudinal dataset that covers all PEPFAR-funded implementing partners to inform national strategies to prevent IIT. This retrospective cohort study used data from Nigeria's National Data Repository (NDR). The NDR is a de-identified longitudinal database of over 1.9 million PLHIV who received ART in Nigeria beginning in 2004 and is owned by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH). The NDR contains patient-level demographics, clinic visits, laboratory, and ART prescription and refill data uploaded at least monthly. The data extracted for this study were obtained from electronic medical record systems of 2,226 public facilities offering HIV care in the country. In this study, we investigated the predictors of treatment interruption using data from the national HIV treatment program. We identified sets of predictors of first interruption in treatment using the logistic regression and these to be consistent in predicting time to first interruption including sex, anchor drug in ART regimen, recorded HIV viral load, recorded CD4 cell count, WHO clinical staging, functional status, last measured weight, highest education attained, occupation, marital status, year enrolled in care, pre and post surge, pre and post-COVID and residing in a state capital, Lagos, or the federal capital territory (FCT) (capital city dweller) versus other locations (non capital city dweller). Age grouping was the only variable that was predictive only for time to first interruption but not for having a first interruption. To reduce the risk of IIT it is important to target interventions preemptively. We have highlighted the need for tailored interventions that address the unique needs of PLHIV in Nigeria. Targeted interventions focusing on those with a combination of risk factors could include education, counseling, supportive services, and monitoring and outreach

Prevalence and socio-economic determinates of food insecurity in veterans: Findings from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective: To determine predictors of the association between being a Veteran and adult food security, as well as to examine the relation of potential covariates to this relationship. Design: Data collected during 2011–2012, 2013–2014 and 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were pooled for analyses. Veterans (self-reported) were matched to non-Veterans on age, race/ethnicity, sex and education. Adjusted logistic regression was used to determine the odds of Veterans having high food security v. the combination of marginal, low and very low food security compared with non-Veterans. Setting: 2011–2012, 2013–2014 and 2015–2016 NHANES. Participants: 1227 Veterans; 2432 non-Veterans. Results: Veteran status had no effect on the proportion of food insecurities between Veterans and non-Veterans reporting high (Veterans v. non-Veteran: 79 % v. 80 %), marginal (9 % v. 8%), low (5% v. 6%) and very low (8% v. 6%) food security (P =0·11). However, after controlling for covariates, Veterans tended to be less likely to have high food security (OR: 0·82 (95% CI 0·66, 1·02), P=0·07). Further, non-Hispanic White Veterans (OR: 0·72 (95 % CI 0·55, 0·95), P = 0·02) and Veterans completing some college (OR: 0·71 (95% CI 0·50, 0·99), P<0·05) were significantly less likely to experience high food security compared with non Veterans. Conclusion: This study supports previous research findings that after controlling for covariates, Veterans tend to be less likely to have high food security. It also highlights ethnicity and level of education as important socio-economic determinates of food security status in Veterans

Performance characteristics of different HIV tests or testing algorithm, NAIIS 2018.

Performance characteristics of different HIV tests or testing algorithm, NAIIS 2018.</p

Raw data used for analysis.

(XLSX)</p