History of Corruption and National Development: The Case of Nigeria

Nigeria, with a population of over 140 million people, is the most populous country: in Africa: one in five Sub-Saharan Africans is a Nigerian. The country is also rich in both human and natural resources. Billions of dollars were generated yearly from the sale of crude oil and vet nothing to show for this huge revenue in terms of infrastructural development and the living standards of Nigerians. This state of affairs has been attributed to the prevalence of corruption. This paper examines phenomenon called corruption. It discusses the causes and impacts. The paper attributed the causes of corruption in Nigeria to socio-cultural and the political and economic situation of the country. The paper contends that corruption has been responsible for the instability of successive Nigerian administration since independence to date. Besides, it creates negative image and loss of much needed revenue for developmental purposes: it devalues the quality of human life: robs educational and health sectors of revenues; it slows down administrative processes thereby making the execution of government policies to be ineffective. The paper recommends among others, enlightenment of the citizen on the danger of excessive materialism and the culture of “get rich quick”. Besides, the property of any corrupt official should be confiscated and should also be imprisoned for life to serve as a deterrent to others. Keywords: Corruption, Development, Kleptocracy, Prebendalisr

Comparative study of spark plasma sintering features on the densification of Ni-Cr binary alloys

Abstract: Spark plasma sintering (SPS) has been widely regarded as an advanced powder consolidation technique which helps in the development of array of engineering materials. Many have been reported in the literature about sintering parameters such as temperature, pressure, heating rate and holding time. However, little or no reports has been made on some of the intricate features such as process time(s), power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and average pressing force (KN) on which sintering parameters are directly related to. This study aims to investigate the behaviour of spark plasma sintered Ni-17Cr binary alloys with emphasis on the densification, hardness value and spark plasma sintering features such as process time (s), power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and the average pressing force (KN). Nickel and chromium powders were milled individually using High energy ball milling for durations of 5hr, 10 hr prior to mixing and subsequent sintering. The sintered 5 hr and 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr binary alloys attained relative densities of 98.72 % and 99.1 % respectively. The Microstructural morphology was examined using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sintered 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr binary alloy revealed the higher hardness

Mathematical and experimental investigation of water migration in plant xylem

Plant can take water from soil up to several metres high. However, the mechanism of how water rises against gravity is still controversially discussed despite a few mechanisms have been proposed. Also, there still lacks of a critical transportation model because of the diversity and complex xylem structure of plants. This paper mainly focuses on the water transport process within xylem and a mathematical model is presented. With a simplified micro channel from xylem structure and the calculation using the model of water migration in xylem, this paper identified the relationship between various forces and water migration velocity. The velocity of water migration within the plant stem is considered as detail as possible using all major forces involved, and a full mathematical model is proposed to calculate and predict the velocity of water migration in plants. Using details of a specific plant, the velocity of water migration in the plant can be calculated, and then compared to the experimental result from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The two results match perfectly to each other, indicating the accuracy of the mathematical model, thus the mathematical model should have brighter future in further applications

Gunshot Injuries, A 10-years Experience in a Private Hospital

This paper reports the experience of the authors with 59 cases of gunshot injuries admitted and treated at Lagoon Hospital, a forty-bed private hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, over a 10 year period (1987 - 1996). 44(74.6%) out of the 59 patients were seen in the second half of the study period, that is 1992 – 1996, a period of heightened socio-economic problems and political upheaval. There were 54(91.5%) males and 5(8.5%) females. The average age of the patients was 37.9 years. Of the 59 cases, only 15 (25.4%) patients sustained multiple regions injuries. 44(74.6%) had single region injuries. 40 patients presented to our hospital within 24 hours of the injury. We found this early presentation to be associated with good prognosis. There were altogether two deaths, suggesting a mortality rate of 3.4% among cases to the hospital. NQJHM Vol. 14 (3&4) 2004: pp. 302-30

Early warning climate indices for malaria and meningitis in tropical ecological zones

This study aims at assessing the impacts of climate indices on the spatiotemporal distribution of malaria and meningitis in Nigeria. The primary focus of the research is to develop an Early Warning System (EWS) for assessing climate variability implications on malaria and meningitis spread in the study area. Both climate and health data were used in the study to determine the relationship between climate variability and the occurrence of malaria and meningitis. The assessment was based on variations in different ecological zones in Nigeria. Two specific sample locations were randomly selected in each ecological zone for the analysis. The climatic data used in this study are dekadal precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature between 2000 and 2018, monthly aerosol optical depth between 2000 and 2018. The results show that temperature is relatively high throughout the year because the country is located in a tropical region. The significant findings of this study are that rainfall has much influence on the occurrence of malaria, while temperature and aerosol have more impact on meningitis. We found the degree of relationship between precipitation and malaria, there is a correlation coefficient R2 ≥ 70.0 in Rainforest, Freshwater, and Mangrove ecological zones. The relationship between temperature and meningitis is accompanied by R2 ≥ 72.0 in both Sahel and Sudan, while aerosol and meningitis harbour R2 = 77.33 in the Sahel. The assessment of this initial data seems to support the finding that the occurrences of meningitis are higher in the northern region, especially the Sahel and Sudan. In contrast, malaria occurrence is higher in the southern part of the study area. In all, the multiple linear regression results revealed that rainfall was directly associated with malaria with β = 0.64, p = 0.001 but aerosol was directly associated with meningitis with β = 0.59, p < 0.001. The study concludes that variability in climatic elements such as low precipitation, high temperature, and aerosol may be the major drivers of meningitis occurrence

Comparative Study of Durability and Microstructure Properties of Concrete made with Different Grades of Nigerian Portland Limestone Cement

It is now becoming apparent that concrete should not only be strong but must also be durable. It is also believed that understanding the microstructure of the concrete will help produce strong and durable concrete, and thus enhance innovativeness in concrete application. This paper compares the durability performance and microstructure development of concrete produced with Portland limestone cement (PLC) grades 32.5R and 42.5R. The durability investigation was accomplished through coefficient of water absorption and sorptivity measurements. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the microstructure of the concrete samples.  The results show that concrete produced with cement grade 42.5R showed higher durability potential than the ones produced with grade 32.5R using 28 days curing period. Similarly, it was also observed that concrete specimens produced with 32.5R and with water/cement ratio of 0.40 have better durability index at the later dayscuring of 90 days in comparison to grade 42.5R concrete specimens.  It can be concluded that concrete produced using grade 42.5R cement has potential for better durability performance in relation to concrete produced with 32.5

Dietary Consumption of Virgin Coconut Oil Ameliorates Lipid Profiles in Diabetic Rats

Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is a saturated fat with promising antidiabetic properties but its ameliorative effect on lipid profiles in diabetics is rarely reported. Therefore, in this study, a total of fifteen (15) male rats weighing 200–250 g were divided into 3 experimental groups (n=5). Group I (control) and Group II (diabetic control group) were fed a normal rat chow while Group III (diabetic test group) was fed a 10% VCO diet for 3 weeks. Group II and Group III were made diabetic by intraperitoneal injection of 150 mg/kg of alloxan. After 72 hours of injection, blood glucose was tested to confirm diabetes mellitus. After 3 weeks, the animals were sacrificed to collect blood samples for lipid profile analysis. The results showed a significant increase in concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, and very low density lipoprotein and decrease in concentration of high density lipoprotein in Group II when compared to Group I. Also, the concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, and very low density lipoprotein except high density lipoprotein significantly reduced in Group III when compared to Group II (P<0.01, 0.001). VCO consumption can be claimed to ameliorate lipid levels in diabetes mellitus

Comparative study of spark plasma sintering features on the densification of Ni-Cr binary alloys

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) has been widely regarded as an advanced powder consolidation technique hich helps in the development of array of engineering materials. Many have been reported in the literature about sintering parameters such as temperature, pressure, heating rate and holding time. However, little or no reports has been made on some of the intricate features such as process time(s), power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and average pressing force (KN) on which intering parameters are directly related to. This study aims to investigate the behaviour of spark plasma sintered Ni-17Cr binary alloys with emphasis on the densification, hardness value and spark plasma sintering features such as process time (s), power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and the average pressing force (KN). Nickel and chromium powders were milled individually using High energy ball milling for durations of 5hr, 10 hr prior to mixing and subsequent sintering. The sintered 5 hr and 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr binary alloys attained relative densities of 98.72 % and 99.1 % respectively. The Microstructural morphology was examined using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sintered 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr binary alloy revealed the higher hardness