The Mune in pre-colonial Borno

The account of Borno's war with Mandara thus recounted above, at least from the point of view of the Mandara Chronicler, and all the other accounts I have given above clearly portray to us the essence of the Mune in that oppression and/or a war of caprice is not enjoined. And the war against Mandara was clearly a war of caprice, as Mandara had clearly recanted on its recalcitrance, when threatened. The essence of the Chronicle itself, however, is that we are here seeing, from accounts of an eye-witness, the portrayal of a polity whose language principles and practice of diplomacy, in war and in peace, are not less developed than any we have seen in the states of Euro-Germanic experience, of comparable times. The basis of this well ordered art is essentially the Mune, even though in its universalist form we may wish to assign it to the Book and the Sunna of Islam. Why not then, should we not regard the Mune as the constitution of the pre-colonial Borno State? Munen - ba (not in the Mune), for the Sayfawa ruler is certainly more binding than most modern constitutions had been binding on leaders of present-day African States

Gender issues in economics of fish farming in Maiduguri and environs

This study focused and examined gender issues in economics of fish farming in Maiduguri and its environs. The socio-economic characteristics of the fish farmers were examined. The profitability of the industry and constrains affecting fish farming in the study area were analyzed. Stratified random sampling technique was used due to the heterogeneous nature of the population considering 30% of the fish farmers as the sampled size. Descriptive statistics and net farm income were used to analyse the data obtained. It was revealed that 81.25% of the respondents were male while female fish farmers represented 18.75% of the respondents. 84.40% of the respondents had tertiary education while farmers with secondary certificate and adult education constituted 12.50% and 3.10% respectively. Net farm income profitability analysis of male and female farmers were N193,767:00 and N445,557:00 respectively. It was also observed that the major constraints militating against fish farming in the study area were scarcity of fingerlings, lack of improved technology, inadequate capital, high cost of equipments, lack of land and management difficulties. It was recommended that adequate training, continuous capacity building and improved technology in fish production must be made available to farmers: and farmers should have access to sources of fingerlings

Managing a patient with open-angle glaucoma: a case study.

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Ophthalmologists' practice patterns and challenges in achieving optimal management for glaucoma in Nigeria: results from a nationwide survey.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Glaucoma, a chronic non-communicable disease, and leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide is a public health problem in Nigeria, with a prevalence of 5.02% in people aged ≥40 years. The purpose of this nationwide survey was to assess Nigerian ophthalmologists' practice patterns and their constraints in managing glaucoma. STUDY DESIGN: Ophthalmologists were sent a semistructured questionnaire on how they manage glaucoma, their training in glaucoma care, where they practice, their access to equipment for diagnosis and treatment, whether they use protocols and the challenges they face in managing patients with glaucoma. RESULTS: 153/250 ophthalmologists in 80 centres completed questionnaires. Although 79% felt their training was excellent or good, 46% needed more training in glaucoma diagnosis and surgery. All had ophthalmoscopes, 93% had access to applanation tonometers, 81% to visual field analysers and 29% to laser machines (in 19 centres). 3 ophthalmologists had only ophthalmoscopes and schiøtz tonometers. For 85%, a glaucomatous optic disc was the most important feature that would prompt glaucoma work-up. Only 56% routinely performed gonioscopy and 61% used slit-lamp stereoscopic biomicroscopy for disc assessment. Trabeculectomy (with/without antimetabolites) was the only glaucoma surgery performed with one mention of canaloplasty. Poor compliance with medical treatment (78%) and low acceptance of surgery (71%) were their greatest challenges. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that a systems-oriented approach is required to enhance ophthalmologist's capability for glaucoma care. Strategies to improve glaucoma management include strengthening poorly equipped centres including provision of lasers and training, and improving patients' awareness and education on glaucoma

Educational services and socio-economic status of internally displaced persons in Maiduguri, Nigeria: Implications for sociology of education

Introduction: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who involuntary migrate from their homes due to armed conflict or drought and disasters in such critical situations that the relocation of an affected population becomes inevitable. They are scourged by poverty and hunger, diseases, neglect and feelings of alienation, among others. Purpose: The study focused on effects of the Boko Haram insurgency on educational needs, educational services, and socio-economic interventions by the various NGOs and governmental actors involved in humanitarian assistance, coordinated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA)on the basis camp in Bakasi, Dalori and Farm center IDPs of Borno state, Nigeria. Methodology: The survey design was used for the study. A descriptive study using pre-test and post-test treatment with a stratified sampling technique was used to select three (3) IDPs camps (IDPCs). The Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis. A total of 435 questionnaires were administered to the respondents, out of which 395 (Bakasi 116, Farm Centre 75, and Dalori 244) questionnaires were dully completed. Result: The study reveals that socio-economic and educational services of the respondents and educational facilities on the basis of the camp had not differed. Recommendation: Educational provisions should be made available where the children of the IDPs will be hosted and skills acquisition programmes to cater to skill development in different areas to enhance their economic status. There should effective synergy between security forces, Government, civil society NGOs, locals and internationals in order to build confidence and trust

Observing land-use/land-cover dynamics in semi-arid environment: Evidence from Damaturu Town and its surrounding lands, Yobe State, Nigeria

The fragile Sudano-Sahelian ecological zone of Nigeria has been classified as a hotspot of land cover change (LCC) that has been suffering from serious anthropogenic and biophysical stresses. Damaturu, being the fastest growing town situated in the region happened to be a victim of this negative development. The purpose of this study is to remotely observe and assess the prevailing land-use/land-cover (LULC) dynamics of Damaturu town and its delicate surrounding lands from the year 1987-2017 study periods. To achieve this, a supervised image classification technique with Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) algorithm was used in ERDAS Imagine version 15 software to classify the three epochs multi-temporal and multi-spectral Landsat imageries (TM 1987, ETM+7 2000 and OLI 2017). The classified LULC maps and their resulting statistics were then used to assess the spatio-temporal aspects of the observed changes by placing the results within the wider context of previous related literature and evidences. Findings revealed that the built-up area has been expanding since 1987 with an annual change rate of 4.5% between 1987-2000, and 5.3% during 2000-2017 respectively. The growth of the town is being accompanied by massive farmlands expansion and vegetal cover (trees and shrubs) lost making the surrounding arable lands seriously disturbed. Thus, if the observed trends continue, the entire studied region will be subjected to severe environmental hazard such as desertification. Overall, the study provides valuable information required for sustainable  environmental management

Multilevel Analysis of Trachomatous Trichiasis and Corneal Opacity in Nigeria : The Role of Environmental and Climatic Risk Factors on the Distribution of Disease.

Funding: Jennifer L Smith was supported by the International Trachoma Initiative through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Anthony Solomon is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellow (098521). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Enantiospecific behaviour of chiral drugs in soil.

The importance of stereochemistry on the behaviour and effects of chiral pharmaceutical and illicit drugs in amended agricultural soils has been over looked to date. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the enantiospecific behaviour of a chemically diverse range of chiral drugs including naproxen, ibuprofen, salbutamol, bisoprolol, metoprolol, propranolol, acebutolol, atenolol, chlorpheniramine, amphetamine, fluoxetine and citalopram in soil microcosms. Considerable changes of the enantiomeric composition of ibuprofen, naproxen, atenolol, acebutolol and amphetamine were observed within 56 d. This is significant as enantiomer enrichment can favour the pharmacologically active (e.g., S(−)-atenolol) or less/non-active forms of the drug (e.g., R(−)-amphetamine). Single enantiomer microcosms showed enantiospecific degradation was responsible for enantiomer enrichment of atenolol and amphetamine. However, naproxen and ibuprofen enantiomers were subject to chiral inversion whereby one enantiomer converts to its antipode. Interestingly, chiral inversion was bidirectional and this is the first time it is reported in soil. Therefore, introduction of the less active enantiomer to soil through irrigation with reclaimed wastewater or biosolids as fertiliser can result in the formation of its active enantiomer, or vice versa. This phenomenon needs considered in risk assessment frameworks to avoid underestimating the risk posed by chiral drugs in amended soils

Screening reservoir candidates for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in Angolan offshore projects.

The neuro-fuzzy (NF) approach presented in this work is based on five (5) layered feedforward backpropagation algorithm applied for technical screening of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Associated reservoir rock-fluid oilfield data from successful EOR projects were used as input and predicted output in the training and validation processes, respectively. The developed model was then tested by using data set from Block B of an Angolan oilfield. The results of the sensitivity analysis between the Mamdani and the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) approach incorporated in the algorithm has shown the robustness of the TSK ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System) approach in comparison to the other approach for the prediction of a suitable EOR technique. The simulation test results showed that the model presented in this study can be used for technical selection of suitable EOR techniques. Within the area investigated (Block B, Angola) polymer, hydrocarbon gas, and combustion were identified as the suitable techniques for EOR

Couching in Nigeria: prevalence, risk factors and visual acuity outcomes.

PURPOSE: Couching is an ancient treatment for cataract which is still practiced in some of the poorer developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study is to describe risk factors for couching and visual acuity outcomes in a nationally representative sample of adults aged 40 years and above in Nigeria. METHODS: Probability in proportion size methods were used to identify a representative sample. Of the 15,375 adults enumerated, 13,582 were interviewed and examined. Examination included logMar acuities, slit lamp examination and dilated fundoscopy with digital fundus imaging. RESULTS: Almost half of the 583 eyes undergoing a procedure for cataract had been couched (249 eyes, 42.7%). Individuals living in rural areas (P = 0.033) and in the two underserved northern administrative zones (P = 0.33; P = 0.002) were more likely to have been couched. Visual outcomes were poor according to World Health Organization categories, with 55.8% of people and 73.1% of eyes having a presenting visual acuity of less than 3/60 and only 9.7% and 2.4% of people and eyes respectively having a good outcome (6/18 or better). None were wearing an aphakic correction, and with correction acuities improved but 42.6% of eyes were still blind (< 3/60). CONCLUSIONS: Couching is still widely practiced in Nigeria and visual outcomes are very poor. The population needs to be made aware of the risks associated with the procedure, and services for high quality, affordable cataract surgery need to be expanded, particularly in rural areas and in the north of the country