Investigating the impacts of energy access scenarios in the Nigerian household sector by 2030

Lack of access to modern forms of energy continues to hamper socio-economic development in Nigeria, and about 94% and 39% of the Nigerian population do not have access to clean cooking equipment and electricity, respectively. The United Nations Sustainable Energy for All initiative and Sustainable Development Goal number seven seek to provide universal modern energy for all by 2030. However, the implications of these global goals on Nigeria's energy system have not been well researched in the literature. In this study, we applied the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning Systems model to analyse the impacts of different energy access scenarios by 2030 on household energy consumption, CO₂ emissions and local air pollutant emissions. We also analysed different scenarios for biomass renewability in order to understand its impact on household net CO₂ emissions. We found that achieving a 100% modern energy access by 2030 would reduce final energy demand by around 845 PJ, which is equivalent to a 52.4% reduction when compared to the baseline scenario. A 100% modern access would also significantly reduce local air pollutants, but increase CO₂ emissions significantly by 16.7 MtCO₂ compared to the baseline scenario. Our analysis shows that the benefits of modern energy access have been limited in Nigeria due to poor financing and low income levels of households. Therefore, we argue that for a 100% modern energy access in Nigeria by 2030, there is a need to explore local and foreign funding sources, and a serious need to couple energy access programs in the country with income-generating activities

Influence of Self-Esteem and Demographic Variables on Anxiety among Female Nurses

The study examined the influence of self esteem and demographic variables on anxiety among female nurses. Sixty nurses selected from surgery and emergency units of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu. Enugu state Nigeria were used in the study. The Index of Self Esteem (ISE) developed by Hudson (1982), was used as one of the research instruments to measure self esteem and was validated in Nigeria by Onighaiye (1996) which has 25 items and state trait anxiety inventory (STAIY-I) developed by Spielberger (1983) was used to measure general anxiety and was validated in Nigeria by Omoluabi (1987). The design for the study was 2x3 factorial design, while 3 way analysis of variance was adopted as the appropriate statistical tool to test the hypotheses postulated. The result indicated that the first hypothesis which stated that; there will be a significant difference between high and low self esteem on anxiety among female nurses was accepted at P<.05 level of significance. The second hypothesis which stated that, there will be a significant difference between emergency unit and surgery unit on anxiety among female nurses was accepted at P<.05. The third hypothesis which stated that, there will be a significant difference between short service and long service on anxiety among female nurses was accepted at P<.05. The fourth hypothesis which stated that, there will be a significant interaction influence of self esteem, hospital units and years of service on anxiety among female nurses was accepted at P<.05. The result vividly showed that nurses generally manifest anxiety with respect to self esteem and irrespective of hospital unit and year of working experience at P<.05. These results were discussed in line with health care delivery system and culture in Nigeria and their implications stated. Based on the findings, the researchers therefore recommended that clinical Psychologists should be employed in various critical units (Emergency and Surgery) to help nurses to cope with anxiety and other psychological problems

The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Nigeria Agricultural Sector.

This study attempts to examine the impact of trade liberalization on Nigeria agricultural performance (model one) with special interest on export sub-sector (model two) using time -series analysis. It is stated clearly that performance of Nigeria agricultural sector and its export sub-sector is a function of trade liberalization. In this work trade liberalization is decompose into macroeconomic variables as thus agricultural degree of openness, agricultural capital formation, agricultural export to import price ratio, real exchange rate and foreign investment on agriculture. The test on hypothesis of model one revealed that two explanatory variables (EP/IP,LOG(FIA)) are statistically significant and three variables (LOG(ADO),LOG(ACF),REXR) are not statistically significant while that of model two revealed that two explanatory variables (ADO,LOG(FIA)) are statistically significant and three variables (ACF, EP/IP,REXR) are not statistically significant having passed the rule of thumb and conventional t-criteria. The F-statistics which test the overall significant of the entire regression model revealed that the overall regression of both models are statistically significant, The Error Correction Model of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) results from the time -series analysis confirm that agricultural degree of openness and agricultural export to import price ratio were significant in the both models; whereas, agricultural capital formation, real exchange rate and foreign investment on agriculture are not significant. The Error Correction Model findings from the MODEL 2 follow the same direction as the MODEL 1. Therefore, it becomes necessary for policy makers to formulate policies that will eventually enhance investment in agricultural capital formation, real exchange rate and foreign investment on agricultural in Nigeria as this will lead to increased output and promote exportation of agricultural products. Keywords: Agricultural Products, Trade Liberalisation, Agricultural Sector, Export, Import, Capital Formation, Gross Domestic Product, Agricultural Policy

Antibiotics prescription pattern and determinants of utilization in the national health insurance scheme at a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Background: Subsidizing the cost of medicines through insurance schemes increases consumption of medicines and may contribute to irrational use of antibiotics. Objectives: To describe the systemic antibiotics prescriptions patterns and analyze the determinants of their utilization in the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS).Methods: Established WHO guideline was followed to conduct this cross-sectional retrospective study at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Data were collected from randomly sampled prescription sheets of one year duration. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of antibiotics prescriptions.Results: The results are based on 802 sampled out-patients NHIS prescriptions. Average number of medicines per encounter was 4.0 ± 1.8, whereas 46.9% of antibiotics were prescribed by generic name. Penicillins (most frequently amoxicillin/clavulanate), and nitroimidazole (most frequently metronidazole) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics with percentage share of 43.3% and 22.2%. Being &lt;5 years old, and taking more than 4 medicines (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.37-3.55) were the factors associated with the highest risk of antibiotics exposure.Conclusion: There were poly-pharmacy, and non-adherence to generic antibiotic prescriptions. Penicillins (amoxicillin/clavulanate) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotic class. Being &lt; 5 years old, and taking more than 4 medicines were significant predictors of antibiotics exposure.Keywords: Antibiotics; national health insurance scheme; Nigeria; poly-pharmacy; prescription

Effect of organic waste compost and microbial activity on the growth of maize in the utisoils in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

One of the major problems of agricultural soils in the coastal areas of the Niger Delta is the low organic matter content. Therefore, land application of composted organic material as a fertilizer source not only provides essential nutrients to plants, it also improves soil quality and effectively disposes soil wastes. In this study, poultry droppings, spent mushroom wastes, earthworm casts and soil samples were collected from the agriculture farm of the University and composted for 21 days. The composts were applied as nutrient supplements to maize crops at different concentrations of 3000, 9000, 18000 t/ha and control, to determine their effect on crop yield. The patterns of organic waste composting were compared among various combinations. The results obtained showed that organic waste compost application improved soil physical properties, increased nitrogen content, phosphorus, potassium and some micronutrients such as zinc, iron and copper. Vegetative growth parameters were better enhanced in maize stem length, girth, number of leaves and chlorophyll content while other nutrient combinations showed improved yields, especially Soil + spent mushroom wastes (SMW) + poultry droppings (PW) at 40 t/ha. Microorganisms involved in the breakdown of composts were isolated and characterized according to various biochemical reactions. They include Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas, Corynebacterium and Enterobacter species. Therefore, management of organic wastes through composting increases soil organic matter and other nutrients, and therefore had the added benefit of improving soil quality and thereby enhancing long term sustainability of agriculture. Their use also enhances microbial activities which enhances nutrient supply.Keywords: Composts, organic wastes, inorganic fertilizers, microbial activities, soil, maize, nutrient conten

Predictive Validity of Students’ Achievement Scores in Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) on Achievement in Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Conducted by NECO in Mathematics

This study, investigated Predictive Validity of Students’ Achievement Scores in Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) on Achievement in Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by NECO in Mathematics. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The sample of the study comprised 3910 candidates sampled from 7 randomly drawn unity schools within Ebonyi and Abia states of Nigeria for the period under study (2014 – 2019). The official BECE scores and SSCE scores in mathematics of the students domiciled in NECO headquarters Minna, Niger state, Nigeria served as data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions and Multiple Regression statistics to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The analysis of the data revealed that BECE scores have a strong validity with the students’ achievement in SSCE mathematics examination. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant relationship between the students BECE scores and their achievement in SSCE mathematics examination. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that the BECE preparation of the students should be given serious attention because of its proven predictive value on achievement at the SSCE level. Keywords: Mathematics, Predictive Validity, and Academic Achievement DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-21-03 Publication date:July 31st 202

Life Cycle Cost Analysis of a Diesel/Photovoltaic Hybrid Power Generating System

This work is a Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis of a diesel/photovoltaic hybrid power generating system for an off-grid residential building in Enugu, Nigeria. It aims at optimizing different hybrid system configurations, and comparing the result obtained with the photovoltaic standalone (PVSA) system and conventional diesel standalone (DSA) system. The lifetime of the project is 25 years and a real interest rate of 9% per annum is assumed for the system analysis. The average hourly electrical load demand data for residential sector in Enugu were obtained from the power holding company of Nigeria (PHCN). The solar resource data for the location for the year 2010 were gotten from the NASA Langley Research Centre. The sizes of different components were determined to make sure their sizes suit the load demand. A PV standalone system is firstly sized, after which modules of the PV array are removed in sequence to get six different sizes, at the same time, introducing the diesel generator to make a hybrid system. The hours of operation of the diesel generator increases as modules are removed from the PV array. Optimization of the hybrid system is done to determine the system configuration that would satisfy the load demand at minimum cost. The result shows that the hybrid system with 20 modules and a 2.5 kVA diesel generator will serve the load at minimum cost. A life cycle cost analysis of the systems is done using the Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The result shows that the LCC of the hybrid system is N3,459,274.00 that of DSA system is N7,098,192.00 and N3,594,881.00 for the PV standalone system. The NPV of the hybrid system is N3,638,918.00 when compared with the DSA system and the internal rate of return is at 26.3%. The NPV of the PV standalone system when compared with the DSA system is N3,428,747.00 with its internal rate of return at 24.6%. The results obtained show that the diesel/photovoltaic hybrid system is economically the best option for power generatio

Finite Element Analysis for Stress-Strain Parameter of Projectile Impeded Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (Gfrp) Composites

For the treatment of progressive damage, spatial discretization is required so that numerical techniques such as the finite element method or finite difference method would be advantageous. Finite element and finite difference techniques have also been applied to impact problems because they are more versatile at modeling boundary conditions and local phenomena such as stresses and strain under a point load. This paper investigates the stress-strain magnitude on body amour composites of glass fibre reinforced polyester (GFRP), when hit with ogival and conical nosed projectiles through the application of finite element analysis using ANSYS software version 10.1. The finite element result of the plain stress analysis shows that the composite is stronger in the longitudinal direction. This is supported by the fact that the maximum stress of 328.125MPa was recorded in the X direction while the maximum stress of 57.726MPa was recorded in the Y direction. The analysis also indicates that the maximum influence of the stress was experienced around the incident hole and the minimum at the exterior boarders of the samples. Keywords: Finite Element, Plain Stress Analysis, Projectiles, ANSYS Software, Body Amour, Fibre Reinforcement

Antibiotics prescription pattern and determinants of utilization in the national health insurance scheme at a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Background: Subsidizing the cost of medicines through insurance schemes increases consumption of medicines and may contribute to irrational use of antibiotics. Objectives: To describe the systemic antibiotics prescriptions patterns and analyze the determinants of their utilization in the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS). Methods: Established WHO guideline was followed to conduct this cross-sectional retrospective study at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Data were collected from randomly sampled prescription sheets of one year duration. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of antibiotics prescriptions. Results: The results are based on 802 sampled out-patients NHIS prescriptions. Average number of medicines per encounter was 4.0 \ub1 1.8, whereas 46.9% of antibiotics were prescribed by generic name. Penicillins (most frequently amoxicillin/clavulanate), and nitroimidazole (most frequently metronidazole) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics with percentage share of 43.3% and 22.2%. Being &lt;5 years old, and taking more than 4 medicines (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.37-3.55) were the factors associated with the highest risk of antibiotics exposure. Conclusion: There were poly-pharmacy, and non-adherence to generic antibiotic prescriptions. Penicillins (amoxicillin/clavulanate) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotic class. Being &lt; 5 years old, and taking more than 4 medicines were significant predictors of antibiotics exposure