THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (GMO’S) AND THEIR EFFECT ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA : SCIENTISTS’ PERCEPTION

The study was carried out in South Western Nigeria to evaluate the perception of scientists at Universities and Research Institutes on the effect of GMO’s on health and environment. It is proposed that scientists’ perception would influence the on-going debate as preclude to Nigeria being a signatory to the use of GMO’s. Using a simple random sampling technique, a total of one hundred and eighty respondents were selected from a population of 760 and then interviewed. Data were collected through the use of a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.92 and analysis was done using frequency counts, percentages and probit regression model. Scientists were between 31 and 40 years (59.40%), were MSC holders (44.44%), got their information on GMO’s from journals (89.60%) and were male (56.70%). Majority of the scientists had low awareness of the GMO’s products (52.8%), low perception (54.5 percent). There is significant relationship between awareness, age, religion, sources of information (radio, newspaper, scientific periodicals) and their perception toward GMOs. There is no significant difference in perception and awareness between scientists at Universities and research institutes

Evaluating rule breaking behavior in a Nigerian protected forest reserve area

This paper investigated the rule breaking conduct in a Nigerian protected forest reserve area in order to exploit natural resources using Randomized Response Technique (RRT) for data collection. Evident from this study show a higher proportion of the residents surrounding Oba Hills Forest Reserve, Nigeria illegally poach, encroach to farm, extract timber, gather firewood and graze their domestic animals in the conservation area. With the high level of noncompliance to the conservation rules in this study, there is a need for the government and conservation managers to identify and harness social norms that encourage compliance, as well as increasing probabilities of detection and stricter law enforcement on those that flout the conservation rules.Keywords: biodiversity conservation, sensitive behaviors, compliance, randomized response techniqu

Dynamics and Socioeconomic Drivers of Illegal Hunting of Wildlife Animal for Consumption in Oba Hills Forest Reserve in Southwest Nigeria

This study investigated the dynamics and socioeconomic drivers of illegal hunting of wildlife animal commonly called bushmeat in Oba Hills Forest Reserve (OHFR) in Southwest Nigeria. Two hundred and thirty-four households in 8 host communities were subjected to direct household survey using a multi-stage sampling technique. The results revealed that mainly young and middle-aged men engaged in group and seasonal bushmeat hunting, mostly during the dry season. Also, the scale of daily illegal bushmeat hunting is high in the protected area. Non-selective hunting has increased over the last five years with traditional means of hunting still prominent during the hunting expedition. Thus, the socioeconomic drivers (age, ethnicity and household size) had a strong relationship with illegal bushmeat hunting, and their odds ratio ranged between 2.11 and 3.73. Failure to provide stakes for the host communities’ inhabitants and weak penal system influenced illegal bushmeat hunting in OHFR. We conclude that the aforementioned factors need to be addressed for illegal bushmeat hunting to be tackled effectively. However, in the absence of political and economic stability, controlling illegal bushmeat hunting will remain extremely difficult and the future of wildlife conservation will remain bleak. Keywords: Protected area, bushmeat hunting, conservation, seasonal employmen

Nigeria’s development process, methodology and milestones planned for VISION 20:2020 - 13 years after

Protection of environment and sustainable natural resources Nigeria is endowed with abundant human and natural resources, hence, her potential of becoming one the world's prosperous economy cannot be overemphasized. Despite the country's vision of becoming one of the world top 20 largest economies, Nigeria is yet to harness and utilized her endowments to transform her economy. Apparently Vision 2020 goals is not achievable in no distant future. This paper reviewed the level at which Nigeria is in the NV20:2020 plan and suggests measures necessary for the realization of the vision. Nigerian Government should recognise poverty eradication and sustainable management of natural resources as important factors that can propel a nation to the realm of wealthy economy. Keywords: Nigeria, sustainable management, poverty eradication, Vision 202