CONFLICT MONITORING AND SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT OF SEME BORDER OF NIGERIA AND REPUBLIC OF BENIN

Conflict Monitoring is a crucial exercise in peace building. It is often designed to detect early warning signs of potential intra/interpersonal, intra/inter-organisational and other forms of conflict. Monitoring and Evaluation should be a major component of any development process. However, in many countries of the Sahel region this crucial component of development is neglected in their border regions. The issue is not a dearth of national policy/ies on Monitoring and Evaluation but that of the political will of governments to enforce the implementation of such policies. The extrapolation of evaluation   policies into constructive actions germane to development often suffers governmental neglect. This paper presents the report of the strategies deployed in conflict monitoring and risk evaluation of the Seme Border of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, with a view to enhancing full understanding of the risks inherent in security operations at the border, designing a pro-active agenda in the areas of profiling, targeting and selecting as preventive diplomacy against further degeneration of activities in the area and resultant threat to the security of both countries.     &nbsp

ETHNIC PLURALISM, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INTEGRATION POLICY IN POST CONFLICT RWANDA

Like every war ravaged country, the Republic of Rwanda is reawakening to grapple with the challenges of post-conflict reintegration and transformation. To scholars and observers of the trend, Rwanda is recuperating at a very high speed due to socio-economic reforms and the apparent commitment of the Government of the country to rebuild a new Rwanda from the rubbles of the devastation that greeted the 1994 genocide. Expectedly, the Rwandan government generated laws and codes which govern social interaction – former ‘enemies’ that must co-habit. There is public ban on all divisionism tendencies. In Rwanda there should be no ‘Hutu’, ‘Tutsi’ or ‘Twa’. All are Rwandans. Indeed, there are sanctions against defaulters irrespective of their nationalities. The drive for identity reconstruction is fierce and the government of Rwanda is determined to obliterate the ethnic ideologies which it believes, reinforced the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. However, the questions to ask are: will suppression of ethnic identity effectively obliterate natural affinity for group relations and the right to cultural identification and association? How does the government policy against sectarianism help in the reintegration programmes in Rwanda particularly the traditional judicial option called the Gacaca? This paper seeks to address these questions based on the data collected from a field-work conducted in Rwanda in 2011 and from the observations of scholars of ethnicity and the Rwandan Crisis. &nbsp

MANAGEMENT OF ETHNO-LINGUISTIC CONFLICT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BELGIAN AND NIGERIAN MODELS

The spate of violent conflict all over the world since the end of the cold war has been chiefly engineered by ethno-linguistic supremacy based on prevalent ethnic pluralism. Ethno-linguistic pluralism is a conflict issue in Nigeria and it has antecedents of major conflicts trailing its existence. Ethno-linguistic conflicts have been on the rise since the commencement of the Fourth Republic basically due to the liberalisation of the political space and this has resulted in violent conflicts claiming lives and wantonly destroying property. Most of the strategies deployed to resolve ethno-linguistic conflicts in Nigeria are often unable to diagnose accurately the nature of the conflicts and the resolve the main issues causing them. Therefore most of the conflicts become intractable. However, Nigeria is not an isolated case as some other nations around the world are either battling with ideas to resolve the numerous conflicts it has generated or have evolved home-grown mechanisms to manage the ethno-linguistic challenges it has posed. This paper seeks to highlight ethno-linguistic conflict issues in Belgium and the strategies deployed in resolving it and at the same time reflect on the Nigerian experience drawing out unique experiences, similarities and lessons to be learnt from both countrie

Pycnogenol improves kinematic parameters of donkeys (Equus asinus) subjected to packing during the dry season

The administration of pycnogenol (PYC) prior to physical exertion had earlier shown to improve gait variables after work. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of PYC on kinematic parameters of donkeys subjected to packing during the dry season. Ten male donkeys served as experimental subjects. Five donkeys were administered with PYC (10 mg/kg) in feed (test group) while another five donkeys were given feed only (control group) for one week pre-packing. Thermal environmental parameters of ambient temperature (AT), relative humidity (RH) and temperature humidity index (THI) were recorded. Kinematic parameters of speed (SP), stride length (SL), stride frequency (SF) and stride duration (SD) using videographic recordings 5 minutes post-packing with each animal walking at a self-selected speed were recorded. The THI values obtained pre- (95.4 ± 3.9) and during (85.3 ± 1.6) packing in the cold-dry season were significantly lower than the values of 148.8 ± 1.8 and 134.8 ± 1.1, respectively obtained during the hot-dry season. The speed recorded in test group (2.0 ± 0.3 m/s) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher when compared to the value (1.3 ± 0.2 m/s) obtained in control group during the hot-dry season while, during the cold-dry season, the test group recorded a significantly (P < 0.05) higher speed (1.3 ± 0.3 m/s) when compared with 1.0 ± 0.2 m/s recorded in control group.The increased speed recorded in the test group indicated that the group performed better as they were less fatigued when compared with the control group. Thus, PYC could be used as a potential agent in the management of fatigue in donkeys used for packing purposes in the region

BIOCHEMICAL AND ELECTROCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOFILMS FORMED ON EVEROLIMUS-ELUTING CORONARY STENTS

Drug-eluting stents (DES) are mostly used in percutaneous coronary intervention, which is the main treatment for coronary artery occlusion. This procedure aims to restore the natural lumen, while minimizing the risk of restenosis. However, stent insertion increases the risk for infections, due to contamination of the device or insertion hub with normal skin flora. While coronary stent infection is a rare complication, it can be fatal. Currently, there is little information on biofilm formation on everolimus-eluting stents. Although everolimus is not designed as an antimicrobial agent, its antimicrobial activity should be investigated. In this study, biofilm formation on everolimus-eluting and bare metal stents (BMS) is characterized through biochemical and electrochemical methods. DES and BMS are inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis, both independently and in co-culture. Biofilms formed on DES were 49.6 %, 12.9 % and 47.5 % higher than on BMS for P. aeruginosa, S. epidermidis and their co-culture, respectively. Further, the charge output for DES was 18.9 % and 59.7 % higher than BMS for P. aeruginosa and its co-culture with S. epidermidis, respectively. This observation is most likely due to higher surface roughness of DES, which favors biofilm formation. This work shows that bioelectrochemical methods can be used for rapid detection of biofilms on drug-eluting and bare metal stents, which may find application in quality assessment of stents and in characterization of stents removed after polymicrobial infections

An assessment of the risk of Bt-cowpea to non-target organisms in West Africa

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp.) is the most economically important legume crop in arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Cowpea is grown primarily by subsistence farmers who consume the leaves, pods and grain on farm or sell grain in local markets. Processed cowpea foods such as akara (a deep-fat fried fritter) are popular in the rapidly expanding urban areas. Demand far exceeds production due, in part, to a variety of insect pests including, in particular, the lepidopteran legume pod borer (LPB) Maruca vitrata. Genetically engineered Bt-cowpea, based on cry1Ab (Event 709) and cry2Ab transgenes, is being developed for use in sub-Saharan Africa to address losses from the LBP. Before environmental release of transgenic cowpeas, the Bt Cry proteins they express need to be assessed for potential effects on non-target organisms, particularly arthropods. Presented here is an assessment of the potential effects of those Cry proteins expressed in cowpea for control of LPB. Based on the history of safe use of Bt proteins, as well as the fauna associated with cultivated and wild cowpea in sub-Saharan Africa results indicate negligible effects on non-target organisms

Reasons given by women for discontinuing the use of progestogen implants at Koster Hospital, North West province

Background: In 2014, the South African National Department of Health introduced a new addition to the long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) options available in the country. This was a single rod subdermal progestogen implant (Implanon®NXT) which provided 3 years of effective contraception cover. However, the new contraceptive device uptake and general acceptance amongst women quickly diminished, with a slew of requests for its removal. The aim of this study was to explore the reasons given by women for discontinuing the use of their progestogen implants at Koster Hospital, North West province, South Africa.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using semistructured interviews. Thirteen women were purposively selected and interviewed at Koster Hospital Family Planning Unit. The transcriptions of the audio-taped interviews were analysed thematically.Results: The following themes emerged from the interviews as reasons the women discontinued their progestogen implants: side effects such as menstrual problems, arm discomfort and weight gain. Other themes were family or social factors and the desire to conceive.Conclusion: The reasons for discontinuation of Implanon by women at Koster Hospital were the undesirable side effects they experienced whilst using the contraceptive device. These side effects were mainly menstrual problems, arm discomfort and weight gain. Family and other social dynamics also influenced some of the participants’ decision to discontinue their contraceptive implants