PERSONAL INCOME TAX ADMINISTRATION IN THE RURAL COMMUNITIES (A STUDY OF SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA)

The study examined the effectiveness of Personal Income Tax Administration in the rural communities, focusing on assessment and revenue collection methods, effectiveness and efficiency of Relevant Tax Authorities. 125 copies of questionnaire were administered on respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the opinions of key stakeholders directly connected with Direct and Minimum Tax Assessments in six selected Local Government Areas in Ogun State, Nigeria. Testing of the hypotheses for the study was done using both simple and multiple regression analysis. The findings from the study indicate that tax assessment method significantly encourages voluntary enrolment into the tax net and that effective collection method adopted by the relevant tax authorities ensures optimal tax revenue collection. The study recommends that government should intensify its enlightenment programmes and to introduce awards for recognition of the best rural taxpayers

Assessment of the knowledge, practice, and barriers of physicians in Lagos about respiratory diseases preventable vaccines

Objectives: Immunizations are indicated in a wide range of clinical situations. There are gaps in the implementation of the acceptable recommended guidelines on adult immunization in Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the perceptions, practices, and barriers of physicians in recommending adult vaccines. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous, self-administered survey to understand the perceptions, practice, and barriers to adult vaccine recommendations among adult physicians in Lagos. Results: Ninety-seven physicians completed the questionnaire with male-to-female ratio of 1:1.3. The mean age of the responders was 39.54 ± 6.2. The proportion with overall good knowledge was 40 (41.2%). The vaccines routinely recommended include: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 73 (81.1%), COVID-19 vaccine 70 (77.8%), and influenza vaccine 57 (63.3%), respectively. The common barriers for vaccine recommendation include: Unavailability 53 (54.6%), poor reminder systems, 43 (44.3%), inadequate insurance coverage 33 (34%), and vaccine shortage 31 (32%). There was a significant association between the knowledge of physicians and sociodemographics, including age (χ2 = 6.548, P = 0.038), duration of practice (χ2 = 7.761, P = 0.039), type of specialist training (χ2 = 3.860, P = 0.049), as well as specialty (χ2 = 11.282, P = 0.004). Conclusion: This study suggests that the knowledge of physicians regarding adult vaccinnations is below average. Most recommended adult respiratory disease preventable vaccines are pneumococcal conjugate, influenza, and COVID-19 vaccines. The major barriers to vaccination include availability and cost. The implication of this finding is the need to increase awareness about vaccine utilization as well as access among physicians in Lagos and Nigeria at large if the narrative must change

Evaluation of patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea in a low-middle income country: Lagos experience

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common chronic disorder that decreases the quality of life of patients. It is an underdiagnosed medical condition in Nigeria. This study aimed to describe the clinical presentations and validate the sleep apnea screening questionnaires with a home sleep study for the diagnosis of patients with suspected OSA seen in Lagos. This was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out on adult patients with suspicion of OSA referred to the Respiratory Clinic of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. A proforma was used to obtain information and also data from home polysomnography was obtained for each patient. We selected 22 patients. The commonest presentations include snoring (20 or 90.9%), daytime somnolence (16 or 72.7%) and choking while sleeping (12 or 54.5%). The commonest comorbidities were hypertension (16 or 72.7%) and obesity (6 or 27.3%). The STOP-Bang  score identified more patients with a high clinical probability for OSA than the Epworth score (20 and 12 patients respectively). Polysomnography showed evidence of sleep apnea in most suspected patients with severity ranging from mild, to moderate to severe disease (3 or 13.6%, 3 or 13.6%, and 10 or 45.5% respectively). The use of combined Epworth and STOP-Bang questionnaires combination is great tool in identifying patients with suspected cases of OSA based on clinical presentations that will eventually benefit in a resource-limited environment like Lagos. There should be increased awareness of the use of this readily available and cheap questionnaire among physicians in Lagos for ease of OSAS diagnosis for many patients

Hydrogeochemistry of Groundwater from Kazaure Area, NW Nigeria using Multivariate Statistics

This study was aimed at understanding the factors affecting groundwater for the benefit of water resources management. Groundwater collected from 18 sites over an area of 770 Km2 was analysed. Temperature (Temp.), pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Electrical Conductivity (EC) were measured in the field and 15 chemical parameters analysed in the laboratory. Factor Analysis (FA) of physiochemical results indicated mineralization, weathering of silicates and K-feldspar, and anthropogenic sources were mainly responsible for groundwater chemistry. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) revealed sample clusters were mainly controlled by structure rather than by lithology, water source or altitude because 86% of cluster I samples occurred along a NNE-SSW trending fault zone. It was thus concluded that water-rock interaction, tectonics and anthropogenic factors are responsible for water physiochemistry

Source and Mobilization Mechanism of Iron, Manganese and Arsenic in Groundwater of Shuangliao City, Northeast China

Excessive levels of Fe, Mn and As are the main factors affecting groundwater quality in Songliao plain, northeast China. However, there are few studies on the source and mobilization mechanisms of Fe, Mn and As in the groundwater of Northeastern China. This study takes Shuangliao city in the middle of Songliao plain as an example, where the source and mobilization mechanisms of iron, manganese and arsenic in groundwater in the study area were analyzed by statistical methods and spatial analysis. The results show that the source of Fe and Mn in the groundwater of the platform is the iron and manganese nodules in the clay layer, while, in the river valley plain, it originates from the soil and the whole aquifer. The TDS, fluctuation in groundwater levels and the residence time are the important factors affecting the content of Fe and Mn in groundwater. The dissolution of iron and manganese minerals causes arsenic adsorbed on them to be released into groundwater. This study provides a basis for the rational utilization of groundwater and protection of people’s health in areas with high iron, manganese and arsenic contents

Cooking Fuels in Lagos, Nigeria: Factors Associated with Household Choice of Kerosene or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Cooking with dirty-burning fuels is associated with health risk from household air pollution. We assessed the prevalence of and factors associated with the use of cooking fuels, and attitudes and barriers towards use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This was a cross-sectional, population-based survey conducted in 519 households in Lagos, Nigeria. We used a structured questionnaire to obtain information regarding choice of household cooking fuel and the attitudes towards the use of LPG. Kerosene was the most frequently used cooking fuel ( = 475, 91.5%; primary use = 364, 70.1%) followed by charcoal ( = 159, 30.6%; primary use = 88, 17%) and LPG ( = 86, 16.6%; primary use = 63, 12.1%). Higher level of education, higher income and younger age were associated with LPG vs. kerosene use. Fuel expenditure on LPG was significantly lower than for kerosene ( N (Naira) 2169.0 ± 1507.0 vs. N 2581.6 ± 1407.5). Over 90% of non-LPG users were willing to switch to LPG but cited safety issues and high cost as potential barriers to switching. Our findings suggest that misinformation and beliefs regarding benefits, safety and cost of LPG are important barriers to LPG use. An educational intervention program could be a cost-effective approach to improve LPG adoption and should be formally addressed through a well-designed community-based intervention study

Prediction of Spatial Likelihood of Shallow Landslide Using GIS-Based Machine Learning in Awgu, Southeast/Nigeria

A landslide is a typical geomorphological phenomenon associated with the regular cycles of erosion in tropical climates occurring in hilly and mountainous terrain. Awgu, Southeast Nigeria, has suffered a severe landslide disaster, and no one has studied the landslide susceptibility in the study area using an advanced model. This study evaluated and compared the application of three machine learning algorithms, namely, extreme gradient boosting (Xgboost), Random Forest (RF), and Naïve Bayes (NB), for a landslide susceptibility assessment in Awgu, Southeast Nigeria. A hazard assessment was conducted through a field investigation, remote sensing, and a consultation of past literature reviews, and 56 previous landslide locations were prepared from various data sources. A total of 10 conditioning factors were extracted from various databases and converted into a raster. Before modeling the landslide susceptibility, the information gain ratio (IGR) was used to select and quantitatively describe the predictive ability of the conditioning factors. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to judge the correlation between 10 conditioning factors. In this study, rainfall is the most significant factor with respect to landslide distribution and occurrence. The confusion matrix, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), was used to validate and compare the models. According to the AUROC results, the prediction accuracy for the RF, NB, and XGBOOST models are 0.918, 0.916, and 0.902, respectively. This current study can support the landslide susceptibility assessment of Awgu, Southeast Nigeria, and can provide a reference for other areas with the same conditions