Idealogy and Economic Development in Nigeria

Ideology is the body of ideas, views, theories and aims that constitute apolitical, social or economic programme of a state. Ideology ultimatelyreflects the prevailing economic relations in a state. This article is ananalysis of the claim by the Nigerian ruling class that Nigeria has noideology. The paper examines the introduction of capitalism into Nigeriaduring the colonial period and identified its main features namely, private ownerships of the means of production, distribution and exchange; monetization, commodity production and the introduction of wage labour. Political independence has not altered the capitalist base of the Nigerian economy. The paper concludes that because of its class interest, the postcolonial Nigerian ruling class have not only retained the free enterprise economy in Nigeria but they have also enshrined it in the 1999 constitution. Ideology or no ideology, we have said that as a military regime we consider ourselves a passing phase; we think we are essentially corrective (and) do not think it is right to enforce ideology as such� We want the people to have, to select, to elect exactly what type of government they want� Our policy is �Nigeria first in everything�. So if you are insisting that we must have an ideology � call it �Nigerianism� (Herskovits, 1977-1978:185)&nbsp

Removal of crude petroleum hydrocarbons by heterotrophic bacteria in soils amended with nitrogenous fertilizer plant effluents

Nitrogenous fertilizer (NPK) plant effluents from NAFCON were used in amending plots of land experimentally polluted with crude oil. Counts of heterotrophic bacteria (THBC) and fungi (TF), and of petroleum utilizing bacteria (PUB) and fungi (PUF) were monitored during an 8 weeks period. Counts obtained showed that NPK served as a good supplement for the growth of the petroleum degrading/utilizing bacteria in oil-polluted soils. Crude oil disappearance in plots TSP ranged between 8.70 and 34.80% and 20.90 and 60.50% for TST; cumulative loss was 73.0%. The disappearance was influenced by the N/P ratio in the supplementing fertilizer effluent. A total of ten genera of petroleumdegraders were isolated, namely, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Proteus, Bacillus, Actinomyces, Corynebacterium, Enterobacter, Brevibacteria and Citrobacter. Crops grown on theexperimental plots at the end of the study period for soil recovery studies indicated good soil recovery

Political risk assessment by multinational corporations in African markets: a Nigerian perspective

Political risk assessment (PRA) is one of the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the competitiveness of multinational corporations (MNCs), yet little is known about its use in African markets. This study critically investigates the PRA techniques used by MNCs in Nigeria and their applicability. It uses a multimethod approach to analyze data collected from MNCs and the data set of the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) PRA annual rating for Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. The findings reveal that most firms use qualitative, rather than quantitative, PRA techniques. Regional variations in the outcome of PRA within Nigeria could also contribute to the low use of quantitative techniques. This article identifies that firms are prepared to invest in Nigeria, in spite of high political risk, due to its economic and financial attractiveness. This article’s findings offer some implications for practice with some suggestions on how it could influence firms’ internationalization and their conduct of PRA

Studies on a Type III Atropisomeric Colchicine Analog Enabled by an Intermolecular Oxidopyrylium (5 + 2) Cycloaddition/Reductive Ring-Opening Sequence

Colchicine is one of the oldest known microtubule-targeting agents, and the development of clinically viable colchicine binding site inhibitors (CBSIs) remains of high interest to the medicinal chemistry community. Colchicine’s binding to tubulin is the result of its biaryl methoxytropone-trimethoxybenzene system (called the AC ring), which binds in a preferred aR conformation. In the natural source, this axial chiral form is favored thermodynamically by approximately 3 kcal/mol as a result of nearby point chirality on its B ring, and without this point chirality the AC ring will racemize within minutes to hours at room temperature (∆G ~ 22 kcal/mol, t1/2, 298K ~ 30 min). Herein, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of a novel acyclic AC analog of colchicine that is highly stable to epimerization based not on thermodynamic stabilization, but rather a high rotational barrier energy (∆G‡ = 31.2 kcal/mol, t1/2, 298K ~ 300 y). Access to this molecule, as well as several structural homologs, was enabled through the development of a convenient intermolecular oxidopyrylium (5 + 2) cycloaddition/reductive ring-opening approach from 3-hydroxy-4-pyrones. Profiling and characterization of the dihedral angles were carried out computationally and experimentally using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), demonstrating that the ground state dihedral angles of the new molecules differ significantly from colchicine and MTC. However, despite this difference, the molecule retained anti-cancer, tubulin-binding, and tubulin polymerization inhibitory activity