Patron-Client Politics, Democracy and Governance in Nigeria, 1999-2007

This paper examines patron-client politics in the context of democracy and governance in Nigeria with special focus on the first phase of the Fourth Republic, 1999-2007. The paper, which is essentially based on study of secondary source of data, revealed that the politics is neither historically new nor peculiar to Nigeria. Its evidence abounds in older democracies, emerging democracies and even authoritarian regimes. In Nigeria, its evidence abounds in the pre-colonial political system through the colonial era to the previous civil administrations in the country since independence. The paper revealed that pecuniary motivation and the deployment of primitive tactics to settle political scores make the patron-client politics a unique phenomenon in the recent political history of the country. The paper further reveals that the contemporary practices of patron-client politics negate the fundamental values and principle of democracy and governance. The plausible explanation adduced for the influx and changes in the patron-client politics include structural character of the Nigerian state which creates large stakes for the control of state power and other factors such as political decay, weak party structure and discipline, imperial presidency, political immaturity and lack of political charisma among office seekers

Comparative evaluation of the biopharmaceutical and chemical equivalence of some commercially available brands of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets

Purpose: This study was undertaken with the objective of evaluating the biopharmaceutical equivalency of ten brands of ciprofloxacin tablets and the chemical equivalency with the use of an analytical method, which will be easy to use, accurate, reproducible, simple, and inexpensive. Method: The biopharmaceutical and chemical equivalence of ten brands of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets were assessed through the evaluation of the uniformity of weight, friability test, hardness, disintegration test, dissolution rate, thin layer chromatography and non-aqueous titration procedure with the use of crystal violet solution indicator. Result: All the brands complied with the official specification for uniformity of weight and friability test, while one of the brands failed the disintegration test. The dissolution rate profile revealed that four of the brands did not attain 70% dissolution throughout the period of the determination, while the other brands had above 70% dissolution at less than 45minutes. The non-aqueous titrimetric procedure showed that the excipients did not affect the procedure; with seven brands having values within the range specified in the USP, while the remaining three brands gave lower values. Conclusion: Six of the brands evaluated in this study could be regarded as being biopharmaceutically and chemically equivalent, while a particular brand is obviously a fake product. The non-aqueous titrimetric procedure used in this study is simple, inexpensive, and easy to use and could be used in routine monitoring of the quality of ciprofloxacin HCl tablets, especially in the absence of high technology equipments that are not easily available in most developing countries. Keywords: Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets, non-aqueous titration, chemical equivalence, biopharmaceutical equivalence > Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research Vol. 6 (3) 2007: pp. 737-74

Prevalence of Candida albicans Among Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women attending a Medical Facility in Oredo, Edo State, Nigeria

Candida albicans is the most prevalent cause of fungal infections worldwide as a consequence of various triggering environments. Hence, this paper evaluates the prevalence of Candida albican in the cultures of pregnant and non-pregnant women who attended prenatal classes at a medical facility in Oredo, Edo State, Nigeria by collecting200 vaginal swab samples for microbiological examination using standard methods. The pour plate method was used to carry out microbial isolation. Based on their cultural, morphological, and biochemical characteristics, isolated microorganisms were recognised. The agar dilution technique was used to test antifungal sensitivity. The results showed that the lowest fungal count was 0.6±0.48×103 cfu/g and the highest fungal count was 5.6±0.32×103 cfu/g. Both Candida albicans and non-albicans were among the fungal isolates. In comparison to non-pregnant women (18 %), pregnant women had a percentage frequency of Candida albican of 30.5 %. Age groups 31 to 35 and 41 to 46 showed the highest and lowest frequencies of Candida albicans, respectively, among the pregnant women. Additionally, the age range of 20 to 25 had the highest frequency of Candida albicans among the non-pregnant women, while the age range of 36 to 40 had the lowest frequency. No antifungal resistance was found in any of the Candida albicans isolates to the analytical grades of itraconazole or clotrimazole, respectively. Additionally, isolate proliferation was inhibited by Ocimum gratissimum extracts. This study revealed that pregnant women had a higher prevalence of Candida albicans than non-pregnant women. It is recommended that, the general public given orientation of the major health effects of vulvovaginal candidiasis during pregnancy, especially during antenatal

Inadequate Information in Laboratory Test Requisition in a Tertiary Hospital in Benin City, Nigeria

Aim: Laboratory investigations are important aspect of patient management and inadequate information or errors arising from the process of filling out laboratory Request Forms can impact significantly on the quality of laboratory result and ultimately on patient care.Objectives: This study examined the pattern of deficiencies in the laboratory test requisition by doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria, with a view to suggesting strategies of reducing error rates in laboratory test requisition. Materials and Method: The study generated data through retrospective examination of a total of 3072 laboratory request forms submitted to the medical microbiology laboratory over a period of three months. The various deficiencies in terms of missing or incomplete information on patient’s identity, clinical details, identity of doctor, and information on specimen submitted were recorded from each request form. The data generated were subjected to statistical computation using SPSS version 16, while applying descriptive statistics for analysis.Results: A total of 3072 request forms were evaluated, 2995 (97.5%) had one or more deficiency in terms of missing or incorrectly stated information. A total of 1786 (48.1%) of the request form had one or more incomplete or missing information in respect of patient identity. One thousand six hundred and ninety nine (55.3%) of the forms had error in relation to clinical information. The identity of the doctor requesting the test was missing or incomplete on 883 (28.8%) of the forms. Majority of the request forms 2957 (96.3%) had no complete information about the specimen submitted to the laboratory. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that overall, the error rate in laboratory test requisition by doctors is very high in our environment. There is need therefore to adopt practical strategies and policies to reduce this trend. Key words: Information, laboratory, requisition, Hospital, Benin City