History as a Vehicle for National Development: a Nexus for Nigeria’s Unity

The relevance of the subject matter – history – in any given society is germane. History basically evaluates the dynamics of human societies in all ramifications. It houses the totality of human activities in the past for evaluation. Just as the memory is to the mind, history is to the society. Therefore, for a meaningful development in a nation like Nigeria, history as a discipline and concept is sine qua non in the road to national development. Thus, in terms of policy formulation, decision making among other topical issues on national development, it is important to resort to history for road map, Hence, the paper re-examines and revisits the relevance of history in the road to national  development with particular reference to Nigeria. The methodology is thematic and interpretation employing historical analysis, Keywords: History, Vehicle, National, Development, Nexus, Nigeri

Corporate Governance Principles Application and the Financial Performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria: An Impact Assessment

Corporate Governance entails designing systems, procedures, structures and taking transparent decisions on ways of improving firms’ value to promote accountability. Poor application of Corporate Governance principles was identified as a major possible factor in firms’ failure globally. Despite the focus on the subject matter, little attention is paid on Corporate Governance application and the financial performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. This motivated the paper to assess the impact of Corporate Governance application on the financial performance of some Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. A hypothesis was formulated and tested in line with the main objective of the study. The study used both descriptive and historical research methods, while the sample size was determined using judgmental sampling technique. Method used in data collection was secondary source. The t-test analysis technique was adopted to estimate the relationship between the application of Corporate Governance principles and financial performance. Findings proved that there is no significant relationship between board structure and banks’ financial performance. The paper suggests that other Corporate Governance indices must also be considered in measuring the financial performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria for value improvement and accountability. Key Words: board structure, corporate governance, deposit money banks, financial performance, principle

Effects of Some Heavy Metal Pollutants On Glutathione Production In Clarias Gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) In An In Situ Bio-Assay In River Galma, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Pollution of the aquatic media poses a lot of problems to the living biota within them and other organisms dependent on them for survival. Pollution from heavy metals are particularly deleterious as they are persistent within the ecosystem and have the tendency to bio-accumulate especially in higher vertebrates that depend directly or indirectly on them. Fishes possess different defensive mechanisms to counteract the impact of toxicants. This research focuses on the effects of some heavy metals on production of glutathione in Clarias gariepinus in an in situ bioassay in River Galma.120 samples (40 per exposure) of 20-45g size range of juveniles were exposed to the river environment for fourteen days in a cage system at five different locations along the river course for three different periods of the year. Glutathione were assayed for after the 7th and 14th day of exposure. Heavy metal (Pb, Cr, Cd, Zn and Mn) contents were also tested for in digested pooled samples of water, livers and gills of the fish. The results indicate significant difference in the levels of glutathione production in the gills in September at

Investigation of the Impact, Hardness, Density and Water absorption of Polypropylene Filled Doum Palm Shell Particles Composite

Particulate fillers are used to improve the physical and mechanical properties of polymers to make it more suitable for engineering application. This study determined the impact, hardness and physical properties of polypropylene reinforced Doum palm shell particles composite; the effect of particles loading and particle size on the impact, hardness, density and water absorption properties of the composite were studied. The composites were prepared by compounding polypropylene and Doum palm shell particles using compression moulding method. The particles loading in the matrix (polypropylene) were varied from 0 - 40 wt. % at 5 wt. % intervals, after which the composites were characterized. SEM analysis was also conducted on the composites. The results showed that the addition of Doum palm shell particles stiffened the flexibility of the polymer and improved its ability to absorb and dissipate energy. Composite of 150 µm has the maximum impact strength of 4.1 kJ/m2 at 35 wt. % particles loading and 3.9 kJ/m2 at 30 wt. % particles loading for 300 µm. The hardness of the composite was improved with increase in particle loading of the composites. The hardness increases from 6.53 HRF to 9.1HRF at 35 wt. % for 150 µm particle size and 8.6 HRF for 300 µm. Density and water uptake of the composite increases with increase in particles loading and size in the composites.  The SEM images of the composites reveal a good interfacial bonding between Doum palm shell particles and the matrix. These account for the good impact and hardness properties of the composites obtained. Keywords: Impact strength, Hardness, polypropylene, Doum palm shell particles, Microstructural analysis, water absorption DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/8-1-0

Effects of Some Heavy Metal Pollutants on Vitamin C and E Production In Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) In In Situ Bio-Assay In River Galma, Kaduna State, Nigeria

This research focuses on the effects of some heavy metals on production of Vitamin E and C in Clarias gariepinus in an in situ bioassay in River Galma.120 samples (40 per exposure) of 20-45g size range of juveniles were exposed to the river environment for fourteen days in a cage system at five different locations along the river course for three different periods of the year. Vitamins E and C were assayed for after the 14th day of exposure. Heavy metal (Pb, Cr, Cd, Zn and Mn) contents were also tested for in digested pooled samples of water, livers and gills of the fish. The results indicate significant difference in the levels of Vitamin E and C production in the gill in all the months of exposure at P<0.05 level of significance but not in the liver. There were significant differences in the Chromium concentration in the gills and livers of the fish in all the exposures. Also, there was significant difference  amongst the fish organs, water samples and Lead (Pb) concentrations. There were correlations amongst Vitamin E and C and the heavy metals. There was strong correlation between Vitamin E levels and Lead concentrations in all the exposure periods. This research also established the presence of heavy metals examined in varying degrees of concentrations in water samples and fish organs. Vitamin E and C can be used as biomarkers of pollution in River Galma to give early warning on environmental pollution to the community and policy makers. Keywords: Oxidative stress; Vitamin E and C; Reactive Oxygen Species; Heavy metals; Biomarker

Bayesian Group Factor Analysis

We introduce a factor analysis model that summarizes the dependencies between observed variable groups, instead of dependencies between individual variables as standard factor analysis does. A group may correspond to one view of the same set of objects, one of many data sets tied by co-occurrence, or a set of alternative variables collected from statistics tables to measure one property of interest. We show that by assuming group-wise sparse factors, active in a subset of the sets, the variation can be decomposed into factors explaining relationships between the sets and factors explaining away set-specific variation. We formulate the assumptions in a Bayesian model which provides the factors, and apply the model to two data analysis tasks, in neuroimaging and chemical systems biology.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Market Risk and Stock Return of Listed Financial Service Firms in Nigeria

The trading financial instruments in the capital market by Financial Service Firms (FSF) have generated return arising from changes in the prices of stock which exposed the firms to market risk. An effective market risk decision remains significant to determining stock return level realized from the volume and value of stock traded. This study examines the effect of market risk on stock return of listed FSF in Nigeria. The population of this study consists of fifty-six (56) financial service firms listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market. In arriving at the sample size of twenty-nine (29) firms the purposive sampling technique and filtering criteria were employed. Data were sourced secondarily from the audited annual report of financial service firms, Nigeria Stock Exchange fact book, and other relevant financial service firms’ websites for period of twelve (12) years (2007-2018). Panel multiple regression technique of data analysis was applied using the ordinary least square estimator. The findings of the study revealed that book to market ratio as a proxy of market risk was insignificantly negative on stock return during the period under review. Net interest margin as a proxy of market risk revealed a significant positive effect on stock return during the period of review. Also, the study revealed that control variables of firm size, leverage had significant positive effects on stock return, though; the effect of monetary policy rate was positive but insignificant on stock return. The study concluded that a higher book to market ratio would reduce stock return and to a larger extent the reduction in stock return may not be affected significantly. It also concluded that a higher net interest margin would result to a higher stock return and vice versa. The study recommended that decision-makers and portfolio managers of financial service firms should employ appropriate risk strategies through derivatives, forwards, futures, swaps, options that can mitigate market risk in order to optimize return. Keywords: Financial Services Firms, Stock Returns, Market Risk, Firms Specific Risk factors, Nigerian Stock exchange. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-8-10 Publication date: April 30th 202

Aggregate Demand for Micro-insurance among Rural Household Non-farm Enterprises in Nigeria

Although, rural based enterprises are subject to a myriad of risks and economic shocks, insurance uptake has been found to be abysmally low. The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of demand for insurance from the standpoint of the rural based household non-farm enterprises (RHNFE). This study made use of the household non-farm enterprise data from the LSMS- General Household Survey of 2010/2011. Demand for insurance was measured as the monthly expenditure on insurance by the RHNFE. The empirical findings indicate that RHNFE were mainly informal in nature with low level investment, and low labour requirement. Consequently, there is relatively high production/transactions costs relative to revenue. Premium paid for insurance was found to be very low and determined by the value placed on the system, access to market for operation as well as the scope of operation of the businesses. Access to market infrastructure and opportunities for standardizing products area recommended in order for the RNFE to take advantage of insurance targeted towards them. Keywords: Microinsurance, Demand, Rural, Non-farm enterprises, Nigeri

Milk Composition, Minerals and Fatty Acid Profile of Milk of West African Dwarf Does Goats under Different Feeding Time

This study aims to evaluate the milk composition, minerals and fatty acid profile of milk of West African Dwarf Does Goats fed under different feeding time. Twelve lactating pregnant West African Dwarf (WAD) goat-does on their parity were randomly allocated into the morning, afternoon, and evening time of feeding in a Complete Randomized Design. This experiment lasted four weeks. The result shows that milk proximate composition of evening-fed does had the highest milk lactose (9.84%) and the highest milk fat (10.86%), while afternoon-fed does had the highest milk protein (8.26%). Afternoon-fed does had the highest milk phosphorus (P = 0.05) while evening-fed does had the lowest. Tridecanoic, myristic, myristoleic, stearic, Υ - linolenic, total linolenic acid, PUFA, PUFA/SFA and atherogenicity were statistically (P < 0.05) influenced by the time of feeding. Change in the time of feeding can invariably determine the milk content and pattern of fatty acid synthesis