Literature: An Emerging Value in the Hard Ground of the Niger Delta

Literature is a social value which creeps out from human imagination. Its production is motivated by the pressures of conflict in the world of humanity and the strong instinct of man to device ways and means to conquer these challenging conflicts. Environmental literature thrives more on human and social conflict, particularly on the ecology of oppression. All over the world, traditions of literature have cropped up from the wreckage of war and difficult circumstances and situations man and society have been plunged into. These facts are well reflected in the literature of the world. But the Niger Delta experience has not been given adequate scholarly attention by literary scholars. This study demonstrates how a prolonged history and experience of violence in the Niger Delta characterised fundamentally by economic cannibalism, political brutality, environmental degradation and physical violence on the region have instituted literary nationalism. The study which deploys the historical and literary methodological modes of investigation shall undertake a conceptual foray on the implication of the concept of hard ground and its overview and as well provide a panoramic scaling of the hard ground in the history of struggle in the Niger Delta. The paper further argues that Niger Delta is a territorial figuration of hard ground and held firmly that literature is an emerging value of the rubbles of hard ground- a festering ecology of oppression and victimisation.Key words: Hard ground, emerging values, literature, technological, renaissanc

Text as an Agent and Agency of Dislocation: An Intertextual Inspection of Select Nigerian Dramas

In the world of literary creation, several texts have been created to express discontent and resentment arising from the meanings generated by earlier texts. These after texts are merely on the lane and mission of dislocating the dislocation of the primal texts. Although intertextuality in the world of literary creation and criticism has been deployed by several scholars and for a long time now, the point remains that the idea of interrogating a secondary text as an agency of dislocation of the claims of the primal text has as always remained within the domain and identity of intertextual discourse. This paper moved further by taxonomizing such counter-discourse narratives as protest drama and art. Thus, using the critical analysis and literary methods of investigation, the paper argues that intertextual shows are not only identified as protest arts but also considered as secondary texts that dislocate dislocating prototypal texts.Key Words: Text, agency, dislocation, intertextuality, Nigerian drama

Gas Viscosity Measurement and Evaluation for High Pressure and High Temperature Gas Reservoirs

Gas viscosity is an important fluid property in oil and gas engineering due to its impact on hydrocarbon production and transportation, reservoir recovery, fluid flow, deliverability, and well storage. Existing gas viscosity correlations were derived using measured data at low to moderate pressure and temperatures. No measured gas viscosities at high pressure high temperature (HPHT) using reservoir sample are currently available, and using the extrapolation approach is not reliable. Therefore, this research paper presents laboratory measurement of gas viscosity at HPHT and comparative study of some existing gas viscosity correlations using the measured data. The capillary electromagnetic viscometer was used to measure gas viscosity for pressures between 6,000 psia and 14,000 psia; and temperatures of 270 oF and 370 oF. The comparative study shows that the gas viscosity models commonly used in the industry are not very reliable at HPHT conditions. Ohirhian and Abu (2008) performed better than other evaluated correlations with the mean relative error of -5.22 and absolute error of 8.752 for the temperature of 270oF while Dempsey (1965) came out the best for the temperature of 370oF with mean relative error of -16.88 and 16.88 for absolute mean error. Cross plots showed the poor performance of the evaluated correlations using the measured data at HPHT conditions. From the analysis, the oil and gas industry needs new gas viscosity correlations that can predict gas viscosity at HPHT regio

Natural Gas Compressibility Factor Measurement and Evaluation for High Pressure High Temperature Gas Reservoirs

The Natural gas compressibility factor is an important reservoir fluid property used in reservoir engineering computations either directly or indirectly in material balance calculations, well test analysis, gas reserve estimates, gas flow in lines and in numerical reservoir simulations. Existing gas compressibility factor correlations were derived using measured data at low to moderate pressures(less than 8, 000 psia) and temperatures (less than 212oF), and an extrapolation to High Pressure High temperature (HPHT) is doubtful. The need to understand and predict gas compressibility factor at HPHT has become increasingly important as exploration and production has moved to ever deeper formations where HPHT conditions are to be encountered. This paper presents laboratory measurement of gas compressibility factors at HPHT natural gas systems and the evaluation of some selected gas compressibility factors correlations. Samples of gas mixtures were collected from the high pressure gas reservoirs from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Vinci PVT Cell was used to measure the gas compressibility factors for a pressures ranging from 6,000 to 14,000 psia and temperatures at 270oF and 370oF. The new laboratory data was compared to some of the gas compressibility factor correlations/ models used in the petroleum industry. Results showed that majority of the correlations studied overestimated the gas compressibility factor at HPHT. Mean relative and absolute error analysis were done based on the temperature difference; it was found that the total mean relative and absolute errors for the 370o F cases are higher than those for 270oF. Among all the correlations assessed, Hall and Yarborough equation performed better than other existing correlations with a mean absolute error of 3.545 and relative error of -2.668 at 270oF. At 370oF, Beggs and Brills correlation predicted better than other correlations studied with a mean relative error of -4.77 and absolute error of 7.18

Forecasting Gas Compressibility Factor Using Artificial Neural Network Tool for Niger-Delta Gas Reservoir

Accurate prediction of gas compressibility factor is important in engineering applications such as gas metering, pipeline design, reserves estimation, gas flow rate, and material balance calculations. This factor also is important in calculating gas properties such as gas formation volume factor, gas isothermal compressibility, viscosity and density. Compressibility factor value shows how much the real gas deviates from the ideal gas at a given pressure and temperature. Most often, compressibility factor values can be determined experimentally from collected laboratory samples but frequently this measurement is not always available. In such cases, the natural gas property can be determined using empirical correlations or iteratively using equation of state (EOS). Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop ANN model to accurately predict the gas compressibility factor; as well to compare its performance with existing empirical gas compressibility factor correlations. The new model was developed using 513 PVT data points obtained from Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. The data used wasrandomly divided into three parts, of which 60% was used for training, 20% for validation, and 20% for testing. Both quantitative and qualitative assessments were employed to evaluate the accuracy of the new model to the existing empirical correlations. The ANN model performed better than the existing empirical correlations by the statistical parameters used having the lowest rank of 1.37 and better performance plot

Solutions of Relativistic Klein-Gordon Equation with Equal Scalar and Vector Shifted Hulthen plus Angle Dependent Potential

We have solved approximately the relativistic Klein-Gordon equation under the special case of equal scalar and vector shifted Hulthen plus angle dependent potential using the  parametric form of NIkiforov-Uvarov method.  The energy eigenvalues and the corresponding  wave functions expressed in terms of a Jacobi polynomial are obtained. The effect of  the angle dependent part on the radial solution is also discussed. We have also discussed few special cases of this potential. Keywords: relativistic Klein-Gordon equation, shifted Hulthen, angle dependent potential, parametric Nikiforov-Uvarov method, centrifugal term. PACS: 03.65Ge; 03.65.Pm; 03.65.Fd; 03.65.-w

Towards the Enhancement of Population and Family Life Education for Nigerians

A ZJER article on population and family life education in Nigeria.The thrust of this paper is to highlight the strong relationship that exists between population/family life education and the quality of life for Nigerians. It observes that Nigeria’s population is increasing exponentially and this has affected several aspects of her national life. Reflecting on the numerous health problems like vesico vaginal fistula, recto vaginal fistula, ante partum and post partum haemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labour that come with unwanted childhood pregnancies, as well as increased cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and wide spread prostitution, the paper emphasizes that Nigerian students need more information on human sexuality now as future adults of the country. It therefore prescribes specific curricular contents of population and family life education and recommends a cooperative effort by home, school, church and community to provide selected learning experiences and guidance for young people in and outside schools concerning the need, interests, problems and goals that arise out of human psycho-sexual development primarily as related to love, marriage, parenthood and family life. The basic assumption here is that good families make a good society

Osjetljivost bakterija Escherichia coli i Staphylococcus aureus izdvojenih iz pilića u Maiduguri (Nigerija) prema betalaktamskim antibioticima

Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus species though opportunist pathogens, are becoming a global clinical problem in both human and veterinary medicine. This study was designed to determine the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of β-lactamase-producing E. coli serotypes and S. aureus strains isolated from chickens in the Maiduguri Arid zone, Nigeria. Various tissue samples from apparently healthy and diseased chickens were collected and examined for the presence of E. coli and S. aureus. Isolates were identified by relevant biochemical tests. β-lactamase-producing strains of the isolates were determined by the chromogenic cephalosporin method, using nitrocefin-impregnated sticks and cephalosporin (nitrocefin) solution. The antibiotics susceptibility patterns of the isolates were determined for ten antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin, lincomycin, doxycycline, tetracycline, tylosin, tylosin tartrate and penicillin) by the micro-broth dilution method. E. coli was isolated in 805 and S. aureus in 660 of 1300 tissue samples examined; from which 89 (11.1%) and 58 (8.8%) were β-lactamase-positive isolates respectively. Out of 540 E. coli isolates serotyped, 57 (10.6%) serogroups were identified from which 17 (29.8%) were serogroups O1, 5 (8.8%) were O2, and 2 (3.5%), 9 (15.8%), 6 (10.5%) and 18 (31.6%) were serogroups O26, O78, O86 and O141 respectively, whilst, 483 (89.4%) isolates were not typable with the available sera. Serogroups O141, O1 and O78 were more frequently isolated and serogroups O1 and O78 were more prevalent in sick chickens than in healthy chickens. E. coli exhibited high resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, lincomycin, penicillin and tylosin with MIC values >8.0 μg/mL, as did S. aureus to all the antibiotics tested with MIC values >8.0 μg/mL. In conclusion, the study has demonstrated the presence of E. coli serotypes and S. aureus in various tissues of chickens and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns, clearly demonstrating multiple drug resistance.Premda uvjetno patogene vrste Escherichia coli i Staphylococcus aureus predstavljaju globalni klinički problem u humanoj i veterinarskoj medicini. Ovo istraživanje provedeno je sa svrhom određivanja osjetljivosti prema antibioticima serovarova E. coli i izolata S. aureus izdvojenih iz pilića u sušnom području Maiduguri u Nigeriji. Različiti uzorci tkiva od naizgled zdravih te od bolesnih pilića bili su pretraženi na prisutnost bakterija E. coli i S. aureus. Izolati su bili identificirani različitim biokemijskim testovima. Sojevi što su proizvodili β-laktamazu bili su identificirani kromogen cefalosporinskom metodom uz uporabu nitrocefinom impregniranih stikova i otopine cefalosporina (nitrocefina). Osjetljivost spomenutih bakterija bila je određivana mikrodilucijskom metodom na 10 antibiotika (ampicilin, kloramfenikol, cefaleksin, ciprofloksacin, linkomicin, doksiciklin, tetraciklin, tilozin, tilozin tartarat i penicilin). E. coli je bila izdvojena iz 805, a S. aureus iz 660 od 1300 pretraženih uzoraka tkiva od čega je 89 (11,1%) izolata E. coli i 58 (8,8%) izolata S. aureus bilo pozitivno na β-laktamazu. Od 540 serološki tipiziranih izolata E. coli identificirano je bilo 57 (10,6%) seroloških skupina od čega je 17 (29,8%) pripadalo serološkoj skupini O1, 5 (8,8%) serološkoj skupini O2, 2 (3,5%) skupini O26, 9 (15,8%) skupini O78, 6 (10,5%) skupini O86 i 18 (31,6%) serološkoj skupini O141, dok se 483 (89,4%) izolata nisu mogla tipizirati raspoloživim antiserumima. Najčešće su bile izdvojene serološke skupine O141, O1 i O78 s time da su serološke skupine O1 i O78 prevladavale u bolesnih pilića. E. coli je bila vrlo otporna na ampicilin, kloramfenikol, tetraciklin, linkomicin, penicilin i tilozin s vrijednostima minimalne inhibitorne koncentracije >8,0 μg/mL. I S. aureus je bio otporan prema svim pretraživanim antibioticima s minimalnim inhibitornim vrijednostima >8,0 μg/mL. U istraživanju je dokazana prisutnost serovarova E. coli i vrste S. aureus u različitim tkivima pilića te njihova osjetljivost na antibiotike s jasno dokazanom multiplom rezistencijom

Government Agricultural Credit Policy and Macroeconomic Fundamentals: a case study of Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) in Nigeria

The study established the relationship between amount of loan guaranteed by the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) and some key macroeconomic variables in Nigeria. Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test and improved ADF-GLS unit root test conducted on the specified time series showed that all series were integrated of order one. The short-run and long-run elasticities of amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF with respect to some key macro-economic fundamentals were determined using the techniques of co-integration and error correction models. The empirical results revealed that in the long run, the coefficients of interest rate charged by commercial banks and value of oil revenue has a significant negative and positive relationship respectively with the amount of loan guaranteed by the ACGSF in the country. Whereas in the short run, the coefficients of the previous amount of loan guaranteed and value of oil revenue as well as the real GDP has a positive association with the current amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF while the external debt has a negative association. The results were further substantiated by the variance decomposition and impulse response analysis of the dependent variable with respect to changes in the explanatory variables. The findings call for appropriate short and long term economic policy packages that should focused on the stabilization of the identified significant macroeconomic shifters of amount of loan guaranteed by ACGSF in the country. Special attention should be given to the interest charged on agricultural loan by participating banks. Also, diversification of the country’s economy and drastic reduction in external debt would boost the operation of ACGSF in the country and enhances credit availability to Nigerian farmers. Keywords: Credit, policy, macroeconomic, external debt, interest rate, ACGSF, Nigeri