Corruption and the Nigeria External Reserves Management

This study investigates the impact of corruption on the Nigeria external reserves management. ADF unit root test, Johansen Co-integration, ECM, granger causality and OLS were the technics implore in estimating the data for this study and it reveals that there is a unidirectional relationship between corruption and external reserves and that corruption is positively related to external reserves though corruption is a menace that has eaten deep into the nation’s economy and it is embedded in the management process of our external reserves.  Exchange rate has a positive relationship with external reserves. The study concluded that corruption is embedded in the management process of our external reserves. The process of managing the nation’s external reserves causes corruption in the country and that corruption has grossly affected the polity of Nigeria and it is seriously affecting the ability of the country to grow. Keywords: Corruption, Exchange rate, External reserves, management and Gross Domestic Product

Politeness Indicators in Nigeria Legislative Discourse

In every human interaction, interlocutors strive to maintain appropriate decorum and politeness in order to avoid undue feeling of not being ‘nice’ or being insensitive to co-participant’s self-esteem or image. This culture of being ‘nice’ is expressed not only through verbal codes, but also through non-verbal cues such as pitch, tone, voice modulation, facial expression and other forms of body language. Nigeria legislative House reflects the uniqueness of Nigeria as a multicultural nation with about two hundred and fifty ethnic groups. Each tribe has a unique way of expressing ‘nice’ (politeness). This paper examines how Nigerian legislators from different ethnic groups acknowledge the self-esteem of other legislators during senate debates. The study used Scollon and Scollon’s politeness principle which states that in every interaction there is a continuous ‘face’ (self-image) negotiation and this ‘face’ which is made up of two aspects - involvement and independent- must be balanced during interactions because ‘face’ is a paradoxical concept. The interest of this study is to identify and to explain how politicians, who though are in opposition, acknowledge the self-esteem of others. Six hansards were sampled from 2009 to 2010, one bill from each quarter of the year. It was discovered that speakers almost always punctuate their contributions to debate with different types of politeness indicators as a means of acknowledging both the involvement and dependent face wants of participants. The politeness indicators often used by senators include address forms which are used not only as vocative (to the presiding senator) but also as designative (for reference to a third person mentioned in the speech), first person plural pronouns, rhetorical (speech) politeness markers and ritualized utterances

An Investigation into Audit Quality in Libya

There are a number of audited companies in Libya which have gone into bankruptcy between 1995 and 2005. Therefore, there is a significant question about the audit quality situation in Libya. There is not itself much research about audit quality in Libya. In particular, there is not much research that has tried to measure audit quality in Libya. This study is an attempt to pursue further some of the issues around financial audit quality in Libya. Secondary data analysis presents observations of Libyan companies from 2006 to 2009 to measure discretionary accruals. It applies an appropriate type of statistical method, to identify accruals and then examine the type of audit opinion related to these statements. Findings indicate that there is earnings management in almost all financial statements. The findings divided all companies into 113 positive andl40 negative discretionary accruals. In addition, Findings indicate that auditors of the agency and auditors working for him/her self issued in general 85.7% unqualified (clean) audit opinion for financial statements that have earnings management, and 11% modified audit opinion. The results answer the first question in this study about the level of audit quality in Libya: audit quality level in Libya is low. The semi-structured interviews support finding of the secondary data analysis, that is the level of audit quality in Libya is low. Also findings indicate that in Libya there are some fundamental elements which themselves are insufficient to deal to develop audit quality. Furthermore, the Libyan audit context suffers from some obstacles and problems that prevent the development of audit quality

Assessment of In vivo antioxidant properties of Dacryodes edulis and Ficus exasperata as anti-malaria plants

Objective: The phytochemical profile and potential anti-oxidant properties of Dacryodes edulis and Ficus exasperata were evaluated. Methods: 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg of ethanol extracts were administered to albino rats for 7days; prior to 2 days CCl4 intoxication. Control groups were; Tween 80 (placebo), CCl4 (-ve control), Vit. E (+ve control). Tissue homogenates were used for assessing the Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances (TBARS) expressed as MDA (Malondialdehyde) levels, Reduced Glutathione (GSH) and Catalase (CAT) activities. Results: Phytochemical profiling of the plants showed the presence of reducing sugars, flavonoids, saponins and tannins; except alkaloids and terpenoids in F. exasperata and cardiac glycosides in D. edulis. Generally, significantly different values (P<0.05) were recorded for Blood and liver homogenates. Elevated MDA levels were observed for the CCl4 treated group (-ve control), but lower MDA levels comparable to Vit E (+ve control) were recorded for D. edulis and the 200mg/kg F. exasperata pre-treatments. CAT levels were significantly (p<0.05) raised in the 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg for blood and the 200mg/kg for liver pretreatments; than for Vit E. CCl4 reduced GSH levels were reversed significantly (P<0.05) in blood by D. edulis and by 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg F. exasperata pretreatments in blood and liver tissues. The mean dose-dependent analysis shows increasing fall in MDA levels with dosage. Conclusions: The plant extracts exhibited dose-dependent oxidative stress suppressive action. This may justify their use for the traditional preparation of the anti-malarial remedies

Comparative evaluation of the quality characteristics of composite flour bread produced from wheat-root tuber and wheat-grain legume flour blends

Adoption of composite flours for baked and non-baked goods has been trending and the underlying reasons include economic consideration, nutritional enhancement and amelioration of noncommunicable diseases through consumption of functional foods. Comparative study of the performance of popular food crop flours in bread making is not well documented although a lot work abound in the literature concerning specific blends from wheat and crop flours studied separately. But in the present study, comparative effects of 30% substitution of wheat flour with two common root tuber flours: sweet potato (Ps) and cassava (Ca) and three common grain legume flours in Nigeria: soybean (S), cowpea (Co), bambara groundnut (B) on bread quality were studied. Soybean, cowpea, and bambara groundnut were soaked and decorticated, toasted mildly and milled to obtain flours. Cassava and sweet potato roots were peeled, chopped, oven dried, milled and sieved. All purpose wheat flour was used to form blends with non-wheat flours on a constant ratio of 70:30 replacement weight basis, a total of five flour blends were obtained while 100% wheat flour served as the control. Bread were prepared using straight dough method of AACC. Thereafter, standard procedures were used to evaluate the proximate composition of the blends and bread, as well as the bread physical and sensory properties. Data generated were subjected to analysis of variance and mean values ±SE were reported. Consistently, soybean and bambara groundnut flours had significant higher content of protein, ash, crude fat and crude fibre than cassava and sweet potato flours which contained higher level of carbohydrates. The moisture contents of the flours were low and comparable. The moisture, crude protein, crude fat, total ash, crude fibre and carbohydrate contents of the flour blends and the refined wheat flour varied significantly (p&lt;0.05) from 8.08-10.27%, 7.52-13.93%, 2.08-4.06%, 0.81-1.85%, 2.11-4.51% and 67.75-76.66% respectively. The same trend was repeated in the proximate composition of the composite flour breads although the calorific values decreased due to decrease in carbohydrate contents (58.00-47.64%), protein (6.37-11.98%), and increase in moisture (26.71-29.75%), relative to the values observed in the flour blends. Bread weights (196-223g) were comparable but the bread volumes (429-988ml) and specific loaf volumes (2.24-4.82ml/g) varied significantly (p&lt;0.05) and wheat bread had the highest and legume flour treated breads had the least. Organoleptic properties of the wheat bread were rated better in some attributes however not significantly (p&lt;0.05) different from those of 30% sweet potato and cassava breads. It was concluded that although nutritional value of legume containing breads were greater yet their bread volumes were depressed more, the higher protein of grain legume flours not withstanding confirming the fact that quality not quantity of the protein is the determinant factor in bread making potential of flours

In vivo antioxidant assessment of two antimalarial plants-Allamamda cathartica and Bixa orellana

Objective: To determine the free radical scavenging potentials pytochemical ethanol leaves extracts of Allamanda cathartica (A. cathartica) and Bixa orellana ( Bc.o onrsetliltaunean)t sa nodf tahdums itnhiestier reefdfe actt s5 0in m agn/tmimLa, l1a0r0ia ml agc/mtivLi taiensd. M200e tmhgo/dmsL: Btoo tAh lbetihnaon roalt se xatnradc ttheden p aladnmt isnaimstperleesd wweitrhe CwCitlh4 at 1 mL/kg body weight, in liquid paraffin (1:1, v/v) for 2 days (negative control) and compared reacti5v%e Tsuwbesetna n8c0e s(p lacebo) and vitamin E (positive control) pretreatments. Thiobarbituric acid tissues were assessed(T. BRAeRsSu)l,t sg:l utathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT) activities in blood and liver decreased In CCl4 treated rats, TBARS levels significantly increased, while and GSH and CAT levels were recorded for both plant extracts. Generally, higher TBARS for GSH values were recorded for blood than for liver homogenates; with reverse trend observed leveClsA Ts imleivlealr. tIon ctroecaospehde crooln centrations of A. cathartica extract recorded significant antioxidant for both species; alkaloids i(nvi tAa.m ciant hEa).r tRicead uacnidn gt esrupgeanros,i dssa pino nBin. so, rfellalvaonnao.i dCso wnecrleu srieocnosr:d eAd. cathartica, possess phytochemicals that recorded significant antioxidative defense activities for brelosuodlt sa.n

Palatal Impalement Injury With Retained Foreign Body in a Child: Case Report and Literature Review

Impalement injuries are uncommon in the head and neck region, and when associated with the retained foreign body present a challenge to the clinician with regards to management. This type of injury may occasionally be associated with life-threatening complications or permanent disability. Therefore, clinicians involved in the management of head and neck trauma need to be constantly reminded of this uncommon type of injury and the different treatment options.This is a case report of impalement injury to the palate of a child by a hair weaving instrument. Clinical and plain radiographic examination was sufficient for foreign body localization. The foreign body was successfully extricated under local anaesthesia and conscious sedation using a simple conservative technique with no complications

Pygomelia with genitalia duplication at Treichville Teaching Hospital: two new cases

Pygomelia is a rare deformity (1/100 000) defined by the presence of one or more supernumerary members in the pelvic region. In this article, we report two new cases, including one that was successfully operated upon in our unit. The first case was characterized by the presence of two additional lower limbs postioned in the hypogastric region and a third vestigial epigastric upper limb associated with visceral deformations. Surgical treatment was successfully accomplished. The clinical examination of the second case objectified the third lower limb at the level of the left buttock with a rudimentary pelvis, a sacrococcygeal teratoma, and a genital duplication. The newborn child died during the investigations. The nosological limits of pygomelia are still poorly specified because it is similar to cases of duplication of the lower limbs and dipygus.Keywords: caudal duplication, dipygus, pygomeli

The use of Ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19:Panacea or enigma?

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has triggered unprecedented social, economic and health challenges. To control and reduce the infection rate, countries employed non-pharmaceutical measures such as social distancing, isolation, quarantine, and the use of masks, hand and surface sanitisation. Since 2021 a global race for COVID-19 vaccination ensued, mainly due to a lack of equitable vaccine production and distribution. To date, no treatments have been demonstrated to cure COVID-19. The scientific World is now considering the potential use of Ivermectin as a prophylactic and treatment for COVID-19. Against this background, the objective of this study is to review the literature to demystify the enigma or panacea in the use of Ivermectin. This paper intends to investigate literature which supports the existence or shows the nonexistence of a causal link between Ivermectin, COVID-19 mortality and recovery. There are inconsistent results on the effectiveness of Ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Some studies have asserted that in a bid to slow down the transmission of COVID-19, ivermectin can be used to inhibit the in vitro replication of SARS-CoV-2. The pre-existing health system burdens can be alleviated as patients treated prophylactically would reduce hospital admissions and stem the spread of COVID-19. On a global scale, Ivermectin is currently used by about 28% of the world's population, and its adoption is presently about 44% of countries. However, the full administration of this drug would require further tests to establish its clinical effectiveness and efficacy