Colonial Vestiges, Indigenous Policy-Logical-Framework, and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Countries in Africa continue to represent practical examples of failed nation-states due to the persistence of all known indicators of underdevelopment.  Ironically, the continent has a proud social history that eulogizes its contribution to global development. However, a careful look at most of the countries (such as Nigeria) that make up the continent reveals an image of adverse human development realities. This negative socio-economic scenario has put the continent at the forefront of foreign aid destinations even though Africa has all it takes to drive a healthy development agenda. The manner with which development policies are far removed from the reach of the masses in terms of their input, needs, and aspirations, shows the nature of the colonial character that surrounds policymaking in a country like Nigeria. It is the submission of this paper, that decolonizing policy-making processes and ensuring that the masses are integrated into the process would go a long way to synthesize the indigenous aspirations, elite groups, and valid experience for sustainable development. Hence, using the colonial policy template diagram and the post-colonial policy template diagram of successive governments, the paper evaluated the structure of policymaking and implementation in Nigeria and the disconnection between policy objectives and realities in the economy. Based on the findings, the paper recommends an indigenous and populist informed policymaking process to reverse the colonization of development policies in Nigeria and to engender a sustainable development policy trajectory

Government Policy Approach to Environmental Conflicts among the Niger Delta Communities: Implication to 2015 and Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals

The present study is focused on the public perception of government approach to the environmental challenges in the region of Niger Delta and its implication to environmentally-related conflict resolution and inclusive society. Four states were randomly selected while eight local government areas, 24 communities and 500 respondents (18+) were randomly selected for data collection. Our evaluation and analysis were focused on the public perception of the government policy approach in resolving the environmentally-related conflict in the region, support to this approach and the likelihood of youth involvement in violent agitation in the region. From our data, we pinpointed and demonstrated the weaknesses and unpopular nature of the dominant policy approach in the region as well as the latent energy of environmental conflict in the region. For policy relevance of the study, we ran a statistical cross examination on prevailing sociological issues in the region relevant to sustainable environmental and conflict resolution policy in the region. Our study established some factors relevant to inclusive society policy in achieving sustainable peace in the region such as public perception of government approach to their environmental challenges, socially-inclusive mode of consultation, age etc. in view of the strength of our data, the findings and suggestion of the study will help the Nigerian government to the threshold of people oriented and sustainable policies in dealing with the ceaseless conflict agitations in the region. The study aims to contribute in the current social scientific literature, the point of individual involvement in environmental conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

LEAD ACETATE: A DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICANT THAT IS AMELIORATED BY THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF FICUS VOGELII (FV)

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of lead toxicity on the histoarchiteture of the vagina and cervix of adult female Wistar rats and the currative role of Ficus vogelii (Fv) in lead toxicity. Methods:  The experiment lasted for a period of 21 days involving 20 adult female albino Wistar rats with an average weight of 145g. The rats were divided into five (5) groups A, B, C, D and E. A is negative control group that received normal saline, B is positive group that received lead acetate solution, C received Aqueous extract of Fv (100g/kg) and lead acetate solution, D received aqueous extract of Fv (300g/kg)  and lead acetate solution group while E received aqueous extract of Fv only. Results:  Examination of the vagina and cervix histologically revealed various damages such as, necrosis, oedema and reduction is size suspected to be as a result of lead toxicity. These changes were ameliorated by the administration of Fv extract. Exposure to lead also produced significant reduction in blood supply to the vagina and cervix which caused the mucosa to necrotize. These structural changes correlated with the level of exposure in the vagina. They were mainly oedema, necrosis and denudation of the vaginal walls. These alterations can make the vagina and cervix acidic which have been implicated as one of the cause of infertility in females. Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that treatment with F. vogelii has an ameliorative effect. Peer Review History: Received 21 July 2017;   Revised 22 August; Accepted 28 August, Available online 15 September 2017 Academic Editor:  Dr. A.A. Mgbahurike, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:        Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 4.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 8.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail:  Dr. A.A. Mgbahurike, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, [email protected] Antonio José de Jesus Evangelista, Federal University of Ceará, UFC, Brazil, [email protected] Similar Articles: TOXICITY AND ANTITRYPANOSOMAN ACTIVITY OF HEMI SYNTHESIS PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS OF MITRACARPUS SCABER HARVESTED SOUTH OF BENI

Design and Implementation of Auto Switch Lighting Monitoring and Control System

The havoc that the electricity can cause may be unimaginable compared with the benefits if not proper controlled, maintained, managed and used. Developed countries has setup good system of management and maintenance of electricity supply. Studies have shown that electricity supply should be properly distributed and managed with respect to the use, however, only a few of these studies were implemented in developing countries including Nigeria. Therefore, this research was aimed at the design and development of auto switch lighting monitoring and control system. The research adopted multiple concepts by making use of the development of software, and hardware configurations. The configurations combined a micro-controller (Arduino), sensor GSM module for wireless communication, battery, Real Time Clock (RTC) and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) for display purpose. By considering the time set by Real Time Clock (RTC) and from the status of (Light Dependent Resistor) LDR  sensor, the controller turns the light ON/OFF. The results showed that the photoelectric (presence) sensor turns on the light only when the presence is detected during night time and Current Sensor will sense the current value from which power consumed is calculated. It also provides the information about the faulty lamps which ease the fault detection. The research concluded by ensuring that the objectives were met. The research employed the synchronization of database created and linked with a mobile software that was further linked with a digital board. The designed software was implementation and it was able to control the auto switching, monitoring and control of the lighting system in Babcock University. It was recommended that this software should be replicated for the country

A Three-Factor Model of Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Economic Development for Developing Countries

Nigeria had adopted various development plans in order to achieve MDGs.Achievement of MDGs is crucial to effective implementation of SDGs agenda aimed at fostering inclusive, sustainable and resilient economic development. In spite of these efforts, the Nigerian economy is still characterized by low capital formation, chronic unemployment, a large percentage of the population living on primary sector and negligible savings. Indeed, Nigeria’s performance in MDGs was quite unimpressive. This is partly attributable to inappropriate human capital theory of economic growth on which these development plans were based. Therefore, this study focused on building a model of inclusive, sustainable and resilient economic development which would yield potent factors and describe activities that could link human capital investment with aggregate economic activities to induce economic development with full participation of target population. The study covered the period, 1981 - 2014. Data were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics and World Development Indicators. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis technique. Study revealed that minimum wage, girl-child education and special intervention fund were factors which influenced the relationship among human capital, real GDP and economic development. It was concluded that the outcome of this study which is a three-factor model of inclusive, sustainable and resilient economic development is essentially a human capital theory of economic development capable of linking the different sectors of the economy. It was recommended, inter alia, that a dynamic employment policy would involve economic empowerment of women through job reservation in paid labour

(Ab)use of Social Capital: An Indelible Negative Impression on Nigerian Socio-Political and Institutional Outfits

Social capital in sociology, economics, psychology and allied disciplines had been explored mostly, in the direction of its positive utility values in the society. However, the phenomenon has more negative impacts on the public institutions of the developing nations, especially with regard to the roles of these institutions to the sustainable development agenda. While bureaucracy especially its impersonal principle has helped the developed nations to control the vulnerability of public institutions to social capital, inability of the developing nations to objectively follow bureaucratic principle has made their public institutions vulnerable to the abuse of social capital driven by ethnic/religious affiliations. Hence, this adverse social capital scenario, has generated a public service environment, where people are employed or appointed based on their proximity to powerful ethnic and religious groups. By extension, this has had far-reaching negative consequences on the development and sustainability in these nations as mediocre manpower continues to undermine efficiency and promote the culture of perpetual underdevelopment. In this paper, we expanded on the above notion using available secondary data in Nigeria and linking the dominant notions of social capital to bridge the gap in literature on social capital and public institutions in Nigeria

Tax-financing of Budget Deficits in LDCs: Re-validation of Laffer Curve Theory

Urgent need for quick action to put Nigeria and other developing economies back to the path of economic recovery has almost imposed state of emergency on these economies. Most LDCs are faced with acute shortage of development funds due to recessions accompanying incessant crashes in international financial market. Raising existing tax rates to finance budget deficit in LDCs often generates public debate on pros and cons of such policy option. Study considered Nigeria as typical case of LDCs. Study focused on establishing the effectiveness of tax-financing of budget deficit under Laffer curve theory. Study spanned across 1970-2015. Data were analyzed using ADF, CUSUM, heteroskedasticity, multiple regression, Johansen cointegration and ECM. Results indicate that: (1) Custom and exercise duties, petroleum profit tax and value-added tax contributed significantly to the reduction in budget deficit while company income tax had nonsignificant impact(2)Total government revenue constituted major chunk of planned income for budget deficit financing(3) Deficit financing of capital health expenditure yielded high returns while that of recurrent education expenditure and capital education expenditure was accompanied by low returns (4)Growth and employment generation accelerated deficit financing while private investment decelerated it (5) There were long and short-run relationships among budget deficit, taxes, human capital investment and macroeconomic indicators with significant rate of adjustment of short-run disequilibrium. Study concluded that tax-financing of budget deficit was effective under Laffer curve effect. It was recommended, among others, that LDCs should enlarge their tax bases through inclusion, to finance budget deficit

In-situ remediation of petroleumcontaminated soil by application of plantbased surfactants toward preventing environmental degradation

Remediation in this study employs the use of green plants and their extracts in enhancing the remediation process of polluted soils. GC-MS & FTIR techniques were employed in determining the constituents of the soil during the investigation. 60 ml of the extracts were applied on 1 by 2 ft segments of hydrocarbon polluted site and observed for two months. The results show that plant extract A significantly reduced the TPHs and PAHs to 5,450 and 126.2 mg/kg, respectively, as compared to those of extract B whose TPH and PAH values are 10,432 and 362.3 mg/kg, respectively. Both plant extracts reduced the total petroleum hydrocarbon compounds significantly when compared to the standard reference PAH and PAHs (4,500 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg respectively). The microbial plate count for the three media shows that the plant based surfactant had a synergy with the identified bacteria in enhancing Phytoremediation of the crude oil polluted site. Novelty statement: This study examined the application of two plant-based surfactants for remediation. These natural surfactants significantly reduced the petroleum hydrocarbon compounds present in the soil within the in-situ observation window. These Herbaceous plant family extracts have a great advantage as an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic surfactants, and they also exhibited an anti-fungi characteristic. The two biodegradable plant-based surfactants also significantly reduced the time that it could have taken for a remediation process

Tax-budget Deficit Relationships: Fiscalists’ Platform for Deficit Financing Policy

With heavy debt burden on developing economies accompanied by their low credit worthiness rating, developing economies often resort to taxes for financing development projects. Raising tax rates and expanding tax bases have become frequent government activities in developing economies. Without dynamic deficit financing policy which takes into cognizance the conflicting arithmetic and economic effect of Laffer curve analysis, financing budget deficit through taxation has remained largely unsuccessful. Perhaps, what was required is to constitute latent factors operating along Laffer curve into major theoretical construct of a deficit financing policy. Therefore, study focused on identifying latent factors influencing the inter-relationship among budget deficit finance, taxes, human capital and macroeconomic indicators. Study spanned across 1970-2015. Data were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics and World Development Indicators. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Results indicate that: (1) Tax contributed significantly to budget deficit financing (2)Tax spending and disposable personal income were latent factors influencing the effectiveness of deficit financing (3) Tax spending activated government revenue to contribute significantly to budget deficit reduction (4) Disposable personal income boosted GDP to cause reduction in budget deficit . It was concluded that, with the taxonomy of highly significant factor correlates of tax spending and disposable personal income, a viable deficit financing policy was devised with component tax, budgetary, pricing, credit and macroeconomic policies. It was recommended, inter alia, that developing economies should activate their current deficit financing policies by adapting them to their tax spend and macroeconomic policies

DNA from Plant leaf Extracts: A Review for Emerging and Promising Novel Green Corrosion Inhibitors.

With growing global awareness and concern for environmental protection through the use of less hazardous and environmentally-friendly extracts of plant origin, there has been a plethora of green corrosion inhibitors research with far reaching contributions to the science of corrosion prevention and control. Attention has increasingly turned towards green corrosion inhibitors, compounds of natural origin with anti-oxidant activity towards metals and their alloys. Green inhibitors have been investigated for their corrosion and adsorption properties with good results. The findings from these research works provide evidence of the adsorption behavior of green inhibitors which was confirmed by the adsorption isotherms that were proposed. Adsorption is the first step of any surface reaction and since corrosion is a surface phenomenon the effectiveness of green corrosion inhibitors is related to their ability to adsorb on metal surfaces. This review proposes the potential of plant dna as an emerging and promising novel inhibitor for mild steel. It begins with a list of plants that have been used in studies to determine corrosion inhibition properties and moves on to establish the adsorption behavior of bio macromolecules; protein, polysaccharides (chitosan) and dna. It reviews studies and investigation of dna interaction and adsorption on inorganic surfaces before focusing on the use of salmon (fish) sperm dna and calf thymus gland dna as green corrosion inhibitors for mild steel. It concludes that plant dna is a promising candidate for green corrosion inhibitor given the similarity between the plant and animal dna structure and function, and the fact that the use of plant is more environmentally sustainable than animal-based produc