Goyemide on slavery: the liberating power of the word

This article looks at Etienne Goyemide's novel, Le Dernier survivant de la caravane, a mythical foundation story set in the last years of the 19th century which records an episode of the northern slave trade in Banda land, RCA, and throws some light on the African roots of the northern slave trade. It considers the narrative by evaluating its relation to East African history and by showing the impact of displacement on the villagers' individual and collective identity. It highlights the violence of the cultural clash as expressed in the style and structure of the novel, and reveals the liberating power of the spoken word in a novel written like an oral epic, with an unusual mix of narration, speeches, songs, chants, folktales and legends. The concluding episode - the slaves' escape and foundation of a new village - is shown as the accomplishment of the patriarchal vision proclaimed and nurtured on the way

Book Review: Democratization and Islamic law: The Sharia conflict in Nigeria

Harnischfeger, Johannes 2008Frankfurt/New York, Campus Verlag, 244 pp.ISBN 978-3-593-38256-

Foreign Trade and Nigerian Economy

Globalization theoretically leads countries to increase their production and consumption levels and as well ensures prosperity in line with benefits accruable from foreign trade. Foreign trade has been adjudged by many a scholar as an engine with potentials to propel an economy to desired growth as it affords the opportunities to new products, to explore new techniques, to enhance communication and a considerable positive role in the business life. This study is an empirical reassessment of the impact of foreign trade on Nigerian economy with a time series data from 1981 to 2013. The regressors conformed to a priori expectations while export (EX) alone passed the test of significance. The F-test suggests that the joint influence of the explanatory variables is statistically significant and Jarque-Bera normality test also implies that the residual is normally distributed. The non-statistical significance of most of the variables points to the relatively weak diversified Nigerian economy with the dominance of the petroleum sector. Consequently, further opening of the economy needs to be halted else it will retard the growth of the economy. In order to promote growth and development, conscious efforts should be made in the formulation of policies to create enabling environment that will promote non-oil exports, ensure growth induced imports and promote the use of local raw materials. Keywords: Foreign trade, Economic growth, Export, Import, Exchange rate, Policie

PHARMACOKINETICS, HEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL EFFECTS OF CIPROFLOXACIN HYDROCHLORIDE-SODIUM CHOLATE COMPLEX

Objective: Ciprofloxacin is a broad spectrum antibiotic widely used in the treatment of infections, but its toxicological effects remains a great challenge. This research emphasized on analyzing the effect of a hydrophobic ion pair complex, involving ciprofloxacin hydrochloride and sodium cholate and also pegylated ciprofloxacin hydrochloride-sodium cholate complex.Methods: The effects of ciprofloxacin-cholate complex and pegylated ciprofloxacin-cholate complex were evaluated. LD50 was determined. The test drugs were orally to twenty-four albino mice, in six groups of four mice, at different doses of 7.14 mg/kg, 14.2 mg/kg and 21.4 mg/kg; and PEG complex, 7.14 and 14.2 mg/kg. Each was administered twice daily for fourteen days. The animal blood samples were subjected to hematological, biochemical tests; and the liver organs were collected. Histopathological examination was carried out on the harvested organs. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined using the non-compartmental method.Results: The LD50 of the complex was above 5000 mg/kg. The non-significant decrease in PCV and WBC showed the parent drug and its complex are neither anemia inducing nor immunosuppressing; the significant decrease in the average RBCs count in post–treatment of 21.47 mg/kg of the complex could be from physiological changes; the bio-liver makers showed hepatocellular damage. Photomicrograph of the liver sections of mice showed mild areas of hepatocyte degeneration and inflammatory cell infiltrates.Conclusion: The biochemical, hematological and histology results showed complexation did not increase adverse effects of ciprofloxacin. The PEGYlated complex showed higher AUC and Cmax peak than the uncomplexed drug, hence more therapeutic benefits

Effect of Crystallisation Time on the Synthesis of Zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite Clay

In this study, the effect of crystallization time on the synthesis of zeolite Y from Elefun kaolinite clay was investigated. During the synthesis of zeolite Y, the raw Elefun kaolinite clay was beneficiated thoroughly with water for 7 days before it was calcined at a 850oC for 6 hours to thermally convert it to metakaolin. Dealumination of the metakaolin was then carried out using the novel method to achieve a target SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 6.5. A hydrogel solution was prepared by mixing the dealuminated metakaolin with sodium hydroxide and water in calculated proportions. The mixture was heated to a temperature of 95oc between a time range of 12 to 60 hours. The crystallized product was then washed thoroughly with deionized water and then dried. Analysis was carried out on the dried product sample using two different characterization techniques; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluoresense (XRF). The results from the analysis indicated the formation of zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite clay and the maximum crystallization time obtained for the synthesis of zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite clay at 95oC was 48 hours

Effect of Crystallisation Time on the Synthesis of Zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite Clay

In this study, the effect of crystallization time on the synthesis of zeolite Y from Elefun kaolinite clay was investigated. During the synthesis of zeolite Y, the raw Elefun kaolinite clay was beneficiated thoroughly with water for 7 days before it was calcined at a 850oC for 6 hours to thermally convert it to metakaolin. Dealumination of the metakaolin was then carried out using the novel method to achieve a target SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 6.5. A hydrogel solution was prepared by mixing the dealuminated metakaolin with sodium hydroxide and water in calculated proportions. The mixture was heated to a temperature of 95oc between a time range of 12 to 60 hours. The crystallized product was then washed thoroughly with deionized water and then dried. Analysis was carried out on the dried product sample using two different characterization techniques; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluoresense (XRF). The results from the analysis indicated the formation of zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite clay and the maximum crystallization time obtained for the synthesis of zeolite Y from Elefun Kaolinite clay at 95oC was 48 hour

Vocational Skill Mobility and Its Effect on Occupational Engagement Among Tradesmen and Craftsmen in Building Sector

Building sector in Nigeria has suffered skill erosion overtime. Foreigners with special skill has mobilized their skill into the sector and there had been mass exodus of imported skills into the sector thereby forcing citizens to jettison idea of engaging indigenous artisans in the face of superior skills and knowledge. The aim of the study is to appraise the vocational skills and competence of the indigenous and foreign artisans, vocational mobility in building sector, job mobility pattern among artisans, sectors involved, attendant effects, both favorable and unfavorable, and possible ways of addressing identified threat. The study engaged 120 questionnaire using random sampling technique. The questionnaire was designed in Likert scale, structured on sematic rating scale 1 to 5. The study identified the following reasons among others reasons behind the disparity in occupational engagement among artisans in Nigeria building sector, the reasons include: inadequate skill and knowledge by indigenous artisans, no vocational focus, half -baked knowledge of the work, poor workmanship and poor finishing and poor education background or lack of former education among others. The study recommended the following factors as panacea to the problem; reinvigoration of artisans competence, continuous training of the artisans, value reorientation of artisans, promoting technology transfer among indigenous artisans and foreign artisans

Vocational Skill Mobility and Its Effect on Occupational Engagement Among Tradesmen and Craftsmen in Building Sector

Building sector in Nigeria has suffered skill erosion overtime. Foreigners with special skill has mobilized their skill into the sector and there had been mass exodus of imported skills into the sector thereby forcing citizens to jettison idea of engaging indigenous artisans in the face of superior skills and knowledge. The aim of the study is to appraise the vocational skills and competence of the indigenous and foreign artisans, vocational mobility in building sector, job mobility pattern among artisans, sectors involved, attendant effects, both favorable and unfavorable, and possible ways of addressing identified threat. The study engaged 120 questionnaire using random sampling technique. The questionnaire was designed in Likert scale, structured on sematic rating scale 1 to 5. The study identified the following reasons among others reasons behind the disparity in occupational engagement among artisans in Nigeria building sector, the reasons include: inadequate skill and knowledge by indigenous artisans, no vocational focus, half -baked knowledge of the work, poor workmanship and poor finishing and poor education background or lack of former education among others. The study recommended the following factors as panacea to the problem; reinvigoration of artisans competence, continuous training of the artisans, value reorientation of artisans, promoting technology transfer among indigenous artisans and foreign artisans