98 research outputs found
Polio in Nigeria: A review of the situation and problems hindering its elimination
No full textNigeria is important to the polio eradication for the fact that a large proportion of importation into polio-free countries following elimination have been from Nigeria. It is the only country endemic for both Wild Polio Virus 1 and 3 as well as circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2. We reviewed the pertinent literature including published and unpublished, official reports and working documents of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners as well as other concerned organizations. The literature were selected based on the following criteria: published in English Language, published after year 2000, relevant content and conformance to the theme of the review and these were sorted accordingly. The challenges facing the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) in Nigeria were found to fall into three categories viz failure to vaccinate, failure of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and epidemiology of the virus. Failure to vaccinate resulted from insecurity, heterogeneous political support, programmatic limitation in implementation of vaccination campaigns, poor performance of vaccination teams in persistently poor performing Local Government areas and vaccine refusals in Northern Nigeria. Sub optimal effectiveness of OPV in some settings as well as the problems of VDPVs associated with OPV type 2 were also indicted. Some of the innovations meant to manage the threats to the PEI include a strong government accountability frame work, change from type 2 containing OPV to monovalent and bi valent OPVs for supplementary immunization activities, sustaining environmental surveillance in key states (Sokoto, Kano and Borno) with an overall improvement in SIA quality. There has been an improvement in coverage of routine immunization and vaccination campaigns, which has been reflected in reduction in the number of new cases; 6 in total for 2014. However, the last mile remains and there is need to further improve and complete the journey towards polio elimination
Les commissions électorales en Afrique de l'Ouest
No full text[author: Mathias Hounkpe ; Ismaila Madior Fall]Electronic ed.: Abuja ; Bonn : FES, 201
The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decrees (1972 and 1977) and indigenisation in Nigeria
No full textThe thesis is a comprehensive examination of the Nigerian
Enterprises Promotion Decrees of 1972 and 1977, and more broadly
of the process of indigenisation in Nigeria.
A brief introduction to the historical background of indigenisation
before 1970 is followed by an account of the timing of the Decrees
in the context of the oil boom in the country's economy. An
examination of the problems encountered in implementing the Decrees
and their effects, and an analysis of the distribution of benefits,
is informed by empirical research including interviews, carried out
by the author in Nigeria between 1982 and 1985.
The record shows that indigenisation has led to the consolidation
of an economy which accommodates the interests of ex-State personnel,
the State as an institution, private indigenous businessmen and
foreign capital, in an order which is far from certain to bring about
the national economic independence which, in official terms, is the
chief objective.
Nigeria's commitment to capitalism and the promotion of
Indigenous private enterprise, on the basis of resources generated
initially by the agricultural economy, between the 1940s and 1960s,
and then much more spectacularly and more significantly by oil
revenues in the 1970s, provides an instructive example of the limits
to what a post-colonial society in black Africa can achieve by trying
to indigenise the ownership structure of its economy
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on routines of higher education institutions : a global perspective
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in the work of hundreds of millions
of people around the world. One of the groups affected is the academic staff at higher education
institutions, whose original business model, i.e., presence teaching, suddenly changed to online learning.
This has, in turn, exacerbated pre-existing problems such as shortage of time, busy schedules, and
challenges to a work-life balance. Since academic staff plays a key role in respect of teaching and research,
often acting as leaders in their fields, it is important to reflect on the influences of the lockdowns on their
work routines. In order to address this research need, this paper reports on a study that examined the
impacts of the lockdowns on the work of academic staff at universities. Using a bibliometric analysis and
investigation of a set of case studies, the study sheds light on the difficulties encountered and the means
deployed to address them. Our study did not identify a one-size-fits-all response to manage the manifold
changes brought on HEIs by the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected arising priorities include creating a
culture of educational resilience through a container of complementary measures.peer-reviewe
Ternary Oxides of s- and p-Block Metals for Photocatalytic Solar-to-Hydrogen Conversion
No full textOxides containing metals or metalloids from the p block of the periodic table (e.g., In, Sn, Sb, Pb, and Bi) are of technological interest as transparent conductors and light absorbers for solar-energy conversion due to the tunability of their electronic conductivity and optical absorption. Comparatively, these oxides have found limited applications in hydrogen photoelectrolysis, primarily due to their high electronegativity, which impedes electron transfer for reducing protons into hydrogen. We have shown recently that inserting s-block cations into p-block metal oxides is effective at lowering electronegativities while affording further control of band gaps. Here, we explain the origins of this dual tunability by demonstrating the mediator role of s-block cations in modulating orbital hybridization while not contributing to frontier electronic states. From this result, we carry out a comprehensive computational study of 109 ternary oxides of s- and p-block metal elements as candidate photocatalysts for solar hydrogen generation. We down-select the most desirable materials using band gaps and band edges obtained from Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory, with Hubbard parameters computed entirely from first principles, evaluate the stability of these oxides in aqueous conditions, and characterize experimentally four of the remaining materials, synthesized with high phase uniformity, to validate and further develop the computational models. We thus propose nine oxide semiconductors, including CsIn_{3}O_{5}, Sr_{2}In_{2}O_{5}, and KSbO_{2}, which, to the extent of our literature review, have not been previously considered as water-splitting photocatalysts
The Impact of Commercial Bank Credit on the Growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: An Econometric Evidence from Nigeria (1986 - 2012)
No full textThe study employed Co-integration and Error Correction Modelling (ECM) techniques to investigate empirically the impact of commercial bank credit on Nigeria's Small and Medium Scale enterprises (SMEs) between 1986 and 2012.The results revealed that SMEs and selected macroeconomic variables included in the model have a long run relationship with SMEs output. The study also reveals that savings time deposit and exchange rate has a significant impact on SMEs output in Nigeria. Furthermore, commercial bank credit to SMEs, total government expenditure and bank density has direct but insignificant impact on the country SMEs output this may be connected with stringent policy in accessing credit facility and the crowd out effect of government expenditure in the economy. The study also shows that interest rate has adverse effect on SMEs output. The study recommended among others that interest rate on credit facility granted to SMEs should be drastically reduced, commercial banks should grant soft loan to this important sector of the economy and also reduced stringent policy in supply of credit to SMEs and monetary authority should encourage commercial bank to set up more branches in the rural areas in order to encourage rural occupant to save and have assesses to credit facility. Keyword: Small and Scale Medium Enterprises, Bank Credit, Loans, Commercial Ban
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