University of Nigeria, Nsukka

About: University of Nigeria, Nsukka is a education organization based out in Nsukka, Nigeria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 10211 authors who have published 13685 publications receiving 138922 citations.

Oil, british interests and the nigerian civil war*

Abstract: Using newly available evidence, mainly from the Public Records Office (now the National Archive) in London, this article attempts to unravel the true extent of the role that British oil interests played in the decision of the British government to insist on a ‘One Nigeria’ solution in the Nigeria/Biafra conflict. While the official position of the British government was that its main interest in the Nigeria conflict was to prevent the break-up of the country along tribal lines, the true position was more complex. Evidence in this paper suggests that British oil interests played a much more important role in the determination of the British attitude to the war than is usually conceded. Specifically, Britain was interested in protecting the investments of Shell-BP in Nigerian oil. Furthermore, Britain was also at the time desperate to keep Nigerian oil flowing in order to mitigate the impact of its domestic oil shortfalls caused by the Middle East Six Day War. Supporting a ‘One Nigeria’ solution was considered its safest bet in order to achieve the above objectives.

Influence of formal maternal education on the use of maternity services in Enugu, Nigeria.

Abstract: Although some previous studies have suggested formal maternal education as the most potent tool for reducing the mortality ratio in Nigeria, other studies found that the depressed Nigerian economy since 1986 has marginalised the benefits of education with the result that educated women stopped making use of existing health facilities because they could not afford the cost of health services. This study was carried out to determine the current influence of formal maternal education and other factors on the choice of place of delivery by pregnant women in Enugu, south-eastern Nigeria. It was a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire study of women who delivered within 3 months before the date of data collection in the study area. In an increasing order of level of care, the outcome variable (place where the last delivery took place) was categorised into seven, with home deliveries representing the lowest category and private hospitals run by specialist obstetricians as the highest category. These were further sub-categorised into non-institutional deliveries and institutional deliveries. Maternal educational level was the main predictor variable. Other predictor variables were sociodemographic factors. Data analysis was by means of descriptive and inferential statistics including means, frequencies and chi2-tests at the 95% confidence (CI) level. Out of a total of 1,450 women to whom the questionnaires were administered, 1,095 women responded (a response rate of 75.5%). A total of 579 (52.9%) of the respondents delivered outside health institutions, while the remaining 516 (47.1%) delivered within health institutions. Regarding the educational levels of the respondents, 301 (27.5%) had no formal education; 410 (37.4%) had primary education; 148 (13.5%) secondary education and 236 (21.5%) post-secondary education. There was a significant positive correlation between the educational levels of the respondents and their husbands (r=0.86, p=0.000). With respect to occupational categories of the respondents, 88 (8.0%) of them belonged to occupational class I, 158 (14.4%) to occupational class II, 107 (9.8%) to occupational class III, 14 (1.3%) to occupational class IV and 728 to occupational class V. There was a significant positive correlation between the respondents' and their husbands' occupational levels (r=0.89, p=0.000). There were statistically significant associations between choice of institutional or non-institutional deliveries and respondents' educational level as well as place of residence (urban/rural), religion, tribe, marital status, occupational level, husband's occupational and educational levels, age and parity (p

A review on the applicability of activated carbon derived from plant biomass in adsorption of chromium, copper, and zinc from industrial wastewater

Abstract: Metal ion contamination in wastewater is an issue of global concern. The conventional methods of heavy metal removal from wastewater have some drawbacks, ranging from generation of sludge to high cost of removal. Adsorption technique for copper(II), zinc(II), and chromium(VI) using activated carbon has been found efficient. However, it is not economical on a large scale. This, therefore, necessitates the search for economical and readily available plant biomass-based activated carbons for the sequestration of the metal ions. This review presents the state of the art on the adsorption of copper(II), zinc(II), and chromium(VI) from industrial wastewater. Based on the literature review presented, the groundnut husk and corncob based activated carbons were found to possess the maximum adsorption capacities for copper(II), zinc(II), and chromium(VI) removal, when compared with the other plant biomass-based activated carbons. The high values of the adsorption capacities obtained were as a result of the isotherms and pH of the adsorbent as well as the initial concentration of the metal solutions. From the review, the equilibrium data fitted better with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms than with other isotherms. Research gaps were identified which include a need to investigate the kinetic and the thermodynamic behaviors of the metal ions onto the studied adsorbents. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the three types of activation of the adsorbents should be investigated using single and multi-metals. The optimization of particle size, contact time, temperature, initial concentration, and adsorbent dosage for adsorption of copper(II), zinc(II), and chromium(VI) onto the studied adsorbents using response surface methodology is equally required.