University of Mkar

Abstract: This paper investigates the experience economy as a strategic pathway for inclusive and sustainable post‑oil development in Delta State, Nigeria. Despite decades of oil‑derived revenues, the state faces persistent challenges, including rising youth unemployment, environmental degradation, and overdependence on extractive industries. Adopting an ex post facto design, the study integrates qualitative fieldwork, via stakeholder observation and informal dialogues at community events, with secondary analysis of demographic and fiscal data from 2015 to 2023. The study population comprised Delta State’s youth (estimated at 3.35 million in 2023), from which a purposive sample of 120 participants aged 18–35 was engaged across four local government areas. Findings show that youth unemployment rose from 32.5% to 38.5%, underscoring systemic barriers to labour market inclusion. However, six diversification pathways emerged with significant potential: cultural and heritage tourism, eco‑tourism, wellness and lifestyle ventures, creative industries, youth entrepreneurship, and sustainable agribusiness. The study recommends targeted investments in youth‑led enterprise, infrastructure development, and cross‑sectoral partnerships to harness local capacities and reposition the state’s economy toward resilience and regeneration. These findings contribute to an evidence‑based, context‑sensitive framework for sustainable development in post‑oil contexts.

God has given proverbs to every peoples of the earth to His glory, as a resource for acquiring wisdom. The Tiv people of North Central Nigeria too trained up their youth with words of the wise that they may shun evil and follow righteousness. Both Hebrews and Tiv proverbs aimed at training one to fear God and to love one’s fellow neighbor. This work as a literary study analyzed Proverbs 1:8-33 and was optimistic for the work of the sages in our contemporary societies as it alloyed the Hebrew sages and Tiv sages in training the youth to fear God and love his commandment. It also explained that wisdom is not given only to the Hebrew; hence, the Tiv sages also trained their youth with words of marble, admonishing them to hold onto truth and acquire knowledge that enrich the young in the fear of God. The research adopts “Oral Tradition as History” as its theoretical framework, since Tiv Proverbs were mostly oral wisdom literature. The research employed comparative and interpretive methods of research to get at its findings and came to the conclusion that all peoples of the earth have sages who with their wise sayings train up the child. Therefore, every works of the sages must cog towards training the child to fear God and love his neighbor. However, wise sayings without this end, no matter how good they are, may not lead one to a better life.

This study explores the interconnected impacts of fast fashion, analysing its environmental toll—such as high carbon emissions, excessive water usage, and the creation of large-scale waste. The social consequences, particularly the exploitation of garment workers in developing nations, are examined alongside the economic imbalance driven by a business model that prioritises short-term profits. Sustainable production and consumption is proposed as a solution, emphasising circular economy models, ethical labour practices, and resource-efficient production. The method of analysis involved a comprehensive literature review of existing research, reports, and case studies from both academic and industry sources. Through this qualitative analysis, the research identifies key areas for intervention and innovation, offering practical recommendations for businesses, consumers, and policymakers. The study concludes that transitioning to sustainable models is essential for addressing the fast fashion industry's far-reaching consequences and fostering a more equitable, sustainable future.

BackgroundMany health education institutions in African countries such as Nigeria face increasing enrolment of students but lack an adequate number of instructors to train them. If digital learning can be demonstrated effective in augmenting knowledge and skills, this approach could help fill this gap and improve education efficiency. A needs assessment in two Nigerian midwifery schools confirmed that digital learning would be feasible and welcomed. In this study, the Midwifery Active Digitization Empowerment Initiative (MADE-I) program was tested to determine if digital delivery of the Fundamental Interventions, Referral and Safe Transfer (FIRST) course is at least equally effective for training midwifery students compared to conventional small-group delivery.MethodsA non-inferiority randomized controlled trial design was used, enrolling 130 s-year students from 2 midwifery schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Students were randomly assigned into six cohorts. Each cohort received half of the course on a Learning Management Platform on their mobile phones, the other half through standard small-group teaching. Students’ knowledge, thinking, and technical skills were assessed using a pre-test, post-test, Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE), and daily modular quizzes. The data was analyzed using the difference-in-difference method.ResultsThe study revealed that post-intervention student knowledge and thinking skills did not significantly differ between digital learning (75.26%) and small-group learning arms of the trial (75.02%, p = 0.404). Student knowledge improved significantly compared to the pre-test in both groups (by 25.03 points in the digital arm, 26.39, in small-group). Some differences were observed between digital and small-group learning in disaggregated analysis by specific module and midwifery school. Although there was a trend toward small-group learning of technical skills being more effective than digital learning, no significant differences between groups were observed in the post-intervention OSCE. Students in both groups learned equally well regardless of age, gender, and midwifery school entrance exam score.ConclusionDigital learning is as effective as small-group learning, for midwifery trainees, in augmenting knowledge, thinking, and technical skills addressed in the FIRST course, and have lighter human resource requirements, an important consideration especially in LMIC. However, similar assessments would be needed to assess effectiveness for other digitally delivered clinical education programs.

Additive and stimulative properties of alcohol encourage large intake. Notwithstanding, chronic alcohol consumption causes severe hepatic damage, that alters normal biological function of the liver. The aim of this research was to assess the effects of Lophira lanceolata and Vitex doniana extracts on alcohol induced hepatotoxicity using rat model by examining liver serum enzymes (AST, ALT, ALP), lipid peroxidation level, antioxidant enzyme activity and haematological parameters. Thirty Wister rats weighing 70 to 120g were placed in six groups of fives per group. The negative control and treatment groups were familiarized with alcohol (42%) in drinking water before oral administration of 42% consumable alcohol (v/v, 1ml/100g body weight) for nine days. Afterward, the treatment groups were administered 600mg/kg body weight extracts of Lophira lanceolata, Vitex doniana and Vitamin C (as standard drug). Body weight and behavioural characters were monitored during the period. It was observed that, rats in the negative and treatment groups showed significant depletion in weight and negative changes in behaviour. Furthermore, biochemical assessment revealed significant elevated levels of liver serum enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP) activity, total and direct bilirubin, MDA, SOD and CAT while GSH and haematological parameters were significantly depleted at p<0.05. However, the treated groups revealed significant reduction in the liver enzymes, MDA, SOD and CAT while GSH activity and haematological parameters were significantly increased. In conclusion, both extracts have ameliorative and antioxidant properties that could mitigates chronic alcohol hepatotoxicity.

Time is ticking and times of economic crisis will continue to recur with various causes that may be different and require different solutions to problems. In Nigeria, there was an economic crisis to a food crisis, this was also triggered by the Covid-19 Pandemic, this crisis began to be felt in 2020. The research method used in this research is to use descriptive qualitative analysis. No one expects an economic crisis anywhere and anytime. Nigeria is known as a country prone to racial and religious conflicts. In 2020, the capital city of Borno state often faced conflicts between civilians. Deputy head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Nigeria, Esty Sutyoko, said Nigerians have lost their livelihoods for more than a decade. This was triggered by violence and the Covid-19 pandemic as well as food insecurity in the region. The Covid-19 pandemic began with reports of cases of pneumonia (pneumonia) with unknown causes in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019. But on the other hand, Islamic banking has again proven that the system used is really resistant to crises, not just theory and coincidence because it has been proven three times through economic crises and the power of Islamic banking is very strong to beat conventional banking.

Heavy metals are silent killer of mankind and the cause of environmental pollution. The ability of some microorganisms to resist heavy metals makes them useful in bioremediation. The aim of this study was to molecularly characterize heavy metal-resistant Proteus species isolated from the soil of a cement factory. Proteus species were tested for resistance to lead, chromium, copper and iron at concentrations 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25 and 1.50 mg/L. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined at mg/mL. Plasmid profiling was done. Genomic DNA was extracted using DNA Kit by Zymo Research USA. The concentration of genomic DNA was determined using NanoDrop Spectrophotometer. Twenty-five microlitre was used for polymerase chain reaction. Amplicons were electrophoresed and sequenced. Nucleotide sequences were blasted at the NCBI website. Proteus species showed resistance to the test heavy metals. MIC was determined for lead, copper, partly for iron and not for chromium. Plasmid profiling showed that six Proteus species harbor high molecular weight plasmids. Concentration of genomic DNA ranged between 1.88 and 2.03 ng/µl. Electrophoresis revealed 16S rRNA genes amplified at 1500 base pair. Blast analysis revealed that six was Proteus mirabilis and one was Proteus terrae. Phylogeny constructed and study revealed that these Proteus species may be useful as bioremediation agents.

In this study, a conventional quantum mechanics in which the potential function is not specified but replaced by specifying four parameters Wilson-Racah orthogonal polynomials in the energy and physical parameter space was presented. The wave function is written as a bounded sum of elements of a complete basis with these polynomials as expansion coefficients. By finding the asymptotic of these Wilson – Racah polynomials, the physical properties of the corresponding system (wave function, bound state energy spectrum and/or scattering phase shift) was obtained. Wilson – Racah quantum system was applied to determine the thermodynamics and atomic properties of Hydrogen atom and diatomic molecules. All properties of associated physical systems are obtained directly and simply from the asymptotic of the associated orthogonal polynomials. This new model, gives good an approximate prediction of the Hydrogen atom energy with an estimated average error of 0.125%. The proposed procedure merely relies on experimental values of five molecular constants. The average relative percentage deviations of the thermodynamic properties’ functions Q, U, C, S and F which are 2.42, 0.45, 0.30, 1.23 and 1.50% satisfied the experimental finding as ascertained. These represent satisfactory compromise between accuracy and rapid computations.

Abstract This study investigates to determine whether the sensitivity of import demand to negative partial sum processes of consumer price index, currency price and national income merely mirror the elasticities corresponding to positive partial sums of these same determinants in Nigeria. The test of the recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model provided strong proof for asymmetry over the short- and long-run. From the long-run non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag estimates, import demand was found to be positve, inelastic and significant in response to positive shocks to Consumer Price Index, and positve, significant but elastic in response to negative shocks. The short-term response of import demand to Consumer Price Index is revealed to be biased towards negative shocks. Import demand is indicated to be more responsive to currency appreciation than depreciation. Further, we found higher coefficients of income elasticity of import demand associated with negative changes in Gross Domestic Product than with positive changes. In the light of these findings, we recommend macroeconomic and microeconomic policies that can drive down domestic inflation and improve internal competitiveness. JEL Codes: F4; F10; F13; F31

Propolis obtained from various geographical regions has yielded various phyto-constituents and exhibited several biological activities. The aim of the present study was to isolate and characterize chemical compounds from hexane and ethyl acetate extract of propolis obtained from Gboko. To isolate compounds, extract was subjected to column chromatography by gradient elution using two solvent mixtures - hexane: ethyl acetate and ethyl acetate: methanol. The structure of the isolated compound was established using 1H-NMR and data on the compound was further verified by comparison with literature reports. Pharmacologically active pentacyclic triterpenoids; lupeol and lupeol acetate, were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of this propolis.