2023

Production of African Black soap using cocoa pod husk ash (alkali base) and palm kernel oil is essentially crude soap obtained from the process of Saponification. The cocoa pud husk were carbonized (burnt to ashes ) and the Alkali was extracted from it by dissolving in water and later filtered. The suitability of the Cocoa Pod husk ash as an alkali source for soap production was evaluated, the Alkali extracted was made to react with hot palm kernel oil and the resultant mixture is the African Black soap. The soap formed was analysed. The values of the pH test, foamability test and Lather volume analysed were 9.0, 300ml and 6.33 minutes. The analysis however has revealed that the African black soap can compete favourably with other toilet soaps in the market and can also be improved on. So therefore, using cocoa pod husk for the production of the African black soap, can be modelled to preserve this age-old craft and guarantee that future generations continue to use the traditional methods of creating soap which serve as job opportunities for local and modern communities and women's cooperatives.
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The measurement of health status is an important tool or process in assessing the level of the health status of Adults (18-70years) and also to examine the effect of socio-demographic factors (e.g. age, sex, marital status, occupation, educational level, etc.), physical functioning and psychological functioning on Adults and self-reported health status. AIMS: To assess the health status of Adults in Benin city, Edo state (Age 18 – 65+ years). OBJECTIVES: To examine effect of socio-demographic factors e.g Age, sex, marital status, occupation, educational level, physical functioning and psychological functioning on adult health status in Benin city. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used to carry out the research. This study was carried out in Benin city, Edo state, Nigeria, between December 2021 and January 2022. A total of 547 persons were sampled for the study. Convenience sampling technique was used. The research instrument for this study was a self-developed structured 1-page questionnaire designed in line with the variables to be measured. Data cleaning and processing was done using Microsoft Excel. nferential analysis such as student t-test and one-way Analysis of Variance was done as appropriate with the use of Graphpad Instat 3.0.

Performance is considered an important factor determining the health of an organization. It is said to have greatly affected many different sectors of the economy and had both positive and negative impacts on the entire country. In light of this, this study examines a diagnostic analysis of the problem areas affecting the companies' profitability and productivity performance in Nigeria.A case study of Access Bank, Zenith bank,UBA, Axa insurance, NEM insurance and AIICO insurance over a five years period (2018-2022). The quick productivity appraisal approach (QPA) is adopted in this study which uses company performance appraisal (CPA) to analyse company productivity and profitability performance. The study adopt secondary data which is extracted from the annual report of each of these companies from the Nigeria Exchange group with emphasis on return on assets (ROA), which is taken as a proxy for profitability and productivity performance. The deterioration or improvement of return on assets is attributed to two major components, which include the ratio of net profit to net sales and the return on assets turnover. The variables considered are cost of goods to sales ratio, operating expenses to sales ratio, total assets turnover, fixed assets turnover will be examined. Trend analysis is used in this study to examine the profitability and productivity measurement of companies. The findings therefore are analysed in three different levels namely; the company level, the i dustry level and the sectoral level. At the company level the result showed that Access bank plc, Zenith bank plc, Axa insurance plc and AIICO insurance plc exhibited low performance with regard to productivity and profitability. Nem insurance plc experience slight increase in productivity and profitability performance while UBA plc experience increasing productivity and profitability performance. At the industry level, it was found that banks and insurance companies suffer a decline in profitability and productivity performance. Finally, at the sectoral level, the financial sector recorded a decline in productivity and profitability. Therefore the priority areas to look into for improvement are production, marketing and administrative department. Therefore, companies, industries and the sector should improve productivity in relation to capital and labour by replace and repairing old machineries and equipments in the production department, reduce the number of managerial staffs, increase salaries and wages of employees and then strengthen market strategies by promoting companies sales and increasing advertisement.

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) is a widely utilized medicinal plant globally, that
holds significant recognition in traditional medicine systems. This plant has been
studiedfor its wide range of pharmacological properties including, anti-hepatotoxic, anti-microbial, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-immunosuppressive properties anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antipyretic, antiretroviral, antivenom, cardioprotective, and immunomodulatory effects. In this research, the aqueous and ethanol extract of the leaves and stem bark of Andrographis paniculata was qualitatively and quantitively analysed, to determine its phytochemical composition. The qualitative analysis carried out between the aqueous and ethanol extract of Andrographis paniculata showed positive for saponin, tannin, phenol, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, proanthocyanidin and terpenoids which are phytochemicals responsible for the plant’s ethnomedicinal uses. Although these phytochemicals are present in both extracts, Flavonoids (66 QE/g), Phenol (78 GAE/g), Tannin (54 TAE/g) and Proanthocyanidin (174 mgAAE/g) were found in higher concentration in the aqueous extract of Andrographis paniculata than the ethanol extract. This clearly indicates that the aqueous extract of Andrographis paniculata is more advantageous for herbal medicine practice. Upon statistical analysis it was concluded that though the level of flavonoids, proanthocyanidin, tannins and phenol were more higher in the aqueous extract than ethanol extract though, there was no significant difference (p ≥ 0.05) between these extracts, suggesting that the solvent ethanol was just as effective in the extraction of these phytochemicals when compared with the aqueous solvent.

Performance is considered an important factor determining the health of an organization. It is said to have greatly affected many different sectors of the economy and had both positive and negative impacts on the entire country. In light of this, this study examines a diagnostic analysis of the problem areas affecting the companies' profitability and productivity performance in Nigeria. A case study of Access Bank, Zenith bank,
UBA, Axa insurance, NEM insurance and AIICO insurance over a five years period (2018-2022). The quick productivity appraisal approach (QPA) is adopted in this study which uses company performance appraisal (CPA) to analyse company productivity and profitability performance. The study adopt secondary data which is extracted from the annual report of each of these companies from the Nigeria Exchange group with emphasis on return on assets (ROA), which is taken as a proxy for profitability and productivity performance. The deterioration or improvement of return on assets is attributed to two major components, which include the ratio of net profit to net sales and the return on assets turnover. The variables considered are cost of goods to sales ratio, operating expenses to sales ratio, total assets turnover, fixed assets turnover will be examined. Trend analysis is used in this study to examine the profitability and productivity measurement of companies. The findings therefore are analysed in three different levels namely; the company level, the i dustry level and the sectoral level. At the company level the result showed that Access bank plc, Zenith bank plc, Axa insurance plc and AIICO insurance plc exhibited low performance with regard to productivity and profitability. Nem insurance plc experience slight increase in productivity and profitability performance while UBA plc experience increasing productivity and profitability performance. At the industry level, it was found that banks and insurance companies suffer a decline in profitability and productivity performance. Finally, at the sectoral level, the financial sector recorded a decline in productivity and profitability. Therefore the priority areas to look into for improvement are production, marketing and administrative department. Therefore, companies, industries and the sector should improve productivity in relation to capital and labour by replace and repairing old machineries and equipments in the production department, reduce the number of managerial staffs, increase salaries and wages of employees and then strengthen market strategies by promoting companies sales and increasing advertisement.

Caregivers in crèche settings play a pivotal role in nurturing and educating children during their formative years. However, the demand of this profession can lead to emotional stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Therefore, this study explores the occupational related challenge faced by caregivers in crèche settings, with a focus on the impacts of these challenges on caregiver well-being and the quality of care provided to young children. The study adopted a survey research design and the population comprised all the care givers in the 39 registered crèches in Benin City. The sample was 100 crèches care givers selected from 25 crèche settings through multi-stage sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire designed after a careful study of related literature. The instrument was validated by the three experts including the researcher’s supervisor. The internal consistency of the instrument was calculated with the cronbach alpha which yields a value of 0.86. The data were analysed with frequency count, percentages and standard deviation. The findings revealed that caregivers in crèche settings encounter a range of occupational challenges. The most commonly reported challenges include caring for crying babies, feeling unsatisfied due to salary payment, lack of appreciation from parents, poor recognition and appreciation of work by crèche management, and poor working conditions of the crèche. Caregivers experience fair challenges associated with the job of caring for children. Additionally, occupational-related challenges posed moderate impact to their health although feeling ill due to job was not mainly ascribed to job demand hence; do not perceive it as impactful to their health. Consequently, it was recommended that government should institute policyframework for effective monitoring and supervision of crèches and Managements ofcaregiving centres should ensure better welfare package for care givers including exposing them to various regular training programme.

Background of study: Musculoskeletal disorders can affect different parts of the body, upper and lower back, neck, shoulders and extremities. Driving involves routine muscular efforts, awkward sitting postures, long distance driving and exposure to whole body vibrations which are recognized as factors that can lead to musculoskeletal disorders.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders among intra campus commercial drivers in University of Benin
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 male intra campus commercial drivers. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to assess lifetime, 12 months and 7 days prevalence of low back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the obtain data. Chi square and spearman rho correlation test were used to assess the association and correlation between driving hours, age, BMI, driving duration with prevalence of low back pain, neck pain and shoulder with p value set at 0.05.
Results: The overall lifetime prevalence of low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain were 50%, 15% and 33.8%. BMI and driving hours were associated with lifetime prevalence of low back pain (p<0.05) while driving duration was associated with 12 month prevalence of neck pain (p=0.03). Driving hours was also associated with life time prevalence of shoulder pain (p=0.04)
Conclusion: The Intra-campus commercial drivers in University of Benin have high prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders with low back pain taking the highest percentage, but low prevalence of shoulder pain and lastly neck pain in this study. It was also established from the findings of this study that BMI, driving hours, duration of driving contributes to the risk of experiencing MSDs

One of the most recent and emerging contaminants today, is plastic. These plastics through improper waste disposal and runoff, find their way to water bodies. This plastic when they fragment or occur in very small sizes (<5mm) are termed microplastic. They can be classified on physical characteristics or chemical characteristics. They pose risk to both fish and consumers of the fish. The fish samples were analysed within 24hrs of collection. The fish were digested using 10% KOH, and purified using H2O2. The filtrates were examined under microscope to identify the microplastic particles, which were physically confirmed using the hot needle method and confirmed chemically using Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy. Microplastics occur at all stations through the three months under study. The microplastics found based on morphological characteristics are pellet, foams, fibre, filaments, and fragments, while on polymer characteristics, there were two namely; polypropylene and polyethene. The type of microplastic prevalent in each station had a relationship to the prevalent economic activities at the watershed. For example, at station 3 (Ikpoba bridge), the
prevalent economic activities at the water fronts are car and rug washes, the prevalent plastic is polypropylene

Insecurity in Nigeria has reached an alarming proportion affecting various facets of our national life. Lives are lost on daily basis, population depleted, businesses on the ropes, investments are nose-diving, multinational companies shutting down and vacating the country, unemployment soaring and the populace in fears. Clearly, insecurity poses a threat to governance and economic growth in Nigeria. Nigeria has experienced certain level of insecurity right from independence in 1960, however, the level of insecurity in Nigeria has increased drastically over the years, since the exit of the military from the political scene and the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria about twenty-four years ago, Nigeria has witnessed an unparalleled security challenges that have put Nigerians and foreigners on their toes. More particularly, since 2007, the state of insecurity in the country has assumed an alarming dimension as a result of the activities of different elements. Such activities include militancy in the South-South region, kidnapping in the South-East, violent armed robbery, political assassination, ritual killings and more recently, suicide bombings in some parts of the Northern region especially North- East.1 Other recent insecurity challenges includes: cyber-crimes, attacks by unknown gunmen, banditry, kidnapping, Herders-Farmers clashes, COVID-19 pandemic etc.

The study investigated the determination of aberrant examinees of 2018, 2019 and 2020 May/June Biology multiple choice test questions of the National Business and Technical Certificate Examination (NABTCE) in Nigeria. Aberrant examinees are examinees who fall into the category of giving responses that are incongruence with their ability level. When there is a mis match between the observed response pattern of an examinee to his expected response pattern, the examinee is said to have responded aberrant. Specifically the study investigated the level of aberrant examinees in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 NABTCE Biology multiple choice test, the internal consistency reliabilities before and after screening the data of aberrant examinees and the differences between the aberrant and the non aberrant examinees for each year. To achieve the objectives of this study, nine research questions were raised, while three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. This research adopted the survey research design of the expost facto. The population for the study was 88,768 Biology students responses which consisted of 28121, 29254 and 31411 for 2018, 2019 and 2020 students’ scored responses respectively. The sample size for the study was 20263. This comprised of 7086, 6447 and 6730 examinees’ responses for the 2018, 20019 and 2020 NABTCE Biology. A multistage sampling technique was adopted for the study, in which a stratified sampling technique, simple random sampling technique and a cluster sampling was applied for effective selection. The instrument used was the NABTCE May/June Biology multiple choice test questions for 2018, 2019 and 2020 made up of fifty items and four options each. The instruments were assumed to be valid and reliable as it was a test constructed by a public examination body. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of factor analysis was used to determine the unidimensionality of the instruments.