OMONKHEGBELE PRECIOUS OTIBHOR

Child marriage is any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years before the child is physically; physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing. Child marriage affects both boys and girls, but girls are often more disproportionately affected. The issue of child marriage remains a global menace that has raised several concern because of the harm that comes with the pernicious practice. However, significant efforts have been made to combat the insidious practice through several instruments, towards achieving global realization in the Structural and Developmental Goals Scheme. According to UNICEF, several jurisdictions e.g England and India, among others have harmonized their legal systems to explicitly prohibit child marriage. in spite of these progressive legal strides towards the eradication of child marriage globally, the incident of the practice is quite prevalent in Africa. This practice is prevalent in Africa because it is greatly entrenched in the fabrics of her socio-cultural and religious beliefs. Nigeria is not indifferent in this arena, the antecedence of child marriage is still rampart in Nigeria, in spite of several instruments prohibiting the engagement of such practice and its inimical effect to children. The intrinsic factor responsible for the unremitting practice, among others, is the adoption of a pluralist legal system at its core and the disharmony of legislation in the subject of legal minimum age which have been exploited as a cloaked enterprise for the justification of child marriage in Nigeria. This work critically examines the issue of legal minimum age for marriage in Nigeria and the attendant problems associated with the disharmony in legislation in respect to a legal minimum age for marriage in Nigeria. It further addresses the consequences that unfold as a result of child marriage and other attendant violation

Medicinal plants are plants that generally contain constituents that have been found useful for the treatment and management of both animal and human diseases. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder resulting from a defect in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. This present work determined the ameliorative effect of the histopathological changes in Streptozotocin-Induced diabetic rats. Male wistar rats were purchased of age (16weeks), kept in clean and serene cages and left to acclimatize for two weeks and were fed with normal poultry feed before inducing them with Streptozotocin according to their weight and were divided into 7 groups and were administered treatment using Metformin, crude extract, ethyl acetate of 200mg and 400mg respectively. From the histopathological studies of the liver, it showed that the control group had hepatocytes and central vein organized, orderly and patterns are regular. The negative control group showed periportal hepatitis, inflammation of the hepatocytes and zonal necrosis while the group treated using Metformin showed a little improvement but there was still portal hepatitis and necrosis. When 200mg of the crude extract was administered, necrosis was reduced, inflammation persisted but mild. 400mg of the crude extract ameliorated the disease, no inflammation, no congestion, no necrosis, fine hepatocytes, Sinosoids were seen properly and Kupffer cells were activated. 200mg ethyl acetate tried in ameliorating the effects of the Streptozotocin damage. Small inflammation was observed, small congestion was observed , necrosis were really reduced and there was Kupffer cell activation too. 400mg ethyl acetate was administered and the inflammation though mild became more obvious compared to the 200mg of ethyl acetate which did a better job at ameliorating the effects of the Streptozotocin. The bile ducts were obvious and no congestion was observed.