METROPOLIS

This study evaluated the operational and health risk factors associated with municipal solid waste scavenging in two privately-operated municipal Solid waste dumpsites in Benin City, Edo State. A well- structured questionnaire was administered to 100 randomly selected scavengers; the questionnaire covered demographics, personal details, and information on the types and frequencies of health hazards encountered by waste scavengers, providing insights into the challenges they face. The findings revealed significant health risks including injuries, respiratory problems, and gastrointestinal illnesses, highlighting the need for interventions to improve the safety and well-being of the scavenging operations. Furthermore, they also face several operational risks due largely to the lack of use of personal protection equipment, resulting in cuts, respiratory issues, and gastrointestinal illnesses, with a notable proportion experiencing frequent headaches and a high prevalence of malaria. We recommend that the operators of the dumpsites should be regulated by the Edo State Waste Management Board, with strict guidelines and punitive measures put in place for lack of compliance. On the part of the dumpsite operators, they should provide all necessary personal protection equipment and enforce their use as a standard operating procedure. Furthermore, first aid equipment for staff, drinking water and bathrooms with soap and water for their sanitation should be provided.

Background: Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria throughout Nigeria. The rise of substandard and falsified medicines endangers patient safety, effective treatment, and antisubstitution for decreased susceptibility to effective treatment. This study evaluated in-vitro pharmaceutical quality of artemether￾lumefantrine brands that are marketed in Benin City. Methods: Sixteen (16) brands of artemether-lumefantrine tablets were procured from Patented and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and retail pharmacies licensed through NAFDAC throughout Benin City. Samples were evaluated based on pharmacopoeial standards of visual/organoleptic packaging and tablet assessment, weight uniformity, tablet hardness, friability, disintegration time, in-vitro dissolution and assay for % purity of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Results: All 16 brands were NAFDAC-approved and presently active. All samples passed critical evaluative tests associated with weight uniformity, dissolution (all >80% in 60 min), and % purity (assay) with all brands within pharmacopoeial standards of 90.0% - 110.0% meaning active pharmaceutical ingredients are accounted for. However, significant quality concerns were raised as 1 brand (Biolumefar) failed the friability test (3.00% weight loss) due to compromised mechanical integrity. 1 brand (Contrine plus) failed disintegration time analysis as the average time elapsed was >30 min according to pharmacopoeial standards. Finally, a statistically significant difference was found in tablet hardness across all brands (range: 6.50 LP to 11.33 kP). xi
Conclusion: Overall, findings present inconsistent quality. While it is a positive outcome that no brands failed the assay for content of active ingredients, the failure of two brands in the most critical physical assessments - one for friability and one for disintegration -indicates inferior manufacturing processes and quality control standards. Therefore, there is a continued need for post-market surveillance from NAFDAC to ensure all AL products in circulation are quality compliant to avoid malarial treatment failures secondary to drug resistance

This study was designed to investigate the role of civil society and social movements in promoting social change in Benin metropolis. To achieve the purpose intended for the study, four research questions were raised to guide the study. The population of this study consist of all SS 2 students in public senior secondary school in Benin Metropolis. There are 6890 students in Benin Metropolis. Egor Local government area. The sample for the study consists of 180 students drawn from three Local Government Area in Benin Metropolis (Egor, Ikpoba -Okha and Oredo). The simple random sampling techniques was used to select 3 schools each from the Local Government Areas making a total number of 9 schools. 20 students were purposively selected from each of the schools making a total of 180 students. A questionnaire titled "civil society and social movement on social change (CSSMSC)" was the instrument for data collection. The question is divided into two sections, section A talks about student demographic variable and section B was designed in to 4 points like scale formular of strongly Agree (SA), Agree(A), Disagree(D) strongly disagree (SD) and elicited comment on (The role of civil society and social movements in promoting social change in Benin Metropolis) In order to ascertain the reliability of the instrument a pilot testing was done using 20 students who are not part of the sampled population and data obtained was analyzed using the Cronbach Alpha correlation coefficient formular and a reliability coefficient of 0.69 was obtained which indicated that the instrument is reliable.

This study examined the forms and distribution of nitrogen in selected domestic dumpsites
in Ughelli Metropolis, Delta State. Soil samples were collected using the soil auger from three different sample locations in Ughelli Metropolis, Ughelli North Local Government Area Delta State. The soils were analyzed for some chemical and physical physical properties determined include the soil textural classes such as sands, clays, and silts. Some chemical properties studied in this experiment included pH, Total Nitrogen, Organic Nitrogen, Inorganic Nitrogen, Exchangeable Cations, Available Phosphorus, Organic Carbon, and Organic Matter. The results show that the predominant textural class was sand, with varying proportions of sand, silt, and clay. Sites 1, 2, and 3 had material compositions, with total sand dominance in the topsoils and increasing clay contents at increasing soil depths (30 - 60 cm). pH values ranged from 6.40 to 5.79 with mean value (6.10), 6.11 to 5.57 with a mean (5.18), and 6.61 to 5.63 with a mean (6.12) in Sites 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Organic carbon content was highest in topsoils (0 - 30cm) across all sites while total nitrogen exhibited variations across soil depths with high amounts in the topsoils (0 -30cm). Available phosphorus content decreased down soil depths, while exchangeable cations showed soil depth-related trends. The presence of exchangeable cation decreased with depth. However, there was little or no changes in the contents of Magnesium and Potassium at 30-60cm depth across sites 2 and 3. Exchangeable Acidity was found to increase with increasing depth across the various sites. Organic and Inorganic Nitrogen contents were found to decrease with increasing depth across the various selected dumpsite in Ughelli Metropolis Delta State. In general, both organic and inorganic nitrogen in the selected domestic dumpsite were found to correlate positively with some soil physical and chemical properties. The experiment shows that dumpsite nitrogen contents of the study areas were greatly influenced by type of waste materials, presence of leachate, surrounding groundwater and environmental conditions.