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(2015) Farm-level tree growth characteristics, fruit phenotypic variation and market potential assessment of three socioeconomically important forest fruit tree species,

The factors affecting students' choice of higher education is essential for the university's management. Various research across the world has been carried out to understand how students select their preferred universities for tertiary study; however, there is a shortage of insight from an African perspective. Specifically focusing on a federal university in Nigeria, this study aims to explore factors influencing students' interest in the school and why they selected it as their study location. A structured questionnaire from 282 undergraduate students based on stratified random sampling was used to understand these choice factors. The study found that personal interest greatly influenced students' decisions, followed by parental influence, university reputation, university ranking, and fees. The results provide an understanding of students' choices for universities in a Nigerian context, which is a loose representation of the general influences of students' choice for study sites on the continent. This would enable stakeholders working in the Nigerian education sector including academics, administrators and practitioners and international collaborators to understand the most effective ways to reach out to prospective students and draw useful lessons for universities' marketing strategies, which could be recommended not only in Nigeria but in Africa at large.

This study was carried out to assess the level of heavy metals pollution in Ologe Lagoon, Agbara, Lagos, Nigeria. The Lagoon receives effluents from industries in the Agbara Industrial Estate. Cored Soft sediments were retrieved from six random sampling points within the Lagoon and labeled (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6). Subsamples of the sediments were prepared and analyzed for heavy metal concentration. The result from the heavy metal analysis of the sediments shows that average concentration of Mn, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cr, Ni, Co, Cu and Pb in the samples was 278.1 ppm, 21.7 ppm, 14.2 ppm, 6.6 ppm, 6.4 ppm, 6.4 ppm and 4.4 ppm, respectively. The correlation between the heavy metals varies from 0.71 to 0.98 shows that they have a strongly positive degree of association which suggests that they are from the same source. The geo-accumulation values for Cu in all stations ranged between (1-2.8 ppm) and it can be deduced that the sediments are moderately to strongly polluted. Pb varies between 1 and 2.1 suggesting that the sediments are moderately polluted. Zn exhibits strong pollution levels with a range from 2.5 and 3.5 ppm. Co is moderately polluted with 1.5-2.4 while Mn shows the highest level of pollution in all stations with I geo values ranging between 4.1 and 5.8. This study showed that the Lagoon accumulates heavy metals as a result of anthropogenic activities evident in the dumping of municipal, sewage, industrial waste in the environment and domestic activities such as auto mobile transportation and mechanic repair workshop. Based on sediment quality guidelines, the Ologe Lagoon level of pollution ranged from Cu > Pb > Zn > Ni > Co > Mn > Cr > Al with Mn having the highest level of pollution.

Background. Although herbal medicines play an important role as a source of medicine, concerns have been raised about the risks posed by consumption of these plants, especially if consumed above permissible levels. Objectives. This study was undertaken to assess the level of exposure, toxicity and health risk associated with the consumption of herbal plants in Ado Ekiti urban market, Nigeria. Methods. Ten commonly consumed herbal plants sold in Ado Ekiti urban market were subjected to heavy metal analysis. Health risk assessment was carried out to determine the estimated daily intake (EDI) of heavy metals, health risk index (HRI), target hazard quotient for non-carcinogenic risk and estimation of cancer risk (ECR). Results. The EDIs for lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mn) were above the upper tolerable daily intake reference for all studied plant species in both children and adults, an indication that herbal use poses a short-term to long-term health risk to consumers of these herbal products. The EDI for children was significantly lower compared to that of adults, indicating higher risks for adult consumers of these herbal products. The HRI in children for Pb (Alstonia congensis, Terminalia avicennioides, Aframomum melegueta, Cymbopogon citratus and Napoleona vogelii) were greater than 1; HRI in Cu and Mn also showed an unusually high concentration, an indication that long term exposure to the consumption of these herbal plants poses a serious health risk. The HRI in children and adults follows the order Mn > Cu > Ni > Pb > Cr; cadmium (Cd) was not detected in any of the herbal plants. The ECR for Pb, Ni and Cr present in the herbal plants for children ranged between 10−6 (low) to 10−3 (high), while the ECR for Pb, Ni and Cr for herbal plants for adults ranged between 10−5 (acceptable) to 10−2 (unacceptable). For both children and adults, there is a call for concern due to ECRs above the acceptable range; the consumption of these herbal plants poses a long-term cancer risk. Conclusions. In both children and adults, ECRs for some of the herbal plants in the present study above the acceptable range present a risk to human health. The consumption of such herbal plants poses a long-term cancer risk. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been transmitted worldwide over a very short time after it originated in China in December 2019. In an attempt to control its spread and reduce its health impacts, several countries including those in the African continent imposed restrictive measures that was termed “lockdown”. The outcomes of this lockdown have been reported to be beneficial to air quality worldwide. The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of lockdown due to COVID-19 on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels over six major cities in Nigeria. Maps extracted from satellite (Sentinel-5P) were used to indicate the significant reduction in the level of NO2 in the selected cities in Nigeria during two time-intervals, pre-lockdown (December, 2019) and during lockdown (April, 2020). The results show a significant reduction in NO2 levels during the lockdown period compared with its levels during the pre-lockdown period in 2019. The reduction in NO2 concentration levels during lockdown is likely due to less traffic, social distancing and restrictions on business and human activities. There could be an element of uncertainty in the results due to seasonality, as the comparison is done with a different season. However, the magnitude of change due to lockdown is probably much higher than the seasonal variability. Although COVID-19 has negatively impacted the health and economic status of all regions worldwide, it has benefited some aspects of air quality in most countries including Nigeria. This indicates that anthropogenic activities may be managed to reduce air pollution and positively impact the health of human beings.

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