Search results

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which an afforestation programme as spelt out in the Forestry II programme has checked the encroachment of desert in the arid and semi‐arid zone of northern Nigeria.

The study is carried out in the afforestation project states aimed at evaluating the success/failure of the program. Field observation and a site visit are conducted on some communities as well as policies relevant to forestry sector are reviewed.

The preliminary findings of this paper indicate that the afforestation projects had a positive impact on both biophysical and socioeconomic environment and contributed to the sustainability of the afforestation programme.

This paper is primarily focused on the various components of the Forestry II programme and the extent they have helped in combating desertification.

The paper addresses the need for sustainable afforestation projects and discusses on how the community effort and participation of women plays an important role during the afforestation programs.

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate current government policies in combating desertification and mitigating the effects of drought. This paper discusses the menace of desertification, the extent and the impact of drought in Nigeria.

The research reported in this paper was undertaken through review of existing literature, personal observations and interview with some of the residents in the affected areas as well as government officials in charge of programs in combating desertification.

The paper observes that the failure of current government policies include among others the top‐down approach, inconsistencies of government policies, neglect of indigenous knowledge, use of inappropriate technology, sectoral approach, inadequate funding, and inadequate awareness. Having identified the causes of the problem, this paper proposes that the national policy for drought and desertification should ensure sustainable development based on proper management of human‐environment interactions in the affected areas.

The evaluation method performed in this paper allows us to analyze the factors responsible for the failure of government policies in combating desertification in Nigeria. This paper suggests that a number of complementary policies, strategies and management approaches be put in place and such must take cognizance of the existing institutional settings and professional groupings as well as the complex historical, social, cultural, and legal considerations.

The paper provides a rational, holistic, practicable and comprehensive approach for finding solutions to the problems of drought and desertification in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the sustainability of a forestry management strategy in checkmating desert encroachment and it also examines the impacts of the Forestry II program on agricultural productivity in the rural communities.

The study adopted a quantitative approach in assessing the rural farmers’ level of participation in the Forestry II program in which 201 respondents were interviewed in the study area. Structured questionnaires’ were also administered to afforestation officials/extension workers in the two states regarding the different components of the projects and probable cause(s) of failures/successes as well as the level of involvement of the community in the project. Field observations of the project sites were also carried out with a view to examining the level of achievements on the physical components of the projects.

The findings of this study revealed that, involvement of the stakeholders and participation of the community was lacking at the early stage of the program and the negligence of indigenous knowledge as well as the influence of bottom up approach was not incorporated in the project. The study further revealed that, appreciable positive impacts have been recorded at various levels of its implementation. The improvement of livelihood of the rural people through increased forest products supply was noted, fuel-wood and poles supply were also increased and this had gone a long way in creating employment for the rural dwellers.

The study involved the establishment of shelterbelts, windbreaks, woodlots, orchards and nurseries which were complimented by social forestry, and which raised public awareness through campaigns such as school forestry programs, forestry extension services and a fuel-wood conservation program.

The study articulated success and failure as well as a detailed assessment of the Forestry II project. The study showed that government could significantly combat desertification in the arid zones through sustainable afforestation if adequate resources were employed.

This paper seeks to review the state of desertification in Nigeria, historical trends and past national efforts as well as ongoing programs for combating the fast-spreading desert conditions in the arid zones of the country.

The approach has been carried out through a comprehensive review analysis and detailed assessment on several methods of approach which includes archival materials as well as published government documents, field observation and learned background information of the working and funding dynamics of the program to combat desertification.

The findings of this paper reveal that the failure of the past government effort in combating desertification in Nigeria is a result of the policies and the programs not having been designed to adequately tackle the problem of drought and desertification and of the phenomena being treated as sectoral issues rather than an integrated whole.

This paper has practical implication for anyone interested in sustainable management of drought and desertification in the arid and semi arid zones of the world.

The paper has articulated success and failure of the government programs in combating the twin environmental problems of drought and desertification in Nigeria and also shows that government could significantly combat desertification through sustainable management of its projects/programs if adequate resources are employed.

The study examined library personnel awareness of the availability of emergency response plans, their forms and roles in safety routine preparedness and control in federal and state university libraries in Southwest Nigeria.

The survey research design alongside a multi-stage sampling procedure comprising purposive, randomisation and total enumeration techniques guided the study. The population consisted of 327 library personnel drawn from 12 federal and state university libraries (i.e., six each). The questionnaire and structured interview methods were used for data gathering. Of the 327 copies of the questionnaire administered, 249 copies, representing 76.1%, were duly completed and found valid for analysis. Whereas the acceptance threshold of ≥90% response rate and a criterion mean of 2.50 were adopted for making judgements regarding the research questions, while the hypothesis was tested using chi-square statistics with cross-tabulation.

The state university libraries in the studied region are extremely lagging behind their federal counterpart in terms of emergency preparedness, judging by the availability of emergency response plan (ERPs). However, documenting the plans for routine emergency response is not widespread among the university libraries; thus, the extent of response preparedness is both simplistic and doubtful. Despite the seemingly proactive nature of the federal university libraries over their state counterpart, librarians in both settings do not perceive effectiveness and preference in either the written emergency response plan (WERP) or unwritten emergency response plan (UERP) as an emergency preparedness and control measure.

The research increases knowledge of emergency preparedness in university libraries beyond the mere availability of ERPs. Through a comparative empirical analysis, the desirability of the WERP as a measure of emergency response preparedness in university libraries has been strengthened.

Nowadays, a rotary friction welding method is accepted in many industries, particularly for joining dissimilar materials as a mass production process. It is due to advantages like less material waste, low production time and low energy expenditure. The effect of the change in carbon contents in steel is studied experimentally in the rotary friction welding process, and a statistical model is developed. The Grey Taguchi method gives the single parameters optimization for all output responses. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An experimental setup was designed and produced to achieve the multi-response in single optimum parameters through Grey relational analysis. A continuous/direct drive rotary friction welding process is chosen in which transition from friction to the forging stage can be achieved automatically by applying a break. In this experimentation, high carbon and low carbon work-pieces with different carbon percentage were welded with rotary friction welding. Response tensile strength and micro-hardness of the design of the experiment are used to analyze the results.

The optimization of parameters has been performed with Grey relational analysis, and optimum parameters are friction pressure 40 kg/cm², forging pressure 100 kg/cm² and speed 1,120 rpm. GRA optimum parameters give 56.04 and 82.16 percent improvement in Tensile strength and micro-hardness, respectively.

High carbon steel (En-31) and low carbon steel (SAE-1020) are used in so many industrial applications. These materials are mostly used in the process like manufacturing, metallurgy, machinery, agricultural, etc. These practical applications have brought forward definite and notable economic benefits.

It provides a new framework to investigate the problems where multiple input machining variables and various output responses are obtained in single optimized parameters.