Nigeria

Assessment of Land Use Land Cover Changes and Climate Variability as Evidence of Desertification in Yusufari Lga, Yobe State, Nigeria (Published)

Land degradation and desertification pose severe ecological and socio-economic challenges in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in Northern Nigeria. This study assesses the spatial and temporal trends of desertification in Yusufari Local Government Area (LGA), Yobe State, Nigeria, from 1991 to 2021, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques. Landsat satellite imagery (TM, ETM+, and OLI-TIRS) for 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021 was classified to map Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes, with a focus on desert area dynamics. Climatic data (rainfall and temperature) from 1991 to 2020 were analyzed to examine variability and its relationship with desertification. Results indicate a significant decline in desert-covered areas, from 1,128.03 km² (29.27%) in 1991 to 686.08 km² (17.80%) in 2021, reflecting an average annual reduction of 14.73 km² and a total contraction of 441.95 km² (39.18%). Conversely, vegetation cover increased from 1,082.66 km² (28.09%) to 1,620.51 km² (42.05%) over the same period, representing a 49.68% expansion. Bare land remained dominant but fluctuated, peaking at 1,786.35 km² (46.35%) in 2011 before declining to 1,519.44 km² (39.43%) in 2021, while built-up areas expanded marginally from 11.94 km² (0.31%) to 27.60 km² (0.72%). Accuracy assessments of classified images yielded overall accuracies ranging from 82% to 93%, with Kappa coefficients between 0.76 and 0.91, confirming reliable LULC mapping. Climatic analysis revealed an increasing trend in annual rainfall, with a minimum of 325.3 mm (1992) and maximum of 629.9 mm (2012), and a slight rise in mean temperature over the study period, peaking at 29.56°C in 2010. Statistical correlation using Pearson’s coefficient showed a strong negative relationship between desertification and rainfall (r = -0.78), though not statistically significant (p = 0.22 > 0.05). Temperature exhibited a weak negative correlation with desertification (r = -0.25), also not statistically significant (p = 0.75 > 0.05). The findings suggest that desertification in Yusufari has receded over the past three decades, likely due to a combination of climatic variability and human interventions such as land restoration and afforestation efforts. The study underscores the value of integrated GIS and RS in monitoring environmental degradation and supports the need for sustained land management policies to combat desertification. Recommendations include further investigation into the drivers of vegetation recovery, enhanced use of high-resolution imagery for detailed monitoring, and the development of predictive models to aid in sustainable land use planning.

Keywords: : GIS, Climate Variability, Desertification, Nigeria, Remote Sensing, Sahel, Yusufari, land use land cover change

Effects of Artisanal Mining on the Built Environment in Selected Communities in Plateau State, Nigeria (Published)

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has emerged as a major driver of environmental degradation in many resource-rich regions, yet its impact on the built environment remains insufficiently examined. This study investigates how illegal ASM affects the built environment through the lens of stakeholder perceptions and governance conditions in Plateau State, Nigeria. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, integrating quantitative data from 396 survey respondents with qualitative insights from interviews and focus group discussions conducted in Jos South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas. The findings reveal that illegal ASM contributes to significant built environment impacts, including land subsidence, structural damage to buildings, infrastructure deterioration, and increased safety and health risks. Inferential analysis indicates that impact severity and lived experience are significantly higher in Barkin Ladi, reflecting greater exposure in rural contexts, while governance inadequacies are perceived as systemic across both locations. Qualitative evidence further highlights a livelihood risk paradox, where economic dependence on mining coexists with its destructive consequences. The study advances governance, perception, and built environment nexus and demonstrates that stakeholder perceptions play a critical mediating role in shaping environmental and infrastructural outcomes. The findings underscore the need for integrated governance, alternative livelihood strategies, and participatory policy frameworks to mitigate the impacts of ASM and promote sustainable built-environment development.

Keywords: Environmental degradation, Mixed Methods, Nigeria, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), built environment impacts, governance and regulation, spatial analysis, stakeholder perception

Generation of Architectural and Other Safety Measures Against Kidnappings at Residential Environments in Kogi State of Nigeria (Published)

Kidnapping in Nigeria is a serious national security challenge; Kogi State of Nigeria is not exempted from this challenge. Therefore, it became very important to conduct a research work with regards to kidnappings in Kogi State because of their frequent issues in the state. The aim of this research was to overview the cases of kidnapping at residential environments in Kogi State, in order to generate architectural and other safety measures to curtail their future occurrences in Nigeria. The research focused on desktop study as the instrument for data collection; it reviewed five different newspapers in Nigeria with the availability of kidnapping cases in Kogi State to get information relating to them. Thus, table was used for the presentation and analysis of the research data and the results were checked via contents analysis technique, so as to validate them. Among the findings are: armed kidnappers stormed the compound and forcefully entered the house; a professor was kidnapped at the gate of his private residence immediately he alighted from his car, and some police officers are part of the kidnapping cartel. Among the recommended safety measures are: all external doors must be well reinforced steel type to international standard, in order to reduce the rate at which kidnappers enter the house forcefully; residential buildings must have a design of very strong automatic sliding gate and having protective devices above it as exactly in the case of fence, in order to reduce delay arising from the manual gate opening that may lead to kidnapping at the gate entrance, and any police officer that is caught being part of the kidnapping cartel should be dismissed from his/her official job immediately and must be jailed for minimum of 10 years or as may be better determined by the court of law.

Keywords: Nigeria, Safety Measures, kidnapping, residential environments, security challenge

Pre-Letting and Pre-Sale Financing Arrangements: An Assessment of Cost Effectiveness for Real Estate Development in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria (Published)

Real estate development is capital intensive and hence requires a huge capital outlay and the onus of capital provision lies solely on the development firm. However, the largeness of projects usually makes equity insufficient, raising the need for firms to look outward for capital supply. With debt finance as the alternative, associated high cost of capital acquisition made it inaccessible to development firms. The recent attention-shift of real estate development firms towards pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements suggests the cost effectiveness of the arrangements over mortgage. However, despite the attention-shift, the cost effectiveness of pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements has been given little attention by the researcher. Hence, this study assessed cost effectiveness of pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements with a view to providing information that will increase the level of adoption, using selected properties in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria as a case study. The cost effectiveness of the arrangements was assessed using three case studies analysis. One property in each of year 2018 (pre – COVID19), year 2020 (COVID19 period) and year 2021 (post – COVID19). Property details such as the number of units financed by pre-letting and pre-sale arrangements, units’ type (1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, 3 bedrooms, among others), number of units targeted for pre-letting and/or pre-sale, number of units eventually pre-let and/or pre-sold, duration of property development, annual rent of the pre-let per unit, price of the pre-sale per unit, among others were acquired from the firm’s record. In addition, commercial banks mortgage lending rates was retrieved from Central Bank of Nigeria website for year 2015 to 2021, and was used to capitalise the property rent and/or price.

Keywords: Lagos metropolis, Nigeria, cost effectiveness., pre-letting, pre-sale financing arrangements, real estate development

An Integration of Geophysics and Petrophysics in Study of Rock at Elete, Lokoja Southwestern Nigeria (Published)

Granitic Gneiss and Banded Gneiss make up the bulk of the local rock types, and quartz veins are the most common intrusions seen there. Tectonic upheavals in the earth’s crust are responsible for the region’s structural features, including as foliations, folds, joints, and fissures. The goal of this research is to integrate several scientific techniques to subsurface structure definition. For this study, 16 Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES), petrophysical study, and background knowledge of geology were used to delineate subsurface rock. The Schlumberger array with a maximum electrode separation of 300m was employed for VES. Elete’s true aquifer resistivity map shows that the South-Eastern and North-Eastern axis has relatively low resistivity values, which may indicate the presence of an aquiferous zone, while the North-Central and Southern regions have a wider range of resistivity values, which may not be consistent with a water-bearing zone. Additionally, petrographic analysis of the rock reveals that the mineral composition of Granitic Gneiss is Quartz (41.72%), Plagioclase (10.79%), Biotite (25.17%), Muscovite (19.42%), and Opaque (2.87%). While biotite makes up the granite gneiss. Biotite (45%), Muscovite (9.93%), Quartz (36.87%), Plagioclase (4.26%), and Opaque (3. 55%).Hydrogeologically, it stands to reason that Elete and its surroundings are situated in a region with medium to good groundwater potential based on the information at hand and the results of the geophysical investigation. Weathered/fractured basements are anticipated to contain productive aquifers.

Keywords: Nigeria, Resistivity, elete, gneiss, rock aquifer

Availability and Accessibility as Determinant Factors for Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines among National Certificate of Education Students in Bauchi State, Nigeria (Published)

Uptake of vaccines is a long term preventive measures against any infectious disease, however it was observed that there was a low patronage of COVID-19 vaccines among the youth in Bauchi State. Therefore, the study assessed availability of Covid-19 vaccines and evaluates its accessibility as determinants of uptake among NCE Students in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design of survey type was used as research design, the population of the study comprised of 8,947 NCE students from the four public Colleges of Education in Bauchi State, Nigeria; the sample for the study was 650 NCE students selected through multi-stage sampling procedure of cluster sampling, simple random sampling, proportionate and convenience sampling techniques. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher developed questionnaire on 4points Likert scale, the instrument was validated by three experts in the field of Health Education for face and content validity; in the same vein, the reliability of the instrument was ascertained through a pilot study using test re-test method with 30 respondents, the result obtained was subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation, were a coefficient of .82 was obtained. Consent of the respondents was sought before the data collection; the data collected were analysed using one sample t-test. Findings of the study revealed that availability (p=.000) and accessibility (p=.000) were significant determinants of Covid-19 vaccine uptake among NCE students in Bauchi State. It was concluded that availability and accessibility to COVID-19 vaccines were very essential factors in determining the vaccine uptake. It was recommended that the vaccines should be made available in the College clinics of the State for easy access to students and other College community; this will go a long way in motivating them to patronise and use the vaccines.

Keywords: Availability, Bauchi state, Nigeria, accessibility determinant factors, covid-19 vaccines, education students, national certificate

Geochemical characterization of Egbetua stream sediments, southwestern Nigeria: implication for provenance and depositional conditions (Published)

The aim of this work is to determine the provenance, chemical index of alteration, elemental spatial distribution in the stream sediments, stream flow energy and the depositional conditions in the study area.  The study area is located in Egbetua area in Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, Southwestern Nigeria. It is located on latitudes 07º 21’30’’N and 07º 22’N longitudes 06º 15’ 30” E and 06º 17’E and average elevation of 182 metres. Standard field and laboratory procedures were used in the study. Geochemical analysis was carried out using x-ray fluorescence method. Average concentrations of SiO₂ (78.24 wt. %), Al₂O₃ (ca. 12.15 wt. %) and the chemical index of alteration (CIA) values of 68.90% indicate felsic granitic source rocks. Ce/Ce*, Eu/Eu* and (La/Yb)n ratios were used to deduce the prevailing reducing-oxidizing depositional environment of the sediments. Ce/Ce* (0.80) confirmed an oxidizing environment of deposition with low stream flow energy, while Eu/Eu* (0.07) corroborated an oxidizing environment with felsic source rock. (La/Yb)n (5.95) indicated an oxidizing environment in a low stream energy flow with coarse-grained and clay size sediment input.

Citation: Obaje O., and Pirisola A. O. (2023) Geochemical characterization of Egbetua stream sediments, southwestern Nigeria: implication for provenance and depositional conditions, British Journal of Earth Sciences Research, Vol.11, No.1, pp.17-30

Keywords: Egbetua, Geochemical analysis, Nigeria, major oxide, rare earth element, stream sediments

Analysis of Active Fire Protection Measures in Garki Model Market of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria (Published)

Fire outbreak in market places is a recurring issue in Nigeria, and it is a leading causes of lives and properties loss in Nigerian markets. In order to curtail this problem, an evaluation of active fire protection measures in Garki model market of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria was conducted with the aim of generating guidelines that can reduce the spread of fire outbreaks in Nigerian markets. There are 1,430 sales points in Garki model market. Systematic sampling method was adopted for this study and it was applied at every 5^th interval of sales points, in order to get the sample size; as a result of this, 287 sales points were selected. The primary research data were questionnaires administered to the sales people, and the direct observations of the current conditions of the market; likewise, 20 different focus group discussions were organised for the selected sales people. Also, interview questions were administered to the managing company of the market. Among the results are: fire protection devices in the market are not adequate; all the fire hose reels in the market are not in good condition; most of the sales people in the market do not know how to operate firefighting equipment because they do not respond to calls for training on how to use them. Among the recommended guidelines are: the adequacy and functionality of fire protection devices should be ensured by the government of Nigeria and the management authorities of markets in Nigeria; training for the sales people should be enforced by the management authorities of markets in Nigeria, in order to ensure that the sales people know how to operate firefighting equipment.

Keywords: Fire, Guidelines, Nigeria, Protection, markets

On The Genesis of Nsofang Marble of Ikom Area of Southeastern Nigeria (Published)

Physical, petrographical and geochemical data are used to constrain the mode of formation of low grade marble occurring in Nsofang and environs, in Ikom area of southeastern Nigeria.  The presence of lamination, vug and cavernous structures as part of the physical features of the marble suggest possible formation at T < 100 °C under biological controls, induced during microbial metabolic activity. However, it appears this mode of formation is insignificant as the modal mineralogy of the rock frequently follow the trend: dolomite (90%) + calcite (5%) + quartz (<1%) + talc (<1%) ± phlogopite (<1%) ± Opaque mineral(s) (1%), reflecting impact of low grade metamorphism. The strong linear correlation existing between Mg/Ca and Mn/Sr components supports the participation of metamorphic dolomitization in the formation of the marble. Other elemental geochemical data revealed progressive replacement – type dolomitization as a component applicable mechanism. The intense volcanism associated with the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) most likely drove the hydrothermal system and metamorphism that produced the dolomitization of precursor limestones. It appears the Cenozoic timing of the CVL coincided with the time of dolomitization, while the extrusive activities provided a source of heat and additional ions for the circulating seawater that drove the calcite-dolomite reactions of the replacement-type dolomitization model.

Keywords: Dolomite, Dolomitization, Hydrothermal, Mamfe, Marble, Nigeria

Background Geochemistry of Soil In Part of Girei District, Upper Benue Trough, N.E. Nigeria (Published)

Soil geochemical study aimed at determining the background levels of trace and major elements in soils of a relatively small part (MAUTECH Campus) of Girei District has been carried out. The results show that the contents of trace and major elements in the area are generally low and vary by factors ranging from about 3 times (As, V), about 4 times (Ni, W), about 6 times (Cd, Rb, Be), about 10 times (Cr, Ba, Br), about 7 times (Se), about 18 times (Mo), about 30 times (Co) and about 45 times (Pb). The low contents reflect the granites and migmatite gneisses bordering the study area and suggest that the soil was derived from these granites with little contribution from the mafic gneisses. Correlations amongst elements are significant at the probability level of 0.01. Among the major elements; Mg has a strong positive relationship with Ca (0.88), and Al (0.74) while Fe is also strongly related to Al (0.69). Several trace elements have very strong positive relationship with one another: Ba-As (0.91), Be-As (0.93), Be-Ba (0.91), Cs-Ba (0.91), As-Cs (0.85), Cr-Ba (0.85), Cr-Be (0.85), Cs-Be (0.88), As-Ce (0.94) and Cs-Cr (0.86). Mn and Mo are poorly related with most of the trace elements. Among the rare earth elements, Eu is strongly related to Dy (0.98), Gd (0.99) and Lu (0.96) just as Dy is strongly related to Er (0.99), Eu (0.98), Gd (0.98) and Lu (0.98). These strong positive correlations among elements suggest that chemical and physical factors control elements associations in parent materials and soil forming processes. Consequently, the data may serve as a reference standard in the assessment and monitoring of possible future environmental issues related to trace and/or major element contamination

Keywords: Background Geochemistry, Benue Trough, Girei, Nigeria