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The Effects of Transaction Costs on Investor Sentiment: Evidence from the Nigerian Electricity Service Industry- Juniper Publishers

Abstract

Privatisation of the Nigerian Electricity Service Industry represents a bold first step on a multi-dimensional journey to social and economic development. Significant challenges remain to be overcome. This paper examines the reforms through the lens of New Institutional Economics in order to determine how weak institutions have so far confounded seasoned local investors and international advisors, by looking for the presence of excessive transaction costs. The reform environment is based on Williamsons 4 levels of social analysis and subjected to evaluation based on four areas deemed critical for reform success, namely property rights, market structure, conflict resolution mechanisms and policy implementation capabilities. The study is restricted to investors in electricity distribution companies, and the presence of high transaction costs used as proxy for institutions in need of further improvement. The study finds that providing quality asset performance data and changing a culture that tacitly accept electricity theft and late bill payment, will reduce the transaction costs associated with defining and protecting Investors property rights. However, the regulatory environment must mature to enjoy the confidence of government, consumers and investors, who continue to remain optimistic.

Keywords: Electricity Market; New Institutional Economics; Transaction cost

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Introduction

The availability of quality infrastructure is a vital factor in a country’s economic growth and development [1]. Adequate electricity infrastructure remains pre-eminent within the asset class; primus inter pares because of its social and economic impact on the modern nation state. Electricity is non-substitutable and massively consumed [2]. Production and distribution are characterised by significant environmental externalities. Provision and pricing has, and continues to be of concern to the general public, and subject to interference and reform by legislators and regulators. The publically owned Nigerian Electricity Service Industry (NESI) was a government failure following decades of economic mismanagement exacerbated by criminal vandalism [3]. The government recently embarked upon a programme of long-term structural change in line with the standard textbook model, centered on regulatory reform and privatizing legacy power assets. In addition to the creation of NERC, the regulator, reforms entailed horizontal and vertical disaggregation and subsequent privatization of the generation and distribution elements of what was a vertically integrated public monopoly [4] while transmission continues in public ownership.

After a slow start, implementation of reforms gathered pace in 2010, with extensive international support coming from the UK government (DFID, 2014). By 2013, almost exclusively supported by local banks and investors, Africa’s largest power privatisation programme was complete and lauded a success by international observers, including multi-lateral development institutions such as the World Bank. By 2017 however, the government power sector recovery programme had identified several challenges which ‘created the need for a ‘market reset’ [5]. Extensive literature including [2,6-14] evaluate the status of electricity reforms in developing countries which has also been described as one of mixed outcomes, stalled reforms, and uncertainty [15]. Similarly, the varied progress of power sector reform between countries has been the subject of much study with dissimilarities at both national and sectorial levels deemed attributable [13]. The overarching conclusion is that long run reform success requires a balance between allocation issues such as price, tariffs and subsidies; and a supporting institutional framework [16].

Suggest that while acknowledged in the literature [14] institutional factors are seldom given in the reform process. The approach taken is often to reshape the institutional setup in order to improve efficiency or similar distributional aspects of economic activity. And while most technical and economic characCivil teristics of the reforms have been studied, there is little evidence to show that the institutional framework has been explored. And here, the principal area of interest. How have the institutional factors at play within NESI managed to confound a knowledgeable community of international advisors and local Investors? Unquestionably, a full review of the entire industry reform is beyond the scope and the time available for this study. Thus, the focus is narrowed to the perspective of DisCo Investors, whose are considered essential to be essential for overall industry success. The key issue identified under the PSRP is for sufficient DisCo revenues to meet their market liabilities, operating costs and capital investment requirements [5]. The theories that sit within the framework of New Institutional Economics (NIE) provide a linkage between institutions, property rights and transactions costs [17]. Institutions evolve to reduce transaction costs so that property rights can be defined, allocated and exchanged at minimal cost. Thus, institutions have a role to play in reducing transaction costs in order to maximize the gains from economic exchange. From a different perspective, high transaction costs will dissuade investor’s and lead to market failure of reforms. Supporting research looks for where Investors experience high transactions costs as an indication of failed or non-supporting institutions and will endeavor to answer the following specific questions:

1. Which factors within the NESI reforms contribute to excessive transaction costs?

2. What is the impact of these transaction costs on the business of NESI Investors?

3. How does the prevalence of these costs affect investor sentiment, particularly in relation to further investments under the current market structure?

The value of this study derives from both its timing and its geographic focus. It comes at a critical time when major financial interventions are planned by Government and the World Bank in response to the poor performance of the reforms to date. By geography, the focus on Africa’s most ambitious electricity reforms provides a country specific contribution to the body of literature concerned with institutional constraints on infrastructure development. Nigeria’s has a significant potential to contribute to global instability because of its chronic lack of infrastructure and poor economic development but will in the space of few short decades become the 3rd most populous nation in the world [18]. Investors are a critical component within any private sector-oriented market reform. The scope of the research covers the current Investors in the NESI Dis Cos. This includes equity Investors, lending banks, transaction and legal advisory and senior management persons. Surveys are restricted to private investors only, recognizing that State governments are minority shareholders in some of the privatized companies. Institutional investors do not feature. The public entity that operates the transmission network and the bulk trader and the regulator, NERC are also excluded. Given the multiple perspectives in play, it is recognised that these excluded entities, or other industry stakeholders (e.g. customers, government, etc.) might well provide a contrasting picture. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 undertakes literature review in order to position the NESI reform within a NIE framework. Section 3 discusses the methodological approach taken to progress the research, Section 4 presented the findings, and Section 5 concluded the paper

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Literature Review

New Institutional Economics (NIE)

Neoclassical economics has a non-institutional approach to economic analysis [19,20]. It assumes that the basic underlying institutions necessary for economic analysis, e.g. private ownership, credible property rights, enforceable contracts, and well-functioning corporate governance systems and markets are given. Firms were simply production functions, a black box governed by economics of scale. Only trivial explanations of vertical integration existed. The differences in economic growth between countries was poorly understood [21] and the influence of government institutions on the same was largely ignored. Critically, the application the existing theory to developing countries was challenging, particularly as there was no way to accommodate the idiosyncratic and unmeasured attributes of social, political and economic institutions between countries [22].

The efforts of economist who sought to address the shortcomings of orthodoxy led to a growing school of thought which eventually became known as New Institutional Economics [23]. Beginning with the premise that institutions matter and must be predisposed to analysis [24,25] NIE combines economics, law, organisational theory, political science, sociology and anthropology to understand social, political and commercial institutions [26]. Institutions are the regularities in repetitive transactions between individuals [27]. They are not persons, but the customs and traditions that provide a set of incentives and disincentives for individuals. Institutions arise and evolve because of the interactions between individuals. Within the institutional framework, individuals form organisations to capture the gains arising from specialisation and division of labour.

Analytical framework illustrating NIE is commonly used [25]. It describes institutions at 4 overlapping levels of social abstraction. Feedback mechanisms exist between the levels, but progress at the lower levels (L4 lowest) is constrained by progress at the higher levels (L1 highest). NIE is concerned with L2 & L3 [21] slightly modified illustration is shown in Figure 1. Contextualized for the NESI reforms, we have as follows:

L1 – Social embedment level

This is where Nigeria’s history and culture as a people (Yoruba, Hausa, and Ibo etc.) and its historical beliefs (chieftaincy traditions) and religion (Christianity, Moslems, and Pagan wor ship) lie. The core social and cultural institutions that exist here change very slowly and have evolutionary cycles that stretch into hundreds or even thousands of years. This level is taken as given.

L2-Institutional environment level

The basic institutional level of what Williamson calls the rules of the game. According to Joskow [21] this level includes the governing constitution encompassing the political system and basic human right; definition and allocation of property rights, and legal laws and institutions to enforce political, human rights and property rights, and the governance of money. This includes basic financial institutions, taxation powers, governance of migration, trade and foreign investment and, the political, legal and economic administrative competencies that facilitate change.

L3-Institutional arrangements (governance) level

Williamson calls this ‘The play of the game’. Here resides the choice of arrangements that govern the conduct of economic relationships-the basic framework through which economic agents’ trade goods, services and labour evolve. The boundaries for the nature of transactions that will take place in the market and those that are internalized within the firm emerge, defining the horizontal and vertical boundaries of the firm. Contracts are managed as economic actors adapt and align under a discriminating alignment from markets to hybrid to hierarchy governance structures responding to asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency. Corporate governance and functioning of financial institutions that provide credit support for private investment emerge. The key institutions of interest regarding the NESI reforms include regulatory, commercial, and consumer markets. Ultimately, the choice of governance arrangements is predicated on the institutional environment as well as the basic economic conditions that pertain such as the presence of natural resources etc. The pace of change is faster than witnessed in the environment level above, and a time frame of between 1 and 10 years is suggested.

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L4-Individual level

Here the usual neoclassical economics provisions that govern the day to day functioning of the economy applies, constrained by the institution’s established by the three preceding levels. Production, resource allocation and employment, labour supply and consumer’s rights etc. are governed under the rules of price, demand and supply, agency theory. The evolution is continuous, with prices and production are more or less continuously adjusted.

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Property Rights, Transaction Costs and Institutions

NIE owes much to work of Ronald Coase who made the critical connection between institutions, transaction costs and neoclassical theory [19, 27] links the institutional environment back to ‘The Problem of Social cost’ [28] and Governance back to ‘The nature of the Firm’ [29]. Transactions Costs derive from weakness in the contractual situation; brought on by the human conditions of bounded rationality and thus contractual incompleteness, and the potential hazard of opportunism. Ex ante TC’s arise from attempts to prevent transaction failures due to asset specificity and opportunism, including drafting, negotiating and safeguarding a contract. Ex post TC’s are the costs of altering contracts to correct ex post misalignments, the costs of setting up and maintaining governance structures and the costs of bonding to guarantee contractual commitments [17,24]. Highlights that transaction costs not only exist but also [17] they are huge and may represent about 50-60% of net national product of modern market economies. In less developed economies,transaction costs are thought to make up an even greater fraction of the overall GDP and frequently deter exchange. Within the governance branch of NIE, [30,31] extend Coase’s insight through Transaction Cost Economics [32]. A rational discriminating alignment matches the choice of governance form (markets, hybrid, and hierarchy) with the dimensions of transactions factors (asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency) in order to reduce transaction costs. North takes a different approach and focuses on the institutional environment. He argues that institutions emerge in order to minimise the informational costs of transacting, brought about by the same failing of human agents. Institutions evolve to lower costs so that the gains from exchange are once more possible.

Suggest that the traditional [33] TCE governance approach needs to be adjusted so it can be successfully applied to developing countries since it partially ignores the role of governmental policies and institutional change. Thus, a combination of the Williamson and North approaches is required to take into account both power relations and incentive dynamic structures. Property rights are the keystone of an economic system. It provides the basis for trade and a market economy, defining the use, income rights and transferability of assets and therefore plays a central role in economic development [34,35]. Establishing and maintaining property rights entail transaction costs [17]. When transaction costs are substantial, the allocation of property rights becomes critical to the point where economic exchange is no longer desirable. Maintaining Property rights requires third party enforcement, hence the rule of law [24]

Any school of thought that addresses the role of social, cultural, political and economic institutions on economic behaviour will inevitably have its detractors. NIE is just as much criticised as it is supported, whether directly [36], or via transaction costs theory [37]. One weakness of NIE is that it cannot explain how to overcome path dependency. While Institutions may be important determinants of economic performance, when it comes to new general insights about how that determination works, the NIE adds nothing to what is already known. No new predictions are derived; no new policies are recommended [38]. Opponents of the Transaction cost theory school include [39] who suggest that the TCE concept cannot provide a sufficient rationale explaining either the emergence of institutions or the origins of organisations given it static, ahistorical and universalistic nature. Being that a substantial body of Nobel Prize winning economists’ lies on the side of the theory, no further discourse into these critics is attempted.

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The Electricity Service Industry (ESI)

Market oriented reforms such as that envisaged for NESI calls for institutional arrangements that support the private sector participation. This affects market instruments such as property rights, information and prices [16] which are in turn also determined by a combination of proposed market structure and the underlying industry characteristics. The following key features of the ESI are noted (Alves de Santana & da Silva Leite n.d.), [21,22,40-45]. Firstly, Economies of scale exist in the 3 segments of production, transmission and distribution. Large, lumpy, irreversible upfront infrastructure investments in generating plants, transmission lines and distribution networks deliver decreasing average costs. Secondly, Electricity is a homogenous good that cannot be economically stored but is yet subject to varying temporal demand. Thirdly, the direct physical relationship between a specific generator and a specific customer and no economical way to curtail an individual customer’s consumption when specific generators fail to perform. Fourthly, the aggregate shortrun elasticity of demand is inherently small and the effective short-run elasticity of demand further reduced by the absence of hourly metering, communications, and pricing arrangements. Fifth, efficient electricity pricing can only be achieved if prices signalled to producers and consumers reflect costs by time and location. Sixth, the physical and technical attributes of the AC networks which contribute to the potential network externality and network “commons” problems also make is difficult to define a well-defined set of property rights.

The forgoing suggests that the electricity sector should be structured around large firms, behaving as natural monopolies [16]. The economic logic is that the operational and investment relationship between generation and transmission is more efficiently internalised within a single entity, where an internal operating hierarchy is more efficient than market. The success of the Chilean reforms demonstrated that alternative market arrangements were possible, and the right institutional setup is able to induce investment and expansion [16]. Thus encouraging the reform bandwagon. But paradoxically, it would appear that the degree of disintegration that is economically efficient is no longer obvious, contrasting with the neo-classical perspective on which the anti-trust arguments favouring vertical disintegration were based [46-49]. As a case in point, Meyer [50,51] reports permanent cost increases of up to 20% when generation is un-bundled from retail and finds scant evidence to support the legal arguments that vertical integration leads to economically inefficient market power. Michaels [48] found that utilities enjoy strong economies of vertical integration.

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Institutional Perspective on Electricity Reform

Erdogdu [10] finds that while there has been a substantial body of work investigating various aspects of institutions, there is no evidence of earlier empirical work that applies the NIE approach to the analysis of power market reforms. However, the earlier work indicates that NIE has a valid contribution to electricity market reform including that

1. Institutions matter,

2. The neoclassical ideal assumptions need to be abandoned in favor of the reality posited by NIE,

3. Institutions may be both an enabler and a constraint,

4. NIE establishes a fundamental relationship between property rights, transaction costs and institutions,

5. Nonmarket transaction costs are important

6. The electricity market reform is largely path dependent.

Note that while [10,16] institutional factors are acknowledged in principle, they are usually not appropriately considered in the design of reform processes. To the contrary, institutional transformations are designed in response to the distributional aspects of the economic policy envisaged, and any feedback effects was often ignored. For example, market-oriented reforms would require institutional arrangements that support private sector participation. Bhattacharyya [7] proposes four key institutionally derived areas of the electricity reform process that affect the outcome significantly are

1. Stability of the political decision-making system

2. Overall acceptance of the rules of the game3. Ability to adapt to the changed environment

3. Ability to adapt to the changed environment

4. Proper transition period management

Studying the effects of institutional aspects on Investors partly follows [16] choice of four areas that are deemed critical to success, namely property rights, market structure, conflict resolution mechanisms and policy implementation capabilities. Allocation and protection of property rights is essential for success of private (majority) ownership of generation and distribution. The post reform market design is critical for the implementation and operational success of the reforms, including not only the regulatory aspects, but of the structures of roles and incentives that are deemed to be necessary for long run success. Formal and informal conflict resolution mechanisms are necessary for implementation and long-term operations, help to enforce standards and the competitive behaviour expected from market design. The combination of market design and conflict resolution, and most importantly, the capacity of regulators to present a consistent set of policies that avoid the capture by politics, vested interests and detractors and encourages all parties to work together for success. The last three of these key elements are considered to be critical for institutional issues that affect investor sentiment.

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Methodology

Given the research focus, a qualitative method was applied to collect information in order to gain an understanding of investors’ attitudes. Fellows and Liu [52] state that the qualitative approach seeks to find out why things happen as they do; to determine the meanings which people attribute to processes. From this, theories will emerge Oakley (1994). Analysis of qualitative data falls into a number of categories [53].

1. Theory-building-seeks to develop theory out of the data collected during the study

2. Descriptive or interpretive attempts to develop a coherent view of the subject material.

3. Language based-understanding the environment and interpreting intent.

Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. Primary research was used to gather the data through semi structured interviews with Investor representatives. The interviews were conducted in Nigeria between July and August 2018. In total, 14 people were interviewed, a cross section of Equity Investors and senior persons from electricity generation and distribution companies, lending banks and transaction and legal advisory services. Most interviews were held face-to-face and lasted approximately one and a half hours and recorded in whole or in part - subject to consent. In applying qualitative analysis approach, first, the data was coded using the NVIVO-11 qualitative software. The coding was conducted on the transcribed interviews for the purpose of identifying keywords and phrases that would give understandings and meaning to the data collected. In order to generate themes and in search of patterns that suggested relationships or common themes, the codes were assigned a “free node” where coding was unstructured and hundreds of codes were identified, thereafter were collated into “tree node”.

The next step was the use of thematic coding. In addition, with NVivo 11, the researcher was able to get a broad feel for different types of themes available in the data. The researcher ran a quick word frequency to see which words the respondents used most frequently. This resulted in word cloud that brought about emerging themes which also groomed the themes to check whether related themes could be grouped together. The most important thing the researcher did was to stay focused on the research questions including the design. The research questions form the basis of the semi-structured interviews. The primary purpose of the questions is to stimulate discussion, and allow the interviewees to elaborate on the rational and approach of Investors during the bidding process in the run up to market entry, the challenges encountered in operating at market since privatisation, and their perceptions about the future direction of the industry.

Findings

This section highlights some of the key issues identified from interviews with Investors under the thematic areas previously discussed, these being property rights, market structure, policy implementation capabilities and conflict resolution mechanisms. It should be noted that in practice, these themes have a considerable overlap in L2 and L3 institutional features, and matters discussed are significantly interrelated.

At the heart of the NESI reforms is a significant liquidity problem [5]. However a common observation is that many of the issues faced by Investors flow from the availability and quality of information and how evolution of the underlying institutions and organisations that deliver the reforms are shaped by and react to information issues.

Property rights

Defining and protecting investor’s property rights, particularly in the case of the Dis Cos have a significant impact on the profitability of the industry, and on the financial viability of the entire NESI. Here Investors suffer significantly in two keyways. Theft of electricity service is a significant issue in a country where their electricity tariffs have historically been below the cost of supply, most consumers were not metered and have been used to paying a token flat rate that does not reflect the quantum of electricity consumed. In fact, in many quarters, electricity supply is considered to be a social good which ought to be free or subsidized by FGN. Theft is only recently beginning to enjoy the support of formal law enforcement. Therefore, Investors find unexpectedly high cost associated with revenue collections (commercial and collection losses account for up to 32% of electricity supplied [4] and at the same time face complaints about overbilling from unmetered customers who are currently charged a flat tariff regardless of consumption.

Energy theft, over-billing and the non-payment of electricity bills are all related to the historic problem of a lack of metering of consumers. In the lead up to privatization, PHCN successor companies failed to extend metering significantly, and relied extensively on estimated billing in order to meet the high revenue targets they had been set (presumably such revenue targets being required to inform the coming privatizations. The Dis Cos have maintained this practice, which understandably remains unpopular particularly in the face of increasing tariffs.

Pre-payment meter installations programme significantly lags the Purchase Agreement requirements and there is increased pressure on Dis Cos to accelerate. However, not only do Investors complain that the tariff structure makes insufficient provision to recoup the necessary investment, Dis Cos have to deal with customers who do not buy electricity for months on time partly due to lack of power supply, but allegedly due in large part to bypassing their meters. Some power distribution companies are now installing smart meters that are better able to determine if their customers are cheating but such meters are more expensive than allowed in the tariff. Thus, Investors have a concern that as more customers move to a prepaid metering system it will increase the losses from electricity theft. Further, there is a complex social interaction between the price and consumption of electricity. As previously unmetered consumers realise the real cost of electricity consumed they either cut back on consumption or increase theft of service. The Dis Cos sells less and incur additional costs in protecting its property rights. Both push up the unit price of supply which has to pay for capital and operational costs. Finally, the institutional challenge is brought into sharp focus by Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) who do not pay their electricity bills and constitute the single largest debtor group to the industry ($206 million at the end of 2016 [5] Some Investors claim that up to 70% of electricity supplied is consumed by non-paying MDA’s. Not only does this set a poor precedent for domestic consumers, the more recent tariff proposed by NERC, (indeed the settlement scenarios put forward under the recent recovery plan) simply assumes that MDA debts will be paid-without specifying how.

Market structure

Reform envisages that a competitive wholesale market will emerge in due course. For the time being the privatized Gen Cos and Dis Cos have to deal with a TCN, Bulk trader and System Operator that still public sector owned and operated. Investors contend that the biggest issue with TCN is load rejection even as TCN contends it is the Dis Cos that reject power. The dilapidated transmission and system control infrastructure is not able to deliver power to the specific location where the Dis Cos require it, such demand in quantum and location being driven by Dis Cos preference to prioritise credit worthy customers, since power supplied otherwise becomes their liability. TCN infrastructure is also constrained where Northern supply is concerned, with insufficient wheeling capacity. Since the tariff is based on a certain minimum level of supply, Dis Cos suffer financially when insufficient power is supplied, and incur additional liabilities on the part of TCN. In order to reassure Investors, an independent international company, Manitoba, was appointed to manage TCN, pursuant to efficiencies, best practice and effective investment deliver, subject to government funding. Reportedly, Manitoba never had the authority or the resources to discharge its contract effectively and management of TCN returned back to the Public sector in 2016.

The Gen Cos have a vesting contract with NBET and consequently the challenges of the industry sit within those contracts. NBET would like the Dis Cos to increase the thresholds of their remittances which had fallen to 29% by 2016 (53%, 2015) [5], but this is unlikely given the existing cash shortfall. The perception across the industry is that the Dis Cos are ‘cooking the books’. Dis Cos reject this and maintain that the shortfall is not just a collections issue, but a structural and commercial issue across the entire industry ‘You can’t give away money when you don’t have it’. Further distrust across the industry has arisen over the last few months with allegations that Gen Cos are inflating their invoices. Relationships across the market is poor. The commercial performance at either side of the publically held bulk trader divide has a major impact of cash flow across the entire industry, and the mitigating effect of NBET, designed to ensure liquidity until a fully functional TEM is achieved is no longer adequate in the face of massive financial deficits.

Policy implementation capabilities

Government sent all the right messages at privatisation. Regulation and transaction agreements were designed to make government a junior partner and encourage Investor ownership. Privatisation was fair and the operations requirements clear. Disco investors assessed the market and negotiated a tariff which was regularly reviewed. They are held to a set of performance requirements, and if they fail to perform over a period of time, assets revert back to government for one dollar. But so long as requirements are met over the 5-year period, Investors can return to market under an IPO and bring on board even more investors and the government divests of its own holding. Investors would have conceived that risk was appropriately distributed. Interviewees confirmed that formal the bidding process was conducted appropriately, transparently and that the international bodies including the World Bank who provided monitoring were satisfied. There was no evidence of cronyism. However, due diligence by bidders was limited to the Vendors data rooms, which was felt to contain insufficient data about the operational state of the assets or critically, analysis supporting ATC&C losses. It was noted for example that NERC’s estimation of ATC&C losses was in the region of 20%, even NERC’s independent consultant suggested that 30% was a more realistic figure. Physical inspection of the assets was limited by hostility from the Electricity Union Workers during the period of the sale, and the 6 month transition period prior to hand over of assets prevented by the same. As such Investors business plans was based on the information provided by the seller’s representative; the Bureau of Private Enterprises (BPE), an arm of government which also now sits as the minority shareholder on the board of the privatised companies.

While commercial evaluation for the Gen Cos was on the basis of the bidder’s purchase price, Dis Cos tender evaluation was based on the ATC&C loss reduction model, a theoretical construct that measures the efficiency and effectiveness of a distribution company. This permits Vendor setting of fixed price (valuation) for the asset, while the bidders bid a business plan that maximizes ATC&C loss reduction over a 5 year period. The winning bid for a given DisCo is maximum periodic reduction bid. The potential problem with this methodology includes:

1. Measurement of ATC&C remains data driven and highly subjective in the absence of metering and accurate customer database.

2. There is a relationship between ATC&C and MYTO, which stipulates annual capex and opex requirements, approved rate of return and other Dis Co expenditures.

If the ATC&C loss reductions bid is out of step with MYTO investment provisions, then an investment deficit results. It is almost certain that any bidder who prevented this investment deficit would have lost out at bid. At the same time, it is not certain how a bid proposal that willfully destroys its equity base can be credible to lenders or the regulator, or sustainable in the long run. However, this appears to have been the basis of many of the winning bids. Unsurprisingly, there turned out to be a gulf in asset and enterprise condition between pre and post-sale reconciliations by the new owners. Some of the interviewees went as far as to suggest a willful misrepresentation of the facts. Actual average losses on takeover averaged 46% [4]. And whilst this might have had an impact on baseline asset valuations, it had a much more significant impact on the operational business plans on which the bids were based and therefore, the rate at which notable improvements could be affected. More investment is required than anticipated, and a greater rate in order to meet the asset improvement trajectories on which the tariffs were based. And this could only be achieved by a corresponding increase in cash flows, and thus tariff in the absence of further debt or equity injections.

It evident that Investors clearly under-estimated the challenges of the power sector during the bidding process, but the method of evaluation ensured that the greater the degree of optimism, the greater the chance of winning. Further it appears that privatisation was underpinned by unrealistic assumptions by NERC. E.g., expectations was that Dis Cos would be able to remit 90 percent of their market invoices to NBET by 2015 (actual emittances was only 53% in 205 and has fallen even further in 2016), meaning that when combined with the short term liquidity provision from NBET, the industry would have always generated sufficient cash flow. Indeed, there was an expectation that there would have been break-even midpoint of the first five year cycle and certainly no later than the 3 year, including allowance for capital program induced efficiencies. Consequently, insufficient emphasis was placed on the medium to long term financial capability of Investors, who were mostly highly leveraged. With actual invoice remittances is less than half the anticipated levels, it is not surprising to see how the severe financial deficit across the industry has developed.

Despite the high levels of initial interest, local Investors sensed early on that international Investors, including banks would not participate in the privatisation. Four implementation issues were identified as making the industry un-investable by international standards:

1. Lack of cost reflective tariff.

2. Lack of sanctity of contract - following poor experiences on previous PPP’s.

3. Regulatory uncertainty.

4. Lack of investment by local pension organisations of the host country.

It is suggested that some local Investors having a lack of knowledge of the sector may have been blinded by their belief that the power sector would be another communications boom. But this is thought to represent only a small minority and the overwhelming perception was that local Investors considered that the potential institutional failings could in the fullness of time be overcome.

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Conflict Resolution Mechanisms

The core issues at the heart of the NESI reform are cost reflectiveness, regulatory uncertainty, policy consistency, protection of sanctity of contract. These need to be addressed in order to realize the kinds of turnarounds expected in the sector. Regulatory uncertainty remains the biggest challenge from an investor perspective, and is also the biggest risk on lenders books,meaning that no lender will lend to provide further capital investment. Investors recognize that informal conflict resolution begins with the regulator. Formal resolution continues with the regulator followed by, the judiciary, and then the government. But there is little appetite for judicial intervention. Recently, consumer groups bypassed the regulatory process and obtained court injunctions over tariff issues. These were seen as extremely harmful to the industry and courts have been asked to refrain from intervention, until the regulatory process is exhausted. But whilst desirous of a productive relationship, Investors consider that the Regulator is neither independent nor apolitical. Part of the problem of politicization has been that the massive investments required for turnaround have not been recognized by the regulator who have made assumptions about significantly less CAPEX in the tariff calculus. A year of dispute after some Dis Cos collectively triggered force majeure notices on the back of inconsistent and incoherent regulatory rulings have only recently been resolved by government. The evolving NERC framework for Business Continuity in NESI is perceived by Investors as tantamount to re-nationalizing the assets and viewed with dismay at a time when all stakeholders should be working towards constructive solutions. The PSRP is a step forward and seen by investors as indicative of the government finally attempting to get its own house in order and recognize how investors have been let down. But it does not address robustly the issue of regulatory uncertainty. There is also a need for better risk allocation across the value chain and for the government to take ownership of major elements of risk that are unique to it such as forex, gas pipeline vandalisation, macro-economic issues, regulatory issues and MDA debt [53-66].

The case of forex is highlighted in particular. 75% of industry costs are dollar based, and Investors saw safety in minor tariff reviews which would be implemented as necessary. However minor reviews for June 2016, Dec 2016 and June 2017 remain outstanding. The current MYTO 2015 tariff was based on exchange rate of 198 Naira to the dollar. Current official rate is 303 Naira and the parallel market rate is 365 Naira. Shifts in exchange rate not being uncommon has major financial consequences on revenues. Government options for dealing with forex shocks is to implement the regular tariff reviews and design a subsidy that cushion the impact to consumers. A major decision is required on the part of government in this regard if the sector is to advance. Even though the PSPR advocates that a Forex facility has to be considered for the power sector, it can still only be based on the official rate, which remains subject to macro-economic shocks.

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Conclusion

This paper employed the NIE framework to set out the relationship between institutions, transaction costs and property rights. Institutions evolve to reduce transaction cost, enhance property rights and therefore promote economic development. Soto [16] suggests that reforms should address the evolution of institutions in 4 key areas– Property rights, market structure, conflict resolution mechanisms and policy implementation capabilities. Within these areas, the research is based on the community of Dis Co Investors, an endeavor to identify weak institutions by focusing on the role of transaction costs as considered by North (1986) and thus set out to determine: Which factors within the NESI reforms contribute to excessive transaction costs? What is the impact of these transaction costs on the business of NESI Investors? How do the prevalence of these costs affect investor sentiment, particularly in relation to further investments under the current market structure?

The study found that a lack of credible information about asset condition, and data to support the calculation of ATC&C losses had created an unrealistic expectation over capital investment and revenue requirements. This was exacerbated by a socio- economic culture where electricity theft and non-payment of bills was tacitly condoned by government and consumers alike. Delineation and protection of Investors property rights became challenging, high commercial and collection losses ensued and contributed to a significant financial deficit across the industry. The challenges arising from a lack of information was then exacerbated by a Regulator that was neither independent nor apolitical. There was an inconsistent application of the rules of the game, particularly regarding the periodic reviews of tariffs in order to incorporate external shock brought about by Naira depreciation. Compromised capital investment and debt service are inevitable in the face of 55% depreciation in income currency where more than 70% of cost are dollar based. The aversion of the government to expose consumers to further tariff shock appears to be in play, particularly as the immediate benefits expected from private participation (steady uninterrupted power) is not yet experienced by consumers. Yet someone has to pay, and the rules of the game says that investors have a limited exposure to this risk.

Practically all Investors interviewed consider that Nigeria remains a good place to invest in power infrastructure. The demand for power remains significant. Unrealized demand due to businesses that have temporarily relocated to surrounding countries with less challenging production conditions represents a larger market still. The challenge is to find a way to balance the competing cash demands within the industry. Decentralisation, embedded generation, differential pricing, smart metering and data driven investment analysis are all part of the solutions suggested over the coming decades. Above all it requires a mature regulator that enjoys the confidence of both government and investors alike, and a government that has a more realistic expectation set.

NESI reform occupies a multi-dimensional space at the heart of the Nigerian economy. The danger with the limited scope of this dissertation is that an unbalanced view pertains, and the findings are not a true reflection of the key issues within the industry. There is some comfort PSPR recognizes that government and regulatory actions have materially impacted the performance of some of the more efficient Dis Cos especially in relation to tariff review [5] giving some credibility to the one-sided view presented here. A more accurate picture of institutional development will emerge from further studies with other stakeholders including Gen Cos, NERC, TCN, and SO. Given the time and availability of data, quantitative analysis of the industry performance would also support the measurement of transaction costs within the industry.

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WIPO gears up to appoint its 5th Director General, IP5 discuss New Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence and other patent news

New Post has been published on https://www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center/wipo-gears-up-to-appoint-its-5th-director-general-ip5-discuss-new-emerging-technologies-and-artificial-intelligence-and-other-patent-news/

WIPO gears up to appoint its 5th Director General, IP5 discuss New Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence and other patent news

In this week’s Patent News – Citrix and VMware to settle patent dispute; Michelin sues American tire manufacturer for patent infringement of BFGoodrich tread; Hitachi joins WIPO GREEN program as Contributing Partner; Apple, Microsoft, BMW and several others urge EU Commissioner to keep patent trolls in check; WIPO gears up to appoint its 5th Director General; IP5 hold inaugural meeting of joint Task Force on New Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence; IBM joins LOT Network to fight PAE’s; IBM beats own record, receives highest number of Patent Grants for 27th consecutive year and other patent news updates.

Patent Disputes / Infringements / Settlements / Licensing

Citrix and VMware to settle patent dispute

American software major Citrix and California based software MNC – VMware have agreed to settle the patent dispute between the two companies relating to the VMW-acquired Avi Networks. The decision to settle the dispute comes after Citrix announced wanting to end the suit, citing the friendlier relationship with VMware. Citrix is reportedly dropping the infringement claims without prejudice and its charges of unfair competition and false advertising with prejudice. The settlement agreement however still needs to be approved in the federal court.

Michelin sues American tire manufacturer for patent infringement of BFGoodrich tread

Tire manufacturing giant Michelin has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston division against Tri-Ace Wheel & Tire Corporation and its Black Bear USA affiliate, a company based in Houston, Texas, for importing and selling a Chinese counterfeit tire that violates patent protections for the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2.

In its complaint, Michelin has alleged that  the Black Bear All-Terrain II tire from Tri-Ace features a virtually identical tread design with substantially the same features as those protected by patents for the All-Terrain T/A KO2.

Source: Tire technology International

International Patent News

Hitachi joins WIPO GREEN program as Contributing Partner

On 17th January 2020, Hitachi. Ltd., announced that the company has joined WIPO GREEN as a Contributing Partner. According to Hitachi’s 2021 Midterm Management Plan, the company has framed a new IP concept called “IP for Society.�� Hitachi’s decision to join WIPO GREEN is fired by the drive to realize this concept and to make a contribution to improve the environment. As per reports, Hitachi will make efforts to promote IP management strategy to increase Social Innovation Business and achieve the goals set in the 2021 plan.

WIPO Green was established in 2013 to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) by using IP to disseminate environmentally friendly technologies. It acts as a platform to connect owners of new environmentally friendly technologies with potential individuals or companies looking to commercialize green technology.

Apple, Microsoft, BMW and several others urge EU Commissioner to keep patent trolls in check

Apple, Microsoft, BMW and about 32 other companies along with four industry groups, have reportedly written to the EU Commissioner for Technology and Industrial Policy, Thierry Breton, to frame new rules and regulations in order to keep patent trolls in check. The companies have demanded a regulation system that will prohibit patent trolls from “gaming the system.” They have also asked the EU Courts to pass orders that are less unforgiving as some Judges have previously issued orders that ban products across multiple countries even when a single patent has been infringed. According to the companies, if EU Courts were to continue to frequently ban products due to the infringement of a single patent, it would deter companies from negotiating and reaching a settlement.

WIPO gears up to appoint its 5th Director General

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is preparing to appoint its new Director General who will begin to dispense the responsibilities of the office from the month of September, this year. The current Director General, Francis Gurry will retire in the same month after having consecutively served two six-year terms. The new Director will be selected by the WIPO Coordination Committee after several rounds of voting and consultations. The name of the 5th Director General will be announced on 6th March 2020 before the official appointment in the month of September.

The following list provides the names of the candidates proposed by their respective governments for the position of the Director General of WIPO in 2020 –

Saule Tlevlessova – Proposed by the Republic of Kazakhstan

Daren Tang – Proposed by the Republic of Singapore

KenichiroNatsume – Proposed by Japan

Wang Binying – People’s Republic of China

Edward Kwakwa – Proposed by Ghana

Marco Matías Alemán – Proposed by Colombia

Dámaso Pardo – Proposed by Argentina

Professor Adebambo Adewopo – Proposed by Federal Republic of Nigeria

Ivo Gagliuffi Piercechi –Proposed by Peru

Jüri Seilenthal – Proposed by Estonia

IP5 hold inaugural meeting of joint Task Force on New Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence

The European Patent Office (EPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) jointly organized the inaugural meeting of the joint Task Force on New Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence of the five largest Patent Offices in the world, the IP5. The meeting was held on 15th and 16th of January 2020 at the new Patent Office established by the EPO in Berlin. Over 30 experts from the legal department, patent examination division and the IT department of the IP5 offices were present at the meeting. The participants discussed the developments of work in field of AI and other emerging technologies in their respective offices as well as the collective application of AI in their working group. A list of possible areas in which the IP5 could improve cooperation was also laid out. You may click here to access the Summary report of the meeting.

IP5 Patent Offices comprise of the EPO, the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The IP5 are said to collectively handle about 85% of the world’s patent applications. 

IBM joins LOT Network to fight PAE’s

In an effort to safeguard itself from Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), IBM made an announcement that the company has joined the LOT Network Inc. The company’s entry into the LOT network brings protection to over 80,000 patents as well as patent applications.

The LOT Network currently holds over 2 million patent assets. If any one of these assets were to reach the hands of a PAE, all members of the Network will receive a license to the concerned patent. This in-turn negates the authority of the PAE to claim damages by instituting patent infringement lawsuits against its members.

IBM beats own record, receives highest number of Patent Grants for 27th consecutive year

As per the findings of the data curated by IFI Claims, a company that tracks patent activity in the U.S.A, IBM has once again secured the highest number of Patent Grants in US in 2019, for the 27th consecutive year. According to the data made public, IBM secured 9,100 patent grants in 2018 and 9,262 grants in 2019, thereby beating its own previous record by 2%. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. and Canon Inc., have secured the second and third position, by receiving 6,468 and 3,548 patent grants, respectively. Further, the USPTO itself set a new record by granting 333,530 patents in 2019, representing an increase of about 15% compared to the preceding year. In addition to the list of patent grants, IFI Claims also released a list of the top 250 companies that hold the highest number of active patents, globally. According to this data, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. pushed IBM to the second position by holding 76,638 active families while the latter currently holds 37,304 patent families.

You may click here to access the list of top 50 US Patent Assignees and here for list of top 250 Global Patent holders.

Authored and Compiled by Vibha Amarnath

About BIP’s Patent Attorneys

The patent news bulletin is brought to you by the patent division of BananaIP Counsels, a top patent and IP firm in India. Led by Senior Partners, Somashekar Ramakrishna, Nitin Nair and Vinita Radhakrishnan, BIP’s Patent Attorneys are among the leading patent practitioners in the country. They work with clients such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Samsung, HCL, Eureka Forbes, to name a few. The patent attorneys at BIP have strong technical and legal expertise in areas such as IT/Software, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Electronics and Telecommunication, Mechanical, Automotive, Green Energy, Traditional Medicine and Bio/Pharma domains. The firm is a first choice for clients looking for support in patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.

This weekly patent news bulletin is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading patent awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.

If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please feel free to write to contact@bananaip.com

Disclaimer: Kindly note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.

[juniperpublishers-ecoa-blog]

Women Role in Environmental Conservation and Development in Nigeria - Juniper Publishers

Juniper Publishers - Open Access Journal of Ecology

Abstract Recent studies have shown that one in four women worldwide or about 620 million women rate their lives positively enough to be considered ‘thriving’ and have shown that women in Nigeria play a crucial role due to their active involvement in conservation activities and management of the environment. However, they are viewed as insignificant partners and not accorded due attention and many women-related economic and social activities depend on environmental resources. Yet, women are denied access to effective and sustainable use of forest resources, and they have limited or no control over land, capital and labour. Women therefore suffer numerous limitations accordingly. As a result of widespread mistreatment and overt discrimination in all dimensions of women lives, women lack significant autonomy. The central preoccupation of this review is to explore the key role of women in environmental conservation and discuss the current challenges and opportunities for the future. Equipped with the right tools, the massive and growing generation of women in Africa, particularly, Nigeria has the potential to drive development, achieve global goals and transform the continent’s future along with their own.” It is therefore recommended that for sustainable development to take its roots, access and ownership of natural resources should be enhanced for all gender particularly women, people living with disabilities, marginalized and minority groups. Unless women efforts are recognised, we might likely be pushing towards planetary limits and without vibrant women movement, the Sustainable Development Goals are dead in the water thereby, leading to the brink of a global disaster. Keywords: Gender; Women-related economic and social activities; Environmental resources; Conservation activities; Planetary limits; Global goals; Brink of a global disaster; Sustainable development

Introduction In the eyes of the general public the conservationist is too often pictured as an antisocial person who is against any kind of development. What the real conservationist is against is unplanned development that breaks ecological as well as human laws. The true aim of conservation, then, is in twofold viz: to ensure the preservation of a quality environment that considers aesthetic and recreational as well as product needs and to ensure a continuous yield of useful plants, animals and materials by establishing a balanced cycle of harvest and renewal. Thus, a no fishing sign on a pond may not be as good conservation as a management plan which allows for removal of several hundred pounds of fish per acre year after year. On the other hand, if the pond provides the water supply for a town, then some constraints on fishing may be the desirable conservation procedure [1]. Interestingly, recent years have seen an appreciable growth in the level of understanding of the dangers facing the environment and the extensive range of environmental problems is now a subject of serious global concern [2]. These include atmospheric, marine pollution, global warming and ozone depletion, the danger of nuclear and other extra-hazardous substances and threatened wildlife species. Remarkably, only 9.8 percent of Nigeria’s total area is under conservation out of which game reserve and national parks form about 3 percent (Figure 1 & 2). Most of the areas under conservation have been extensively encroached upon by other land uses and the wildlife resources have suffered serious depletion as a result of over exploitation and gross abuse. More species are becoming endangered daily and the habitats of wildlife continue to dwindle [3].

For indigenous women, the earth is intimately connected with their indigenous culture and it is symbolized as “Mother” because it offers its inhabitants all the resources necessary for their existence and survival. Mother Earth provides forests, rivers and a diverse range of flora and fauna, many of which are useful for medical or technological purposes, contributing to a better quality of life. For this reason, indigenous women feel a tremendous respect for their Mother Earth, and they try to live harmoniously with nature as an intrinsic part of their being. Lies from Western cultures, combined with the imposition of foreign ideas, our concepts and viewpoints about the true significance of the richness of the earth’s natural resources went through a process of change. During this process, the belief was formed that these gifts from Mother Earth were limited. Indigenous women were also led to believe that they were an impediment to the development of civilization, and an obstacle to the activities of economic advancement of a country. At the base of this development concept there came the introduction of inappropriate technologies that irresponsibly exploited the land and marine resources, damaging Mother Earth, as well as plundering indigenous people territories. If the indigenous women, have resisted and survived in these tropical jungles until the dawning of the 21st century, this is due to their relationship with and their respect for Mother Earth. Nevertheless, when the conservation of nature and its diverseness is debated, the territorial rights of indigenous women are often forgotten, or if they are recognized they are treated as a ghost, considered a secondary priority. The deterioration of Mother Earth is equivalent to the crisis of global cultural diversity. Indigenous women live in areas of high biodiversity and are confronted as well by many threats against their territorial, cultural and spiritual possessions, and in some areas their very lives are threatened. Women long experience with nature and outside exploitation has been interpreted by and incorporated into our social, economic and political systems, in order to define the territorial limits of our natural resources, and to ensure our existence and future development of new generations of indigenous women [4].

Schematically, appreciating the importance of rural women in conservation activities is essential to rural development planning. In many countries and indeed in Nigeria, the role of women in conservation activities is a helper and not an important economic contributor. Women participating in the development of local and national markets are under-represented in data. Not only do the numbers show us that women are not participating in society at the same rate as men, they are often left out of data considerations in the first place. Even the way that data is collected shows a gender gap. Globally, only 29% of researchers are women and data allow us to see women (www.unesco.org). That might seem like an odd statement despite we see women daily. They make up about half of our global population and if women aren’t counted and aren’t accounted for in the data, then policy recommendations will be made without women’s consideration (www.unesco.org). Yet, women have use conservation invention for social good and they intensively participate in conservation activities, in addition to their domestic and reproductive functions [5]. Women make up the highest percentage of workforce in the agricultural sector, but do not have opportunity to own or control land and productive resources (Saquina, 2013). However; factors militating against women in their involvement in conservation are numerous, ranging from socio-cultural to economic, as well as changing from area to area. The greatest percentage of rural women all over the world continue to be confronted with poor health and work conditions, limited access to education and low income. In addition, the lack of recognition and appreciation of the significant role of rural women in conservation activities is a drawback that gives rise to lack of specific policies, which are misdirected and thus increase poverty, illiteracy and non-involvement in the design and planning of programs and policies (Saquina, 2013). Women are moving around these obstacles by creating their own spaces and networks to help one another thrive. Women in the Digital Ecosystem (WiDE) is one such community, promoting the inclusion of women in the digital economy ensuring the future is Female.

According to Verveer, (2011) research also indicates that women are more likely to use their earnings or incomes to improve the life standard of their families and communities than men. Beraki, (2009, cited in Abdulahi et al. 2012) asserts that, women frequently endeavour to protect their households, adopting numerous actions, patterns, strategies and mechanisms in the face of shocks and stresses that adversely affects the livelihood of the family. Bryson (1981, cited in Doss, 1999) states that women’s role in conservation activities backed by past development but that the failure to accord recognition to enhance their activities is contributing to recent problems particularly, in Sub Saharan Africa. Recognizing that women are prominent in conservation but are accorded little or no opportunity to make necessary contributions to development policies; this study is necessary to elucidate a potential opportunity to improve the lives of rural people by showing the unique circumstances and key position of women as well as their problems and needs that will form a bases of a proper development programme.

Sustainable Development and Conservation in Nigeria

Man, without basic comforts is an animal; without assurance of his survival, he is a beast. Remove material poverty you will find a fertile soil for refinement. There is a popular sticker that adorns many cars in Nigerian roads. It reads; “Givers never lack” reversing it you get “Lackers never Give”. The necessities of life must no longer be taken for granted. The first symptoms of the environmental crisis predicted by some ecologists may be emerging at this moment. These symptoms are reflected in the growing frequency and magnitude of resources shortage. The quality of life for many of us is now being challenged by real shortages in water, food, forest, minerals and energy. Can man, through science and technology, meet up these challenges and continue to supply these necessities of life? Or will he face ever-increasing shortages with a consequent lowering of the quality of life? What is known about the present levels of resources consumption? Can we meet projected future demands for these essential resources?

Nigeria has a total area of approximately 923,775km2 or 92.4 million hectares and a coastline, which is about 960km long. The country is well endowed with vast and varied natural resources, which is a function of its large geographical resources, extent and the diversity of its natural environment. The geographical location of the country and its shape and large size allows it to experience nearly all the different types of weather and climate found in the West Africa sub-region. The vegetation varies regionally in consonance with the climatic pattern. Thus, ecologically, the Nigerian landscape encompasses the mangrove swamps and freshwater swamp forests of the Equatorial region, the moist tropical lowland forest and savanna communities including their montane and sub-montane varieties and scrub lands, characteristic of the semi and Sahel zone.

it is evident that the distribution of Nigerian land shows that nearly one third of Nigeria is covered by shrub/ woodland/thicket while 48.35% of the country is covered by grassland, shrub, woodland/thicket. These two land types support Nigeria’s grazing economy. Forestland made up of well-drained (dry) land which makes up 5.54% while forested wetlands cover 4.23% of Nigeria surface area. All forestland in Nigeria covers 9.91% or almost 10% of the area. The whole farmland area covers 40.59% of Nigeria, showing that only 60% of the farm is intensively farmland. Tropical rainforests are being destroyed at an alarming rate, notwithstanding their benefits. According to F.A.O estimates the tropical moist evergreen forest is being destroyed at the rate of 11 million hectares a day [1]. Hence, the rate of destruction of tropical rainforests is higher than its rate of regeneration.

Nigeria is underlain by two major groups of rocks namely crystalline igneous, metamorphic and old sedimentary rocks of the pre-cambrian basement complex and sedimentary formations of marine, alluvial and continental origins, dating from the cretaceous to the present. The two rock groups are both characterized by a wide variety of valuable mineral occurrences whose potentials for development are only just being realized. These is a wide variety of lithological rock types which, in turn have given rise to a wide variety of soil types. The Nigerian terrain is quite varied but except perhaps, in a few areas of rugged hills or extreme water logging (Figure 1 & 2), it does not constitute a major constraint to man’s social and economic activities. In fact, the hilly terrains and the poorly drained coastal areas, river flood plains and topographic depressions also have their own unique uses, so that they add to rather than diminish the resources endowment of the country.

Nigeria is well endowed with abundant natural resources, which if properly harnessed and managed can sustain her rapid social and economic development. The need to conserve and plan for the rational development of these resources are more pressing now than ever before because of certain reason:

a) The rapidly increasingly population now estimated about 205 million people (Raimi et al. 2018) and the increasing affluence tendencies among the people especially in the burgeoning urban centres are making great demands on the country’s resources.

b) The re-orientation of our economic development strategy which began in the mid-1970s meant placing greater reliance on our own internal resources to promote social and economic development within the country, a situation that has been consolidated more recently with the policy on the local sourcing of industrial raw materials.

c) The emphasis on rural development and small-scale rural producers based on the belief that development is essentially a human issue concerned with mobilizing communities and the whole society to engage in the task of self-improvement with the available local resources.

d) The increasing disharmony between man and nature in several parts of Nigeria as evidenced by the recurrent drought episodes, accelerated gully erosion, oil pollution, proliferation of aquatic weeds, spread of epidemic diseases, crop pest infestations, urban floods, flash floods and dam burst in rural area etc. It was perfectly understandable when the Federal Military Government established the Natural Resources Conservation Council by the Decree 50 (Act 50) of 1989. One of the functions of this council was to formulate a National policy for natural resources conservation which must be based on a full appreciation of the variety of natural resources available; their quantities, occurrences and distribution, their intrinsic characteristics and dynamics; the present state of their development and utilization, the management practices and associated problems.

Gender Issues in Conservation

The feminist movement in the 1970s and 1980s in the North created an awakening of gender issues in developing countries, although in most cases developments are proceeding very differently than they did in the North. There are few demonstrations or court cases related to women’s rights in developing countries. Rather, women in more conservative countries are beginning to examine their role and place in society with more open eyes, and customary gender relationships are being questioned. Northern researchers and development assistance workers are also influencing attitudes and beliefs through the publication of studies and by interventions that put emphasis on women and families. Studies have produced findings that run counter to many preconceived notions about female contributions to household economics and natural resources conservation involvement. In fact, it appears that in most rural communities, women are at least as important than men in contributing labour, products and income to the family. Although women often spend the most time utilizing natural resources, and they are the ones most affected by land degradation, they have little formal say in making decisions about conservation and management questions. Many say this must change if sustainability is to be achieved.

However, western ignorance of the relevance of women in conservation activities and management continue to contribute to the extraordinarily weak performance of rural development interventions among the poor majority in the world. While it is not the only cause of failure, other causes include generally impoverished understanding of the political ecologies of conservation, the paucity of appropriate technical packages, and the often-destructive policies of governments and donor organisations [3], it is certainly among the most salient. A gender sensitive approach to conservation is perhaps even more critical today than it was in 1980, whether or not conservation in general have continued to deteriorate, it is beyond question that the economic well-being of rural women has worsened markedly and the great brunt of that worsening is being borne by women, children and the elderly. Of these, women’s participation in conservation activities have had paradoxical consequences for women regarding their familial relations, gender identity, workload and status. Shifts in household size and structure of authority, network support and marriage patterns, lead to status deterioration for most women [1].

Physical isolation and nuclearization of families have undermined the social bases for women’s collaboration, pressed by the need for cash, women are confronted with increasing workloads exactly when the institutional bases for exchanges of service and assistance are being withdrawn and when the ideals of housewifely duties and dexterous performance of feminine domestic chores are gradually gaining prominence as a source of self-esteem among rural women. Remarkably, discrimination against women is related not only to legal measures favouring men but is also rooted in indigenous interpretations of customary rights to land and its products. Women may resist by forming spontaneous collective action groups to counter discrimination and male exclusivity. Under both colonial and national governments, gender discriminatory land-tenue laws increased the intra-household struggle between men and women over access to resources. Using familial kinship idioms, men interpreted to their own benefit various state laws that legitimated individuation of land ownership, without commensurately remunerating women’s labour [7].

The Women in Development Concept

Women in Development (WID) concept is centred on theories of modernization and liberal feminism that evolved into a perspective that aimed to integrate women in the development process. The WID-perspective continued to exist within the modernization paradigm, with the focus or intention to develop countries through the adaptation of Western technologies, institution and values [8]. The perspective emphasized on equal opportunities for women, which originated in a liberal perspective on feminism [9]. Liberal feminism, rooted in the tradition of 16th and 17th century liberal philosophy, centred on the ideals and principles of equal rights and liberty. The liberal conception of equality was hinged on the belief that all men had the potential to be rational and that any inequality had to be justified in rational terms. The liberal conception of liberty meant that people were governed only with their consent and only within certain limits, generally defined in terms of the public and private spheres (the former government can regulate; the latter, it cannot). The debate on the dividing line between the two spheres is continuous though with a consensus that the line must be drawn to preserve liberty [9]. According to the first Western feminist theorist, Mary Wollstonecraft (1792, cited in [9]) women’s ability to reason was at par with that of men and that male and female biological differences were not important as regards the granting of political rights. She averred that why women appeared to be intellectually inferior was due to their low-level education and, therefore, was due to inequality, rather than a justification for it [9].

Twentieth-century liberal feminists have also used this difference between biological facts and social norms, when they drew the difference between sex (biological) and gender (historical, social, and cultural) differences between women and men. Liberal feminists see women’s subordination as resulting from gendered norms, rather than from biological sex, and aim to change these norms. Liberal feminists argue that the inequality of women and men cannot be justified on rational terms and trust that rational men can be convinced of the folly of perpetuating that inequality. Liberal feminists focus on equal opportunities for women and men. Their propagation that women should be treated equally in terms of education and in the application of the law has triggered global campaigns for women’s voting and property rights [9]. Policies were suggesting the abrogation of discriminatory actions in institutions or the formation of alternative institutions that are pro women [8].

The liberal feminist approach has been very significant globally and was critical in establishing the language of political strategy utilized by WID advocates [10]. The core thinking of feminism was the idea that women’s disadvantages emanated from stereotyped customary expectations held by men and internalized by women and promoted through various agencies of socialization. It postulated that women’s disadvantages can, in principle, be eliminated by breaking down these stereotypes: for example, by giving girls better training and more varied role models, by introducing equal opportunity programmes and anti-discrimination legislation, or by freeing labour markets (Connell, 1987) [10]. This approach did not focus on men or gender relations.

Modernization theory started in the 1930s, with the early development initiatives of colonial rulers and economists and gained momentum in the post-war and postcolonial periods. Western development planners began to theorize in the 1950s about how to promote development in the newly independent countries and came up with projects to modernize less-developed countries all over the globe. Modernization aimed to turn these economies and societies into images of the industrialized, high mass-consumption, democratic societies of the Western world. Obstacles to growth were identified in traditional cultural practices and values, as well as in social and economic infrastructures. Observable, cultural, economic, and political divergence from the model provided by the West was enough to identify a country and its institutions and practices as pre-modern” and in need of immediate change.

The Women in Development Framework

The framework was advanced or developed with the sole purpose to advance development in developing countries. However, its subordination concerns remained central to the women’s movement in many northern countries. WID had the primary motive to improving the status of women by given attention to their roles and integrating them into the economy. The essence is also to enhance the productive roles and capacity of women. The origin of women’s subordination was linked to their exclusion from the marketplace. It was therefore argued that if women were given the opportunity to be actively involved in productive sphere, they will no doubt, contribute meaningfully to development. By implication, they will make positive development contribution and advance their status in relation to the status of men [10]. WID refused to accept the restrictive and narrow view of women’s roles (as mothers and wives) surrounding most of development policy in relation to women. Rather than referring to women as mere needy beneficiaries, WID assertions push forward arguments that properly portray women as inspiring and productive in societal scheme of things. No longer, therefore, should women be considered as inactive recipients of welfare-oriented programmes but rather as active participants and contributors to the enhancement of society economically. This Implies that women contribute to the economic development of countries. Women can therefore be regarded as a missing link in developmental actions and activities, a hitherto less valued economic resource in the development chain (Tinker, 1990) [10]. The WID approach had gone through changes all through the 1970s and the 1980s. There had been a shift in focus from the aspect of Equity to Anti-poverty, and, then to Efficiency approaches in the pursuit of women development.

The Equity Approach

The equity approach emanated from the United States of America. It is considered as the original WID approach. The WID approach became pronounced after its introduction by the WID movement. Its popularity became widespread during the United Nations Decade for Women. Its basic assumption is that women are impacted negatively by economic growth. The approach thus calls for or solicits for equitable distribution of the proceeds of development. That is ensuring that both men and women share such developmental benefits equally. The approach also pushes for proper integration of women in the developmental scheme of things by means of having marketplace and employment opportunities. It is pertinent to note that the equity approach extends beyond economic inequality as it addresses women subordination even at the level of households and at the open market. The approach also focuses on ensuring equity between men and women by addressing the issue of inequality between the sexes in private and public domains respectively and along the line of socio-economic groupings [11].

In order to solve the problem of inequalities between the sexes, women and men, the equity approach requests for the intervention of the state in ensuring that autonomy was obtained for women. They sought for top-down kind of intervention that will be inclusive of both political and economic autonomy. They referred to the approach as top-down. [11] explains the resistance launched against the equity approach regarding its ability to solve the problem of resource redistribution in terms of taking from men to give to women for equity and also to swing the pendulum of power so that men and women will hold power equally to prevent the subordination of women. The approach tackles the existing inequality that keeps men and women on separate platforms. The approach identifies a strategic need for women to be treated equally both economically and politically and, to be seen from the perspective of both reproductive and productive roles. A major shortfall of this approach is that it stands as a threat to the dominion of men and thus looks difficult to implement. It thus was diluted to make it more appealing to accept and implement [11].

The Anti-Poverty Approach

The anti-poverty approach is a much milder WID approach compared to the equity approach because the emphasis is on income equality reduction between men and women rather than reducing inequality between men and women. The anti-poverty approach became pronounced in the early 1970 (Moser, 1993). Its emphasis is on women that have low income with the intent of reducing poverty. According to Buvinic (1983) [10], the emphasis on low income women who are considered made the approach appealing to bureaucrats and those who are responsible for the implementation of policies. This is because of the less threatening tone of the advocacy. The implication of this is the emergence of two conflicting anti-poverty strategies since the direct poverty reduction was based on maximizing GNP [10].

Strategy one was to increase the income of people by the provision of employment and, by increasing the income of poor and insolvent workers. Strategy two known as basic needs’ strategy entails that the whole essence of development was to meet or fulfill the basic human needs which are basically food, clothing and shelter including social needs such as human right, education and political participation and involvement. [10]. In the 1970s, there was widespread adaptation of the anti-poverty approach by various internationally established agencies and countries. Examples of such are World Bank and International Labour Organisation (ILO) [10]. The implementation of the anti-poverty approach was basically to fulfil the aspiration to surge women’s employment. That informed why the concentration was on programmes that were meant to increase the employment of women and to cause revenue generation (i.e. skill training) as well as creating accessibility to productive resources (i.e. credit) (Buvinic, 1986) [11].

The Efficiency Approach

This approach came to light during the 1980s. The approach is still widely relevant till date. Its emergence came at a period the world was embracing neo-classical economic model. The nexus of the model is centered on the point that the world has an amount of resources and that the said resources with the use of economics tool be rationally allocated. This implies that existing resources which are scarce are allocated in such a manner that will be of interest to the economy. People exhibit rational behaviour whiles this model is applied. It follows the use of cost benefit calculus to maximize personal interests. One prominent feature of this approach is the compulsive best interest attitude that people exhibit resulting in the most efficient utilization of available resources in the economy. Supply and demand hold sway because it determines the allocation of resources which takes place through markets. Markets are very fundamental in this regard because it guarantees an economy that is self-equilibrating. It causes economies to have sustainable growth that is of long run. Based on the positive traits of the free market, it is averred that government should only intervene in the advent of an imperfect market (Sparr, 1994) [11].

This approach which emanated from the neo-classical economic model considers women as assets that are underused or abandoned in relation to development. Thus, the essence of this approach is to cause the efficiency and effectiveness of development through the contribution of women. The core assumption is that higher economic participation amounts to increased equity. The efficiency approach emphasizes economic growth and sees women as input factor in relation to the economy.

Theory of Public Participation

Public participation is a process that accords individuals the opportunity to influence public decisions in given societies. These individuals are particularly private individuals that influence public decisions. It was created in the mid-1960s. President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Programmes was the originator (Cogan & Sharpe, 1986) [12]. The participation theory has its root from political sciences and development theory. The fact that the poor people in the society are often not taken into consideration on developmental issues triggered the creation of the participation approach. It came to be since the poor are often alienated from decision making processes, including implementation and attendant benefits. This background root of the approach makes it important as it advocates for the inclusion of the poor in developmental processes just as the others in the society are equally being planned [13]. Public participation is now a part of development process from the 2000s. The problem is how well the process is handled being certain of its benefit to decision making, the generality of the public as well as the practice of inclusion in development [14]. The words Public and Citizen Involvement and Participation are often used alternatively. They have a common reference to a process which allows private individuals to influence public policy decision. Their explanation of the process is basically vague though with meanings (Mize, 1972) [12]. The word citizen excludes those with no formal or proper citizenship status. Imperatively, public participation requires legitimacy and quality. This, however, depends on the process designed. Legitimacy of the process is based on how adequate participation and objectivity of the process is handled. Also noteworthy is the policy efficiency [14]. Examples of participation are town hall meetings, or public hearings etc. The aim is to ensure that policies are made in manners that will be of utmost benefit to the generality of the public considering the divergence and uniqueness of the populace for whom the policies are made. Policies should be well planned. The best possible outcomes should be considered and implemented to enhance developmental goals.

Environmental Movements lead by Women around the World

Green Belt movement

This movement is one of the biggest in women and environment history. Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai founded this movement on the World Environment Day in June 1977, involving 80,000 women in planting of trees. The Green Belt movement aims to bring environmental restoration along with society’s economic growth. This movement led by Maathai focused on restoration of Kenya’s rapidly diminishing forests as well as empowering the rural women through environmental preservation.

Kenyan land takeover

In Kenya, starting in the mid-1980s, women protested the elites and big foreign corporations who were coerced and controlling the production of the land. Rather than allowing food to be grown for survival, women were pressured by both their husbands and the government to cultivate coffee for foreign profit. The protests continued and gained strength over the next couple of decades. The protests eventually ended in a Kenyan power shift enforcing democratic national elections, which resulted in the redistribution of land.

Women Concern for Nature around the World

Women around the world play a key role in the protection of biological diversity. They have recognized the need not only to protect the biodiversity, but also to reshape and recreate it.

Rachel Carson

One of the outstanding women environmentalists is Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a scientist, writer, and ecologist. Rachel Carson wrote the now-famous Silent Spring, an expose on the misinformation spread by the chemical industry and the use of synthetic pesticides, specifically DDT. This book spurred the environmental revolution. The overall theme of the book is the commanding- and overwhelmingly negative effect that humans have on the natural world. Carson’s legacy led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States under the Nixon administration and started the conversation regarding the human impact on the environment.

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai worked tirelessly for both land conservation and women’s rights. She was the founder of the Green Belt movement, which focused on environmental conservation and women’s rights, in her native country of Kenya. In addition to being honoured by many world leaders for her efforts, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her approach to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

Isatou Ceesay

Isatou Ceesay, dubbed “Queen of Recycling,” is a Gambian activist who started the recycling movement called One Plastic Bag in the Gambia. Ceesay works to educate citizens about recycling and reducing the amount of waste that is created. She founded a project that creates plastic yarn and forms bags out of the upcycled waste. Not only has her project dramatically reduced the amount of waste in her village, but it is also employing hundreds of West African women and providing them with monthly revenue.

May Boeve

May Boeve is co-founder of the website, 350.org, an organization dedicated to working against climate change by connecting leaders across the world. The aim of the organization is to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a point where global warming will not be as dangerous as predicted. Her organization is going straight to the source: the fossil fuel industry. By limiting the power of the industry, itself, they hope to then confront the government about limiting carbon dioxide emissions.

Marina Silva

Marina Silva is a warrior for the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Silva was a colleague of Chico Mendes, who was assassinated for defending the rainforest in 1988. She and Mendes led demonstrations in the 1980s to protect the rainforest from government control. After Mendes’ assassination, Silva became a politician and fought for environmental protection, sustainable development, and social justice. Deforestation decreased by 59% from 2004 to 2007, during her political career.

India Women Role in Conservation of Environment

Environmentalists are those who work towards the betterment of our environment, these are the people who have lobbied for environmental protection when the common man would rather sleep peacefully and care for his own benefit. These people have worked for a cause greater than them. By saving the environment for global commons and have saved and impacted us too. The origin of the environment protection movement dates back to Kehjrali movement and gain momentum through Chipko movement, Appiko movement, Save Silent Valley movement and Narmada Bachao Andolan and the major trend in the environmental protection, emphasising the fact that environmental movements reflects the trend that most participants are women, Adivasi’s, and poor people [15,16]. Women and environment are closely bounded and the intimate relation between women and nature led to the emergence of theory of ecofeminism, which is a field bridging ecological ethics and feminism that seeks to explore the conceptual connections between environmental degradation and sexist oppression [17]. Women through their role as farmers and collectors of water and fire-woods have a close connection with their local environment, women and children as well as marginalised sections are the prime victims of environmental degradation especially at times of natural disasters [18,19]. Thus, women actively participate in environmental protection than men as women are directly affected and influenced by nature than men [20]. Women have been involved in several governmental & nongovernmental forestry & environment programs.

a) Chipko movement

b) Community forestry programs

c) Social forestry programs

d) Individual conservation programs

e) SHGs conservation programs

f) Green-Belt movement

g) Keep the city clean programs

h) Green India clean India programs

The sustainable use of the environment by women is the result of their closeness to nature. Most women, especially in rural areas, are involved in household activities like the collection of food, water, fodder and fuel, which enhance their knowledge of the environment, thus enabling them to implement the appropriate conservation practices and technologies. (Ram Pandit & Eddie Bevilacqua, 2011) Social Heterogeneity and Community Forestry Process). People in Western countries think they originated the environmental movements without knowing that the villagers in mostly poor and developing countries initiated these movements.

Environmental Movements lead by Indian Women

Bishnoi’s first environmentalists of India

The direct concern of Indian women with environmental protection can be traced long back to 1731 A D, The Bishnoi people of Rajasthan credited for the first use of Chipko tactics against tree felling [21]. Bishnois movement began with the royal order of Maharaja Abhay Singh to cutting of Khejri trees, worshipped by Bishnois, for construction of fortress. The villagers under the leadership of Amrita Devi protested the order as she hugged the tree, as a new form of dissent. Amrita Devi and her three daughters were beheaded for disobeying royal order. Just before her martyrdom, Amrita Devi declared, “If a tree is saved even at the cost of one’s head, it’s worth” [22]. Maharaja stopped order as 363 Bishnois lost their lives in non-violent method for protection of trees. They are upholding eco-friendly principles still by saving water by traditional water harvesting system, indigenous cultivation method for local areas and not killing any animals [23]. Thus, Bishnois movement laid the foundation of environment protection movement in India. This movement started by Amrita Bai in 1731 A D was revived by Bachni Devi and Gaura Devi of Uttar Pradesh in 1972. They snatched the axe from the wood cutters and warned contractors not to cut the trees.

Chipko movement (1973)

Chipko movement was started in 1973 at Garhwal division of Uttar Pradesh specially Chamoli District. The protest movement was organised by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, who aired the slogan of “ecology is permanent economy”. Chipko movement was led by Sunderlal Bahuguna, Bachi Devi, Gauri Devi and women of the Garhwali area saved trees by embracing them. Again in 1977 many rural women saved the Adwani Forest under the leadership of Bachchni Devi. The movement begin with the government refusal to supply ash tree to the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal (DGSM), (workers’ cooperative) for processing plant of forest produces (especially for making plough) in Chamoli District. Instead government gave green signal for Simon Company to cut ash trees for production of sporting goods. The DGSM organised protest government decision to promote Simon Company instead of villagers. This boosted the Chipko protest. Women formed Mahila Mandal for the protection of forest as they understand the forest degradation has more direct impact on their lives. For poor men of the area development opportunities by the Simon Company are new avenues for reducing the dependence on women, by woks on hotel, and construction works. But women want to preserve the status quo and protect environment through forest protection of Garhwali Hills as it is the question of their survival [24]. The method of tree hugging protest led by Gauri Devi and Bachi Devi found success against chopping down the trees. Simon Company stopped cutting of trees. The main slogan of women was, the forest is our mother’s home, we will defend it with all our might which prove their eagerness to protect forest [23].

Appiko movement (1983)

Appiko movement is important environmental conservation movement in Karnataka, to protect Western Ghats forest. Appikko movement was initiated by Panduranga Hegde. In September 1983, men, women and children of Salkani (a village in Western Ghats) “hugged the trees” in Kalase forest [25,26]. This movement was against government policy to open forest for industrial development. The members of Mahila Mandal include Adivasi women joined for protection of rainforest by writing down to the government for halting of woodcutting. The village women conducted awareness programmes through foot marches, slideshows, folk dance, street plays, and dramas (Karan, 1994). Thus, with the strong protest from people, Government forced to halt industrial policy on Western Ghats which resulted in destruction of forest [27,28].

Silent Valley movement (1976)

Silent Valley is one of the important biodiversity hotspots in Southern end of Western Ghats in Kerala. The Silent Valley Movement was against the decision of Kerala Government to construct a dam for hydroelectric power project in the Silent Valley forest [29-31]. The Malayalam poet and environmentalist, Sugatha Kumari was the prominent leader in this movement. Despite the offer of employment and development in the area, people, especially women opposed the hydroelectricity project. As a result, the project was cancelled by personal interventions of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1980 and Silent Valley was declared as a National Park in 1984 [32].

Narmada Bachao Andolan (1985)

India’s Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is an environment movement against the building of several dams along the Narmada River funded by World Bank. The NBA spread to three states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh as the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam affect the environment and settlement of people of these areas. NBA, which led by the Medha Patkar, Baba Amte, and Arundhati Roy had turned into the International protest, gaining support from NGO’S all around the globe. With strong protest from NBA World Bank withdraw project in 1993 [33,34]. But the case continued in Supreme Court.

Navdanya movement (1984)

Navdanya is India’s largest organic movement. Navdanya began in 1984 as a program of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory research initiative to provide direction and support to environmental activism. “Navdanya” means “nine crops” that represent India’s collective source of food security (Preston-Pile, 2007). The main aim of Navdanya is to save seeds from biopiracy and with this intention, setup 111 Community seed banks in 17 states in India [35]. They are strongly campaigning against Genetically Modified Seeds and actively participating in biodiversity conservation [36]. Mostly the members of Navdanya Movement are women farmers from various parts of country.

Women Concern for Nature Around Nigeria

Women have an integral relation with the environment. Therefore, women are essential for any measure aimed at environmental conservation, protection and sustainable development. In fact, women have contributed greatly to the conservation movements in the past.

Women through their roles as farmers, collectors of water and firewood, have a close connection with their natural environment and often suffer most directly from environmental problems. Most studies on women and environment have revealed that women are significant actors in natural resource management, and they are major contributors to environmental rehabilitation and conservation [37,38]. Throughout history, women have been immortalized as powerful symbols of nature: Mother Earth, Earth Goddess, and Artemis in the Greek mythology, and Mother River (the Yellow River) in Chinese history. In addressing most of the current environmental issues such as climate change, ozone depletion, environmental pollution and environmental degradation it has been reported that women play a major role [38]. Women because of their direct interaction with environment have made them have deep knowledge about the environment [39]. Thus, making women serve as agriculturalists, water resources managers and traditional scientists among others. According to Shettima [40] reveal that Women are not only knowledgeable about the environment, they are also protective and caring towards environment.

Among Nigerian FulBe, Women were responsible for the direct marketing of milk and milk products, while men were responsible for the indirect marketing of livestock, using a professional broker. Although women’s individual transactions are smaller than are men’s, they aggregate sales by women contribute substantially to household income and therefore to women’s status. Thus, even its total household income was to increase through an emphasis on beef rather than on dairy production, an often assumed through rarely demonstrated proposition, the relative contribution to that income from women would decline. Women’s labour contribution to stratified production schemes is interpreted as part of their feminine role and therefore, remains devalued and of low visibility, overshadowed by the dominance of men in these enterprises. While women may contribute heavily in the labour-intensive task of caring for the calves, their male relatives control income from sales to ranches and feedlot operators. Excluded from the male run animal marketing network, women even lose control over their own livestock as men will first sell off animals that belong to their wives.

All over the world, women contributed to agricultural production. They produce more than half of all the food that is grown (FAO, 1996). In sub-Sahara African and the Caribbean, women produce 80% of basic food stuffs, in Asia they provide fifty to ninety percent of the labor force for rice cultivation. In Nigeria, 60% are involved in farming in Adamawa State Nigeria [41]. Also, women in Imo state, Gurei district of Adamawa state and many Igbo part of the country has been reported to contribute to food production and even undertake some of the conventional male agricultural tasks (Adebayo 1998; Ezumah and Domenico, 1995). As victims of soil degradation, women have participated actively in soil conservation projects i.e. the project Agroforestia in Yatenga, Burkina Faso. It was also found that women in Liberia and Sierra Leon, through their daily activities such as cooking and cleaning, add organic matter such as ash, potash and left-over food and stalk onto the soil to form African Dark Earth [42]. The aim is to enrich soil which is solely based on traditional knowledge and is said to improve soil quality. In addition, [43] studies in Kaduna State show that women are actively involved in environmental protection by engaging in sprinkling water on the soil before sweeping. This, the women say protects topsoil, which in turn helps cub surface erosion.

Studies also shows that in Nigeria, where semi-sedentary Fulani women have overseen milk processing and distribution, dairy development efforts have concentrated on high-technology operations that process non-indigenous dairy products for urban consumers. Hindered by low milk output and discouraged by low prices offered by large dairy plants, Fulani women rarely are willing to sell their milk to non-local markets. Absence of infrastructure and preservation technology has so far prevented most women’s direct access to urban consumers. In rural markets fermentation techniques adopted by women solve the danger of contamination and combat the problem of lactose intolerance common in sub-humid areas [44].

Similarly, the rate at which biological diversity (especially the forest ecosystem) is been loss, there is raise in the need to protect it. This is because forests play a vital role in protecting the soils, water sheds, climatic stability and serve as source of many products (charcoal, firewood, pharmaceuticals, latex etc.). The main sources of energy (cooking fuel) for women are from natural resources such as charcoal, firewood and kerosene, intensive use of these energy sources can lead to deforestation, soil degradation and air pollution. Only very few rich women use gas or electric cookers. The interesting part of the whole dilemma is that we have greater women participation in forest management through tree planting, rehabilitation or protection. The green Belt movement of Kenya where over 7 million trees were planted in 10 years and set up over 1000 tree nurseries to the extent that it harvested fuel wood from its own trees and the fruit trees are bearing fruits. In Nigeria the situation is the same, Adebayo et al. (2001) reported that 70% of women in Adamawa state, Nigeria have planted trees in the last five years in their compounds and 21% planted trees on their farms. [38] studies in Plateau State, Nigeria also shows that the commonest method employed by the women in soil conservation is mulching. In addition, Oloko [43] studies in Kaduna state Nigeria revealed that thirteen percent (13%) of women said they engage in sustainable harvesting so that those plants would be available for next time. However, they admitted being cutting tree branches in ways that would allow for future germination of such tree. The Society for Women and Vulnerable Groups (SWOVUGE) is also helping communities to restore and sustainably manage mangrove forests in the five villages of the Ukpom Okom District in South East Nigeria [45]. This is to show that women are actively participating in protection of biodiversity either through planting tree or raising seedling in nursery and flowers to beauty the environment or harvesting resources in a sustainable way.

Moreover, in many cases, enhancement of urban ecosystems provides multiple co-benefits for health such as clean air and temperature regulation [5]. Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) can further create synergies between adaptation and climate change mitigating measures by assisting in carbon sequestration and storage and enhancing various ecosystem services considered beneficial for human health [46,47]. Trees has been known to play such roles as surface cover for our land, erosion mitigants, carbon sequesters, temperature regulators, they are catchment area for underground water, they serve as water shed in the upland, improve transpiration and provide shade, they are important piece in keeping a balance in our ecological systems, provide refuge for many endangered species of mammals, birds and reptiles, preserve the environment by filtering pollutants from the water, create a barrier that protects coastal areas from storms and tides, they are known as salt excluders, have filters that prevent the entry of salt through the root surface, they are also known as salt secreters, letting the salt into the plant but then quickly secreting it, usually through special salt glands on the leaves, their latex has medicinal properties and has been used to treat sores and stings, they form the basis of a complex food web, leaf litter and disintegrating vegetation are a source of food for micro-organisms, many living things makes the tree their home, their feeding ground, their breeding habitat, or their nursery, trees are very useful ecosystem/regulators of micro climate and prevent surgent wind, they serve as nostril for birds and ecosystems, there is a lot of mineral resources been deposited, they are a big lungs of the ecosystems, they are particularly considered to be efficient in reducing concentrations of pollutants, although the capacity can vary by up to 15 times between species [3,48,49]. Green urban design can reduce obesity and improve mental health through increased physical activity and social connectivity [50]. Increased neighbourhood green spaces reduce both morbidity and mortality from many cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and stress-related illnesses [51]. Tree canopies have a higher albedo effect than other hard surfaces and can work to reduce the urban heat island effect, lowering heat mortality by 40-99% [52]. Whilst resulting in improved public health and community resilience, many of these measures will also act to mitigate climate change.

In term of waste disposal and management, women are actively involved because they are closer to the environment. They engage in environmental management by cleaning the environment and keeping it clean especially in terms of garbage disposal. Giving the health hazard of garbage, women see to its regular disposal at the community level by doing it themselves [38]. According to Kwagala [53] in his study in Kampala, Uganda observed that Drains are mainly cleaned by the women on a regular basis or pay to have them clean. In the south western part of the country, women in Pedro Village, Lagos state were found to be protective and conscious of their environment. They manifest this by engaging in waste management, drainage management, water resource management, flood management and subsistence agriculture; these are all efforts towards protecting their environment [54]. As a coastal community, they often experience flooding and that could be further exacerbated by blocked drainages and improper waste disposal. The study by Chukwu [54] shows that women play an active role in protecting their community and serve as enforcers of guidelines and penalties.

Some Global Conservation Organizations

Some international organisations that have done a lot in bringing awareness to the status of our resources and need for their conservation include IUCN; WWF; UNEP; Friends of the Earth and Green Peace. In Nigeria, we have the then FEPA and its state counterparts such as the Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection Agency (AKSEPA). These have now been subsumed under the respective Ministries of Environment. We also have developmental partners i.e. non-governmental organization (NGOs) [3] such as the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), The Nigerian Society for Biological Conservation (NSBC) and the Nigeria Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST). Most environmental organisations are voluntary and act as pressure groups in influencing government policies that are likely to affect the environment. They also aid in setting up and managing nature preserves. In many European countries, environmentalists are no more satisfied with merely acting as pressure groups on Government. They are now proactive and are forming political parties known as Green parties, with environmental issues given high priority in their manifestoes. They have made significant gains in elections in Germany, Sweden etc and are becoming a formidable force to reckon with many other European Union (EU) countries. They organise consumer boycotts, picketing and blacklisting of companies whose activities are not considered environmentally friendly. Similarly, some institutions involved with ex-situ conservation in Nigeria are shown in Table 2.

Traditional Ways of Conserving and Protecting the Nigerian Environment

Re-orientation

Nigerians need a completely new orientation or another ethical revolution to change our attitude towards the environment.

Mass literacy campaign

For adequate and effective orientation of Nigerians especially at the rural level, mass literacy campaign is necessary to educate more than 80% of the people who are illiterates and therefore cannot understand as well as appreciate the essence of environmental conservation and protection.

Mass enlightenment campaign

There should be mass enlightenment campaigns in the villages against environmental abuse such as uncontrolled bush burning, use of fertilizers, overgrazing, deforestation (90% permanent loss in natural habitat of pollinators critical to agricultural production and $1 billion annual loss in non-timber forest products due to rapid deforestation), etc. this should be carried out through such media as the village criers, the landlords, management committees, community development associations, church, schools etc. to convey the message to all nooks and corners of the villages/communities.

Review of the land use system

Whereas land can be kept to fallow, the concept of bush burning should be discouraged because it destroys the leaves, sticks, grasses etc. which would have enriched the soil. Compost manure, which is derived from decaying leaves, sticks, grasses etc is natural, more productive and less harmful to the soil, crop, human and animals. It sustains the environment much better and longer too.

Forest tracing

To avoid indiscriminate bush burning, communities should embark on forest tracing at the beginning of every year by clearing forest paths of dry leaves, sticks etc. So that fire in one area will not extend to another area.

Control of forest exploitation

Foresters, Conservation Clubs, local chiefs and individuals should work together to save our forests from undue exploitation. Government should ensure that forest laws are enforced to protect the forests.

Abolition of some Habits

Habits such as Argungu festival in Sokoto and annual fish harvest in Boki etc where even the fish eggs are harvested as well as hunting and poaching with extinction should be discouraged and stopped.

Re-afforestation

This is the planting of trees plants to replace the ones destroyed through lumbering, bush clearing and burning and excessive fuel wood harvest. Trees are catchment areas for underground water and water sheds in the uplands. They help to regulate the climate, provide habitat for wild variety of plants animals found nowhere else, bind the soil to the ground, act as wind breaks etc. in other words trees sustain the environment.

Formation of conversation clubs

Conservation clubs should be formed in our schools and villages as a channel of communicating the messages of environmental friendliness and awareness to the societies. This can be done through practical creative activities such as drama, songs, debates, symposia, workshop etc on environmental conservation and protection.

Recycling of wastes

Solid wastes come from quarries, industrial processes, homes, businesses and educational institutions. Government, bussiness people, private organizations and individuals should pursue the process of wastes recycling to face the earth from serious pollution.

Cleaning up the pollutions

clean up campaigns on the highly polluted areas and water bodies should be stepped up. Grants to clean up projects and researches should be liberalized, it should be legally obligatory that any industries responsible for creating wastes should dispose of them, whether through incineration, burial landfill or any other method.

Environmental education and awareness creation

These should be given priority attention, particularly in the educational curriculum to be able to monitor the environmental changes, sources of such changes and their impact on man, plant and animals, utilized sustainably the natural resources for the current development of humanity and the total development in future. Unfortunately, Nigerians are poorly aware of their environment and the damages being done to it through various activities like deforestation, bush burning, littering/open dumping of human waste, polluting rivers with sewage among others. Also, the changing climatic patterns and their increasingly grievous consequences are little appreciated. There is still inadequate established environmental protocol or information system for Government Executives, parents, teachers and the youth, to enable them access environmental information. However, the current provisions in national educational curricular, as well as research and development programmes are inadequate in providing environmental awareness. In addition, there is the challenges of weak environmental legislation and enforcement to coordinate environmental planning and action [55]. Given the worlds increasing technological sophistication and the close interaction between technological progress and environmental concerns, there is therefore needed to develop an environmentally literate citizenry. Both formal and informal environmental education would be effective an effective means to involve creating appropriate awareness of critical environmental issues. In particular, formal education is important to increase awareness, improve extension services, sensitize people on environmental issues and build institutional capacities. Non-formal environmental education tends to benefits people outside the formal education system. Communication of environmental information to all stakeholders is still a challenge. Public awareness empowers the public to develop a strong sense of responsibility on environmental issues [55].

Empirical studies

There is need for proper studies to be carried/directed at finding out the degree and kinds of toxic food, water supply, amount of radio activities contained in industrial wastes, the effect of water on soil degradation/pollution arising from the use of chemical fertilizers among others as a basis for further actions on environmental pollution.

Conclusion

The environment is a complex interwoven system. Its conservation, management and protection are an expensive business thus, requires that many hands are on deck together in a coordinated and strategic manner. Unfortunately, no one is interested in research, creativity, invention and innovation in environmental conservation. But without citizens buy-in environmental protection and conservation, sustainable development would not happen. Citizens are the best defenders of their environments as they have the historical memories and knowledge about their environment and resources therein. The environment can be considered as part of the global commons as some of the cycles and mechanisms of nature operate across national boundaries. Actions in one nation often have direct impacts on another. The Earth Summit produced four major agreements which included the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (citing the rights and responsibilities of individual states), the convention on climate changes, Agenda 21 (approaches for sustainable development) and the convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These agreements have been the focus for conservation initiatives.

Remarkably, studies have shown that “One in four women worldwide or about 620 million women rate their lives positively enough to be considered ‘thriving’,” According to Gallup. “The life ratings of the rest or about 2 billion women place them in a category of ‘struggling’ or ‘suffering’.” The results reveal that women in developed countries tend to view themselves as thriving. Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark topped the list, with 77 to 68 percent of women in these countries saying they were thriving. These countries and others like them with more than 60 percent of their women thriving, including the United States, Australia, and Austria, also rank highly on the UN’s Human Development Index. Gallup believes this correlation suggests that countries with strong economic and human rights offer a better environment for women. Unstable nations, on the other hand, such as Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Egypt, are home to the greatest number of suffering women. Physical conflict is not the only negative indicator, though, as Greece and Bulgaria also scored highly on the suffering list. Economic devastation appears to impact the lives of women just as deeply as military conflict, and the divide between thriving and suffering in many countries remains dismally wide, with most respondents falling into the struggling category [56].

With women suffering most in areas affected by conflict, it is evident that women’s lives are closely linked to stability, development, and economic prosperity. Although the overall figures show that many women’s lives around the world are difficult, the study also indicates that many rates the quality of their lives generally higher than men, suggesting they can play a critical role in improving their nations. “Encouraging women’s participation particularly in emerging markets where gender gaps are widest not only can improve how women are doing, but also can fuel economic growth in their countries,” Gallup concluded. The first step, perhaps, would be to transform their positive daily experiences into positive valued contributions to society. This, in turn, would help to promote their country’s quality of life on the whole giving momentum to a virtuous cycle.

Recommendations

a)       Mainstream women and equity in all sustainable development policies.

b)       The protection of women decision- makers, planners, advisers and managers related to environmental                    management should be increased.

c)       Eliminate all harmful cultural, religious and social gender inequalities

d)       Environmental education and awareness creation should be expanded in rural areas. Nigerians are poorly aware of their environment and the damages being done to it through various activities like bush burning, littering/open dumping of human waste, polluting rivers with sewage among others. There is a need to develop an environmentally literate citizenry. Formal and informal environmental education would be effective means to involve creating appropriate awareness of critical environmental issues. Formal education is important to increase awareness, improve extension services, sensitize people on environmental issues and build institutional capacities. Non-formal environmental education benefits people outside the formal education system. Communication of environmental information to all stakeholders is still a challenge. Public awareness empowers the public to develop a strong sense of responsibility on environmental issues.

e)       Undertake a comprehensive curriculum reviews that integrate environment and development concepts in education curricular at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

f)        Document, disseminate and encourage the use of indigenous knowledge in environmental protection and conservation.

g)       Implement full participation of women, girls and boys as agents of development

h)       Provide incentives that attract underrepresented women and other vulnerable groups.

i)        Support initiatives that ensure financial independence for women.

j)        Women when once mobilized play a significant role in environmental protection.

k)       The potential of Science and Technology should be utilized to solve environmental related problems and ease women’s workload inside and outside the home and promote the development and utilization of clean technologies in national development. As relationships among science, technology, the environment and society are intricate and delicate. The use of sustainable technologies is critical for environmental sustainability.

l)        The central government should develop a strategy to eliminate various obstacles constitutional, legal, administrative, social and economic in nature to women’s full participation in sustainable development.

m)     The Government, Non- Governmental Organizations, Environmental Conservation agencies and the common man should recognize and mobilize women as active participants to protect and enrich the natural resources that sustain us.

n)     Despite all these aspects there must be promotion of disseminating the gender relevant knowledge and valuations of women’s role through formal and non-formal education.

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Production Monitoring Market Insights By Growth ,Research Methodology, Emerging Trends and Forecast By 2025

The production monitoring market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period, 2020-2025. Due to a number of economic, radical, and market factors across the world, a significant revolution has been happening within the manufacturing industry. Both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in Industry 4.0 bridge the gap between the digital/cyber/virtual world and the physical world. VR and AR technology, when integrated into a factory environment and equipment via devices and sensors, can help keep track of the manufacturing processes and production. This helps optimize and enhance machine productivity (quantity, quality, speed, and flexibility), improving the overall ROI of the enterprise. In April 2020, Flex decided to enhance its global manufacturing processes and delivering customer solutions through augmented/virtual reality, which may help in design, usability, and product lifecycle management. Further implementations by other players may provide a future trend in the production monitoring market. - Demand for a centralized monitoring system with predictive maintenance of assets drives the market. Predictive maintenance has been adopted recently in the heavy manufacturing industry, such as predictive maintenance of a gas turbine, a vacuum pump, and an aircraft engine. Overall, the predictive maintenance framework is able to perform real-time detection, visualization, alert creation, as well as recommendations for fixes on different stages of the manufacturing process through the centralized system.

Click Here to Download Sample Report >>  https://www.sdki.jp/sample-request-90285 - Players are focused on implementing a solution that can be integrated with predictive maintenance. In April 2020, Kistler introduced a flexible, new amplifier for industrial applications and a miniature charge amplifier with IO-Link suitable for use in robotics, the packaging industry, the food and the beverage sector, and for OEMs. IO-Link technology supplies users with real-time data to monitor the condition of their plants and measurement chains through predictive maintenance.

- The adoption of IoT-based solution for control and monitoring of additive manufacturing processes drives the market. According to AMFG, as of 2019, the additive manufacturing industry was estimated to be worth over USD 9 billion, and it is further estimated to be worth more than the current market value in future. Additive manufacturing enables the fast, flexible, and cost-efficient production of parts directly from 3D CAD data. For the management of additive manufacturing machines, the application of beacon technology in the factory environment allows the communication of production indexes extracted from the machines via mobile devices and IoT (Internet of Things).

- Furthermore, two types of beacons can be used where some beacons can broadcast an entire URL, such as the beacons that follow the Eddystone-URL or Ephemeral URL standards. These beacons can directly send the machine HMI Internet Address. With the integration of IoT, the market for production monitoring signifies a potential growth in the coming future.

- The COVID-19 pandemic is growing the demand for production monitoring solutions integrated with cloud deployment for many end users, such as automotive, healthcare, and aerospace. The demand for medical equipment is growing significantly during this pandemic. In April 2020, India and Russia discussed facilitating the emergent needs of equipment on both sides as part of their efforts to contain COVID-19. Both sides decided to be in touch with monitoring and facilitating the emergent needs of the equipment. This inhibits the demand for software solutions mostly deployed through a cloud solution.

- Moreover, in April 2020, RecycleGO collaborated with Mask Force NYC to bring fast-track relief to healthcare providers due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. In less than 14 days, RecycleGO built a fast-track global supply chain and distribution network for Mask Force NYC. Once the masks arrived in New York in April, RecycleGO worked with Mask Force NYC to organize mask distribution logistics using its dual-system logistics operations software. This logistics software is used for dispatchers, mission control, and its route optimization application.

Click Here to Download Sample Report >>  https://www.sdki.jp/sample-request-90285 - However, data security concerns and privacy issues are challenging the market growth. Metals, capital goods, and electronics industries are fast becoming inclined to cybersecurity risks, as investments in manufacturing systems are incorporated with connected devices. Manufacturers have become more unsafe for cyber-attacks after shifting toward cloud infrastructure and services.

- The threat has now become very striking to the manufacturing sector, which faces risks from the hacking of the IoT investments to the intellectual IP theft from China and other countries. According to a recent study by Wipro, out of the total critical resources or assets offered on the Dark Web in 2019, 14% were from the manufacturing sector. Key Market Trends Automation and Control Management to Witness Significant Growth in Oil and Gas - According to Forbes, the dependency of the oil and gas industry on automation increased in the last decade, which is further expected to double by 2020 with the increasing demand for crude oil. Initiatives to digitize oil fields are being implemented, which has led to investments in instrumentation to increase productivity and complete projects within defined budgets and timelines.

- The automation sector has evolved from supplying hardware equipment with aftermarket services to becoming more service-based and offering software tools that can translate huge volumes of data into meaningful, intelligent information that can be leveraged to make important business decisions. In April 2019, AeonX Limited (Nigeria) signed the oil and gas partnership agreement with WFS Technologies to promote and deliver the full range of state-of-the-art Seatooth products for asset integrity and flow assurance monitoring to the existing and new clients in Nigeria.

- Furthermore, one of the largest expenses for oil and gas companies comes through the process of drilling. Not only is drilling costly, but it is also highly technical and involves considerable safety risks for workers. Automating manual portions of that process, like pipe handling and pressure drilling, can significantly reduce safety risks and speed up the overall drilling process.

- In April 2020, Brazilian offshore drilling services provider, Ocyan, launched the Ocyan Waves program, where the offshore drilling platforms provide several supervisory systems that connect different equipment by sensors using automation. The systems are able to emit alarms when some equipment exceeds its minimum or maximum index, warning the operator that something is wrong.

- Furthermore, some companies have started using automated weather sensors to detect changes in seismic activity, as well as ocean and atmospheric levels. This can help predict when conditions are right for major natural weather events, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, thereby, enabling oil and gas companies to take the proper safety precautions in real-time. Due to a high degree of automation, the developed technology can be implemented as a geoinformation web service for all-weather up-to-the-date monitoring of oil extraction areas. This web service can be used to determine the area of fields, control production activity, and estimate oil production, supervise development and production activities, and assess anthropogenic load in oil production areas.

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- The measurement of pressure and flow of oil is a task that can easily be improved through automation. Installing smart sensors can help in connecting to centralized monitoring software, thus, allowing pressure, flow, and level of oil to be reported remotely from the field, without the need for on-site crew. Upon receiving this information, rig crews can monitor and adjust the settings as needed.

- In April 2020, Yokogawa introduced AI-enabled versions of SMARTDAC+ Paperless Recorders and Data Logging Software, as well as Environmentally Robust AI-enabled e-RT3 Plus Edge Computing Platform, for industry applications, including oil and gas. Recorders used in manufacturing and R&D acquire, display, and record data on voltage, current, temperature, flow rate, pressure, and other process variables in the oil and gas industry.

- Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategy to implement automation monitoring is increasing. In April 2020, a Finnish-Russian industrial digital solutions provider, Zyfra, stated that companies in the field of machinery, mining, and oil and gas from Russia and India should focus on speeding up their digital transformation. Zyfra also called upon the companies to jointly develop industrial digitalization technologies and share best practices to minimize the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses and supply chains. Hence, the demand for automation production monitoring is expected to significantly increase during the pandemic. North America Accounts for Significant Market Share - North America is the largest contributor to the production monitoring market, as the region is technologically advanced. The North American countries have developed infrastructure and skilled workforce, which help the production monitoring solution providers offer 24/7 support and maintenance to their clients. - In the United States, most of the industries are sophisticated users of data analytics systems, and they are ready to deploy a new platform with new architecture and capabilities to monitor the production. Furthermore, players are focused on providing new solutions. In April 2020, Altair announced a major release of Panopticon, its comprehensive platform for user-driven monitoring and analysis of real-time trading and market data. These include operational data analytics applications in manufacturing, logistics, telecoms, oil and gas production, and energy distribution. - Furthermore, companies in the United States, where employees are more than 100 in number, are adopting cloud-based applications. It has been estimated that nearly 35% of SMBs in the country have already deployed cloud solutions integrating with BPM (Business Process Optimization). This further holds the ptential for growth for production monitoring in the services segment. - In March 2020, Sysdig Inc. announced cloud monitoring at scale with full Prometheus compatibility in the United States and Canada. It enables companies to confidently run cloud-native workloads in production. With the Sysdig Secure DevOps Platform, cloud teams embed security, validate compliance, and maximize performance and availability. - Also, the launch of Predictive Maintenance-as-a-Service (PMaaS) by Rockwell Automation is assisting industries in the United States by providing service on critical assets identified by the customer, analyzing data from connected technologies, such as sensors, control systems, and smart machines, and identifying normal operations and build out data models to help predict, monitor, and mitigate future failures or issues as part of the preventive maintenance strategy.

- According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States may become a net energy exporter in 2020 and remain so throughout the projection period, as a result of large increases in the production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL), coupled with slow growth in the US energy consumption. This factor is likely to boost the demand for production monitoring solutions at present and in future.

- Furthermore, in the most severe cases of COVID-19, the race to build more ventilators has seen automakers, like Ford, General Motors, and Tesla, morph into ventilator distributors and designers while helping medical device companies to scale up production of the critical equipment. While there were around 160,000-200,000 ventilators in the United States as of mid-March 2020, some health experts believe that as many as 1 million COVID-19 patients may need the devices in the country over the course of the pandemic. This further leads to the usage of production monitoring software to help these companies prevent the shortage in future, based on the situation. Competitive Landscape The production monitoring market is highly fragmented, and the major players have used various strategies, such as new product launches, agreements, and expansions, to increase their footprints in this market. Most businesses across the whole spectrum combine at least two or three different tools to monitor and run their production monitoring. The key players are Capgemini SE and Siemens AG, among others. Recent developments in the market are - - Mar 2020 - NEC Corporation announced a collaboration with Siemens in the IoT field for providing a monitoring and analysis solution in manufacturing, which connects MindSphere, the cloud-based, open IoT operating system from Siemens, and the NEC's System Invariant Analysis Technology (SIAT). NEC is joining the MindSphere Partner Program to get access to specialized technical training and support from Siemens, as well as a number of joint go-to-market capabilities. Reasons to Purchase this report: - The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format - 3 months of analyst support

The dynamic nature of business environment in the current global economy is raising the need amongst business professionals to update themselves with current situations in the market. To cater such needs, Shibuya Data Count provides market research reports to various business professionals across different industry verticals, such as healthcare & pharmaceutical, IT & telecom, chemicals and advanced materials, consumer goods & food, energy & power, manufacturing & construction, industrial automation & equipment and agriculture & allied activities amongst others.

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[juniperpublishersoceanography]

Assessment of Simulator Adaptability in West | African Maritime Institutes: A Data Envelopment Analytical Approach- Juniper Publishers

Abstract

The work analyzed the role of simulators and technical laboratories in influencing curriculum development strategies of West Africa's maritime educational sector. The application of IMO's STCW requirements on simulator based education were also analyzed in juxtaposition with the educational programmes in the higher education maritime programmes of West African institutions. Development knowledge gaps were identified and recommendations made accordingly. The gains of implementing a port simulator training programme for the region's expanding port sector were emphasized. The focus of the work remains creation of officers with shorter sea time exposure during training.

Keywords: Port development; Marine technology; Marine transportation Entrepreneurial education; Ship simulator based training

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Introduction

West Africa's port sector deserve a closer attention owing to recent developments in the sector especially the recent adoption of the Landlord model which has evolved modern and ultra modern concepts into the port business. To this end a truly focused training model becomes necessary in the region's port sector. Having reduced their activities by concessioning the operational activity, West African ports should focus on improving maritime training capacities of her staff in a new regulatory capacity. In this sense therefore, every section of the existing staff of the port Authority should be properly trained to perform extraordinarily in her new function. In the West African country of Nigeria, the conservancy role of Harbour maintenance is still a function of the port Authority. In this respect a good improvement is expected in this sub section through the acquisition of Harbour simulators in line with STCW requirements for the training of ship officers to ensure the port fulfills her function in the area of compulsory pilotage, Nigeria still operate compulsory pilotage districts in her port operational system. A model of training that combines full academic and part industry contribution thus can be worked out between the academic sector and the port industry. Here the port authorities can purchase the training simulators and carry out training programs with adjoining higher education training institutions. The cost imperatives of development of deep sea ports demands that training of seafarers become a priority. Employing modern training facilities to achieve this should be jointly employed in the development effort.

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Objectives

This work thus is designed to achieve the following objectives:

To assess West African port Authority’s preparedness for a simulator based training model for her Authority pilots based on available facilities.

To design a training model that is simulator compliant in line with STCW regulation for West African port pilotage system in a way that develops human capacity in the sector

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Meterials And Methods

The focus of development in most West African ports has for years now been based on competition that aims to produce a hub port among the various port systems in the sub region, with less attention being placed on man power development especially in the area of investing in training facilities that will enhance productivity in the pilotage sub sector. So much money is being invested in building more ports in Lagos area of Nigeria, Port harcourt area of Nigeria, Cotonou area of Benin Republic, Ghana, Cote D I'voire etc, with just few investments in training facilities. A change in the growth trend that ensures complementary development in in training infrastructures is what is needed in the region at this time.

To date the training of seafarers with practical sea time exposure is still a necessity in most West African states. In the West African country of Nigeria for example the creation of a standard method that will accommodate all cadets leaving the high school still constitutes a problem. Existing exposure methods to sea experience are student's industrial work experience during training and few programs run by Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). These need to be complemented by the acquisition of bridge and other kinds of simulators in both the high school and the industry.

The realization for the need for further training in terms of sea time exposure and simulator time exposure is further buttressed by new expansions taking place in ports of this region. If the ports are made to establish simulator based training infrastructures that will serve their staff and the cadets of the region, this will be a step in the right direction.Ghan Ports and Harbours Authority for example has taken a step in this direction though she is yet to purchase the necessary simulator packages.

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Literature Review

The place of simulators in the training of Seafarers has been given a fair position in IMO's STCW code 95 as amended. To consolidate that IMO also designed a train the trainer program to highlight this. This program has been featured in at Ghana's Regional Maritime Academy Ghana an academy in the West African sub region.The use of simulators for training of seafarers has been made mandatory only for RADAR and ARPA simulators. Trainers or assessors in the simulator are expected to have undergone trining in such simulators and as such familiar with the simulators. Other simulator types are also mentioned such as ship handling simulators, cargo handling simulators, engine simulators among others.

The sections of the STCW 95 that emphasized the use of simulators include; Regulation-I/6-Training and Assessment; Section A-I/6-Training and Assessment (Mandatory); Section B-I/6-Guidance regarding Training and Assessment. Training is the transfer of experience and skills necessary for a student to accomplish set tasks. It is usually transferred from lecturer to student by various methods such as a formal classroom. However, some special form of skills such as those required in seafaring can only be transferred by senior officers who are still in touch with the vessel and who may have learnt through their mistakes in the work to junior officers. Lecturers in the class room may have lost aspects of this experience based on their distance from the vessel. The best skills can only be transferred by up to date officers on board ships. Holder [1]. According to Ali [2] STCW Convention gives weighting to the training conducted at a simulator with the experience of an in-service training. A system of training known as competency based training CBT is emphasized by STCW of which simulator based training is just but one way of achieving it. The instructor in

a simulator is required to be both qualified and experienced. Compulsory under the STCW is the RADAR and ARPA simulator training, with other types of simulator training classified as non mandatory.

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Methodology

The method adopted was a secondary data analytical method which analyzed the focus of major international training providers in the region with a view to determining distributed focus on Simulator based training provision for West African seafarers in recent times.

A survey of number of trainings conducted on this subject in the West African sub region was also done in a bid to determine the level of focus on the subject in the region under study. Internet published sources were applied using a revealed preference approach to analyze four sectors of maritime education offering institutions in West African sub region. A data envelopment analysis of graduate output from Nigeria Maritime Academy Oron and NIMASA job placement program of Nigeria was done.

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Report Of Findings

Activities of the International Maritime Organization in West Africa in the year 2014 merely focused on trainings in areas outside the focus of Simulator based training for seafarers. The trainings had rather emphasized the development of safety centers in the region and further sub centers for the already existing Maritime Safety Coordinating centers in the sub region. The other area of attention by IMO that year was environmental sustainability Under Advisory/assessment missions 13 trainings were conducted by IMO with 6 focusing on safety while 7 focused on the subject of legal trainings. IMO missions further carried out other trainings in Africa in the same year 2014 as follows 12 national events, 13 regional events and 2 other events distributed as follows:10 covered the subject of safety, 11 covered the subject of environment while 2 covered the subject of facilitation. Furthermore, trainees in IMO sponsored training events for the year registered 1091 participants in the same 2014 distributed as follows: 553 registered for safety trainings; 430 for environment while 108 were registered under facilitation. IMO [3].

A train the trainer course on the use of simulators was recently conducted for the African region at the Regional Maritime Academy Ghana with attendants from across Africa. The essence of the training was maily to stimulate the interest of lecturers in applying simulator based training in their various institutions. This being the case, the acquisition of such facilities becomes necessary by the institutions concerned.

Maritime education in West Africa

The offer of maritime education in West Africa can be divided into the following major sub headings;

Maritime education from departments in university based institutions

Maritime education from dedicated maritime polytechnics

Maritime education from dedicated maritime universities

Industry supported private sector maritime education group

All of the above three sectors needs adequate attention in terms of facility provisions and continuous update of knowledge in the growing maritime education sector. A new model of development that emphasizes collaboration between the industry user corporations and maritime education institutions might be necessary at this point to enhance acquisition of modern simulators and thus encourage simulator based training in West African colleges outlined above [4-6].

Simulators in west african institutions

West African institutions with simulators include Maritime Academy Oron which acquired a full mission bridge simulator Table 1: Data Presentation; Graduates From Maritime Academy Oron, in the year 2014.The bridge Simulator was delivered and installed by VSTEP at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria faculty in Oron Nigeria. The simulator is certified by Det Norske Veritas, Germanische Lloyd DNVGL as a class B simulator. Facilities included in the simulator include, a GMDSS and Radio Communications simulator as well as a 120° external field of view and NAUTIS Instructor station.

Another group or sector pioneering the use of maritime simulators in West African sub region is industry supported private sector group. This group is found mostly in the Nigerian content supported offshore support vessel sector in Nigeria. A good example is PEM Offshores group in Lagos, Nigeria which operate varieties of Kongsberg bridge and Dynamic positioning simulators for interested Nigerian based oil companies operating offshores Nigeria. PEM Offshore Limited entered into a multi-million dollar contract relationship with Kongsberg Maritime for the supply of a full suite of Offshore Anchor Handling, Dynamic Positioning, Power Management and Crane Simulation systems in the year 2015. The new simulators serve as a world-class offshore simulation training centre and the first of its kind in Nigeria and West Africa.

Further examples of rising use of simulators in West Africa is the acquisition from Kongsberg of by the Regional Maritime University Accra Ghana of a marine engine simulator billed to simulate the slow, medium and high speed diesel engine groups in a bid to supply the developing offshore support vessel sector in Accra, Ghana. Under the Skill Development Fund/World Bank funding, the Regional Maritime University was granted funding to procure equipment for skills training for the oil and gas industry. This is to help in achieving the local content policy of Ghana. In the year 2014 the Regional Maritime University Accra, Ghana signed a contract with Kongsberg Maritime of Norway to supply and install a Full Mission Engine room Simulator. The simulator has been designed to simulate, Slow Speed, Medium Speed and High Speed Marine engines as well as having the latest Anchor Handling Tug model with DP3 classification (Table 1-3).

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Recomendation

Efficient points were recorded only in the years 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2014. More efforts should be made by Nigeri's ship placement body, NIMASA to place more Nigerian graduates on board, while efforts should be made to place more facilities in the university based maritime programmes of Nigeria to help them add to the number of sea men in the country's maritime fleet.

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Conclusion

The work analyzed the efforts made by West African institutions to imbibe simulators in their training curriculum. Four groups of institutions that offer maritime education training in West Africa were analyzed. The work discovered the maritime strong investment prerogative among specialized maritime universities and few private sector industry supported group in the area of acquisition of simulators for maritime education. The least appears to be maritime education departments located in universities which has made the least effort to acquire simulators. The major method of research was published acquisitions based on revealed preference approach.

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QSAR and Molecular Interaction Study of Piperine Analogues for Antitubercular Activity-JuniperPublishers

                       Journal of Chemistry-JuniperPublishers

Abstract

In the present work QSAR and molecular docking studies have been performed to explore the binding affinity of 70 novel piperine analogues and 23 reported compounds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (strain ATCC 25618 / H37RvJ. Molecular docking studies for training and test compounds were done against protein Dev R fUniprot ID: P9WMF8J. The DevR-DosR works on two component regulatory system and was concerned in dormancy response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The best model from the training set showed r2 value 0.8760 and q2 value 0.7516. The validation of best QSAR model of each series was done by predicting the activity of the test set compounds. We have found that the reported compounds interacted with protein with a range of binding energy from -2.31 k cal/mol to -4.941 kcal/molby formation of one hydrogen bond to four hydrogen bond whereas predicted compounds interacted with binding energy ranges from -2.36 kcal/mol to -5.90kcal/ molby forming one hydrogen bond to five hydrogen bonds.Similar pharmacophores containing molecules were designed and their activities were predicted using validated QSAR model and docking scores were also calculated. Some of predicted compounds showed improved binding affinity with the selected protein and some of them showed comparable affinity as compare to reported compounds.

Keywords: QSAR, Tuberculosis, In Silico, Piperine, Verapamil

Abbreviations: QSAR: Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship; TB: Tuberculosis; MDR-TB: Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis; XDR-TB: Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis; WHO: World Health Organization; TRPV: Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid

Introduction

Tuberculosis fTBJ is a bacterial infection caused mainly by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, most commonly affects the lungs. According to WHO report an estimated 1.8 million people died from TB in 2015, of whom 0.4 million were co-infected with HIV. MDR-TB remains a public health crisis. Three countries carry the major burden of MDR-TB -India, China, and the Russian Federation. World Health Organization updated the estimate of incidence in India- that is, the number of new tuberculosis cases in a year - from 1.7 million cases to 2.8 million in 2015. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new (incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56%) were among men, 3.5 million (34%) among women and 1.0 million (10%) among children. Six countries accounted for 60% of the new cases: India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. Worldwide, the rate of decline in TB incidence remained at only 1.5% from 2014 to 2015 [1]. There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths in 2015, and an additional 0.4 million deaths resulting from TB disease among people living with HIV. There are nine drugs in advanced phases of clinical trials for the treatment of drug- susceptible TB, drug-resistant TB or LTBI. These are bedaquiline, delamanid, linezolid, PBTZ169, pretomanid, Q203, rifampicin (high-dose), rifapentine and sutezolid. There are 13 vaccine candidates in clinical trials, including candidates for prevention of TB infection and candidates for prevention of TB disease in people with LTBI.

The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever, and night sweats [2]. The chemical composition of the mycobacterium cell wall and its unusual structurecreates major difficulty in TB treatment hence makes many antibiotics ineffective.Paleopathology and paleoepidemiology development in infectious diseases has proven the origin of this disease [3]. In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB to be a global emergency [4]. The exact cause of TB is unknown; it is thought that it could be because of the occurrence of HIV infection as well as MDR-TB due to inefficient management. Isoniazid and Rifampicin are the two main drugs used in current first-line anti-TB chemotherapy. The therapy with existing TB drugs is exceedingly lengthy. Whereas MDR-TB and XDR-TB further complicates the world situation [5].

Poor activity of existing therapies and increasing drug resistance towards the latent stage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has produced a clear need to develop novel therapeutics [6]. Natural products including plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of human diseases since from an ancient time. However, many effective medicines, including morphine, ephedrine, reserpine, aspirin, atropine and digitoxin were developed from natural products [7]. In our present work, we have focused on piperine, an alkaloid, major chemical constituent present in piper species. This alkaloid is responsible for pungency of black pepper. The pungency of piperine is because of activation of the heat and acidity sensing Transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) ion channel TRPV1 on nociceptors [8].

Here In silico approach used as a strategy for designing and predicting activities of predicted compounds in comparison with some reported compounds. Verapamil analogues are derivatives of dimethoxy phenyl ring attached to a carbon chain have proven themselves as good anti-tubercular agents whereas piperine also having methylenedioxyphenyl ring attached to a carbon chain which is found to be essential structural requirement for its activity. Hence in present work we correlated these two compounds for same activity. QSAR is a methodology to design a rational molecule that meets the above-said requirement with not much effort, less time and lesser issues of environmental pollution. A QSAR equation correlates variety of physical or chemical parameters with biological activity [9-12]. There are many examples available in literature of successful screening of active compounds by QSAR methodology [13,14]. In our study we predicted QSAR model from training compounds and further used that model for activity prediction of test compounds.

Materials and Methods

A total of 23 dimethoxyphenyl derivatives were selected from literature for QSAR and docking studies which have reported their activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All the structures had the same pharmacophore with variable substitutions are which contributes to the difference in the observed anti tubercular activity.

QSAR studies

Around 800 descriptors for each of the compound were calculated using DRAGON and Chem office softwares. MLRA (Multiple Linear Regression Analysis) analysis was performed on each series to get best QSAR model using CODESSA®. Each series' best model was validated by predicting the activity of all training set compounds. The software enables evaluation of molecular descriptors and builds regression equation relating the best set of descriptors with the activity which can be used later for predicting activity of new molecules. The structures of the compounds were drawn and optimized by Chem Draw software. Eight hundred descriptors (Physico-chemical, Alignment Independent and Atom Type descriptors) were estimated. The data was divided into training and test sets randomly. Multiple linear regression analysis Method was used to identify the best model. Statistical parameters as r2, q2, S2 and F were estimated for the regression equation to determine the quality of the data fit and the predictive capability for the model. Hence, we have designed 70 novel compounds by predicting their activities with the help of QSAR and docking results.

Docking Studies

The software used for studying the drug receptor interaction and designing new molecule was GLIDE module of Schrodinger 2016-1. Protein (3C3W) structure was obtained from www.rcsb. org and the protein was prepared using the module Protein Prep Wizard. The site mapping was done to get the binding cavity within the protein which is further used for the studies. Ligand structures were drawn by using 2D sketcher and optimized. Energy optimization was done using OPLS3. The pH of the simulated environment was maintained between 7±2. Molecular docking studies were done to find out the interactions between reported as well as predicted molecules. XP docking method was used in the GLIDE module to dock the ligands within the binding cavity of protein.

Results and Discussion

Using 23 analogues bearing dimethoxy phenyl ring QSAR models were generated. The best fit model from QSAR studies for antitubercular activity showed r2 value 0.8760 and q2 value 0.7516, details are given in Table 1. The best equation shows that the anti TB activity is dependent on R1v (vander Waals volume), R8e+ (Sanderson electronegativity), and HATS7p (polarizability). Figure 1 is showing the correlation plot between calculated and experimental activities of antitubercular dimethoxy phenyl derivatives.

The molecular docking studies results in binding energy, binding affinity and interaction of ligands with the selected protein against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The calculated and experimental activities, binding energies, hydrogen bond formed and interacting amino acids are given in Table 2for reported compounds. Whereas calculated activity, binding energy, hydrogen bond formed and interacting amino acids for predicted compounds are given in Table 3. We have found that the reported compounds interacted with protein with a range of binding energy from -2.31 k cal/mol to -4.941 kcal/ molby formation of one hydrogen bond to four hydrogen bond whereas predicted compounds interacted with binding energy ranges from -2.36 kcal/mol to -5.90kcal/mol to by forming one hydrogen bond to five hydrogen bonds. The Figure 2 (a-h) shows the docked molecules sv10, sv20, p622, p1057 and p545 with good binding energy inside the binding cavity of protein. The amino acids majorly interacting with ligand at binding site of protein are GLN199, THR198, ALA200, VAL185, LEU57, PRO58, THR166, LEU165, VAL55, ARG56, LEU161, and GLY60. Schiff's bases were here proven to be good active compounds with better binding affinity against selected protein. In present study, electronegative atoms attached to Schiff's bases are contributing towards desired activity.

Conclusion

Based on QSAR and molecular docking studies performed on 23 reported including reference compounds and 70 predicted compounds for antitubercular activity showed that binding energies for reported compounds with 3C3W protein ranges from -2.31 k cal/mol to-4.941 kcal/mol with one hydrogen bond to four hydrogen bonds. Whereas binding energies for predicted compounds with one hydrogen bond to five hydrogen bonds ranges from -2.36 kcal/mol to -5.90 kcal/mol. Some of the predicted compounds have shown good binding affinity as compared to reference drugs. Thus, we can be concluded that the QSAR models generated are good as the docking scores are comparable these models can be used to predict anti TB activity of the new compounds.

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