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Investors’ attitudes were severely altered by the Covid-19 crisis, which had an intolerable effect on volatile returns in Nigerian stock market and other stock markets worldwide. Psychological trauma was experienced by stock investors due to the inability to foresee returns following the worldwide shock of Covid-19 and the subsequent drop in stock investments brought on by the unpredictability of macroeconomic behavior. This study analyzed the link effect of investor psyche on stock returns in Nigeria between March 2019 and December 2022. For this research, Sentiment Index (SMI) model was employed for the connection between investors psyche and returns on the Nigerian stock market. It was found that, investors psyche during Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected stock returns, resulting from negative concerns about their survival and financial security than the stock market, thus triggered sharp decline in stock investment. Thus, study concluded that Covid-19 outbreak impacted stock returns negatively. The research recommends that the Nigerian stock exchange commission should increase disclosure of market information, which is related to the magnitude and potentials of stock returns and degree of volatility at all times. The concerned volatility and potentials during the Covid-19 era were also influential to enhance investors’ confidence.

Stable macroeconomic environment is critical to an efficient stock market and economic growth. Banking sector plays important role in sustaining the growth in Nigerian stock market. However, the effect of unstable macroeconomic factors on the sector’s stock returns over the years cannot be ignored. This study seeks to investigate banking sector’s stock price behavior in response to unstable macroeconomic variables in Nigerian stock market. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed to examine both short run and long run effects on the study variables between 2009 and 2018. Findings revealed negative significant effects of interest rate and foreign reserves on the stock price behavior of the banking sector both in the short run and long run with -0.21 and -9.004 respectively. Inflation rate has positive significant influence of 0.42, while exchange rate is not statistically significant in influencing stock price behavior in Nigerian stock market, all at 1% level of significance. The study concludes that, banking sector stock price is being influenced by foreign external reserve, interest rate and inflation rate. The study recommends that monetary policy rate should be reduced in order to lower the cost of borrowings and enhance liquidity level in the stock market.

We aimed to determine the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis among internally displaced children in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Data on the children’s sociodemographic characteristics and risk factors for schistosomiasis were collected, over a period of six months, using an interview-based questionnaire. Ten milliliter of urine sample was collected from each child and investigated for hematuria and ova of Schistosoma haematobium. Two hundred and thirty-eight of 385 children had urinary schistosomiasis (62.0%); of this, 125 (53.0%) were males, with a male:female ratio of 1.1:1. Urinary schistosomiasis was the most common among 5–9 years’ age group, low social class children, and children of farmers, P <0.05. Stunting was significantly associated with urinary schistosomiasis, P <0.05. It is concluded that urinary schistosomiasis in children was more frequently associated with stunting and low social class. It was a very common disease among internally displaced children in Nigeria.

The kidney is an important target organ in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and a variety of renal disorders could occur throughout the course of the disease. HIVassociated nephropathy (HIVAN) is the most common form of kidney disease resulting directly from HIV infection. The true prevalence of HIVAN among infected African children is unknown largely due to lack of surveillance and reporting. We thus aimed to determine the prevalence of HIVAN and associated factors among HIV-infected children at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the Pediatric Infectious Clinic. Children aged ≤15 years were recruited through systematic random sampling. Relevant sociodemographic and clinical information were obtained. Spot urine sample was analyzed using a multistix (Combi-Screen 10SL Analyticon Biotechnologies AG, Germany), and proteinuria of ≥2+ was considered significant. The CD4+ count and CD4+% (for those <5 years) were obtained using a PARTEC™ CD4+ easy count kit. The obtained data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16.0. A total of 250 children were recruited. Eighty-five (34%) of them had HIVAN. Sex, social class, and mode of transmission were not significantly associated with HIVAN (P >0.05). However, age, medication status (highly active antiretroviral therapy [HAART]), duration on HAART, and disease severity (both clinical and immunological) all had a significant association to HIVAN (P = 0.005, 0.004, 0.008, and <0.001, respectively). These factors also showed a positive but weak correlation to HIVAN; while age had the least correlation coefficient (0.157), immunological class had the highest r = 0.458. However, these relationships were

This study examined the issue of unemployment and the impact of microfinance banks’ credit facilities on its reduction for the period of 22 years between 1992 and 2014. The study employed secondary data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria and National Bureau of Statistics. The data obtained was subjected to stationarity and cointegration tests with the use of Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) tests. Furthermore, ordinary least square regression was employed in analyzing the relationship between the dependent variable (unemployment rate) and the independent variables (microfinance banks’ credit facilities, gross domestic product, interest rate and inflation). The outcomes of the study show that three independent variables (microfinance banks’ credit facilities, interest rate and inflation) at 5% alpha level have significant impact on unemployment while gross domestic product was found not to have any significant impact on unemployment. The study concludes that credit facilities provided by microfinance banks do not actually go to deserving individuals or borrowers, thus, having no impact on reducing the menace of unemployment in the country. The study therefore recommends that the Central Bank of Nigeria re-evaluate the performances of the operating microfinance banks in order to ascertain the proportion of their loan portfolio that actually goes to the “unemployed but creative youths”. In addition, the CBN must as a matter of urgency take necessary action in ensuring that loans granted by microfinance banks are serviced at a single digit interest rate as applied in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh. This is because employment generation and overall economic development can only be achieved when entrepreneurial youths can access credit facilities at affordable interest rate.

The relationship between capital flight and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has generated continuous debate in literature. This study aims at providing quantitative analysis of cointegration and causality between capital flight and FDI in Nigeria from 1985 to 2015. The study employed secondary data which was obtained from Statistical bulletin of Central Bank of Nigeria and data base of WorldBank. The data obtained were subjected to Units root test, Co-integration test and Pair–Wise test of Granger Causality. The findings of co-integration revealed that the estimated equation and the series are co-integrated. The Granger-Causality test shows that there is no bi-directional causality between FDI and Capital Flight in Nigeria.The study concludes that the success to curtail capital flight in Nigeria is to improve level of infrastructural facilities in the country which can facilitate increase in domestic investment and also attract FDI. It is recommended that enhancing investment environment by minimizing the obstacles to doing economic activities, and increasing the effort against international financial crime will help reduce capital flight and improve FDI in Nigeria.

The investment decision in the Nigerian stock is based on the level of volatility of the market. However, the volatility persistence of stock returns in the Nigerian market has negatively affects the participation of investors in the market. This study re-examined the effect of persistent volatility on the prices of the stocks in the Nigerian market between 2008 and 2018. With the use of ARCH and GARCH estimations, the study revealed three distributional assumptions with the co-efficients as (0.897, 0.939 and 0.956) revealing that the returns exhibit high volatility persistence at different selection criterion models. It concludes therefore, that the Nigerian stock market exhibits high volatility persistence. Hence, the study recommends that the regulators in the Nigerian stock market should model the regulatory framework guiding the operations in line with emerging markets with less volatile stock returns.

IntroductionSepsis and antibiotic resistance constitute a deadly synergy, causing the loss of millions of lives across the world, with their economic and developmental consequences posing a threat to global prosperity. Their impact is disproportionately felt in resource-limited settings and among vulnerable populations, especially children. A key challenge is prompt diagnosis and timely commencement of appropriate antibiotic therapies. These challenges are compounded in low-income and middle-income countries by a lack of comprehensive epidemiological data, with Nigeria being one such country for which it is lacking. Kaduna is the third largest state in Nigeria, with over 10 million inhabitants, of whom more than half are children under 14 years old. While bacterial sepsis and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are recognised as a growing problem in the state, there are huge gaps in the current understanding of their aetiology. This project employs a cross-sectional design to investigate the clinical and haematological markers of paediatric sepsis, alongside determining the bacterial cause and prevalence of AMR at four high-turnover hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Further, whole-genome sequencing of isolated bacterial pathogens will be performed to determine the genetic features of resistance. This project represents the largest surveillance study of paediatric sepsis in Kaduna to date. Additionally, we aim to use the clinical, haematological, microbiological and genomic data to derive predictive models for sepsis causes, treatment strategies and patient outcomes.Methods and analysisThis is a hospital-based, cross-sectional study that will recruit up to 461 children with bacterial sepsis who were admitted at the two teaching and two general hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Children presenting with features of fever, subnormal temperature and body weakness would be recruited into the study and have their blood samples collected. The blood samples will be used for culture, complete blood count, HIV and malaria testing. Accordingly, we will capture clinical presentation, haematological characteristics, causative pathogen from blood culture and patient outcomes. Nutritional status, known congenital immunosuppressive diseases, HIV infection and malaria infection will also be determined and documented. The bacterial isolates will be phenotypically characterised for AMR and genotypically following whole genome sequencing. Known and potential confounders to the outcomes of bacterial sepsis would be assessed in all participants, and adjustment for confounding would be performed using logistic regression and/or stratification±Mantel-Haenszel estimator where applicable.Ethics and disseminationEthical approvals were granted by the University of Birmingham (ERN_2115-Jun2024), the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTHZ/HREC/H45/2023), Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna (NHREC/30/11/21A) and the Kaduna State Ministry of Health (MOH/AD M/744/VOL.1/1110018). The study will be conducted using the international guidelines for good clinical practice and based on the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The results will be disseminated via oral and poster presentations in scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed journal articles.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study is to identify the clinical predictors of mortality among patients with COVID-19 pneumonia during first and second waves in a treatment center in northwestern Nigeria. This was a retrospective cohort study of 195 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between April 2020 to March 2021 at a designated COVID-19 isolation center in Kano State, Northwest Nigeria. Data were summarized using frequencies and percentages. Unadjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals and p-values were obtained. To determine independent determinants of mortality, we performed a stepwise multivariate logistic regression model. Of 195 patients studied, 21(10.77%) patients died. Males comprised 158 (81.03%) of the study population. In the adjusted stepwise logistic regression analysis, age>64 years (OR = 9.476, 95% CI: 2.181-41.165), second wave of the pandemic (OR = 49.340, 95% CI:6.222-391.247), cardiac complications (OR = 24.984, 95% CI: 3.618-172.508), hypertension (OR = 5.831, 95% CI:1.413-24.065) and lowest systolic blood pressure while on admission greater than or equal to 90mmHg were independent predictors of mortality (OR = 0.111, 95%CI: 0.021-0.581). Strategies targeted to prioritize needed care to patients with identified factors that predict mortality might improve patient outcome.

ObjectivesHealthcare workers were prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria. Administration of COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria was challenging because of a lack of trust in vaccine safety and vaccine effectiveness among healthcare workers, who are expected to provide reliable information about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases in the communities. Hence, their acceptance and attitudes towards COVID-19 preventive practices could influence the acceptance of the vaccine by the local population. This cross-sectional study assessed the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Katsina State. We predicted the variables that increased the vaccine acceptance using logistic regression analysis.SettingThis hospital-based study was conducted at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria.ParticipantsA total of 793 healthcare workers were included in this study. Of these, 65.4% (n=519) were male.Outcome measuresTo assess acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine measures, and factors increasing acceptance among healthcare workers.ResultsOf the healthcare workers, 80% (638) were tested for the SARS-CoV-2, of whom 10.8% (n=65) tested positive. Approximately 97% (n=765) of them believed that the COVID-19 vaccine was safe, and 90% (n=714) received the first dose of the vaccine. Healthcare workers between 30 and 39 years were more likely to accept the vaccine (aOR: 7.06; 95% CI 2.36 to 21.07; p<0.001). Those who had been tested for COVID-19 were more likely (aOR:7.64; 95% CI 3.62 to 16.16; p<0.001) to accept the vaccine.ConclusionsOur findings showed that the age and prior COVID-19 testing were the main factors influencing the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine. There was high acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Katsina State, Nigeria. Future studies should focus on the completion of doses and serological testing for immunity.