The importance of fire since its discovery has been to provide heat, light, warmth and cooking of food. Increasingly, human population has tasked the resources for making fire through both the traditional and modern processes. However the traditional sources especially among people from developing nations have created social and economic effects. This study assesses wood fuel utilization in Niger State, Nigeria, including the amount consumed, influential factors of consumption and socioeconomic effects. The study utilized a mixed method approach to data collection and questionnaire was distributed to 384 household heads that were sampled in the study. Only 20 among the sample were interviewed. The result revealed among others that household size, income, and availability of sources affect consumption while socioeconomic impact includes: scarcity of wood fuel resources, increasing distance for wood collection and health hazards. One of the recommendations is that there should be general economic development particularly in urban areas which brings income growth, in order to trigger fuel switching and in variably reduce over dependence on wood fuel sources.

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This study examined the influence of side-reading questioning strategy on polytechnic students' summary writing performance in Kaduna polytechnic Kaduna State, Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to examine the: (i) general performance of polytechnic students' performance in summary writing; (ii) effect of SRQ on polytechnic students' performance in summary writing; (iii) influence of gender. A two-group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was adopted for this study. The population consisted of all National Diploma II in Kaduna Polytechnic. Two departments were sampled using multi-stage sampling technique. The sample was categorised into one experimental group and one control group. A total number of 100 polytechnic students (NDII) were sampled. English Reading Comprehension Performance Test (ERCPT) was used to collect data from the respondents. The test items were adapted from English language and Communication texts and validated by language experts. The reliability of the instrument was carried out through test re-test method in an interval of two weeks and a reliability index of 0.72 was obtained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The data were analysed using the percentage, mean, standard deviation, and analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that: (i) the general performance of polytechnic students in summary writing (both the experimental and control groups) was low before the treatment but high after the treatment; (ii) that sidereading questions significantly reawakening polytechnic students' summary writing performance; (iv) that there is no significant effect of SRQ on polytechnic students' summary writing performance on the bases of gender. The study concluded that SRQ add value to students' summary writing performance. The implication is that this strategy have significant effect on polytechnic students summary performance. The study recommended that teachers should employ the use of SRQ strategy for teaching reading to enhance students' comprehension and summary writing performance.

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