Background information The unprecedented depletion of the productive workforce has been majorly attributed to road traffic crashes (RTCs). The attendant consequences of this depletion have been found to constitute a serious global public health challenge, with the use of psychoactive substances among drivers implicated in every three of five motor vehicle accidents. Hence, this study assessed the pattern and explored the determinants of substance abuse among commercial bus drivers in Umuahia, Abia State. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for the study. Four hundred commercial bus drivers were recruited from selected motor parks in Abia-state, using a multistage sampling technique from October to December 2020. A pretested, interviewer-administered questionnaire was administered to obtain socio-demographics and information on substance abuse. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25; bivariate analysis was done using Chi-square. The level of significance was at 5%. Results The mean age of the respondents was 40.03 ± 10.50 years. The proportion of respondents who had ever abused a psychoactive substance was 74.6%. The most commonly abused substances among drivers include alcohol (51%), cigarettes (27%), and alcoholic herbal mixtures (16%). The study participants had poor knowledge (54.5%) and poor perception (63.2%) about psychoactive substance abuse. Among the factors found to be significantly associated with substance abuse among respondents were ethnicity (p = 0.002), religion (p = 0.009) and monthly income (p = 0.013) of the respondents, poor knowledge (p < 0.001) and poor perception (p < 0.001). However, this study found religion (p = 0.031; OR = 5.469; CI = 1.170 to 25.555), knowledge (p < 0.001; OR = 4.21; CI = 2.201 to 8.287) and perception (p < 0.001; OR = 9.828; CI = 15.572 to 65.052) as factors that were associated with the higher likelihood of psychoactive substance abuse. Conclusion Religion, poor knowledge and perception were associated with the higher likelihood of psychoactive substance abuse among commercial bus drivers. Targeting commercial bus drivers for educational interventions and using religious leaders as conveyor belts may reduce the use of psychoactive substances among them.

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Globally, a lot of research efforts have been put into investigating housing quality in urban areas, but little is known about housing situation in the urban fringes of developing nations. This article examines the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction with housing quality in Oke-Andi, an urban fringe in Kwara State, Nigeria. The research design for this study was quantitative in nature. Sampling was carried out at different stages during the field exercise. A preliminary survey of Oke-Andi in Ilorin through satellite imageries and reconnaissance revealed an approximate population of 593 buildings. From this, a 20% sample size, approximated to 120 buildings were randomly sampled and considered reasonable for the study. Using the housing quality criteria drawn from previous contextual studies, validated and pretested structured questionnaires were used to elicit data on respondents’ satisfaction with their dwelling unit, building unit, and neighbourhood quality. Information on residents’ socio-economic characteristics was also collected. From each selected building, a copy of the questionnaire was administered on the household heads or adult representatives. At the end of the survey, 120 questionnaires were administered, but only 100 were subsequently retrieved for data analysis. Simple frequency tables and Principal Component Analysis were used for the analysis of collected data. The result of PCA shows neighbourhood attributes, public utilities and building conditions as the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction with housing quality. The study recommends community driven urban renewal schemes for redevelopment, rehabilitation and upgrading of the quality of urban fringes.

Various strategies are being deployed to address finance for housing development in Nigeria. However, few localised studies have examined factors hindering the performance of cooperative societies to assist with housing development. The article aims to investigate the barriers that hinder cooperative societies to be involved in housing delivery in Osogbo and Olorunda, two local government areas of Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The study used a quantitative research design, with a questionnaire survey. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, 110 cooperative societies were selected across the local government areas and the structured descriptive survey was administered to one member in each selected cooperative society. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency table) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results of the communality values based on PCA showed that financial and land regulation, loan management, and credibility of co-operators are the factors affecting the ability of cooperative societies in funding housing development in Osogbo. The study concluded that cooperative societies have a significant impact on housing delivery in Osogbo. Based on these findings, it is clear that, if cooperative societies are well supported by government policies such as public-private collaborations on land acquisitions, urban housing production challenges could be reduced.

Background: Access to combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) enables HIV-positive women to live longer in good health. Some of these women are sexually active having unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions because of not using contraceptives. Objective: This study assessed pattern of contraceptive use by HIV-positive women of reproductive age group attending an HIV treatment center at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 400 HIV-positive women that completed an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire on awareness and use of contraceptives. Data collected were analyzed with SPSS version 17. Results: Majority, 217 (54.3%), had been pregnant since enrollment with 120 (55.3%) having an induced abortion. Majority, 378 (94.5%), were aware of contraception with health workers as the source of awareness being 204 (54%). Although 313 (82.8%) desire to use a contraceptive, 281 (74.3%) currently used a contraceptive with male condom, 130 (34.4%), being the most common type used. Selected factors significantly associated with contraceptive use included age 35 years and above (odds ratio [OR] =2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.18–5.63, P = 0.018), higher education (OR = 4.48, 95% CI = 2.80–7.16, P = 0.0001), being unmarried (OR = 4.34, 95% CI = 2.74–6.88, P = 0.0001), skilled worker (OR = 4.64, 95% CI = 2.76–7.81, P = 0.0001), higher income (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.20–3.82, P = 0.01), and increasing duration on highly active ART 6–12 months (OR = 8.88, 95% CI = 4.50–17.50, P = 0.0001) and >12 months (OR = 4.37, 95% CI = 2.27–8.43, P = 0.0001). Conclusions: Some sexually active HIV-positive women were not using contraceptives. It is necessary to increase contraceptive awareness and use among this vulnerable population.