The paucity of data on air pollution indices in Nigeria prompted us to commence a national screening exercise regarding particulate matter loads. Six potential megacities (Aba, Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri, and Port-Harcourt) representing the six geographical zones in Nigeria were chosen for the study. Sampling was achieved using a 'Gent' stacked filter unit sampler capable of collecting fractions of particulate matter with sizes of <10-mm and <2.5-mm simultaneously. The mean values for PM 10 are 550, 35, 87, 340, 246 and 130 mg m À3 while for PM 2.5 the mean values are 100, 14, 25, 67, 20 and 30 mg m À3 respectively for Aba, Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Maiduguri, and Port-Harcourt. Except for Abuja, the daily PM 10 mass loads exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines daily limit where as the PM 2.5 values were within the WHO guideline limit. Their correlation matrix result indicates that some PM 2.5 fractions mass fractions were strongly correlated than the PM 10 fractions probably due to their long range transport potentials. Further work is in progress to determine the elemental profiles of both particulate fractions collected.

No doubt, food is life; hence, food has become an instrument of national power. It is within that imperatival need for food that this paper takes a cursory look at the issue in all its ramifications. The paper with a comprehensive review of Nigeria's agricultural policy noted that much still needs to be done if the crisis in the sector will not escalate more so, in a supposedly democratic dispensation which expectedly should promote the value of welfarism. The paper infers that Nigeria needs to come up with food policy which for now it lacks. What public policy makers pursue is merely an agricultural policy that still suffers enormously from a wide gap between intent and actual practices.

On 29 May 1999 Nigeria went from military autocracy and absolutism to civil rule. Since then Nigerians have focused on the challenges of nurturing and consolidating the nascent democracy. However, as crucial as the mass media is in all regions and climes vis-a-vis democratic processes, not much attention has been paid to the inhibiting factors in the mass media’s bid to sustain Nigeria’s democracy. The thrust of this article, therefore, is the selectivity of the media in its agenda-setting role. The article infers that regional, geo-political and ethnicist imperatives impact negatively on Nigeria’s mass media. The strongest recommendation of this article is that the mass media needs a mindset and worldview that is much more robust and comprehensive than it currently is for it to be a catalyst in sustaining democratic values in a plural and divided society.

After over five decades of planning and budgeting, no doubt, Nigeria is at a crossroad in terms of infrastructural development. Basic things of life which could make life abundant and tolerable are conspicuously lacking. So many reasons have been adduced for the stark reality; but the focus of this paper is an in-depth analysis of the variables which must have hampered the performances of several development plans cum annual budgets in achieving development goals. The paper infers that unless the identified lapses as discussed in this paper are taken care of the country may not be able to compete at even keel with her contemporaries visà-vis development indices.

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