This study reports some general field, petrographic and geochemical characteristics of the most notable of the newly discovered northern Nigerian pegmatites. The objective is to understand their setting and geochemical characteristics that can discriminate between rare-metal and barren pegmatites in the region.

Gold mineralisation is present in alluvial and eluvial placers and primary veins from several parts of supracrustal (schist) belts in the north-west and southwest of Nigeria. The most important occurrences are found in the Anka, Zuru, Maru and Kushaka schist belts in the north-west and the Egbe-Isanlu and Ilesha schist belts in the south-west. The gold mineralisation at Bin Yauri, Birnin Gwari and Iperindo have been previously studied in some detail. This study aims at reviewing the existing data and presenting new geochemical data from these deposits and others (Anka-Zuzzurfa, Malele and Gurmana) that have not previously had geochemical analyses.

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Nigeria, with a population of over 190 million people, is rated among the 10 countries with the highest burden of infectious and zoonotic diseases globally. In Nigeria, there exist a sub-optimal surveillance system to monitor and track priority zoonoses. We therefore conducted a prioritization of zoonotic diseases for the first time in Nigeria to guide prevention and control efforts. Towards this, a two-day in-country consultative meeting involving experts from the human, animal, and environmental health backgrounds prioritized zoonotic diseases using a modified semi-quantitative One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization tool in July 2017. Overall, 36 of 52 previously selected zoonoses were identified for prioritization. Five selection criteria were used to arrive at the relative importance of prioritized diseases based on their weighted score. Overall, this zoonotic disease prioritization process marks the first major step of bringing together experts from the human-animal-environment health spectrum in Nigeria. Importantly, the country ranked rabies, avian influenza, Ebola Virus Disease, swine influenza and anthrax as the first five priority zoonoses in Nigeria. Finally, this One Health approach to prioritizing important zoonoses is a step that will help to guide future tracking and monitoring of diseases of grave public health importance in Nigeria.

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