Rainfall and its variability drive the rural economies across the Sudano-Sahelian zone of northern Nigeria, where drought strategies largely determine crop yields. The increasing scarcity of rain gauges in West Africa generally limits assessments of the degree and spatial extent of hardship arising from rainfall deficiency. However, the improved availability and robustness of satellitebased rainfall products since the early 1980s, offers an alternative source of rainfall data which is spatially, and often temporally, more complete than rain gauges. This research evaluates four satellite-based rainfall products for their ability to represent both long term rainfall trends such as recovery from decadal droughts, and trends in seasonal rainfall variables relevant to crop yield prediction. The Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) rainfall product at 5 km resolution, was observed to be consistently most representative of ground station rainfall across northern Nigeria over a 35-year period 1981 to 2015, followed by TARCAT.CHIRPS was found to give a good overall prediction of rainfall amounts at dekadal, monthly and seasonal time scales, and was therefore used in the study to represent the typical performance of satellite rainfall datasets. The CHIRPS-observed increase in growing season length since the 1970s and 80s drought decades, was accompanied by significant rainfall increases in the later part of the growing season, especially marked in northern and northeastern states. This is especially important for the main subsistence crops sorghum and millet as the risk of late drought impedes swelling of the grain, affecting dry weight production. The CHIRPS data also indicate a significant decrease in dry spells in the northwest and southern parts of the study area, which would have favourable outcomes for crop production in the densely populated rural hinterlands of the cities of Sokoto, Jos and Abuja. In view of the continued intra-and inter-annual rainfall variability across northern Nigeria, and amid rapid rural population growth recently, a return to the rainfall levels of the drought decades, would require informed response. The study suggests that satellite rainfall estimates can offer such information, especially since we observed high spatial variability in rainfall distributions and trends.

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The paper seeks to investigate whether evolving temperature patterns over northern Nigeria agree with the projections made by global warming and climate change models. air temperature on a monthly time scale. These data were obtained f Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). The location of the stations adequately represents a fair coverage of the study area. Descriptive statistics of the long were computed for all the stations. coefficient of variation) were also calculated for all the sampled stations. The derived long properties of temperature for the region were mapped out using Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Computer-generated graphs were also plotted for the long seasonal/annual temperature characteristics. Furthermore, temperature Anomaly values were computed for all the stations. Time series for each station as well as re the respective ecological zones were plotted in order to present the inter temperature for the study area. Trends and discontinuities in temperature time series for northern Nigeria were analyzed using 5-year moving averages and regression. study indicates variability in annual temperature totals is lower than those of monthly totals; temperature time series present an irregular increase; quasi-generalized increase for all stations since the 1950s.This increase related to observations at the regional scale were also compared with the IPCC temperature models. The results obtained were the models. This serves as a pointer to the existence of global warming and climate change phenomenon in northern Nigeria. The study recommends that addressing gaps in existing knowle encouraged as this would reduce uncertainties and thus facilitate informed decision to issues bordering on climate change

Waste picking plays an important role through resource recovery and also impoverished individuals to cope with poverty especially in less developed countries. The working condition of the waste pickers is a cause for concern as, in most cases; work without safety protectives equipment while being exposed to numerous occupational hazards. To address these health and safety challenges, adequate understanding of the pickers’ knowledge of the hazards associated with the occupation and their safety protection practices is required. This is the root upon which this study was conducted. It assessed the level of knowledge of waste pickers on occupational health and safety hazards and their safety practices in Bauchi city, northeastern Nigeria. A total of 322 waste pickers were selected from 80 dealers’ depots across the study area for questionnaire administration and interview. The findings revealed that up to 74% of the pickers are aware of the health and safety risks associated with the occupation, and 52% are knowledgeable of the measures required to protect their health and safety. However, only a small fraction of the waste pickers was found to be using safety protective equipment regularly, such as boots 8.9%, gloves 3.8%, and nose masks 1.9%. These highlight the high degree of vulnerability to occupational hazards that waste pickers are exposed to. Provision of social interventions, regular medical check-ups, waste segregation from source and enforcement of employer and employee rights by law, between the waste scavengers and their masters were among the recommendations made towards pursuing better occupational health and safety conditions of the waste pickers.

The accumulation of toxic heavy metals in excessive quantities has a detrimental effect on soil quality which interferes with key biochemical processes in soils. It is very imperative to explore soil microbial activities concerning to environmental conditions for sustainable soil management. The study aimed to assess the seasonal distribution of soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), some heavy metals and pH, and their relationship in the soil ecosystem. Field investigation and laboratory analysis were the main methods adopted as sources of generating data and analyses. Ten soil samples were collected using composite sampling techniques on seasonal bases and then analyzed in the laboratory. The results were subjected to statistical analyses using t-test and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at <0.05. Pearson's correlation andregression analysis was analyzed to determine the relationship among the variable at P<0.05. The results show that locations with higher values of MBC corresponded with locations with high Cr, Cd, and Pb. High values of Cr, Cd, and Pb were observed in the dry season. On the other hand, in the wet season, rainfall enthused dilution, leaching, and runoff of Cr, Cd, and Pb and then removed from subsurface. High MBC in the wet season is due to favorable conditions for the microbial population and rapid mineralization due to high moisture and temperature than the dry season where there are low moisture and temperature. The analysis revealed that MBC was positively related to Cr, Pb, and was negatively related to Cd. However, the variation of MBC was explained by Cr, Cd, and Pb by 64% and 52% for dry and wet season respectively. It was concluded that the toxicity of heavy metals in soil depends on the pH level and therefore, determination of MBC, Cr, Cd, Pb, pH, and temperature of soil reflect the microbial activities in the soil and could be considered as soil quality indicators.