Strategic advocacy has played a substantial role in the development and implementation of maternal death review (MDR) in Nigeria. Stakeholders that include the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria have partnered with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure a robust arrangement that will guarantee the success of MDR in this country. Consequently, it is envisaged that the program will both contribute to a sustainable reduction in the maternal mortality ratio and promote improvements in maternal health care. The Nigerian experience indicates that the influence of stakeholders, such as professional organizations, is essential to drive the development of MDR programs through provision of advocacy and technical support. The current convergence of factors-including global support, political will, technical innovations, and increased financial resources-provides an ideal opportunity to make MDR a reality for all countries.

The area which transcends the Precambrian basement complex onto the Sokoto sector of the Iullemme-den basin in northwestern Nigeria presents a unique prospect for geothermal exploration research in the absence of regional heat production data, despite its tectonic history and depositional characteristics. In this study, geophysical exploration employing radiometric technique was adopted to classify the petrologic units within the fringes of the Iullemmeden basin and the adjoining crystalline basement complex so as to estimate the radiogenic heat potential within the terrain that may support geothermal considerations. Airborne radiometric measurements acquired over the area were digitized and processed to obtain radioelement concentration maps and the K/Th/U ternary map. Results show that the ranges of measured concentrations of 40K, 238U and 232Th are 4.6 to 18.9%, 0.7 to 4.9 ppm and 4.6 to 18.9 ppm respectively. Radiogenic heat estimation derived from radioelement data within eight petrologic units comprising quaternary sediments, schist, carbonates, shale/clay, younger granites, older granites, gneissic rock and migmatite showed that the lowest radiogenic heat production estimates ranging from 0.27–0.66 μW∙m−3 were recorded in the sedimentary terrain within the quaternary sediments while the highest radiogenic heat production values of between 2.04 to 2.34 μW∙m−3 were recorded in the basement com-plex within gneissic rocks. The spatial distribution of radiogenic heat in the area showed an increased heat gradient within the basement complex and a diminishing heat gradient over the Iullemmeded basin.

The upper Cretaceous Lokoja Formation is the earliest deposited stratigraphic unit in the intracratonic Bida Basin, Nigeria. It consists predominantly of sandstone and offers a potential hydrocarbon reservoir in the basin. In this study, we investigated the bulk elemental (major, trace and rare earth elements) and mineralogical compositions of the sandstones for the determination of their compositional maturity, tectonic setting, source and weathering history. The sandstone geochemical data indicates that the samples contain moderate amount of SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 with average values of 78.3 % and 9.75 % respectively. Relatively high average values of K 2 O (1.59 %) and Na 2 O (1.52 %) and low Fe 2 O 3 (2.56 %), MnO (0.05 %), TiO 2 (0.31 %) and P 2 O 5 (0.018 %) were obtained. Plots of relevant geochemical elements reveal that the sandstones are predominantly arkose and litharenite types with minor sub-litharenites. Application of some trace element geochemical proxies; La/Co (11.78), Th/Co (1.32), La/ Th (7.04) and Eu/Eu* (0.82) to constrain the source history suggest protolith dominated by felsic rock. Relatively low average values of ΣREEs (12.81) and ΣHREEs (1.52) support the felsic provenance of the sandstones and the tectonic setting discriminant function plots indicate passive margin depositional basin. Paleo-weathering plot reveals a moderate humid climatic condition and the mean values of CIA (79.21), CIW (90.51), PIA (66.55) and A-CN-K diagram indicates low to moderate chemical weathering in the source area and compositional immaturity for the sediments. This study concludes that the sandstones of the Lokoja Formation are immature and were derived from the faulted blocks of granitic basement rocks at the margin of the basin and deposited proximally.

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