Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that are ubiquitous in nature and are available in all environmental components, and are implicated as being carcinogenic. In this study, the levels of PCBs were evaluated in soils and effluent water obtained from an industrial area in Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The work also assessed the possible relationship between the parameters and risks posed by polychlorinated biphenyls via several pollution indices. A total of four (4) Soil and effluent samples were collected during the rainy season and analysed using USEPA Method 8082 and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The concentrations of total PCBs in the soil samples were: Soil1 (∑ PCBs 234.447 ug/kg), Soil 2 (∑ PCBs 216.000ug/kg), Soil 3 (∑ PCBs 195.375 ug/kg), and Soil 4 (∑ PCBs 197.948 ug/kg). The concentrations of total PCBs in the effluent water sample were ∑ 52.99 ug /L. These values were relatively low compared to the guideline limit of 500 μg/kg and those reported in the literature. The toxic equivalency quotient (TEQ) calculated for the samples was Soil1 (0.281 ug/kg), Soil 2 (0.231 ug/kg), Soil 3 (0.252 ug/kg) and Soil 4 (0.217 ug/kg). The toxic equivalency quotient (TEQ) for the water effluent was 0.176 ug/L. The TEQ values obtained were all less than 1, indicating that the levels of PCBs are not yet of toxicity concern to both biota and humans in the study area.
Environmental policy elements are crucial for safeguarding natural resources, reducing pollution, and promoting sustainable development in Nigeria, particularly in Ilupeju Ekiti, Ekiti State. Despite national frameworks like the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act and state-level statutes, environmental degradation persists. A study assessed the existing Environmental Control Policy Elements (ECPE), implementation extent, strategies, and factors influencing ECPE in the area. Researchers surveyed 124 stakeholders, including farmers, traders, artisans, teachers, commercial drivers, and students, using simple random sampling. Results showed that respondents, mostly females (50.8%) with tertiary education (57.5%), were aware of ECPE guiding environmental use (83.3%) and enacted laws (71.7%). However, 73.3% rated implementation strategies as ineffective, and 99.2% were unaware of specific government strategies. Political factors (70.8%) were major contributors to ECPE somersaults, with negative impacts on waste management (65.0%) and overall environmental quality. Logit regression analysis revealed that age (-4.09), educational status (0.000), and awareness of policy enforcement agencies (0.256) influenced ECPE implementation. The study confirms robust ECPE existence but highlights ineffective implementation and enforcement. The study concludes that prohibition laws are a step in the right direction, and recommends government support for enforcement agencies to ensure effective compliance monitoring and ECPE implementation.
The implementation of effective Climate Change Mitigation Policies (CCMPs) is vital for protecting local communities from the adverse effects of climate variability. However, in rural settings like Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria, the enforcement of CCMPs is often lacking, and institutional coordination is inadequate to meet national climate objectives. This study assessed the Climate Change Mitigation Policy Elements (CCMPE) in Oye-Ekiti, identifying existing policies, awareness levels, and challenges to implementation. A simple random sampling method selected 120 stakeholders in environmental use, including farmers, artisans, traders, and forestry staff. Data were collected through secondary sources and a structured questionnaire, analyzing existing CCMPE, awareness of climate change, effectiveness in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, stakeholder participation, and enforcement levels. The findings indicate that respondents were aware of climate change (68.3%) but lacked understanding of greenhouse gases (71.7%). About 32.5% were unsure of CCMPE effectiveness in reducing emissions. Many were unaware of government programs (53.3%) and enforcement agents (56.7%), with only 43.3% occasionally involved in policy implementation. Identified CCMPE included tree planting and efficient waste management. Educational status, communication methods, government program awareness, and presence of enforcement agents significantly influenced stakeholders' participation. The study concludes that CCMPs are not yielding desired results due to low awareness and lack of strict measures for effective implementation. The government must address these gaps to achieve desired results, including increasing awareness, improving enforcement, and ensuring stakeholder participation.
The change towards clean energy in African continent has become a main concern, reporting the continued energy shortages and discussing the certainty of climate change. This work explores the function of public private partnership (PPPs) in accelerating clean energy transition in continent. The aim of this work includes the evaluation of the regulatory framework, assessing the effect of PPPs and ascertaining policy gaps that dwindle the growth of clean energy development. Secondly the study attracts policy documents and important literature, introducing robust regulatory systems, organizational structures and laws that govern clean energy and PPP in the continent. The analysis was planned on evaluating the effect of current regulatory instruments and recognize the policy gaps that dwindle the smooth accomplishment of PPPs in accelerating clean energy. The major findings revealed that vital role of a well-defined legal frameworks, efficient management of risk and durable community commitment is a successful key factor in deployment of PPPs in clean energy in Africa. This work strongly advice policymakers to focus on the developing a solid regulatory and legal institutions that interests investment and guarantee long term sustainability. It was observed that encouraging risk sharing tools is very significant stride in reducing operational challenges and financial losses. Local communities are expected to have active involvement in unbiased distribution of projects benefits, this is vital in ensuring public recognition and safeguarding long term sustainability. Also diversification and increasing the sources of funds is highlighted as a means to decrease financial risk and prevent reliance on single funding methods. The importance of this work spreads to notifying policy development, protecting investment decision, encouraging community participation, enhancing the project performance, consolidating international collaboration, adding value to academic research, judging environmental impacts and assisting capacity building towards sustaining clean energy transition in Africa.
The control of wind power systems with doubly-fed induction generators presents significant technical challenges, particularly in the presence of grid faults, torque ripple and harmonic distortion. This study proposes a model-based direct power control technique to enhance the dynamic performance and power quality of DFIGs under varying operating conditions. A rotor voltage controller based on proportional-integral action is considered to control the active and reactive power. The performance of the model is simulated in cases of wind torque variation, grid voltage sag, parameter deviations, and harmonic distortion scenarios, as well as scaling tests for different machine ratings. Results demonstrate obvious improvements with respect to torque ripple suppression, total harmonic distortion mitigation, and system response time in comparison to conventional VOC and classical DPC. In that regard, the proposed controller obtains a THD of 3.4%, meets IEEE 519 limits, and matches or surpasses advanced DPC variants reported in the literature in terms of torque ripple and recovery time, while exhibiting slightly higher THD than NF-DPC under identical conditions. These results indicate that this control can improve the reliability and quality of the power of wind energy systems connected to the modern grids.
