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Rapid peri-urban growth around Kano has increased reliance on privately drilled shallow boreholes, many sited close to informal industry and waste ground. This study assessed heavy-metal contamination of shallow borehole water across the city's peri-urban fringe during the 2024 dry season. Water samples were collected from 96 boreholes and analysed for lead, cadmium, arsenic and chromium by atomic absorption spectrometry. Lead exceeded the national drinking-water limit at 38 per cent of sites, with the highest concentrations clustered near a tannery district and an informal battery-recycling area. Cadmium and arsenic exceedances were less frequent but spatially co-located with lead. Contamination was strongly associated with proximity to industrial activity and with borehole depth of less than 30 metres. The findings indicate a significant and unevenly distributed exposure risk and support targeted monitoring of shallow boreholes near industrial land

Digital transformation is increasingly shaping the delivery, administration, teaching, research and management of higher education. However, institutions across West Africa continue to face challenges that affect their readiness to adopt and sustain digital technologies. This review examines the major factors influencing digital transformation readiness in West African higher education institutions, with particular attention to digital infrastructure, staff digital skills, institutional governance, technology adoption and organisational capacity. The review synthesises existing scholarly discussions on digital transformation in higher education and identifies recurring barriers and enabling conditions within the West African context. The findings indicate that limited infrastructure, inadequate digital skills, financial constraints, fragmented institutional policies and resistance to organisational change can restrict effective digital transformation. At the same time, institutional leadership, continuous capacity development, appropriate technology investment, supportive governance frameworks and collaboration among higher education and technology stakeholders can strengthen digital readiness. The review highlights the need for institutions to adopt context-sensitive digital transformation strategies that address both technological and organisational requirements. It concludes that sustainable digital transformation in West African higher education requires coordinated investment in infrastructure, human capacity, institutional governance and long-term implementation planning.

Digital transformation is increasingly shaping the delivery of teaching, research, administration, and student services across higher education institutions in West Africa. However, the adoption of digital technologies remains uneven due to differences in institutional infrastructure, staff capacity, funding, connectivity, and organisational readiness. This study examines the state of digital transformation in selected higher education institutions in West Africa, with particular attention to technology adoption, institutional readiness, and implementation challenges. A descriptive research approach was adopted, using structured questionnaires and institutional-level observations to examine the experiences of academic and administrative personnel involved in digital technology implementation. The findings indicate that digital platforms have improved access to academic resources, administrative processes, communication, and research collaboration, but significant challenges remain in infrastructure availability, technical support, digital skills, funding, and institutional coordination. The study further identifies institutional leadership, staff training, reliable connectivity, and sustainable technology investment as important factors influencing successful digital transformation. The study recommends the development of institution-wide digital transformation strategies, continuous capacity building, improved infrastructure investment, and stronger collaboration among higher education institutions and technology stakeholders. These measures can support more sustainable and inclusive digital transformation across the West African higher education sector.

Rainfall in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah has become less predictable in onset and distribution over the past fifteen years, with consequences for rain-fed smallholder agriculture. This study examines the relationship between intra-seasonal rainfall variability and maize yields across four states between 2010 and 2024. Daily rainfall records from twelve stations were combined with plot-level yield returns from 480 smallholder farms. We find that total seasonal rainfall is a weak predictor of yield, while the length of the longest dry spell during the tasselling window explains a substantially larger share of the variation. Farms that adjusted planting dates in response to observed onset recorded smaller losses than those planting on fixed calendar dates. The findings suggest that advisory services should prioritise dry-spell forecasting and flexible planting guidance over seasonal rainfall totals alone

The transformation of major river basins represents one of the most prominent markers of the Anthropocene. This article provides a global historical analysis of anthropogenic river engineering projects across Eurasia and North America from the late eighteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on archival records, cartographic evidence, and paleo-environmental proxy data, the study explores how centralized state authorities systematically reshaped fluvial hydrology to facilitate modern state consolidation, agricultural expansion, and industrialization. We trace the shift from localized, adaptive water management systems to mega-hydraulic engineering projects characterized by extensive damming, channelization, and wetland reclamation. The environmental consequences—including altered sedimentation dynamics and loss of aquatic biodiversity—demonstrate a recurring historical pattern where immediate economic objectives compromised ecological stability. Keywords: Environmental History, Hydrology, Anthropocene, State Power, River Engineering, Ecological Transformation

Addressing educational disparities across nations requires rigorous comparative analysis of institutional design and fiscal allocation models. Utilizing international large-scale assessment data from PISA and TIMSS alongside OECD institutional policy indicators across 28 member states, this paper investigates the structural factors underlying cross-national achievement differences in secondary education. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) reveals that absolute national expenditure per student is a non- linear predictor of performance; beyond a baseline expenditure threshold, equity-directed resource distribution exerts a significantly stronger influence on socio-economic achievement gaps than total national funding. Nations featuring comprehensive early childhood education and delayed institutional tracking consistently demonstrated lower variance in student performance alongside higher overall mean achievement scores.

Standard economic models frequently operate under the assumption of unbounded cognitive capacity, failing to account for systemic decision biases in complex institutional environments. This paper examines how cognitive constraints—specifically bounded rationality—interact with formal regulatory architecture to influence market participant compliance and economic efficiency. Utilizing a multi-stage laboratory economic experiment involving 320 participants, we simulated institutional compliance scenarios under varying degrees of choice complexity and structural information nudges. Our findings demonstrate that as institutional rules increase in cognitive complexity, participant error rates rise exponentially, leading to suboptimal resource allocation. However, when choice architectures were restructured to align with cognitive heuristics, compliance rates increased by 38% without increasing legal enforcement expenditures.

Grounding its framework in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this empirical study evaluates the structural relationships between perceived organizational support, basic psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and long-term psychological wellbeing among remote and hybrid workers (N = 1,280). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted on longitudinal survey data collected across three distinct time points over eighteen months. Results indicate that perceived organizational support significantly predicts sustained psychological wellbeing (beta = .42, p < .001). Crucially, autonomy satisfaction emerged as the primary mediating variable, accounting for 64% of the indirect effect on emotional exhaustion reduction and positive vitality enhancement. The study provides robust empirical evidence that organizational policies prioritizing employee autonomy foster long-term psychological resilience.