Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / Thesis advisor: Daniel J. Daly / Nigeria is a huge and highly diverse country. It comprises an agglomeration of hundreds of precolonial nations, called “tribes” by the British colonizers. Since its independence in 1960, Nigerian State has been struggling with the question of citizenship; who is a Nigerian or who can be a Nigerian. Over these years, it has preserved an exclusive notion of citizenship where right to citizenship is intimately tied to membership of an “indigenous” community recognized by the state. This has set up boundaries between groups regarded as ‘autochthones' and 'immigrants', ‘first-comer and late-comer’, 'natives' and 'strangers’, ‘indigene’ and ‘settler’. Lacking a robust legal scaffolding, Nigeria’s system of citizenship has evolved organically to depend on authentication by local government authorities rather than a federal agency. As such, the right to be Nigerian is epitomized by a certificate of indigeneity, a nebulous system manipulated by politicians, traditional rulers and state officials. Today, such a system of citizenship has condemned different groups to the pains and agony of de facto statelessness. These groups include but are not limited to minority ethnic groups, internal migrants, internally displaced persons and refugees. In the light of the above, this thesis offers sustained ethical analysis of the oppressive structures of statelessness in Nigeria using the hermeneutical lens of human rights. Its main argument is that the lack of recognition of the citizenship rights of certain individuals or groups in Nigeria because of their ethnicity, religion or migratory history renders them stateless, constituting a grave injustice that can only be remedied through an ethic of recognition. This ethic takes the form of a set of proposals for Churches in Nigeria and the government. firstly, it articulates vigilance, humility and solidarity as necessary virtues for Churches in Nigeria to develop in order to be more capacious in responding to the challenges of statelessness. Secondly, it proposes legal and institutional reforms that the government of Nigeria must urgently embark upon to address the phenomenon of statelessness. These reforms will ensure that the national identity card or residence certificate replaces the indigene certificate as the only proof of Nigerian citizenship. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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Interactions among the components of a Sahelian wetland and the ecologic-economic significance of the wetland are described as they relate to vertebrate pest damage. Ongoing hydro-ecological changes, started by periodic meteorological droughts and sustained by the effects of large-scale hydro-agricultural schemes, are described along with their impacts on wildlife habitats and other valuable wetland resources. People in most communities in the wetland reported crop depredation by vertebrate wildlife. Traditional controls of pests are still practiced, but most are ineffective or time consuming. About 64% of the communities consider acoustic scaring techniques to be the most effective methods of vertebrate pest control. Depredation intensity is exacerbated by: 1) large-scale and year-round cultivation of cereal monocultures; 2) diminishing wetland habitats which concentrates wildlife and farms in a small area, thereby creating ideal conditions for wildlife-crop interactions; and 3) poor husbandry. Yield loss estimates due to vertebrates for major wetland crops were appraised as follows: 15.6-19.9% for rice; 10.6-15.6% for millet; 7.6-14.9% for sorghum; and 25.8-30.2% for cowpea. About 28 vertebrate species were considered to be contributing to the agriculture-wildlife conflict. Quelea guelea and rodents (mainly Avicanthis niloticus, and Mastomys natalensis) were the most important pests. Waterfowl depredation was uncommon, but locally severe wherever it occurred. Philomachus pugnax, perceived by many local farmers as a serious pest of rice, was observed not to be a significant pest in the wetland. Experimental investigations of the susceptibility of local rice varieties to granivorous passerines found yarkaushe to be the most resistant. Loss of grain cereals appeared to vary locally with places closest to avian haunts suffering higher losses. The nearness of farms to fallow plots and the flooding status (in the case of rice fields) were also important determinants of depredation intensity. I propose managing the agriculture-wildlife conflict by using the strategy of integrated vertebrate pest damage management (IVPDM), an approach which emphasizes shifting attention from controlling the pest species per se to cost effective changing of the damage they cause using several techniques simultaneously. The following techniques are recommended as potential components of the proposed IVPDM system: 1) improving husbandry practices; 2) manipulating the environment; 3) using audile and visual scaring devices; and 4) using limited amounts of rodenticides. / Ph. D.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 R67 / Master of Science