Entrepreneurship and innovation in Nigerian universities: Trends, challenges and opportunities.

In a bid to improve entrepreneurial outcomes of graduates from Nigerian universities, the Nigerian government has launched a range of interventions, including a 2004 national policy mandating compulsory inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the curriculum, and support for the establishment and implementation of entrepreneurship development activities by university departments. However, not much is known about the operational nuances, challenges and impact cases that characterise the implementation of this national policy in such a vast, culturally diverse country as Nigeria. To address this lacuna, this study draws on qualitative data from five focus groups, crystalised with quantitative data from 151 students across four Nigerian Universities, to explicate the current trends, successes, and challenges of entrepreneurship development and innovation support in Nigerian universities. The paper offers recommendations on how the current policy on entrepreneurship education in Nigeria can be enhanced to improve student entrepreneurial aspirations and outcomes. It also signposts innovative pedagogic activities which could be deployed to achieve this.

Dataset on microstructural, structural and tribology characterization of TiC thin film on CpTi substrate grown by RF magnetron sputtering.

The datasets in this article are supplementary to the corresponding research article [1, 2]. The planar morphology and topography of TiC thin films coated on commercially pure Titanium (CpTi) grown by RF magnetron sputtering were investigated using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and Atomic force microscope (AFM). The mechanical properties such as Hardness and Young Modulus of the thin film coating was studied using Nanohardness. Furthermore, grazing incidence X-ray diffractometer (GIXRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to analyse the structural and composition of the TiC thin film coating.

Anticorrosion Behaviour of Rhizophora mangle L. Bark-Extract on Concrete Steel-Rebar in Saline/Marine Simulating-Environment.

This paper investigates anticorrosion behaviour of the bark-extract from Rhizophora mangle L. on steel-rebar in concrete slabs in 3.5% NaCl medium of immersion (for simulating saline/marine environment). Corrosion-rate, corrosion-current, and corrosion-potential were measured from the NaCl-immersed steel-reinforced concrete cast with admixture of different plant-extract concentrations and from positive control concrete immersed in distilled water. Analyses indicate excellent mathematical-correlation between the corrosion-rate, concentration of the bark-extract admixture, and electrochemical noise-resistance (ratio of the corrosion-potential standard deviation to that of corrosion-current). The 0.4667% Rhizophora mangle L. bark-extract admixture exhibited optimal corrosion-inhibition performance, η = 99.08±0.11% (experimental) or η = 97.89±0.24% (correlation), which outperformed the positive control specimens, experimentally. Both experimental and correlated results followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm which suggests prevalent physisorption mechanism by the plant-extract on the reinforcing-steel corrosion-protection. These findings support Rhizophora mangle L. bark-extract suitability for corrosion-protection of steel-rebar in concrete structure designed for immersion in the saline/marine environmental medium.