Narrow Results

The necessity for governments to borrow in order to finance deficit budgets has led to the development of external debt. This study examines how the use of budget deficits as an instrument of stabilization leads to the accumulation of external debt with the attending effects on growth in Nigeria between 1970 and 2003. By synthesizing a relationship between budget deficits and external debt the study shows the implications on economic growth of conducting a fiscal policy within the contexts of debt stabilization and debt sustainability. The results of the econometric analysis confirm the existence of the debt Laffer curve and the nonlinear effects of external debt on growth in Nigeria. The study concludes that if debt-financed budget deficits are operated in order to stabilize the debt ratio at the optimum sustainable level debt overhang problems would be avoided and the benefits of external borrowing would be maximized.

This study complements the emerging literature on the COVID-19 pandemic and provides direction, in the case of Nigeria, for targeting monetary policy response to mitigate the pandemic’s economic consequences. We simulate three scenarios: (i) do-nothing; (ii) reduce MPR gradually and (iii) reduce MPR drastically; amidst falling oil prices. The do-nothing scenario, although inflationary, would produce a marginal appreciation of the Naira/USD exchange rate. Gradual or drastic reduction of MPR would deliver relative price stability, but will undermine exchange rate stability and deplete external reserves. MPR should optimally not be reduced below 12% in response to the economic effect of the pandemic.

In spite of the fact that public procurement is increasingly becoming a popular technique for small business empowerment, there are various challenges facing SMEs in public procurement. Using Nigeria as a platform, this paper examines barriers that hinder SMEs access to public procurement markets. Data were collected from literature review, analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews. The results show that lack of transparency in tendering often discourages SMEs from getting involved in public procurement in Nigeria. It further highlights the need for actions to address issues facing SMEs at different stages of the procurement process. By integrating research findings into existing knowledge, a taxonomy of techniques for enhancing SMEs access to public procurement is proposed. The taxonomy reveals specific schemes and measures to promote SME participation in public procurement. This will offer guidance to governments, policy makers and procurement experts on the implementation of SME-friendly procurement practices. The study adds to the on-going debates on the significance of public procurement policy on SME development.

Purpose: This study reports percent of bodyweight represented by school bags carried by students in Nigeria. Method: 381 secondary school students were randomly selected in this cross-sectional study. Informed consent and assents were obtained. Weights, heights and backpack weights (BPWT) were measured by blinded researchers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Chi square and odds ratio, at 0.05 α-level. Results: The mean age, height weight and BMI of participants were 14.01±2.17 years, 1.56±0.11 m, 46.19±9.65 kg, 18.89±3.12 kg/m², respectively. Average total weight of bags carried by participants was 4.48 kg, relative BPWT was 10.16%, and 65% carried bags on their back. There was no significant association between BPWT and back pain (X² = 0.106. p = 0.744). The relative risks [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)] of developing back pain among those that carry normal BPWT compared with those who carry above normal BPWT to school was (OR 0.805; CI 0.478–1.355), (OR 0.733; CI 0.295–1.817) and (OR 0.883; CI 0.454–1.718) for total, junior and senior secondary schools participants, respectively. Conclusion: Percent of body weights represented by the weights of bags carried by students in a Nigerian school fell between the recommended 10–15%. A 10% relative weight is recommended for secondary school students in Nigeria.

The study examines the role of intellectual capital (IC) management in explaining the mismatch between performances of the Nigerian telecommunications industry’s annual growth rate (16.3%) and that of the nation’s economic average growth rate (4.3%) over the last two decades (1986–2010). Through a previously published research instrument, data were collected from 320 managers from 29 telecommunication companies using stratified random sampling technique. The major findings of the study as highlighted by the regression analysis (Partial Least Square techniques) of the data, revealed that the sampled telecommunication companies lack the organisational know-how and communication aptitude to leverage their embedded organisational knowledge (Structural capital) into business performance ($\beta =-0.046$, $\rho >0.05$) notwithstanding their knowledge creation and retention strategies. Hence, Knowledge utilisation rather than knowledge creation appears the main challenge of the industry which has made it perform below expectation despite the industry’s tremendous infrastructural investment. The study thereby recommends that policy makers and telecommunication managers should begin to analyse the economic impact and contribution of IC in the sector as a means of boosting the sector’s corporate business performance in the overall aim of accelerating the nation’s economic development. Moreover, as a way of addressing this obvious managerial inadequacy, the study recommends the position of Chief Knowledge Officer to be saddled with responsibility of effectively leveraging knowledge generated in the industry for optimum organisational performance and national development.

The study examines media resource utilisation and effective publication output by agricultural researchers in Southwestern Nigeria. The respondents consisted of agricultural researchers in agricultural research institutes in Southwest Nigeria. The descriptive survey of correlational type was used. Four hundred and sixty two copies of the questionnaire were distributed using total enumeration technique, 334 were returned representing 72.3 return rate. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistic of frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation while Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regressions were used to test the hypothesis. The result of the finding showed that the internet ($\text{Mean}=3.78$), Email ($\text{Mean}=3.75$), and laptops ($\text{Mean}=3.32$) were the frequently used media resources. Agricultural databases were scantly used. The result also revealed that Email and the internet were the most available media resources while AGORA, LanTEEAL and FAO publications were the most available agricultural databases. Also, some researchers (0.6%) and others (62.3%) had below four local publications while on international publications, 3% researchers had above 16 international publications and 50.6% researchers had below 6 international publications. The study further revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between media resources utilisation and publication output of researchers ($r=0.273$, $N=334$, $P<0.05$). A significant relationship also exists between media resource availability and publication output and a joint relationship existed among media resource availability, media resource utilisation and publication output. The study identified poor funding, irregular electricity and inadequate electronic media resources as constraint to electronic media usage in Nigeria. Finally, the study recommends constant electricity, more funding for purchase of media and training for researchers.

Despite the significant contributions of women in economic development nationally, the unrecognized attitude of the government, lack of existing legal framework and policies, vagaries of informal economy and changes in the social–economic landscape have accounted largely for the closure of female enterprises in the informal economy. Using Yoruba female textile traders as a case study because these women have broken the "glass ceiling" and made a success of their textile trading, this paper examined the dynamics of entry and motivations of Yoruba women in textile trading. The paper synthesized Social Capital Theory by Coleman and Social Action Theory by Max Weber to explain the issue. It utilized a qualitative method of data collection. Eight focus group discussions and forty in-depth interviews were used to collect information from the women participants who were purposively chosen. The data reveal that parents, family/kinship members and friends had great influence in the strategic entry of women into textile trading in the Balogun market and the subsequent development of women's entrepreneurial activities. Yoruba female textile traders were motivated into textile trading because of economic and cultural values attached to the trade. This data is essential toward policy formulation for women's entrepreneurial development in the informal economy. This paper argues that any policies implemented for women entrepreneurs in the informal economy must be conceived, formulated and implemented with an in-depth understanding of the nuanced elements in the cultural domain within the social system, which the existing literature has yet to capture.

Using cross-sectional data from 1148 structured questionnaires, administered in two key commercial hubs of Africa’s largest economies (609 from Lagos in Nigeria and 539 from Johannesburg in South Africa), we examine the volatility of venture firms, and particularly ascertain what life-cycle phases they are likely to transition out of quickly or sluggishly in the entrepreneurship process. Adopting GEM’s concept of entrepreneurship phases — conception, firm’s-birth, persistence, established and renowned phases — we find that the most volatile entrepreneurship phase in Nigeria is the conception phase while the conception and firm’s-birth phases are the most volatile in South Africa. The highest transition rate for start-ups in both countries occurs between the persistent and established phases. Overall, Nigeria’s start-ups have better prospects for progression than South Africa’s, and the transitioning differences between the two countries are attributable to differences in personality traits of the entrepreneurs. Therefore, governments seeking to influence likelihood of success at the more strategic phases of the entrepreneurship process should prioritize early phases while only channeling little of the scarce support funds to later-phases, especially when seeking to scale-up productive capabilities of emerging enterprises, in addition to encouraging personality traits that can compensate for inadequate environmental support for entrepreneurship.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically four competing theories that variously explain informal sector entrepreneurship as a traditional activity that has not yet been incorporated into the modern system (modernization theory), a form of production integral to contemporary capitalism conducted by marginalized population groups as a survival strategy (structuralist theory), a voluntarily chosen endeavor and popular reaction to excessive regulation by the state (neo$-$liberal theory) or a voluntarily chosen practice conducted for social, redistributive, political resistance or identity reasons (post-structuralist theory). Reporting the results of face$-$to$-$face interviews with 215 informal entrepreneurs in Zamfara, a tropical region in Nigeria, the finding is that no one theory is universally valid. Instead, each theory is valid in relation to different groups of entrepreneur and only by combining all of them can a finer-grained and more nuanced explanation of the complex and heterogeneous character of informal sector entrepreneurship be achieved.

This paper contributes to intellectual discourse on the impact of barriers to firms’ innovative performance and external search strategies in the context of a developing country. Using data from the 2011 Nigeria’s innovation survey in the manufacturing sector, we tested three hypotheses: the relationship between barriers and firms’ innovativeness, breadth and depth of external knowledge sources. We found that firms’ innovativeness can decrease when they encounter a broad range of organisational rigidities. On the contrary, firms’ innovativeness increase in the face of regulatory constraints as firms may evolve ways to circumvent problematic bureaucracies while expectedly, as knowledge and infrastructure barriers become more intense, firms find it difficult to implement innovations. Similarly, we found that higher intensity of barriers, particularly knowledge and infrastructure barriers is associated with lower breadth of search. Hence, our results underscore the importance of regulation and infrastructure as key requirements for enhancing not only firm-level innovation but also knowledge search activities of firms.

Innovation and performance are increasingly being considered important to the success or otherwise of firms especially technology start-ups. The study investigated the effect of organisational learning on innovation as well as the effect of innovation on performance of technology start-up firms in Lagos, Nigeria. Data was collected from 101 technology start-ups with the aid of a questionnaire. Pearson correlation analyses and multiple stepwise regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Results of the study support both hypotheses. The study confirms that organisational learning contributes to innovation. Also, findings from the study show that innovation is positively related to firm performance. Understanding the importance of innovation will provide more insight on how technology start-ups can achieve better performance and retain market share.

The capacity to generate knowledge and disseminate it in a firm is considered a primary strategic competence to attaining competitive gain. Knowledge literature reveals how relevant it is to increase interest in recognising and managing knowledge inherent in workforces and other firms’ dynamic capabilities that allow them to benefit from available knowledge within the milieu. In recognising the importance of employees’ baggage of knowledge, this study uses the Nigerian Innovation Survey for two waves, 2008 and 2010 of 1359 repeated observations of firms in the manufacturing and service sectors to examine the interplay of firms’ dynamic capabilities and innovation optimisation. It uses a recursive bivariate probit and a Tobit model for the estimations. Evidence shows that PhD, BSc, and Diploma associate positively and significantly with the ability of the firms to introduce product innovation. On the moderating estimations, there are mixed results regarding the blend of employees’ qualifications, training and internal R&D. Based on this, while the share of the highly educated workforce supports the introduction of product innovation, it does not, however, substantially increase the probability of firm-level innovativeness regarding process innovation. Although the blend of BSc and HND with R&D supports the propensity to introduce process innovation, it results in a decline with Diploma and R&D. The implication of the results offers management some investment choices on the initiation of formal training and the management of internal R&D through employees’ expertise. This study contributes to the existing literature on the relevance of employees’ different degrees being reinforced by training and internal R&D being boosted by employees’ qualifications in supporting the development of product and process innovation.

This study explores the heterogeneous influence of capital flight and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on domestic investment in Nigeria. The study utilizes the novel quantile-based nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (QNARDL) estimation procedure to estimate both the sign-based and the size-based asymmetric influence of capital flight and EPU on domestic investment. The investigation’s outcomes are as follows: First, capital flight influences domestic investment negatively, predominantly in the upper quantiles. Second, it demonstrates that country-specific EPU and its global-based variant significantly negatively affect a country’s investment. Third, the study finds that domestic and world policy uncertainty aggravates the suppressing effect of capital flight on domestic investment. Fourth, a robust unidirectional causality from EPU (indigenous and world) to capital flight implies that policy uncertainty enervates the business climate and creates fear of losses among investors, affecting investment negatively. Fifth, the study indicates an increasing rate of devastating influence of EPU on domestic investment, with more pernicious effects at the upper quantile. The implication is that the devastating effect of EPU (whether country-based or world-based) on domestic investment is highly sensitive to its size. The policy recommendations from the main discoveries have been suggested.

Empirical evidence suggests that Africa is one of the richest continents in terms of its abundance of natural resources. However, it still remains impoverished amidst its riches. Oil, which is a major driver in world development, is one of the natural resources abundant in about 21 African countries. Incidentally, oil has continued to "under-develop" Africa. In fact, it has often been suggested by scholars that oil has been a source of, and a fuel for some of the conflicts that litter the political history of Africa. With the continued world demand for oil and its further discovery in more African countries, this paper argues that African countries should deploy the vast revenue from its oil resources for the development of the continent within the confines of the sustainable development paradigm. The paper seeks to suggest ways for Africa's management of its resources in a more sustainable manner.

This paper studies the electricity consumers attitudes, knowledge and behaviour towards the use of energy saving bulbs in Warri, Nigeria using the survey method. The survey randomly selected 400 respondents for the study, and information on their energy consumption and willingness to use energy saving bulbs were solicited using a well structured questionnaire. Results indicate a large majority (77%) of respondents agree that they do not practice any energy saving behaviour in their homes whilst 23% agreed that they practice energy saving in their homes. With respect to their willingness to use energy saving bulbs, 51% of the respondents are extremely willing to consume the product, and 49% were extremely unwilling to use energy saving bulbs. If energy saving bulbs costs consumers 10% more than candescent bulbs, 91% of respondents indicated they are extremely unwilling to consume it, while 53% were willing to consume same. Thus, it appears that respondents will respond to a price differential between energy saving bulbs and non-energy saving bulbs. The findings of this paper spells out the implications for governmental policy and action.

Climate change poses mounting risks to agricultural development and rural livelihoods in Nigeria. This study investigates the impacts of climate change on agricultural sector employment in Nigeria. Agriculture provides income and sustenance for much of Nigeria’s rural population. However, smallholder rain-fed farming predominates, with minimal resilience to climate shifts. Historical data reveal rising temperatures and declining, erratic rainfall across Nigeria’s agro-ecological zones since the 1970s. Crop modeling predicts further climate changes will reduce yields of key staple crops. This threatens the viability of smallholder agriculture and risks widespread job losses. The study adopts a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) modeling approach to evaluate climate change effects on agricultural sector employment in Nigeria from 1990 to 2020. Findings reveal reduced rainfall initially raises employment, as farming requires more labor in dry conditions. However, protracted droughts significantly reduce agricultural jobs. Increased temperatures consistently lower farm employment through reduced yields and incomes. Based on these findings, the study recommends that adaptive strategies are urgently needed to build resilience, promote climate-smart agriculture, and safeguard rural livelihoods.

Increasing environmental degradation and its impact on long-term economic prosperity have become major global concerns, particularly in developing economies like Nigeria. Environmental quality is crucial for Sustainable Development (SD), affecting economic growth, resource availability, and societal well-being. However, balancing economic growth and environmental preservation remains a challenge for policymakers. Therefore, this study uses an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation approach to examine the relationship between environmental quality and SD in Nigeria using quarterly data from 2000 to 2021. The research examines the impacts of CO₂ emissions, forest area, Natural Resource Depletion (NRD), capital, and labor on SD from both short- and long-term perspectives. The findings demonstrate that CO₂ emissions negatively affect SD, emphasizing the importance of strong environmental legislation. In contrast, forest areas have a beneficial impact on SD, emphasizing the necessity of environmental preservation. Lagged and contemporary NRDs show trade-offs between resource use and long-term prosperity. Capital emerges as a key engine of SD. However, this study finds that factors like labor lack statistical significance in explaining variations in SD. These insights provide valuable guidance for policymakers aiming to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability. The study recommends the implementation of stringent environmental policies to curb CO₂ emissions and emphasizes the need for responsible resource management practices to mitigate the adverse effects of NRD.

This paper specifically explores the impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure diplomacy in Nigeria, with a particular focus on two crucial sectors: ports and railways. It analyzes the challenges and conditions that have led to delays and abandonment of previous projects awarded to China in the past decades. Through the lens of complex interdependency theory, this paper discusses the push and pull factors that motivated the execution of BRI projects in Nigeria and how they mutually benefit the actors involved. Furthermore, it utilizes primary and secondary data gathered through Key Informant Interviews and documented sources. On the strength of the findings, this paper concludes that the BRI, unlike past Chinese projects in Nigeria, has significantly enhanced the development of infrastructure by modernizing the Nigerian railway facilities and constructing the first deep seaport in the country.

Among female subjects of reproductive age, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder that may be linked to a number of health risks for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The study aims to determine some CVD risk variables and how they relate to body mass index (BMI) in female subjects with PCOS. Fifty healthy women without PCOS (controls) and 90 women with PCOS between the ages of 18 and 45 were enrolled in the study. Standard methods were used to evaluate the serum sex hormones, lipid profile, troponin-I, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fasting blood glucose, and atherogenic indices. Compared to controls, the mean age of women with PCOS was substantially lower ($p<0.001$). The mean values of BMI, waist circumference, and hip were not significantly different from one another. While the cardiometabolic variables were higher in women with PCOS than in healthy subjects, no significant difference between obese/overweight and nonobese women with PCOS in terms of mean BMI, fasting blood glucose, insulin, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), troponin-I, hs-CRP, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol were observed. In PCOS-affected women, AIP ($r=0.712$, $p<0.001$), lipid accumulation product (LAP) ($r=0.764$, $p<0.001$), and hs-CRP ($r=0.666$, $p<0.001$) all showed positive correlations with BMI. Regardless of BMI status, there was an independent correlation between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and PCOS. This implies that regardless of a woman’s BMI, PCOS may increase her risk of CVD. Treatment combined with lifestyle modifications may be useful in lowering the risk of CVD in PCOS-afflicted Nigerian women. The finding suggests that PCOS itself, independent of weight, may increase the risk of heart disease. Nigerian women with PCOS are at increased risk of CVD, regardless of their BMI, and early detection, prevention, and treatment of CVRFs in women with PCOS is desirable.

In this paper, I estimate the causal effect of economic shocks on religious freedom violations in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan, using a difference-in-differences empirical strategy. Controlling for country and year effects, the timing of local conflicts and genocide, and other economic, health, and population factors; a one standard deviation increase in GDP per capita annual change caused a 0.16–0.20 standard deviation decrease in freedom of religion or belief violations in these countries between the years 1999–2020.