Investors’ Behavioural Biases and the Security Market: An Empirical Study of the Nigerian Security Market

Behavioural biases describe a replicable pattern in perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality. This paper adopts a primary data approach to investigate the effects of behavioural biases on security market performance in Nigeria. The objectives are in twofold: one, to examine the extent of behavioural biases among security market investors in Nigeria and, to examine the effects of behavioural biases on stock market performance in Nigeria. The paper employed questionnaire as instrument and the technique of correlation with Pearson Product Moment Coefficient to analyze a survey of 300 randomly selected investors in Nigeria security market. We find strong evidence that behavioural biases exists but not so dominant in the Nigeria security market because a weak negative relationship exists between behavioural biases and stock market performance in Nigeria. The paper recommends that individual investors in the market should engage the services of investment advisors which will reduce personal biases in the management of their portfolios

Global shocks and their impact on Nigeria: Lessons from global Financial crisis.

Developed a-five variable VAR model of the Nigeria economy for period 1970 – 2010, the study tested the general wisdom, ―Global financial crisis does not impact on Nigeria economy‖. Data were mainly sourced from both the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philips-Perron (PP) tests were used in testing the null hypothesis that there is a unit root in the time series of interest. The variables considered were (1) log of GDP (2) log of FDI (3) log of REM (4) EXR and (5) CPI. Impulse-response functions were employed to examine the recovery from shocks makes full use of the within-country variation. We introduced the constant term and two lagged values of each variable in each equation and found that the impact of financial crisis on Nigeria was possible through financial links, trade links, remittances and other capital flows.This implies that the common believe about the Nigeria economy that global shocks through financial crisis does not have any impact is not quite accurate, for initially the global shocks made unstable the Nigerian economy through the macroeconomic variables understudied although after the initial instability resulting from the global shocks, the Nigeria economy then dependent less on fluctuations in the global economic crisis. We on that premise opined that the crisis presented an opportunity for Nigeria to unbalance the Nigeria economy by concentrate on leading sectors like power, education, agriculture so that the development of these sector can bring about a locomotive growth and results in balanced sector in the long run

CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCALLY MADE PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS IN NIGERIA

Psychological tests are essential to the study and practice of psychology and are used for recruitment, selection, placement, and classification in commerce, industries, and the military. They are scientifica lly constructed following careful and detailed procedures based on sound theoretical approach. Psychologists in Nigeria have constructed culturally relevant tests to assess personality in various settings. However, the number of psychological tests in Nigeria is grossly in adequate. Most of the tests used by psychologists in Nigeria are foreign and not suitable for African cultural background. The scarcity of local tests in Nigeria may be as a result of the challenges psychologists in Nigeria face in the process of test construction. This paper therefore discusses some of these challenges which include the shortage of manpower in the field of psychometrics; financial and time constraints; work overload; lack of mentoring and training programmes; and the lack of attraction to psychometrics as a career in psychology. It was recommended among others that Universities in Nigeria should offer psychometrics as an area of specialization in psychology at the postgraduate level and also, that Psychometricians in Nigeria should encourage young psychologists in the field through mentoring, coaching, and by forming and financing research clusters towards the development of psychological tests

Facilities Management Approach For Achieving Sustainability in Commercial Buildings in Nigeria

The purpose of this research is to determine the extent of sustainable facilities management (FM) practice in the management of commercial buildings in Nigeria and identify barriers to it, in order to develop a solution model that will proffer ways of overcoming these barriers and ultimately determine sustainable methods by which facility managers in Nigeria can effectively manage commercial properties. This study is a work in progress and it presents a theoretical review on the extent of sustainable FM in developed countries, especially the United Kingdom (UK), and comparing it with the development of sustainable FM in developing countries and Nigeria in particular. Nigeria has a history of unsustainable building practices, mismanagement of buildings and poor maintenance culture with no consideration for its impact on the environment. Findings reveal the three main barriers to sustainable FM practice in corporate organisations in Nigeria, as lack of training and tools, lack of relevant laws and regulation, and lack of knowledge and awareness. Nevertheless, there remains the urgent need to investigate barriers of sustainable FM practice in the management of commercial buildings in Nigeria

May it Please Your Honor : Letters of Petition as Historical Evidence in an African Colonial Context

This paper presents some preliminary conclusions drawn from an ongoing project which aims to collect and collate letters of petitions in colonial Nigeria as primary source for historians and other scholars. The goal is to show the potential use of petitions as a foundation for gauging African reactions and responses to colonialism focusing on the petitions that emerged during the Second World War in colonial Eastern Nigeria. The paper is based on the collection of petitions located at the National Archives of Nigeria at Enugu written by people living in the rural and urban areas in colonial Eastern Nigeria during the Second World War. Mainly addressed to District Officers in Colonial Eastern Nigeria from within the region, they reflect the concerns of individuals and groups as they relate to the crisis engendered by the Second World War and the policies and controls imposed by officials to bolster the British war effort

The economic foundation of friendship between the peoples of Nigeria and the United States

Two potentially contradictory sets of interests may shape future economic relations between Nigeria and the United States: On the one hand, U.S. transnational corporations have, in the last two decades, discovered in Nigeria a primary source of the vital raw material, oil, as well as a growing market for their manufactured goods. On the other hand, the peoples of both the U.S. and Nigeria, if Nigeria successfully achieves balanced, integrated industrial-agricultural development, could benefit from the resulting stimulus to expanded trade, growing employment and higher living standards. This paper will briefly examine the nature and implications of these two different, at times conflicting, sets of interests

Democracy and National Development: A Focus on Nigeria

Democracy is a government form based on the general consent, is seen to becoming common in global nations; and that if the tenet is followed it facilitates national development. This study used the content analysis method to examine democracy in Nigeria and national development. It was found that some pre-colonial administrations in Nigeria had embraced democratic tenets before the colonials master came; the difference, however, border on structural arrangements. It was found that the version of western democracy has not adapted the Nigeria environment making its practice difficult and also difficult to attain national development. It was also found that the phase Nigeria democracy passed, especially, during the military regimes has not provided opportunities for development. The ethnic diversity of Nigeria and inabilities of leadership to manage it was found to pose legislative influence on democracy and national development. It was found that Nigeria environment lacks the absorptive capacity to accommodate liberal democracy considering the death of institutions and the skewed electoral process. It was found that absence of effective democracy in Nigeria disarticulated the pre-colonial democratic structure, and the exclusivist approach to liberal democracy and the rule of the game, manifest in incessant agitations, militancy, insurgency, banditry, and general underdevelopment. It was also suggested that a change in leadership approach is necessary, more importantly, to allow a breath of democratic participation in policy-making for national development. It was also recommended that all forms of discriminations are addressed and that constitutionalism should be upheld

Biomass resources and biofuels potential for the production of transportation fuels in Nigeria

Solid biomass and waste are major sources of energy. They account for about 80% of total primary energy consumed in Nigeria. This paper assesses the biomass resources (agricultural, forest, urban, and other wastes) available in Nigeria and the potential for biofuel production from first, second, third and fourth generation biomass feedstocks. It reviews the scope of biomass conversion technologies tested within the country and the reports on the technology readiness level of each. Currently, most of the emerging biofuels projects in Nigeria utilize first generation biomass feedstock for biofuel production and are typically located many miles away from the petroleum refineries infrastructures. These feedstocks are predominantly food crops and thus in competition with food production. With significant availability of non-food biomass resources, particularly in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, and the petroleum refineries located in the same area, it is pertinent to consider expanding use of the petroleum refinery׳s infrastructure to co-process non-food biomass into bio-intermediate oil for blending with petroleum. This not only addresses the potential food versus fuel conflict challenging biofuel production in Nigeria, but also reduces the cost of setting up new bio-refineries thus eliminating the transportation of ethanol to existing petroleum refineries for blending. In view of this, it is recommended that further research be carried out to assess the feasibility of upgrading existing refineries in Nigeria to co-process bio-based fuels and petroleum products thus achieving the targets set by the Nigeria Energy Commission for biofuel production in the country