CEO Tenure and Financing Decisions of Nigerian Non-Financial Listed Firms: A Dynamic Panel Approach

Access to long-term debt has been a persistent problem facing Nigerian non-financial listed firms. The existing literature suggests that CEO tenure has a bearing on the ability of firms to secure a considerable amount of borrowings to finance their investment opportunities. However, Nigeria’s corporate governance framework does not contain a specific recommendation on the CEO tenure, which in turn results in an unstable tenure of CEOs in the Nigerian corporate environment. Thus, this paper examines how CEO tenure influences the financing pattern of the companies operating in the country. The study analysed the balanced panel data set of 63 Nigerian listed firms for seven years (2012- 2018) using the two-step system GMM. In particular, the research found that CEO tenure is significantly and positively associated with the firms’ leverage ratio. This evidence underscores the relevance of the CEO tenure on the borrowing decisions of the Nigerian non-financial listed firms. The findings of this research have some policy implications on the firms’ capital structure choices. First of all, the Nigerian firms should attach more value to the longer serving CEOs, because longer tenure enhances CEOs’ strategic decisions, including the choice of optimum leverage. Also, regulatory authorities in Nigeria should specify the number of years CEOs should serve. By doing so, CEOs will have a stable term in office and thereby empowering them in collaboration with their board members to design an effective debt policy to boost the firms’ value

An impact assessment of dye wastewater of selected sites in urban Kano, Nigeria

No Abstract

Ethno-botanical survey of medicinal plants used traditionally in the treatment of mental disorders in Kano, Nigeria

Purpose: To identify medicinal plants used by traditional medicine practitioners to treat mental disorders within Kano metropolis, Nigeria.Methods: A semi-structured questionnaire was administered. It was made up of demographic information (Section A), description of the medicinal plants (Section B), and the professional experience of the respondents (Section C). The data generated were recorded, processed and analyzed.Results: 255 responses were collected from 127 respondents. Among the participants, 101 (79 %) were male and 26 (21 %) were female. The age groups less than 31 years were 22 (17 %), 31 - 40 years were 29 (23 %), 41 - 50 years were 45 (36 %), and above 51 years were 31 (24 %). The sources of knowledge identified include ancestral (83 %), ancestral/training (9 %), training (6 %), and divination (2 %). Out of the total responses, fifty (50) different medicinal plants with various claims in the treatment of mental disorders were reported. The most commonly stated medicinal plants were Securidaca longepedunculata (8.6 %), Jatropha curcas (7.5 %), Solanum aethiopicum (7.1 %), Artemesia annua (6.7 %), Terminalia macroptera (6.3 %), Aristolochia albida (5.9 %), Nigella sativa (5.5 %), Andira inermis (5.5 %), Calotropis procera (5.1 %), and Burkea africana (4.7 %).Conclusion: This survey revealed fifty medicinal plants used traditionally in the treatment of mental disorders within Kano metropolis

Relationship between Public Debt Burden and Health Expenditure in Sub-Saharan African Countries: The Role of Institutional Quality

The historically lower level of public health expenditure of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries could be partly explained by the mounting debt burden of this region. This consumes a sizable proportion of their domestic resources to debt servicing and potentially decreases their overall budgetary allocations to various sectors in the economy and health expenditure in particular. Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach on a sample of 43 sub-Saharan African countries, we examined the relationship between the public debt burden and health expenditure highlighting the role of institutional quality for the period 2000 – 2014. The empirical result confirms that the relationship between public debt burden and health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa is negative. Interestingly, however, the marginal effect of the relationship between the public debt burden and health expenditure has shown that such a negative relationship turns out to be positive when the quality of the institutions is at maximum. This suggests that the relationship between the public debt burden and health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa is a function of institutional quality.  Therefore, to minimize the negative impact of public debt on health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa, governments should take determine stand to minimize its debt accumulation and intensify efforts toward the improvement of institutional quality in the region comprehensively

Madrasa and Its Development in Nigeria

This study aims to describe the development of madrasa education system in African continent. It also explores the development of madrasa in Taraba State, Nigeria. This research used a descriptive method. The results showed that in African continent, madrasa institutions had their historical developments, financial support and how British colonial influenced their development. In Nigeria, madrasa institutions have had similar developments with their counterparts from other countries in the African continent. British colonialism has reduced the supremacy of madrasa in terms of financial and managerial capacity. In Taraba State, Nigeria, there are several different forms of traditional non-formal Islamic education. Their forms include madrasa qur'anic college with the evolutionary development around Alaramma; madrasa whose mobility is limited; and Islamic school. The three educational institutions are recognized by the government and they have experienced modernization in terms of their management for the Qur'an program and their Western infrastructure use.

A critical analysis of the Impeachment power of legislature under the Nigerian Constitution

The power of impeachment is created and vested in the Nigerian legislature under the constitution. Why, when and how the power is to be exercised have been provided under the constitution and some laws. However, compliance with the constitutional requirements for the exercise of this power has always been are concern as almost all the exercises have been challenged in courts for noncompliance. This study, therefore, provides a critical analysis of the law and practice of impeachment. In this light, it analyzes the constitutional and legal provisions in relation to the roles of the lawmakers, chief judges and members of investigation panels. The data used in this study were collected using the library approach and semi-structured interviews conducted with relevant stakeholders. The study found, among others, that noncompliance with the constitutional requirements for impeachment is attributable to some provisions which are difficult to comply with like personal service requirement. Furthermore, the constitution vests enormous impeachment powers on the legislature without any mechanism for check and balance in the course of its exercise. It is also found that there are no provisions on standard of proof of the grounds for impeachment. On judicial review of impeachment, it is found that it is bedeviled by challenges such as delay and lack of respect for court order. Consequently, it is recommended, among others, that the constitution be amended to provide for substituted service where personal service is difficult. Furthermore, Constitutional Court be established and vested with specific power to check the exercise of impeachment power. Standard of proof "on balance of probability" be provided for proof of grounds for impeachment. On the challenges to judicial review of impeachment, it is recommended that time frame to conclude judicial review of impeachment be provided and the laws on contempt proceedings be enforced to ensure compliance with court orders

Online Stochastic Principal Component Analysis

This paper studied Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in an online. The problem is posed as a subspace optimization problem and solved using gradient based algorithms. One such algorithm is the Variance-Reduced PCA (VR-PCA). The VR-PCA was designed as an improvement to the classical online PCA algorithm known as the Oja’s method where it only handled one sample at a time. The paper developed Block VR-PCA as an improved version of VR-PCA. Unlike prominent VR-PCA, the Block VR-PCA was designed to handle more than one dimension in subspace optimization at a time and it showed good performance. The Block VR-PCA and Block Oja method were compared experimentally in MATLAB using synthetic and real data sets, their convergence results showed Block VR-PCA method appeared to achieve a minimum steady state error than Block Oja method. Keywords:   Online Stochastic; Principal Component Analysis; Block Variance-Reduced; Block Oj

Impact of Isra’iliyyat reports on the Islamic creed of contemporary Muslims

In Islamic literature sacred histories and particularly narratives of the Prophets and saintly people have suffered much distortion and manipulation by Qassasun3 or simply storytellers. The trend gave writers unprecedented chance of being storytellers, and it is from such works that they draw their tales4. The spread of Islam and its subsequent acceptance by Judaism and Christianity paved way for assimilation and exchange of ideas and tradition among the adherents of the three religions. This trend of sourcing information from other religions in order to understand Islam is considered by some scholars to be a potential threat and possible cause for confusion among the Muslims. It has however affected Islam in various ways. One of such ways is the pattern, method and the manner in which inauthentic reports known as Isra'iliyyat reports are brought into the Islamic traditions particularly by Qur‘an commentators5. Regrettably, the trend has seemingly affected the foundational principles of Islamic faith (Aqidah) such as the belief in Allah (S.W.T.), His Prophets, and previous (sacred) revelations such as Taurat (Torah), Zabur (Psalm) and Injil (Gospel). The paper, in line with this backdrop, attempts to answer the questions listed here and other relevant ones in order to unravel the impact of Isra‟iliyyat reports on the Aqidah of contemporary Muslims. How do the Isra'iliyyat reports spread among the contemporary Muslims and how best it could be handled? How often did Isra'iliyyat reports treat certain aspects dealing with Islamic Aqidah? To what extent does the use of Isra'iliyyat reports affect Islam and harms the Muslim faith? How to identify Isra'iliyyat reports and assess their usage on the basis of sifting technique? Does the understanding of the Glorious Qur‘an require any additional information sourced from Isra'iliyyat? Is the use of Isra'iliyyat necessary for Muslims? How rapid and accelerated was Isra'iliyyat reports since the time of the Sahaba (the Prophet‘s Companions) and their followers to the present time? Was it permitted to use Isra'iliyyat reports in areas that do not contradict the Shari'ah or downgrade one of the Prophets of Allah? To achieve the objectives of the research, we adopted analytical phenomenological methodology.Keywords: Impact, Isra'iliyyat, Aqidah Contemporary Muslims, Inji

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF IRISH POTATO (Solanum tuberasum) PRODUCTION UNDER IRRIGATION SYS- TEM IN KATSINA METROPOLIS, KATSINA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KATSINA STATE

A survey on economics analysis of Irish Potato (Solanum tuberasum) Production under irrigation sys- tem in Katsina Metropolis Katsina Local Government Area was carried out. Six communities were purposively selected due to the production of Irish potato. The communities were Kofar Sauri, Kofar Durbi, Kofar Marusa, Filin Samji, Rafukka and Yammawa. A simple random sampling was employed in selecting the farmers were by ten (10) farmers were randomly selected from each community which gave a total of sixty respondents. The data were obtained using structured questionnaire and sub- jected to descriptive statistics, gross margin and net farm income analysis. The research describes the socio economic characteristic of the respondents in which the respondents were within the mean age of 41 years. The result also showed hundred percent of the respondents were male, 66.6% were mar- ried, 30%, 31.6%, 33.3% and 5% had qur«¤??anic, primary, secondary and tertiary education respectively. The result also showed that 90% of the respondents«¤?? source their initial income for production of Irish potato from personal saving and 48.3% source information from mass media. The research also de- scribed the production characteristic of the respondents were majority (51.6%) cultivate 0.2-0.4ha, 81.6% acquired their land by inheritance, 88.3% practice sole cropping and 48.3% used family labor. Net Farm Income analysis revealed that Irish potato production in the study area is profitable with Net Farm Income of N5798.83, «¤?¢Ã21555.35 and «¤?¢Ã65399.48 for 0.2-0.4ha, 0.5-0.7ha and 0.8-1ha. The result further reveals that manure and fuel contributed toward the output for 0.2-0.4ha, manure, fuel, water and labour contributed for 0.5-0.7ha and manure, water and labour for 0.8-1ha. The result also identified some constraints to Irish potato production such as inadequate fertilizer, poor storage facili- ties, pest and diseases, inadequate extension advice, poor canal maintenance, inadequate capital, poor cooperation, adulteration of farm input, and marketing problem. Conclusively, net farm income result shows that Irish potato production is profitable in the study area. It is recommended that re- search into way of improving the method of storage should be promoted