Effects of taxes financing decisions and firm value in Nigeria

The study sets out to measure how the taxation of dividend and debt affects firm value. Tax hypothesis predicts that firm value is negatively related to dividends and positively related to debt. The study covered 1197 firm-year observations of manufacturing firms in Nigeria from 1984 to 2000. To achieve the objective, the study estimated the model on the average values for each firm and tested for industry effects using the ordinary least square (OLS) method. We found the opposite of tax hypotheses predictions from the regression results. We hypothesized that the relationship between dividends, debt and firm value will be affected by the size of the firm. We therefore partitioned the firms into two on the basis of size measured as market capitalization. We estimated separate equations for each sub-sample and found positive relationship between dividend and firm value and negative relationship between debt and firm value in both small-sized firms and big firms? sub-sample. The study concludes that dividend and debt convey information about profitability of firms. This information about firms? profitability obscures any tax effect of financing decisions. However, we found that earnings and investment are key determinants of firm value in Nigeria.

Effects of taxes financing decisions and firm value in Nigeria

The study sets out to measure how the taxation of dividend and debt affects firm value. Tax hypothesis predicts that firm value is negatively related to dividends and positively related to debt. The study covered 1197 firm-year observations of manufacturing firms in Nigeria from 1984 to 2000. To achieve the objective, the study estimated the model on the average values for each firm and tested for industry effects using the ordinary least square (OLS) method. We found the opposite of tax hypotheses predictions from the regression results. We hypothesized that the relationship between dividends, debt and firm value will be affected by the size of the firm. We therefore partitioned the firms into two on the basis of size measured as market capitalization. We estimated separate equations for each sub-sample and found positive relationship between dividend and firm value and negative relationship between debt and firm value in both small-sized firms and big firms? sub-sample. The study concludes that dividend and debt convey information about profitability of firms. This information about firms? profitability obscures any tax effect of financing decisions. However, we found that earnings and investment are key determinants of firm value in Nigeria

Environmental policy and slaughterhouse waste in Nigeria

The target of this paper is for policy makers to be better informed on everything they need to do to make the market-based instrument work as a complement to the “command and control system” otherwise they would have little to show for their efforts in terms of a cleaner environment. The paper is also directed at making policy makers understand the extent to which resource and environmental conditions impinge upon macroeconomic performance

GROWTH AND FAECAL EGG COUNT RESPONSE OF VILLAGE MANAGED GOATS TO WILTED AND SUN-DRIED CASSAVA FOLIAGE

The growth and faecal egg count response of village managed goats to wilted and sun-dried cassava foliage was evaluated in a 8-week experiment. Twenty-four goats of the West African dwarf breed with age ranging from 6 to 8months and average weight of 8.25kg were selected from the farmers herd and randomly allotted to three treatment groups according to receive wilted cassava foliage (WCF), sun-dried cassava foliage (SCF) and albendazole (control). The results showed that weight gain differed significantly (P < 0.05) among treatments (31.61 to 44.29g/day) with best (P < 0.05) growth rate observed in goats supplemented with WCF. All treatments reduced worm egg count with a reduction of 65.67 %, 67.13% and 69.96% in goats, supplemented with SCF, WCF and albendazole, respectively. In addition, faecal egg count (FEC) was low in all treatments after 4 week post treatment and remained low (FEC<465) in the goats till the end of the experiment.  This study concluded that supplementing grazing goats with WCF was best in reducing faecal egg count and improving growth rate in goats, which could serve as a natural low-cost deworming agent in village managed goats.Â

Monetary Implication of Environmental Disamenities on Housing Investment in Lagos State: The Ojota Scenerio

Numerous studies have ascertained the diminutionary tendencies of disamenities such as solid waste landfills on real estate investments despite previous mixed conclusions. This study examines one of the four landfills in Lagos State- Olusosun landfill located in Ojota, Lagos and its estimated financial implication on the real estate market in Lagos State, Nigeria. A relational distance of 1 200m radius was established between the landfill and residential properties by which property values were measured based on consistent intervals of 300meters up to 1 200 meters in concentric rings. The study indicated within the Olusosun landfill neighbourhood, an increase in property values were evident as distance away from the landfills increased indicating that residential houses in close proximity to the landfills suffered value loss. Property appreciation relative to distance averaged 6% within the concentric rings of the landfill while the an estimated total loss on the real estate market via the landfill found to be approximately =N=2.1billion. The study recommended that if improved technology could not be utilised in the effective management of the various sanitary landfills within developed areas of the state, the current landfills in operation be closed down and relocated to the outskirts of the city to forestall a consistent appreciation in real estate investment in the state

Debt in developing countries : Expert views from Sub-Saharan Africa

The study presents the views of selected experts from Sub-Saharan Africa on the problems many countries in the region face with debt. The debt burden is a critical macroeconomic challenge in the region, as one third of SSA countries are classified either as debt distressed or in high risk of debt distress. The paper details the situation based on the latest data from the main international organisations. It reviews the academic and policy-oriented literature about the debt problems from a macroeconomic perspective, with special emphasis on private debt. Based on a structured survey of specialists from the SSA region, the paper sheds light on the reasons for, the economic impact and the outlook of debt problems. An overarching message from the survey is that economic policies play a key role in shielding against debt problems.This report is commissioned as part of UniPID Development Policy Studies (UniPID DPS), funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) and managed by the Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID). UniPID is a network of Finnish universities established to strengthen universities’ global responsibility and collaboration with partners from the Global South, in support of sustainable development. The UniPID DPS instrument strengthens knowledge-based development policy by identifying the most suitable available researchers to respond to the timely knowledge needs of the MFA and by facilitating a framework for dialogue between researchers and ministry officials. The content of this report does not reflect the official opinion of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The responsibility for the information and views expressed in the report lies entirely with the authors

Antibacterial Activity of Methanolic Extract of Moringa oleifera Lam. Leaf on ESBL Producing Bacterial Isolates from Urine of Patients with Urinary Tract Infections

The study was carried out to determine the effects of methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera on bacterial isolates from urine of patients with urinary tract infection (UTI).  One hundred and fifty urine samples were collected for this study at Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, between March 2015 and June 2015. Ethical clearance was obtained in order to carry out the study. Microscopical examination of the urine smear (wet preparation) revealed presence of yeast (48.0%), bacteria (88.9%), white blood cells (10%) and epithelial cells (14%). A total of 89 bacteria were isolated belonging to 40 different bacteria species. The Gram positive bacteria isolated include Corynebacterium  accolens, Arthrobacter  mysorens, Rhodococcus  equi, Staphylococus aureus, Luteococcus sanguinis, Aerococcus  viridians, Actinomyces urogenitalis, Helicobacillus massiliensis, Branchibus cervicis, Arthrobacter cretinolyticus, Streptococcus rubneri among others. While the Gram negative bacteria were Cetobacterium somerae, Escherichia coli, Klebisiella  pneumoniae, Yersinia frederikseni, Enterobacter aerogenes, Vibrio mimicus, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pantoea agglomerans, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus vulgaris among others. The bacteria isolated showed multi-drug resistance to the antibiotics tested. None of the bacterial isolates showed susceptibility to all the antibiotics tested, as they showed resistance to between 2 to 8 out of the 8 antibiotics tested per organism. All the bacteria tested showed evidence of ESBL production, and all of them were susceptible to the methanolic extract of dried leaf of Moringa oleifera. The qualitative analysis for phytochemical constituents of the methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera indicated the presence of saponnins, flavonoids, steroids and cardiac glycosides. The methanolic extract of dried leaf of Moringa oleifera was found to possess potent phytochemicals with high inhibitory activities on bacteria of UTIs origin. Key words: Antibacterial activity, Moringa oleifera Lam, Methanolic extract, Phytochemicals, Urinary tract infections

Development and implementation of a tenth-order hybrid block method for solving fifth-order boundary value problems

A hybrid convergent method of tenth-order is presented in this work for directly solving fifth-order boundary value problems in ordinary differential equations. A unique direct block approach is obtained by combining multiple Finite Difference Formulas which are derived via the collocation technique. The proposed method is fully analyzed and the existence and uniqueness of the discrete solution is established. Different numerical examples are considered and the results are compared with those provided by existing works in the literature. The comparison shows the good performance of the present method over some cited works in the literature, confirming the competitiveness and superiority of the new numerical integrator

Haematological and serum biochemical indices of cocks drenched varying levels of clove powder (Syzygium aromaticum)

There is stimulated increased interest in the usage of consumer accepted natural alternatives such as phytogenic feed additive (PFAs) to improve livestock performance. Clove is a wonderful phytogenic feed additives with little information in its benefit in poultry production. This study was conducted to assess the effect of clove powder (Syzygium aromaticum) on haematological and serum - biochemical indices of cocks. Clove was obtained from a local market in Saki, Oyo State. Dried clove buds were cleaned and air dried for 24 hours prior to milling and stored in air-tight bags until the period of usage. Cocks (48 birds assigned into four treatments) were drenched at 0.0g (T1), 0.05g (T2), 1.00g (T3) and 1.5g (T4) after 2 weeks of acclimatization. Haematological parameters measured were: packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC), haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), Mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC). While biochemical evaluated were total protein, albumin, globulin, uric acid, creatinine, cholesterol and glucose. Data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance in a completely randomised design. RBC (3.64 – 3.76 X106/mL), Hb (3.64 – 12.86 g/dL), MCH (32.79 – 36.86 μμg) and MCHC (31.62 – 32.85%) showed significant difference (P<0.05), while PCV (39.00 – 41.00%), WBC (18.66 – 19.10 X109/mL), MCV (103.74 – 112.23 μ3) shows no significant difference (p>0.05). Total protein showed significant difference (P<0.05) with values ranging between 4.46 and 5.40 g/dL There exists significant difference (P<0.05) in the mean value of albumin, with highest value in 1.50g CP (5.40). Other biochemical parameters studied also showed significant differences (P<0.05) with the highest value in 1.50g CP. Drenching cocks with clove powder up to 1.5g was discovered posing no harmful effect on cocks

Sesamum indicum diet prevents hyperlipidemia in experimental rats

Cardiovascular diseases and metabolic complications caused by hyperlipidemia are the leading cause of death globally. In this study, the hypolipidemic potency of Sesamum indicum (SI) seeds was investigated. Of the thirty-five (35) male rats used in the study, five (5) were randomly selected for baseline measurements and thirty (30) were fed high fat diet (HFD) for four (4) weeks before random assignment into three (3) groups. The experimental group was treated with 50% SI seed, the positive control group was given a hypolipidemic drug, atorvastatin (5 mg/kg/day) while the untreated group served as the negative control. With SI administration, the dyslipidemia induced by the HFD consumption in the plasma and the investigated body organs was reversed to a comparable degree with that of atorvastatin treatment. Taken together, this study demonstrates the hypolipidemic potency of SI in ameliorating hyperlipidemia and its associated complications, facilitated by the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase activity