Economic Diplomacy in Ibibioland: The Pre-colonial Perspective

Until recently, the economic history of pre-colonial Africa was replete with uncomplimentary theories and from scholars of different disciplines. The belief was that the economy was subsistent, uniform, unchanging and very uninteresting. These theorists believed that the dominant agricultural sector was virtually immobilized by a combination of primitive technology, like communal land tenure and extended family, while the development of key entrepreneurial groups was inhibited by the prevalence of an anti-capitalist value system. The historical analytical method was adopted in this research. The theories portrayed pre-colonial Africans as people that lacked the capacity to progress even though they lived in a rich environment. It was believed that it was not until the advent of the Europeans that positive changes were recorded. However, contrary to these theories, the Ibibio pre-colonial economy was premised on agriculture, complemented by trade and the existence of local industries. Thus, their pre-colonial economy was more coordinated, complex and diversified than the Eurocentric writers opined. The success recorded in this direction was activated by economic diplomacy which the Ibibio had practiced in the pre-colonial period. Issues relating to the economy were properly managed through the adoption of various relevant methods and strategies. Since the economy of a people operates in the society and remains fundamental to the survival of such society with the capacity to influence the political and other institutional decisions, economic diplomacy triggered holistic development in Ibibioland. Based on these, it recommended that present day Ibibio economy should not be totally divorced from these fundamental variables if the Ibibio are to be economically relevant in present day Nigeria

Accessibility levels to potable Water Supply in Rural Areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The UN in the year 2000 enlisted improved access to potable water supply as one of the development goals to be achieved by 2015 in developing countries including Nigeria. This study therefore, examined the levels of access to potable water supply in rural areas of Akwa Ibom State against the background of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. to carry out the investigation, the map of the study area was divided into 500 grid squares (quadrates) and a total of 50 rural communities were sampled using table of random numbers. Community heads or their spokesmen/women in the sampled areas were target respondents and data on major sources of water supply, distance to the nearest major source of water supply and the number of water boreholes in the communities were collected and analyzed. The population of the communities provided a basis for evolving an index that measured the levels of access to potable water supply in the study area. The use of GIS was subsequently employed to map out the study area on the basis of levels of access to potable water supply. The overall result depicts a very poor status scenario as majority of the communities studied have deteriorating conditions. The study recommends among others that a state of emergency be declared in the water sector, if the MDGs are to be achieved in the water sector by 2015.Key words: Rural, Water Supply, Akwa Ibom, NigeriaKey words: Rural, Water Supply, Akwa Ibom, Nigeri

Spatial Distribution and Accessibility of Health Facilities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Halting the spread of preventable diseases is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with 2015 as target period for achievement. The attainment of this goal is a function of the spatial pattern of distribution of healthcare facilities and a measure of the degree of accessibility to healthcare services. This paper therefore analyzed the spatial patterns of healthcare facilities in Akwa Ibom State against the philosophy of achieving the MDGs in the health sector. Data from official records of government establishments were obtained while fieldobservation in 50 rural communities was carried out using spatial sampling framework. Data on six health indicator variables were obtained and analyzed to assess the levels of access to healthcare facilities. The resultdepicts a lopsided distributional pattern of healthcare facilities and thus hinders good access to high quality healthcare services in the state. The paper concludes that the regional trend of development in the health sector is at variance with the subscription of the MDGs and the target achievement period of 2015 seems to be an illusion unless there is an aggressive intervention measures on the part of government.Key words: Accessibility, Health Facilities, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, Overvie

EFFICIENT COMPUTATION OF THE M-CLOSURE FOR SOLVABLE PERMUTATION GROUPS

This research presents a novel approach to efficiently compute the m-closure of solvable permutation groups of degree n. The m-closure is an essential concept in group theory, particularly in understanding the structure and properties of permutation groups. We propose an algorithm that constructs the m-closure with a time complexity of nO(m), significantly improving the computational efficiency compared to existing methods. Through rigorous mathematical analysis and computational experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of our approach

Analysis of Empirical Relationship among Agricultural Lending, Agricultural Growth and Non-Performing Loans in Nigerian Banking System

Increasing levels in Non-Performing loans (NPLs) which has remained an area of great concern contributed to issue of declining agribusiness activities in Nigeria in the 1990s and thereafter. The study examined non-performing loans relationship with agricultural lending and agricultural productivity from 1980 to 2015 in Nigeria. Time series data obtained from CBN were analyzed using, Granger causality test, Pearson correlation, and co-integration as well as error correction models. The empirical analyses revealed that, bilateral Granger causality existed between loans and advances granted to agricultural sector and non-performing loans in Nigeria. Also, growth in GDP has a positive and significant correlation with NPL in Nigeria. In the long run, NPL is positively related to agricultural productivity, growth in the GDP and value of loans and advances offered to agricultural sector. Whereas, in the short run, NPL reacted significantly to the negative influence of interest rate and positive impact of GDP growth rate. The adjustment coefficient of 52% was discovered for the NPL long run equation in Nigeria. It is recommended that short and long- term banking reform policies be adopted to reduce fluctuations in NPLs in the banking system and efforts should be geared towards increased participation of specialized financial institutions as to accelerate investments in agriculture sector

Geochemistry of Ekenkpon and Nkporo shales, Calabar flank, SE Nigeria: implications for provenance, transportation history and depositional environment

The Cretaceous Nkporo and Ekenkpon Shales within the Calabar Flank were investigated using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to deduce the provenance, transportation history and depositional environment. The results show the dominance of SiO2 (45.27 – 46.45%; 44.50 – 54.83%), Al2O3 (22.27 – 23.57%; 19.20 – 20.20%) and Fe2O3 (8.30 – 9.04%; 5.64 – 7.30%) constituting the bulk major oxides of Nkporo and Ekenkpon Shales respectively. The Index of Chemical Variation (ICV) ranges from 0.42 – 0.56 and 0.57– 0.68 for Nkporo and Ekenkpon Shales respectively, suggesting moderate and high degree of weathering. The enrichment of Sr (124 – 350ppm; Nkporo Shale and 176 – 856ppm; Ekenkpon Shale) compared to Post Australian Archean Shale (PAAS; 14.6ppm) could be attributed to feldspars in the source area, and is easily incorporated in the clay minerals of the shales. Also the values of Th and U which are 15.00 – 17.20ppm; 14.6- 23.2ppm and 3.5-4.2ppm; 1.9-6.2ppm respectively in Nkporo and Ekenkpon sediments show enrichment compared to PAAS of 14.6ppm and 3.1ppm for respective values of Th and U. The Eu anomaly of 0.04 to 0.07 suggests felsic source rocks for both formations while plots of TiO2 vs. Al2O3 indicate an intermediate to dominantly felsic granodiorite source for both shales, with little input from felsic volcanic provenance plus traces of quartzose sedimentary rocks. The mobility of Na, Ca, and K due to progressive weathering of the shales is evident in the bivariate plots of Na2O wt% vs. PIA, CaOwt% vs. PIA and K2O vs. PIA. Values of Th/U ratios range from 3.37 – 4.91(Nkporo) and 3.10 – 7.68 (Ekenkpon), indicating moderate to high weathering and reworking of sediments. It is envisaged that the area is associated with passive to active continental margin tectonics, where sediments were mainly sourced from felsic rocks of the adjoining terrain and deposited in oxic, continental to transitional marine environment based on Al2O3– K2O +CaO+MgO-Fe2O3+MgO; AKF plot.KEYWORDS: Cretaceous, Calabar Flank, provenance, transportation history, depositional environment

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Open Market Operations Instrument of Monetary Policy Management in Nigeria

This study empirically examined the effectiveness of Open Market Operations (OMO) instrument of monetary policy management in Nigeria. In doing this, the study adopted the monetarist theory as the basis for measuring the effectiveness of OMO instrument of monetary policy management in Nigeria. The investigation was carried out using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method of estimation. Unit Root and Co-integration tests were performed on all the variables and the results revealed that the variables have long run relationship and are suitable for OLS estimation. The empirical results indicated a significant relationship between monetary policy instruments such as open market operations, required reserve and monetary policy rate with broad money supply which is the proximate target for monetary policy management. This implies that Open Market Operations has been an effective instrument of monetary policy management in Nigeria. The study further showed that monetary policy rate could serve as a veritable instrument for the control of money supply and effective monetary policy management in the economy. It is recommended, among others, that the CBN should review periodically the performance of monetary policy with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of monetary policy instruments in order to achieve macroeconomic stability. Keywords: OMO, Monetary policy effectiveness, Macroeconomic stability, Nigeria

Exchange Rate Volatility and International Trade In Nigeria

Volatile exchange rate makes international trade and investment decisions more difficult because volatility increases exchange rate risk. This study seeks to evaluate the impact of exchange rate volatility on international trade in Nigeria on the basis of annual data from 1980 to 2013, which was obtained from World Bank Development Indicators (WDI). Exchange rate volatility, gross national product (GDP), investment, interest rate, import and export were used to capture the causal relationship between exchange rate volatility and international trade and also the long-run and short-run relationship between exchange rate volatility and international trade. A review of the literature reveals that exchange rate volatility has a negative impact on international trade. The empirical analysis began with testing for stationarity of the variables by applying the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), this was followed by co-integration test, then the granger causality and the Error Correction Model (ECM). The co-integration test indicated that the variables are co-integrated which implies that a long-run relationship exist between the variables while the granger causality test showed that a causal relationship exist between international trade and exchange rate volatility. It was observed form the ECM analysis that exchange rate volatility negatively affects international trade. The study therefore recommend that the government should put in place exchange rate and trade policies that will promote greater exchange rate stability and trade conditions that will promote domestic production in the economy. In other to achieve this, the government should provide efficient infrastructural services like energy resources

Coconut Coir Dust Ion Exchange Resins for Removal of Ni2+ ion from Aqueous Solution

The ability of coconut coir dust, a natural adsorbent made from dried coconut husk as a non conventional and low cost sorbent for the removal of Ni2+ from aqueous solution was examined. The adsorption capacity was found to be dependent on the contact time and initial concentration which increased along with contact time and initial ion concentration but latter decreased with 15mg/L for the three resins (coconut coir dust (CCD), carboxylated toluene resin (CTR), and sulphonated toluene resin (STR)). Maximum adsorption was obtained after a contact time of 90minutes at an initial concentration of 15mg/L. The results were analyzed by Langmuir and Flory-Huggins isotherm. The sorption process was best described by Langmuir isotherm which indicates monolayered adsorption and chemisorption. Adsorption was found to follow pseudo-second order kinetics with average rate constant of 1.3287g/mg min. Adsorbents obtained from coconut can be used as sorbent for removing metal ions from aqueous solution. Keywords: Adsorption, coir dust, ion exchange, Ni2+ions, kinetics, isotherm