Law and Energy Infrastructure Development in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nigeria and Ghana

The development of infrastructure to support optimal energy utilization is a key challenge in most developing countries. This challenge, and other socio-political issues, has caused several developing countries to lag behind on the path of economic development. Although the developmental challenges are multifaceted, this paper examines the role of the law in the promotion of energy infrastructure development, and the role that infrastructure plays in directing both the energy process and development, or absence thereof, in a developing country. This paper is primarily concerned with energy infrastructure areas that are in acute need of development and have very poor infrastructure development indicators. To this effect, the paper examines whether there is a correlation between the State and the content of its law in terms of performance, energy sources, energy patterns and use, and levels of discernible sustainable development in the two West African countries, Ghana and Nigeria; both of which are former British colonies and share similar historical antecedents. The paper is divided into three major sections. The first section considers energy development laws in Nigeria by focusing on the Energy Commission of Nigeria Act, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act. Similarly, the second section examines energy development laws in Ghana with a focus on both the Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission Acts in the country. Within this section is a comparison of the state of energy infrastructure development in Nigeria and Ghana. In the final section, a conclusion is reached based on the review and comparisons made. Cite as: 20 Annl. Survey Int\u27l. Comp. L. 173 (2014)

A New Ridge-Type Estimator for the Gamma Regression Model

The known linear regression model (LRM) is used mostly for modelling the QSAR relationship between the response variable (biological activity) and one or more physiochemical or structural properties which serve as the explanatory variables mainly when the distribution of the response variable is normal. The gamma regression model is employed often for a skewed dependent variable. The parameters in both models are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). However, the MLE becomes unstable in the presence of multicollinearity for both models. In this study, we propose a new estimator and suggest some biasing parameters to estimate the regression parameter for the gamma regression model when there is multicollinearity. A simulation study and a real-life application were performed for evaluating the estimators\u27 performance via the mean squared error criterion. The results from simulation and the real-life application revealed that the proposed gamma estimator produced lower MSE values than other considered estimators

MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS FOR UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION: MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATION AND IMPLICATION OF UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

Many problems in petroleum engineering involve solving multivariable complex integrals and analytic calculation is rarely possible in most practical cases. Numerical approximation appears to be practicable. However, majority of existing numerical solution of a D–dimensional integral with a relative accuracy (ϵ) requires a computation time proportional to ϵ-D. Hence, the use of Ordinary Monte Carlo simulation (OMCS) in uncertainty quantification has gained tremendous attention. In reality, when historical data is available, variables are not independent and identically distributed (iid). The direct sampling of variable under this condition is not expected to be easy and use of OMCS can be erroneous. Methods based on Markov Chains will offer reasonable solution to this problem. This study evaluates simulation methods for quantifying uncertainty in reservoir forecast. The implications of underlying mathematics and assumptions that characterizes them were covered. The p5-p10–p50–p90-p95 uncertainty envelopes from different methods were presented using a case study from Niger Delta. The result is useful for identification and selection of effective tools in uncertainty quantification in the oil industry

Predictive modelling of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Nigeria

The coronavirus outbreak is the most notable world crisis since the Second World War. The pandemic that originated from Wuhan, China in late 2019 has affected all the nations of the world and triggered a global economic crisis whose impact will be felt for years to come. This necessitates the need to monitor and predict COVID-19 prevalence for adequate control. The linear regression models are prominent tools in predicting the impact of certain factors on COVID-19 outbreak and taking the necessary measures to respond to this crisis. The data was extracted from the NCDC website and spanned from March 31, 2020 to May 29, 2020. In this study, we adopted the ordinary least squares estimator to measure the impact of travelling history and contacts on the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria and made a prediction. The model was conducted before and after travel restriction was enforced by the Federal government of Nigeria. The fitted model fitted well to the dataset and was free of any violation based on the diagnostic checks conducted. The results show that the government made a right decision in enforcing travelling restriction because we observed that travelling history and contacts made increases the chances of people being infected with COVID-19 by 85% and 88% respectively. This prediction of COVID-19 shows that the government should ensure that most travelling agency should have better precautions and preparations in place before re-opening

The Role of Policy Makers and Institutions in the Energy Sector: The Case of Energy Infrastructure Governance in Nigeria

This paper focuses on investigating the linkages and consequences of the policy decision process in the governance of energy infrastructure in Nigeria. It attempts to gain a better understanding of the role of policy makers and institutions in the provision of energy infrastructure in Nigeria. Using a combination of semi-structured interviews and documentary evidences from published literature, this study reveals three essential areas where the policy-making processes (and therefore policy makers) intervene in the provision of energy infrastructure. These are: (1) granting access to historical data; (2) regulations; and (3) permitting/issuance of licenses. This study also reveals three major unintended consequences of the policy decision processes and institutions in the governance of energy infrastructure provisions in Nigeria, which are: (1) government financing corruption in the energy sector; (2) economic delusion; and (3) uncontrolled growth in energy demand driven more by export and not local internal demand

Law and Energy Infrastructure Development in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nigeria and Ghana

The development of infrastructure to support optimal energy utilization is a key challenge in most developing countries. This challenge, and other socio-political issues, has caused several developing countries to lag behind on the path of economic development. Although the developmental challenges are multifaceted, this paper examines the role of the law in the promotion of energy infrastructure development, and the role that infrastructure plays in directing both the energy process and development, or absence thereof, in a developing country. This paper is primarily concerned with energy infrastructure areas that are in acute need of development and have very poor infrastructure development indicators. To this effect, the paper examines whether there is a correlation between the State and the content of its law in terms of performance, energy sources, energy patterns and use, and levels of discernible sustainable development in the two West African countries, Ghana and Nigeria; both of which are former British colonies and share similar historical antecedents. The paper is divided into three major sections. The first section considers energy development laws in Nigeria by focusing on the Energy Commission of Nigeria Act, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act. Similarly, the second section examines energy development laws in Ghana with a focus on both the Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission Acts in the country. Within this section is a comparison of the state of energy infrastructure development in Nigeria and Ghana. In the final section, a conclusion is reached based on the review and comparisons made. Cite as: 20 Annl. Survey Int\u27l. Comp. L. 173 (2014)

An unbiased estimator with prior information

The ordinary least square (OLS) estimator suffers a breakdown in the presence of multicollinearity. The estimator is still unbiased but possesses a significant variance. In this study, we proposed an unbiased modified ridge-type estimator as an alternative to the OLS estimator and the biased estimators for handling multicollinearity in linear regression models. The properties of this new estimator were derived. The estimator is also unbiased with minimum variance. A real-life application to the higher heating value of poultry waste from proximate analysis and simulation study generally supported the findings