Technical and Vocational Education: Key to Poverty Alleviation in the Third World with Particular Reference to Nigeria

Education is considered to be the key to effective development strategies, technical and vocational education is the master key that can alleviate poverty, promote peace, conserve the environment, improve the quality of life for all and help achieve sustainable development. This study sets out to examine the potency of technical and vocational education as a key for poverty alleviation. The concept and the scope of technical and vocational education was discussed as well as the causes of poverty and its alleviation through technical and vocational education. It was concluded that no meaningful poverty alleviation can be achieved by any nation without effective and efficient technical and vocational education programmes. It was therefore recommended that there should be emphasis on the practical aspect of vocational education so as to enhance the production of productive members of the nation's labour force who will be self-reliant or employable in an industry or company. The man power needs of technical and vocational schools should be met by employing people who have the basic human capacity, and knowledge of vocational courses. Proper funding of technical and vocational education by the government, nongovernmental organizations, private individuals and the society should be provided. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Poverty Alleviation, Self-reliant, Technical Education and Vocational Education

STANDARD COST EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED LISTED FOOD AND BEVERAGE COMPANIES IN NIGERIA, WEST AFRICA

The aim of this research was to determine whether or not a change in standard cost will improve the financial standing of a sample of Nigerian food and beverage manufacturers. This goal was reached by analyzing the relationship between the price of raw materials, the price of labor, and the price of manufacturing overhead on the bottom line of Nigerian food and beverage firms. Five manufacturing firms were chosen at random for the research. Nestle Plc, Cadbury Nig Plc, P.Z. Cussons Nig. Plc, and Presco Nig. Plc are the food and beverage companies that were included in the survey. In this case, we used secondary data that we had gathered over the previous decade (2010-2020). Panel estimation methods (pooled OLS, fixed effect estimation, and random effect) and a post estimation test were used to examine the compiled data. The results showed that a firm's performance in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria was significantly correlated with its manufacturing overhead costs, but negatively correlated with its raw material costs, and positively correlated with its labor costs. The research indicated that careful consideration of raw material costs and the maintenance of effective standard costing across all labor costs were necessary to obtain the desired results. Because of the significant savings in time and money that may be achieved via the use of standard costing principles and procedures, the research concludes that all food and beverage businesses in Nigeria should do so