Can globalisation induce economic growth in less developed economies? Evidence from Nigeria small open economy

Effects of globalisation on economic growth in Nigeria were examined. The study methododology was mainly Error Correction Mechanism. The findings revealed that globalisation has negative impact on economic growth in the long run, but positive in the short run. This suggests that while Nigeria participates in globalisation exercise, caution should be exercised in opening up all its growing sectors to international competition, so as not to permanently stiffen the growth of these sectors in the long run with its accompanied negative impacts on the econom

Empirical analysis of the impact of globalization on labor force utilization: Evidence from Nigeria

In this study, the impact of globalization on labor force utilization, proxied as employment, in Nigeria was addressed with a view to assessing the extent to which globalization has influenced the structure of development in Nigeria. To achieve this, Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, and cointegration test were performed to investigate the unit root problem and the long run relationship among variables respectively; also an Error Correction Methodology was applied with a view to capturing both the short run and long run dynamic adjustments in employment model. The findings that emerged from the analysis showed that globalization practice could generate negative impact on employment in both short- and long run periods suggesting that if globalization continues as being practiced, globalization could further worsen the extant decrepit state of unemployment in Nigeria other things being equal. It is therefore recommended that government should confront the imminent unavoidable negative effects of globalization with a well –designed policy mix

Banking sector reforms and output growth of manufacturing sector in Nigeria (1970-2011)

The study investigated empirically the effect of banking sector reforms on the output of manufacturing sector in the Nigerian economy between 1970 and 2011 with a view to examining the extent of the impact of banking sector reforms on the manufacturing sector. The study employed annual secondary time series data from 1970-2011, sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s statistical bulletin and annual report and statement of accounts, National Bureau of Statistics final accounts and IMF International Financial Statistics (IFS) using the methodology of Cointegration analysis and Error Correction Mechanism (ECM). The empirical results showed that the effects of Bank assets, Lending rate, Exchange rate and real rate of interest on manufacturing output were positively significant but with very low impact. On the other hand, the financial deepening and interest rate spread negatively and significantly impacted on the output growth of manufacturing sector in Nigeria. Overall, the conclusion that emerged from the findings suggests that the effects of banking sector reforms on the output growth of manufacturing sector were significantly low in the Nigerian economy. However, the findings indicated that the impacts of the various banking reforms could vary widely on the economy depending on the time lags involved. Consequently, the policymakers must be prepared to initiate proper countercyclical banking reforms that will serve as buffer measures to lessen or abort the negative impacts of any banking reforms on the manufacturing output growth. Thus a flexible accommodating banking reform regime is advocated for Nigeria

Oil price shocks and fiscal policy management: Implications for Nigerian economic planning (1980-2009)

High Oil price fluctuations have been a common feature in Nigeria and these have considerably constituted a major source of fiscal policy disturbance to the Nigerian economy as well as the economies of other oil producing countries of the world. The over-reliance on oil production for income generation combined with local undiversified revenue and export bases is an issue for concern. This has policy implications for economic policy and in particular fiscal policy management. The motivation for this study is to examine the effect of oil price shock on fiscal policy in the country. Using structural vector autoregression (SVAR) methodology, the effects of crude oil price fluctuations on two major key fiscal policy variables (government expenditure (GEXP) and government revenue (GREV)), money supply (MS2) and GDP were examined. The results showed that oil prices have significant effect on fiscal policy in Nigeria within the study period of 1980: 1 to 2009: 4. The study also revealed that oil price shock affects GREV and GDP first before reflecting on fiscal expenditure. The study suggests strongly that diversification of the economy is necessary in order to minimize the consequences of oil price fluctuations on government revenue, by implication government expenditure planning in the country

Family characteristics, students' reading habits, environment and students' academic performance in Nigeria

The paper examined family background factors that affect students' academic achievement in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria. With the use of structured questionnaire, data were collected from 110 first-degree final year students using random sampling and analysed through multiple linear regression techniques. It was found that student's academic performance was positively influenced by student's parental level of education, maternal income level, age, income of the student and number of hours allocated for reading on daily basis. Those students who spent more hours reading their books daily were found performing better than those who spent lesser hours. The hypothesis that parental educational level impacted positive effects on students' academic performance was confirmed valid for the country while effects of parental occupation and parental income were mixed. The major finding of the paper was that higher educational attainment and income status of parents were essential factors contributing to high academic record of students of tertiary institutions. It was, therefore, recommended that policy that enforces higher education advancement for all parents should be enforced in Nigeria