Equity in Financing Health Care Services in Nigeria

Health care services in Nigeria are mainly financed through out-of-pocket payment. This study investigated the extent to which payments towards health care are related to ability to pay and if poor households make proportionally more out-of-pocket payment on health. In analyzing this, the study utilized data from the General household survey of the National Bureau of statistics of 2014. The study employed the Kakwani progressivity index in analyzing the objectives of the study. The findings from the study shows a regressive out-of-pocket payment which suggests that payments towards healthcare are not related to ability to pay. The result also shows that the poor households make proportionally more out-of-pocket payment. Keywords: Out-of-Pocket payments, Ability to Pay, Kakwani Progressivity Inde

Inequality in Under-Five Child Malnutrition: Evidence from Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey

This paper evaluates inequality in under-five child malnutrition in Nigeria; using cross-sectional data from 2011 multiple indicator cluster survey. The concentration curve was employed to ascertain whether inequality in under-five child malnutrition is pro-poor or pro-rich whereas the concentration index was used to determine the size of this inequality in Nigeria. We found that inequality in malnutrition concentrates amongst the poor under-five children and that the size of this inequality is reasonably large. This result is consistent for the three anthropometric measures of child malnutrition i.e., stunting, underweight and wasting. However, inequality in stunting and wasting were found to be fairly the same and bigger than that of wasting. Put differently, inequality in stunting and that of underweight were found to be the strongest in Nigeria, while that of wasting was discovered to be the weakest. We recommend increase in food production and distribution, investment in nutrition education and increase in access to nutritious food, mainly for children left behind (i.e., the poor children) in the country. Keywords: Under-Five Child Malnutrition, Inequality, Concentration Curve, Concentration Inde

Impact of Oil Price Volatility on Investment and Human Capital Development in Nigeria

The study examined oil price (revenue) volatility effect on investment and human capital development (measured with gross school enrolment) in Nigeria, using quarterly time series data from World Bank’s development indicator and Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2013. EGARCH model was used to obtain the conditional variance of oil price (i.e., a measure of oil price volatility) which was employed in ordinary least square estimation. The model was also used to test for volatility persistence in oil price. ARCH test was conducted and discovery of ARCH effect justified the use of EGARCH model. From our results, the persistence effect was found large and significant; implying that volatility in oil price takes a long time to decay. Secondly, results from ordinary least square estimation revealed that oil price volatility has significant positive impact on investment in Nigeria. This implies that any sharp rise in oil price (revenue), stimulates investment through increase in government expenditure, say, on infrastructures, but the reverse happens for any sharp decline in oil price. The results also show that oil price volatility has significant negative impact on gross school enrolment in Nigeria. This indicates that high oil wealth caused by rise in oil price does not permeate the Nigeria education system. Summarily, these findings suggest that, diversification of the revenue base of the Nigerian economy is necessary in order to minimize the consequences of external shocks. Since variations in oil price, significantly influence the level of investment and school enrolment in Nigeria and considering the fact that volatility in oil price may not die out fast.&nbsp