Curbing Corruption in Nigeria: The Imperatives of Good Leadership

The work generally examined the past and present government leaderships' efforts at curbing corruption in Nigeria and the imperatives of good leadership. The study, specifically, analyzed the relationship between effectively fighting and curbing corruption and the leadership style in Nigeria. The basic finding is that because corruption in Nigeria is very pervasive at the nation's various leadership levels, the effort to curb it has not been significantly successful. This is because the leaders who are at the forefront of the anti-graft war are grossly embedded in corrupt activities themselves. In the face of this, the work recommends that to effectively fight and control corruption in Nigeria, government leadership at all levels must be honest, upright, sincere and accountable in their management of state affairs. Very importantly, the leaders need to exhibit exemplary attitudes and serve as models for upright and honest public and even private lives. In fact, Nigeria leaders must be willing and capable to demonstrate personal commitment to the ant-graft war not only in words but, very importantly, in deeds. This is very necessary if the efforts at fighting corruption in Nigeria are to be effective and meaningful

Effect of Cooperatives on the Savings Behaviour of Members in Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra State, Nigeria

This paper assessed the effect of cooperative on the savings behavior of members. The study was carried out in Oyi LGA with data from 195 randomly selected members of credit cooperatives. Analysis of data was with descriptive statistical tools such as mean, tables, and frequency counts. Also a multiple regression model was utilized to assess determinants of savings behaviour. Results from the study show that cooperative membership impacted positively on the savings behavior of members. Findings show that older members had more savings than newer members. Although the marginal propensity to save (MPS) was a 9.3%, it was significant since it showed that rural dwellers were capable of saving in cash. Moreover most of these savings were made through the savings mechanism of cooperatives. Length of membership in cooperative was also found to be an important determinant of savings thus confirming that the older one is in the cooperative, the more he is likely to save. In line with the findings of the study, it is recommended among others for membership drive to attract more rural dwellers into the membership of cooperatives; and the need for credit cooperatives to convert to multipurpose cooperatives to enable them to be more involved in the economic activities of the members, like supply of farm inputs and agricultural marketing.Key words: Savings, savings behavior, rural areas, credit cooperatives, lifecycle hypothesi

Role of Cooperatives in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) Development in Nigeria: Challenges and the Way Forward

The paper examined the contributions of cooperatives to small and medium scale enterprises (SME) development, identified the challenges and to suggested ways of strengthening this role. The paper argued that SMEs are the key to Nigeria‟s prosperity, but that past efforts by the government to promote SMEs has not yielded the desired objectives. Cooperative societies from their antecedents have not only contributed to the development of small scale business but are in themselves small scale businesses. Cooperatives have always promoted small business development through entrepreneurial development, funding, provision of entrepreneurship, promotion of establishment of small scale industries, promotion of small holder agriculture, etc. But in spite of these efforts, cooperative sector is still faced with several challenges, including lack of adequate funds, illiteracy among its members, lack of training /educational opportunities which make it difficult for cooperatives to contribute maximally in business promotion activities, etc. The paper is of the opinion that more could be achieved if efforts are intensified to address these challenges. Reform of the cooperative policy framework, including legal and regulatory procedures is desirable. Other areas needing attention are capacity building to address the problems associated with management and leadership skills in the societies and the need to strengthen the cooperative governance system.Key words: Cooperative, SME, Capacity-building. Governanc