Lost Revenue Due to Trade Liberalization: Can Nigeria recover her own?

The aim of the study is to find out the possibility of recovering the tariff revenue that will be lost in the process of liberalization through restructuring of the domestic tax system in Nigeria by examining the buoyancy and elasticity of the tax system. Using the dummy method, commonly known as the Singer approach, the Nigerian tax system as a whole was found to be relatively buoyant but not elastic. The buoyancy however showed a decline close to 16% after the 1991 trade reform. Import duty despite the decline in its share in total tax from 47.3% before the reform to 28% over the reform period showed a positive increase in buoyancy. CIT collection measured by tax-to-base elasticity declined by 46% over the reform period, suggesting that there is an urgent need to improve on tax administration. Also, the result confirm the ineffectiveness of the various reforms and (DTMs) in enhancing the productivity of the tax system, showing that much need to be done in our domestic tax system, both in structure and administration before thinking of engaging in any bi- or multilateral trade agreement.   Key words: Nigeria, Trade liberalisation, Lost revenue and Domestic tax syste

The Relative Importance of Macro and Firm-Level Fundamentals to Nigerian Stocks’ Prices: Lessons for other Emerging Markets

The recapitalization policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005 increased transactions in the Nigerian stock market and also attracted the interest of many investors. As most capital markets are pro-cyclical, the Nigerian stock market was not different. The investors’ interests were not sustained over a long period of time due to a crash. Whenever there is a burst of the market bubble, it is always attributed to a deviation of the stock prices from the fundamentals of the firms that issue the stocks. Therefore, this study investigates the issue of movement in stock prices and the various changes that occurred in the characteristics of banks’ stocks prices between 2006 and 2010. This study adopts pooled least square regression method using a panel of 10 banks to find out the major determinants of stock prices in the Nigerian stock market with the view to establish if the burst was actually a function of deviation of the price from the fundamentals of the firms. One of the striking findings of this study is that prices of banks’ stocks have been mostly driven by the announcement and issuance of returns on investment at previous time periods – declared dividends. Both at individual bank level and the aggregate banks’ level, declared dividend proved to be the major driver of stock prices. This implies that the burst might not have been as a result of deviation of the prices from the fundamentals of the banks, rather by other forces outside the firm fundamentals. Keywords: Nigerian capital market, Bank Stock Prices, Bank Fundamentals, Emerging Market Economies, Macroeconomic fundamentals, Cyclical Market

Minimizing the Negative Externality from Sachet Water Consumption in Nigeria

Over the years, there has been a consistent increase in the production and use of plastic and sachet packaged products in Nigeria which results in a proportional increase in plastic and Nylon waste pollution in the environment. An earlier survey show that the introduction of sachet water in the country some years ago worsened the situation as it contributes to more than 60% of the sachet pollution. This study therefore tried to find out an efficient and sustainable means of collecting the used sachet water bags to minimize its negative external impact on the environment. It was carried out using primary data collected through direct interview from a sample of 1500 individual in some selected states in the Country. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Log-log regression model. The results of the analysis show that PPP method can be effective in managing the menace. Majority of the sampled individuals are of the opinion that a 100% PPP levy will be a sufficient motivation for sachet water users to return their used sachet water bags to the appropriate collection sites in return for their levy or for the trash pickers to collect them for an equivalent payment. Keywords: Sachet water, biodegradable, Pollution, Externality, Plastic Polluter Pay (PPP

Minimizing the Negative Externality from Sachet Water Consumption in Nigeria

Over the years, there has been a consistent increase in the production and use of plastic and sachet packaged products in Nigeria which results in a proportional increase in plastic and Nylon waste pollution in the environment. An earlier survey show that the introduction of sachet water in the country some years ago worsened the situation as it contributes to more than 60% of the sachet pollution. This study therefore tried to find out an efficient and sustainable means of collecting the used sachet water bags to minimize its negative external impact on the environment. It was carried out using primary data collected through direct interview from a sample of 1500 individual in some selected states in the Country. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Log-log regression model. The results of the analysis show that PPP method can be effective in managing the menace. Majority of the sampled individuals are of the opinion that a 100% PPP levy will be a sufficient motivation for sachet water users to return their used sachet water bags to the appropriate collection sites in return for their levy or for the trash pickers to collect them for an equivalent payment. Keywords: Sachet water, biodegradable, Pollution, Externality, Plastic Polluter Pay (PPP