Working Paper 136 - Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to Africa, 1980-2007

The central concern of this paper is to respond to the question: what determines FDI inflows to Africa? An understanding of such factors will assist African policymakers to formulate and execute policies for attracting FDI. Our estimation results from a panel of seven five-year non-overlapping windows for the period 1980-2007 indicate that: (i) there is a positive relationship between market size and FDI inflows; (ii) openness to trade has a positive impact on FDI flows; (iii) higher financial development has negative effect on FDI inflows; (iv) high government consumption expenditure attracts FDI inflows to Africa; (v) higher FDI goes where international remittances also goes in Africa; (vi) agglomeration has a strong positive impact on FDI inflows to Africa; (vii) natural resource endowment and exploitation (especially for oil) attracts huge FDI into Africa; (viii) East and Southern African sub-regions appear positively disposed to obtain higher levels of inward FDI. The key policy implications are discussed.

Working Paper 73 - Economic and Political Causes of Civil Wars in Africa: Some Econometric Results

In this paper, we investigated whether civil wars in Africa have economic andpolitical causes. The model is based on the Collier-Hoeffler “greed” and “grievance”theory in which rebels will conduct a civil war for “loot-seeking” and “justiceseeking”reasons. Using logit models the propositions were tested empirically. Inparticular, six variables, GDP per capita growth rate in the preceding period, theamount of natural resources (proxied by primary commodity exports-GDP ratio),peace duration, democracy, social fractionalisation, and population size aresignificant and strong determinants of the onset of civil wars in Africa. The policyimplication is the combination of economic diversification, poverty and populationreduction, and political reforms so as to prevent conflict situations in Africancountries.

Why Does Foreign Direct Investment Go Where It Goes?: New Evidence From African Countries

The central concern of this paper is to respond to the question: why do FDI inflows go where they do in African countries? An understanding of such factors will assist African policymakers to formulate and execute policies for attracting FDI. Our estimation results from cross-country regressions for the period 1996-2008 indicate that: (i) there is a positive relationship between market size and FDI inflows; (ii) openness to trade has a positive impact on FDI flows; (iii) higher financial development has negative effect on FDI inflows; (iv) the prevalence of the rule of law increases FDI inflows; (v) higher FDI goes where foreign aid also goes; (vi) agglomeration has a strong positive impact on FDI inflows; (vi) natural resource endowment and exploitation (such as oil) attracts huge FDI; (vii) East and Southern African sub-regions appear positively disposed to obtain higher levels of inward FDI. The key policy implications are discussed.Foreign direct investment, Factors driving FDI, African countries

Working Paper 91 - Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes in Africa

This paper provides econometric evidence linking African countries’ per capita total as well as government health expenditures and per capita income to two health outcomes: infant mortality and under-five mortality. This relationship is examined, using data from 47 African countries between 1999 and 2004. Health expenditures have a statistically significant effect on infant mortality and under-five mortality. The magnitude of our elasticity estimates are in consonance to those reported in the literature. For African countries, our results imply that total health expenditures (as well as the public component) are certainly important contributor to health outcomes. In addition, we find that both infant and under-five mortality are positively and significantly associated with Sub-Saharan Africa. The reverse is true for North Africa. While ethnolinguistic fractionalization and HIV prevalence positively and significantly affect the health outcomes, higher numbers physicians and female literacy significantly reduce these health outcomes. These results have important implications for attaining the targets envisioned by the Millennium Development Goals. The data implications are also discussed.

Working Paper 92 - Education Expenditures and School Enrolment in Africa: Illustrations from Nigeria and Other SANE Countries

Using panel data of African countries from 1990 to 2002, this paper studies the relationship between government expenditure on education enrolments, with illustration from Nigeria and other SANE (South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, and Egypt) countries at the primary and secondary school levels. The results show that government expenditure on education has a positive and significant direct impact on primary and secondary education enrolment rates. Among the SANE, Nigeria has the greatest positive influence on increasing both primary and secondary education enrolment rates. The paper also finds that other policy interventions, such as consolidating and sustaining democracy, accelerating national income, and international community fulfilling its aid promises to Africa, can also be helpful in moving African countries (including the SANE) toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As such, higher expenditure alone is not sufficient to achieve the MDGs or to attain higher quantum and quality of human capital.

Keynote Address

From 1995 to 2008, Africa’s average economic growth was 5% per annum. In 2008 GDP growth in Africa was 5.5% against 6.5% in 2007, representing the fifth consecutive year when growth exceeded 5.5%. This has largely been attributed generally as the dividend of the reforms embarked upon by most African countries during the period

Knowledge and perception of young adults in Nigeria on effectiveness of condom use in prevention of sexually transmitted infections

Background: Although sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a global health problem affecting every region of the world, the higher prevalence and mortality rate of STIs in developing countries of the world, like Nigeria, make them serious public health issues in this region. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and perception of young adults in Nigeria on the role of condom (both male and female condoms) as a preventive measure against STIs during heterosexual and homosexual intercourse. Materials and methods: Data was collected from participants selected from the northern and southern Nigeria using self-administered questionnaire specifically designed for this study. Results: Knowledge of condom efficacy in STI prevention was satisfactory. However, knowledge and practice of the correct use of condom was poor. Only 47.1% of the 102 participants in this study reported correct condom use of wearing condoms before staring intercourse and removing condoms after ejaculation. As a strategy to include the experiences, knowledge and perception of men who have sex with men, this study asked the question on condom use during anal sex. Only 24.4% of the male participants indicated they have never had anal sex while for females, the percentage was more than half (53.5%). Condom use during anal sex was low with only 20.6% of participants reporting condom use during anal sex. Negative perceptions about condom use – such as that condom use promotes sexual promiscuity, and not using condoms with steady sexual partners – were significant in this study. Also, condom use errors were common in this study. Conclusion: There is a wide gap in knowledge of correct condom use in this population. There is need for interventions that address the issue of condom use during anal and same-sex sexual intercourse in this population