Education, Health and Housing in Ogoni Community: Does Government or Oil Firms Intervention Matter?

This paper examines the impact of interventions of government and Oil companies on the social wellbeing (education, health and housing) of Ogoni community in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Measurement of such impacts is an essential requirement for policy formulation and strategic planning. Primary data used in this study were collected through a survey of 400 households using a multistage sampling technique. The results reveal that government interventions in provision/renovation of school building and provision of scholarship have positive effect on school completion in the community. Making basic education free is a good policy; but if the households would need their children to be involved in income generation, such policy may fail. Thus, empowering the household heads and other working-class adult members of the household to raise enough income for the household would help the children become available to benefit from free education policy or even household-funded education

Households’ Perception of Factors Influencing Agricultural Productivity in Ogoni Community: An Ordinal Logit Approach

Agriculture is the principal means of livelihood in Ogoniland of Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Ascertaining the determinants of agricultural productivity in the community is therefore important in meeting food security and income needs. This study uses survey data of 400 households in Ogoni community. The data was collected using a multistage sampling method. An ordinal logit regression model was estimated. Descriptive analyses indicate that 75.8% of the surveyed households were involved in agricultural production and that only 37.1% of the households involved in agriculture had lost their agricultural produce due to oil spoilage in the last two years. The ordinal logit regression model identifies government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water, land degradation, air pollution and household income as significant determinants of agricultural productivity in the community. However, land degradation and air pollution are negatively associated with agricultural productivity while government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water and household income are positively related to agricultural productivity in Ogoni community. On the other hand, the result indicates that corporate social responsibility of oil firms towards cleaning of polluted land and water), oil spill and education attainment of household head are not among the significant determinants of agricultural productivity in Ogoni community

Empirical Analysis of the Buoyancy and Elasticity of Tax in Nigeria

Many countries in the world have greatly sponsored their government expenditures with the aid of tax revenue, and owe their developments to this internally generated revenue. The rate of increase depends on the elasticity and buoyancy of tax and it is on this premise that, this study investigates the elasticity and buoyancy of tax in an attempt to ascertain its flexibility and hence the possibility of increasing the tax base in Nigeria The study adopted the standard OLS estimation procedure which was modified into Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and was incorporated in vector error correction model (VECM). The results of the study therefore suggest that aggregate revenue is relatively elastic and significantly buoyant according to the 2004 tax reforms. And the results of the four major taxes tested showed that only PPT was found to be relatively elastic while VAT, CED and CID were relatively inelastic. However the results further suggest that, while VAT and CIT are not significantly buoyant according to the 2004 tax reforms, PPT and CED are significantly buoyant. Finally, the study used the 2005 structural break to establish that aggregate tax revenue dropped significantly after the boom period. The study therefore concludes that tax in Nigeria is relatively flexible with respect to growth and therefore more could be done to increase it. Keywords: Tax, tax reform, elasticity, buoyancy, Nigeria

Households’ Perception of Factors Influencing Agricultural Productivity in Ogoni Community: An Ordinal Logit Approach

Agriculture is the principal means of livelihood in Ogoniland of Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Ascertaining the determinants of agricultural productivity in the community is therefore important in meeting food security and income needs. This study uses survey data of 400 households in Ogoni community. The data was collected using a multistage sampling method. An ordinal logit regression model was estimated. Descriptive analyses indicate that 75.8% of the surveyed households were involved in agricultural production and that only 37.1% of the households involved in agriculture had lost their agricultural produce due to oil spoilage in the last two years. The ordinal logit regression model identifies government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water, land degradation, air pollution and household income as significant determinants of agricultural productivity in the community. However, land degradation and air pollution are negatively associated with agricultural productivity while government intervention towards cleaning of polluted land and water and household income are positively related to agricultural productivity in Ogoni community. On the other hand, the result indicates that corporate social responsibility of oil firms towards cleaning of polluted land and water), oil spill and education attainment of household head are not among the significant determinants of agricultural productivity in Ogoni community

EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE ON HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN OGONI COMMUNITY, RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Rural poverty reduction could be enhanced through investment in road infrastructure. The aim of this study, therefore, is to examine rural household earning return to road infrastructure using Ogoni community in Rivers State, Nigeria, as a case study. Using a structured questionnaire and an interview guide to collect data from 400 households, the findings show that Ogoni community had suffered from inadequate access road. Majority (about 56. 6%) of the households indicated that access road in the community is low. However, the study confirms that household earning return to improvement in road infrastructure in Ogoni community is positive and significant (p<0.01). The result shows a marginal effect of 0.303 unit increase in the log-odds of being in a higher category of household income given an increase in the categories of good access road. Therefore, to reduce poverty in the community, there is need for more government, cooperate organizations and people-centered efforts towards the provision of more access road in the community