The Impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on Economic Development of Ekiti State, Nigeria

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) has proved to be a major intervention in resolving the problems of poverty and unemployment in most developing countries. This study examines the impact of SMEs on Economic Development of Ekiti State (2006-2013). A survey research design was adopted to obtain data from 150 respondents comprising of traders, artisans, production factories and other small and medium enterprises which were selected using multi stage sampling method across 16 local government areas in Ekiti State. Three Null hypotheses were tested to identify the significant effects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on poverty reduction, employment generation and improvement in the standard of living in Ekiti State. Data for this study was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between SMEs and poverty reduction, employment generation and improvement in standard of living of people in Ekiti State. Furthermore, the result revealed that there was a 57% increase in the number of SMEs in the State between the years 2009-2013. The study concludes that access to capital funding by reduction in the interest rate on loan offered by banks can boost the performance of SMEs in Ekiti State and Nigeria at large. Keywords: SMEs, Poverty Alleviation, Unemployment Bank, Economic developmen

Statistical approach to optimization of the transesterification reaction from sorrel (hibiscus sabdariffa) oil

In an effort to optimize the reaction conditions of biodiesel production from Sorrel seed oil, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied and the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst amount, reaction time and methanol/oil molar ratio, and their reciprocal interactions were ascertained. A total of 30 experimental runs were designed by Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) and carried out. A quadratic polynomial was obtained for predicting the Transesterification process and the ANOVA test showed the model to be significant (p<0.05). The validity of the predicted model was confirmed by carrying out three independent replicates experiments. The actual maximum biodiesel yield obtained was 99.23% (w/w) at methanol/oil molar ratio 6.21, catalyst amount 1.03 (% wt.), reaction temperature 51 oC, and reaction time 63 min. The fuel properties of Hibiscus sabdariffa methylester (HSME) produced were found to be within the ASTM D6751 and DIN EN 14214 biodiesel standards. The fatty acid profile of the HSME revealed that the dominant fatty acids were oleic (58.34%), arachidic (1.55%), palmitic (18.28%) and linoleic (21.19%). Emission assessment revealed 70% reduction of CO at B80, 80% reduction of NO concentration at B40

Acid-Catalyzed Esterification of Waste Cooking Oil with High FFA for Biodiesel Production

In this work, Biodiesel was produced from waste cooking oil (WCO) obtained from Mr. Biggs.  Since WCO usually comes with a high content of FFA and thus requires an additional acid pre-treatment process to convert the FFA to ester. Two steps (esterification and transesterification) approach was employed to convert the WCO to biodiesel. In the first step, six experimental run was carried out until the % FFA was constant. Meanwhile, the second step required five experimental runs, and the average WCO biodiesel yield (95.06 % w/w) was computed at the following variable conditions, 0.55% KOH, 5:1 Methanol/oil molar ratio, 60 oC reaction temperature and 30 min reaction time. Meanwhile, the produced WCO biodiesel possess some fuel properties which satisfied both ASTME D6751 and EN 1424 standards. The fatty acid profiles of both the WCO and WCO biodiesel revealed that both profiles contained unsaturated fatty acids. Hence, it can be concluded that WCO is a potential raw material for biodiesel production which are biodegradable, economical, environmental friendly and always available. Keywords: Waste cooking oil (WCO), esterification, transesterification, biodiesel, fatty acids profile, physicochemical analysis

Evidence of Utilisation of the Lessons of History for Planning and Development in Nigeria: The Example of the Contrast Between Lagos and Abuja

The paper examined how the lessons of Lagos, Nigeria’s former capital, were utilized for the choice of location, planning and development of Abuja, the new capital. It questioned the view that the dichotomy between Abuja and Lagos with regard to beauty, cleanliness, functionality, organization and development control is an anathema arising mainly from the neglect of Lagos. Contrarily, it argued that the differences between the two regions of the country is not mainly due to the neglect of Lagos, the former capital, considering the fact that it was the shortcomings and inadequacies of Lagos that provided the lessons for the choice, designing, naming, development, development control, and even recently, the “reform agenda”, in Abuja. The paper posited that, notwithstanding the perceived neglect of the former capital by the federal government, contrary to its promise when the capital was relocated to Abuja in 1991, the dichotomy between Lagos and Abuja is essentially clear evidence that the country has, for once, benefitted from its history in the development of the new capital. If the contrary was the case, as it was in the pre-2003 era, it would have been another sad commentary on the ability of the country to learn and benefit from its history. The focus of the paper, therefore, is how the inadequacies and shortcomings of Lagos provided the lessons for the development of Abuja.Key words: Background, Designing, Naming, Development, Abuja, Lagos, Refor

Evaluation of Simultaneous Equation Techniques in the Presence of Misspecification Error: A Monte Carlo Approach

One  of  the  assumptions  of  Classical  Linear  Regression  Model (CLRMA),  is  that  the  regression  model be  ‘correctly’   specified.  If  the  model  is  not  ‘correctly’  specified,  the  problem  of  model  misspecification  error arises. The objective of the study is to know the performances of the estimator and also the estimator that is greatly affected by misspecification error due to omission of relevant explanatory variable.  Four simultaneous equation techniques (OLS, 2SLS, 3SLS, LIML) were applied to a two-equation model and investigated on their performances when plagued with the problem of misspecification error. A Monte Carlo method simulation method was employed to investigate the effect of these estimators due to misspecification of the model. The findings revealed that the estimates obtained by 2SLS and 3SLS are similar and variances by all the estimates reduced consistently as the sample size increases. The study had revealed that 2 3 SLS performed best using average of parameter criterion while OLS generated the least variances. LIML is mostly affected by misspecification. Keywords: Monte Carlo, Misspecification error, Simultaneous equation

HCME: An Environment-Friendly I.C. Engine Fuel

The study revealed that Hura crepitans oil is a good candidate for Hura crepitans methyl ester (HCME) production. Two steps (esterification and transesterification) production stages influenced the high yield of HCME. Three possible experimental runs were performed in each step, the best of the three conditions were 1.45 (% v/v) for H2SO4 conc., 5:1 for methanol/oil molar ratio, 40 min for reaction time which gave 1.06 % for FFA in the first step, in the second step, 92.70 %(w/w) of HCME was obtained at 0.55% KOH, 5:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 60 oC temperature and 30 min reaction time. The produced HCME had fuel properties which satisfied both ASTME D6751 and EN 1424 standards. The fatty acid profile of the HCME revealed the dominant fatty acids were linoleic (64.50%), oleic (17.54%) and palmitic (12.70%). Exhaust emissions from an internal combustion (I.C.) engine revealed that there is 60% decreased in CO, 58% decreased in NOx, 60% decreased in HC, 39% decrease in smoke opacity and 42% decreased in BSFC at B20, respectively. Flue gas temperature increased by 12% at B20, 45% increased in BTE at B50 when compared to pure diesel (AGO). Hence, it can be concluded that B20 (20% HCME + 80% AGO) will provides the best emission reduction at the lowest cost

Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Kumaraswamy Exponential Distribution with Applications

The Kumaraswamy exponential distribution, a generalization of the exponential, is developed as a model for problems in environmental studies, survival analysis and reliability. The estimation of parameters is approached by maximum likelihood and the observed information matrix is derived. The proposed models are applied to three real data sets

Nutrient composition and suitability of four commonly used local complementary foods in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Adequate nutrition is important during infancy and childhood where a short period of malnutrition has long lasting effects on growth, development and health in the adult life. The period from six months to two years constitutes a critical window of opportunity for promoting optimal growth, health and development, while insufficient quantity and quality of complementary foods (CFs), poor feeding practice and high rate of infection have a detrimental impact on growth in these important years. This study was designed to evaluate the nutrient composition and suitability of four commonly used complementary foods in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional survey involving women with children aged 6-24 months old was carried out in two randomly selected LGAs to identify the commonly used CFs. A total of 300 consenting mothers (150/LGA) aged 18 to 60 years presenting their children for immunisation in the two LGAs were respondents. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge on breastfeeding, complementary feeding practice, and types of CFs used from the respondents. Standardised samples of the four most commonly used CFs were prepared and analysed for nutrient and anti-nutrient composition using standard AOAC methods of analyses. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi square test, with level of significance set at p = 0.05. Two types of unripe banana porridge, one mashed bean porridge, and mixed cereal pap with crayfish and ‘turn brown’ (soybean flour, groundnut and crayfish) were the four most commonly used CFs. One hundred grams portion of the CFs contained between 2.52 - 6.70 g crude protein, 1.26 - 7.23 g crude lipid, 8.16 - 13.97 g carbohydrates and yielded up to 415.57 kcal of energy. The mineral content ranged between 31.58 - 230.40 mg potassium, 46.78 - 184.68 mg calcium, 55.23 - 120.93 mg phosphorus, 10.37 - 23.26 mg iron, 7.53 - 18.53 mg of zinc / 100g portion. The four complementary foods were nutritionally adequate and were low in anti-nutrients (oxalates, phytates, trypsin inhibitors, saponins and tannins), hence there is little risk of malabsorption of available nutrients. Utilization of unripe banana and mixed cereals with turn brown for infants provides cheap CFs with adequate energy and nutrients, and promotes biodiversity.Key words: Nutrients, Complementary foods, Banana, Cereal, Beans

Assessing the Flexibility of the Exponentiated Generalized Exponential Distribution

A three parameter probability model which serves as a generalization of the Exponential distribution was studied. The new model is named Exponentiated Generalized Exponential (EGE) distribution. The shape of the model could be increasing, decreasing or unimodal (depending on the value of the parameters). Explicit expressions are provided for the moments and generating functions, reliability function and failure rate. The method of maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) was proposed for the estimation of the parameters. An application to two real data sets was provided in order to assess the flexibility of the proposed model over some models in the literature

Analysis of Income Diversification Strategies among Farm Households in Oyo State

Diversification of income sources is considered as a desirable option to augments income among small scale farmers. This study evaluates the income diversification among farm households in Oyo State of Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 280 rural households. The data collected were analysed using diversity index and Tobit regression analysis. The results showed that all the respondents participated in arable farming and this accounts for 28.29 percent of the total income. 57.85 percent participated in tree crop income and this accounts for 11.95 percent of the total income, 60.36 percent of the households engaged in non-farm income and it accounts for 19.93 percent of the total income. The results of Tobit regression showed that education, household size, access to credit and extension contact were the factors increasing income diversification among the rural households in the study area. The study revealed that agriculture remains the major source of income among the respondents. Therefore, the study recommends improvement of agricultural activities through the distribution of agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers and better extension services delivery in order to boost agricultural production. Keywords: Income diversification, Diversity index, Rural Household, Tobit regression