Tax-and-Spend, Spend-and-Tax, Fiscal Synchronization, or Fiscal Separation: Emerging Evidence from Nigeria

The main thrust of this research was to explore the revenue and expenditure nexus on Nigeria from 1981 to 2016. It tried to uncover the expenditure hypothesis that Nigeria’s government had adopted in her budgeting. Time series data obtained from the statistical bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was used for the study, and it was subjected to unit-root tests. The results from Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philip-Perron tests indicated that the variables only became stationary after differencing once. Accordingly, Johansen cointegration test was conducted and results revealed a longrun relationship between the variables. An Error Correction Model (ECM) was carried out to tie the shortrun dynamics with longrun equilibrium. The ECM exhibited the right sign and significant in both models. The results equally provided empirical evidence that government expenditure has significant effect on revenue in Nigeria as there was a negative and significant relationship between them at various lags when expenditure was made the dependent variable. A positive and significant relationship existed between the variables at various lags when revenue was made the dependent variable. The results of Granger causality tests showed that unidirectional causality runs from expenditure to revenue in Nigeria and this confirmed the adoption of Spend-Tax Hypothesis in Nigeria.  Based on these findings, it was recommended that the government should lay more emphases on revenue than expenditure to remove/reduce budget deficits; should explore other viable avenues other than oil to increase its revenue; emphases should be placed on capital expenditure than on recurrent expenditure as this will help in reducing the over bearing expenditure profile of the country and removal of fiscal imbalances. Keywords: Revenue, Expenditure, Budgeting, Cointegration, Error Correction Mode

A Multi-Parameter Empirical Model For Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion, which is the process by which bacteria breakdown organic matter to produce biogas (renewable energy source) and digestate (biofertiliser) in the absence of oxygen, proves to be the ideal concept not only for sustainable energy provision but also for effective organic waste management. However, the production amount of biogas to keep up with the global demand is limited by the underperformance in the system implementing the AD process. This underperformance is due to the difficulty in obtaining and maintaining the optimal operating parameters/states for anaerobic bacteria to thrive with regards to attaining a specific critical population number, which results in maximising the biogas production. This problem continues to exist as a result of insufficient knowledge of the interactions between the operating parameters and bacterial community. In addition, the lack of sufficient knowledge of the composition of bacterial groups that varies with changes in the operating parameters such as temperature, substrate and retention time. Without sufficient knowledge of the overall impact of the physico-environmental operating parameters on anaerobic bacterial growth and composition, significant improvement of biogas production may be difficult to attain. In order to mitigate this problem, this study has presented a nonlinear multi-parameter system modelling of mesophilic AD. It utilised raw data sets generated from laboratory experimentation of the influence of four operating parameters, temperature, pH, mixing speed and pressure on biogas and methane production, signifying that this is a multiple input single output (MISO) system. Due to the nonlinear characteristics of the data, the nonlinear black-box modelling technique is applied. The modelling is performed in MATLAB through System Identification approach. Two nonlinear model structures, autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) and Hammerstein-Wiener (NLHW) with different nonlinearity estimators and model orders are chosen by trial and error and utilised to estimate the models. The performance of the models is determined by comparing the simulated outputs of the estimated models and the output in the validation data. The approach is used to validate the estimated models by checking how well the simulated output of the models fits the measured output. The best models for biogas and methane production are chosen by comparing the outputs of the best NARX and NLHW models (each for biogas and methane production), and the validation data, as well as utilising the Akaike information criterion to measure the quality of each model relative to each of the other models. The NLHW models mhw2 and mhws2 are chosen for biogas and methane production, respectively. The identified NLHW models mhw2 and mhws2 represent the behaviour of the production of biogas and methane, respectively, from mesophilic AD. Among all the candidate models studied, the nonlinear models provide a superior reproduction of the experimental data over the whole analysed period. Furthermore, the models constructed in this study cannot be used for scale-up purpose because they are not able to satisfy the rules and criteria for applying dimensional analysis to scale-up

Human Capital Development and Macroeconomic Performance in Nigeria: An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Approach

Developed nations continue to invest heavily in the development and training of their human resources. Huge budgetary allocations show it to education and health, yet Nigeria’s human capital development policy has only been effective on paper. This study examined the impact of human capital development on the macroeconomic performance of Nigeria. Using the autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) model, this study shows an insignificant negative relationship between human capital development and per capita GDP in the short run. The results also showed that only the tertiary enrolment rate significantly and positively improved per capita GDP within the period under review. The study concluded that the government’s efforts aimed at boosting human capital have been insufficient.JEL Classification: O47, J11, J2

Followership Imperative of Good Governance: Reflections on Nigeria’s ‘Second Chance’ at Democratization

This paper examines the role of followership in democratization vis-à-vis good governance in Nigeria. The Nigerian Fourth Republic is burdened by followership deficit. The near under-emphasis of the role of followership in the democratization process in both formal and informal discourses with regards to Nigeria is disturbing. Democracy is a game of number and the only system of government that allows the masses to contract government. In fact, the followers in any democratic society remain the largest bloc. And on the basis of this numerical supremacy to leaders, they wield (or are supposed, in the Nigeria’s example, to wield) a lot of power in determining/constituting leadership, molding and shaping leadership, checkmating leadership and thereby stemming the tide of bad governance. The paper discovered that a whole lot of challenges, though surmountable, exist in the way of critical exercise of followership. However, the paper attempts a paradigm shift from seemingly unending scholastic debates on leadership as though such would bring good governance that has eluded the largest black nation in the world to solution-specific examination of curious, active, critical, interrogative and participatory followership as the harbinger of good governance. Key words: Followership, democratization, Nigeria, good governance and developmen

Street children and accessing universal basic education: A case study of Enugu State, Nigeria.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)The phenomenon of street children presents a global challenge as it continues to increase and affects almost every nation. Nigeria is no exception, with an ever-increasing population of street children, with many of them as a result of insurgence attacks in various states in Nigeria. The Nigerian government acknowledges that education is a key to development and a great tool in changing the dynamics of street children. It further recognises education as a right and not a privilege, especially with Nigeria’s adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the passage into law of the Child’s Right Act of 2003. The importance of basic education, which serves as the foundation of the education system, cannot be over-emphasised, particularly since the government made free basic education one of the core mandates of the Universal Basic Education Board. However, the continuous loitering of children during school hours has led to questions being asked about the implementation of the free basic education programme. Using Enugu State as a case study, and applying the right-based approach, this study sought to find answers to why street children might not be accessing the free basic education. The phenomenon of street children not accessing this education, is contributing to their ever-growing numbers in the streets of Nigeria. This is a qualitative study that was conducted in Enugu, Nigeria. It used the purposive sampling technique, targeting children living on the streets, as well as policy makers, programme officers of the Universal Basic Education Board, administrative heads of basic education schools, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and community-based organisations (CBOs) working in areas relating to street children. The study used qualitative data collection methods comprising of focus group discussion and in-depth interviews. The data collected was analysed using NVIVO Qualitative Research Software. The study sought to identify the challenges and make recommendations to relevant stakeholders, to improve policy implementation, and to present specific recommendations to ensure better access for street children and other vulnerable groups to benefit from policies such as the Universal Basic Education policy. It is discovered that many street children will love to go to school but other factors such as poverty, poor implementation of the free education policy among others have kept these children out of school. These children aspire to be teachers, doctors, accountants, lawyers and business administrators and wish they can be sponsored or given free education

Subcultural tensions in managing organisational culture:a study of an English Premier League football organisation

In this article, we explore subcultural interaction in the context of attempts by executives to control culture in the unusual organisational setting of football. We present evidence of five tension points in subcultural relations (togetherness or isolation, internal labour market, multiple identification and allegiances, individual and organisational requirements, and competition and cooperation). We examine how these tensions were induced and or exacerbated by the culture management efforts, as well as the ways in which the dynamics of change impacted on the objectives of executives. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for theory and practice