Resource abundance and the dilemma of fiscal federalism in Nigeria

This article examines the complexities around fiscal federalism in Nigeria within the framework of the resource curse thesis. Nigeria is an oil-rich federation yet governments at all levels perform poorly. State governments continually experience fiscal gap and deficiency in service delivery. Not only that, the vast majority of the citizens live under the twin burden of poverty and unemployment. The inability of the Nigerian state to address these challenges, despite the huge oil revenue, contributes to the continuous debates over the value of the country's fiscal system. The article contributes to the understanding of how Nigeria's oil-centric economy shapes the fiscal system. It argues that the failure of oil resources to generate economic prosperity in the states is rooted in the flawed fiscal system that encourages the sharing of the oil wealth rather than economic production at the state level. The article recommends a more functional fiscal federalism that would recognise the fiscal autonomy of the tiers of government. That is, a fiscal system with less reliance on the centrally-generated oil revenue

Government Policy Approach to Environmental Conflicts among the Niger Delta Communities: Implication to 2015 and Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals

The present study is focused on the public perception of government approach to the environmental challenges in the region of Niger Delta and its implication to environmentally-related conflict resolution and inclusive society. Four states were randomly selected while eight local government areas, 24 communities and 500 respondents (18+) were randomly selected for data collection. Our evaluation and analysis were focused on the public perception of the government policy approach in resolving the environmentally-related conflict in the region, support to this approach and the likelihood of youth involvement in violent agitation in the region. From our data, we pinpointed and demonstrated the weaknesses and unpopular nature of the dominant policy approach in the region as well as the latent energy of environmental conflict in the region. For policy relevance of the study, we ran a statistical cross examination on prevailing sociological issues in the region relevant to sustainable environmental and conflict resolution policy in the region. Our study established some factors relevant to inclusive society policy in achieving sustainable peace in the region such as public perception of government approach to their environmental challenges, socially-inclusive mode of consultation, age etc. in view of the strength of our data, the findings and suggestion of the study will help the Nigerian government to the threshold of people oriented and sustainable policies in dealing with the ceaseless conflict agitations in the region. The study aims to contribute in the current social scientific literature, the point of individual involvement in environmental conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

Testing the Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa

Energy demand, supply and pricing impact on socio-economic development, living standards and the overall quality of life of people. The role of energy in the industrial sector activities underscores its link with economic development. For more than three decades, economists and policymakers have been preoccupied with the classic debate on energy consumption and economic growth nexus. This Paper examines the causal relationship between energy consumption disaggregated into coal, hydro and oil, and economic growth in Nigeria and South Africa. Several studies have adopted the standard Granger causality method which places some minimum restriction on the stationarity property of data. Thus, the Hsiao’s Granger causality version was applied to correct these restrictions for the comparative analysis. The estimated results reveal that economic growth causes total energy consumption in South Africa while energy consumption causes economic expansion in Nigeria. The economic implication of this finding is that sub-optimal utilization of energy resources through energy conservative policy may not lead to significant positive effect on economic growth in Nigeria. However, energy enhancement policy could engender economic growth in South Africa. Key words: Energy Consumption, Economic Growth and Energy policy

Colonial Vestiges, Indigenous Policy-Logical-Framework, and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Countries in Africa continue to represent practical examples of failed nation-states due to the persistence of all known indicators of underdevelopment.  Ironically, the continent has a proud social history that eulogizes its contribution to global development. However, a careful look at most of the countries (such as Nigeria) that make up the continent reveals an image of adverse human development realities. This negative socio-economic scenario has put the continent at the forefront of foreign aid destinations even though Africa has all it takes to drive a healthy development agenda. The manner with which development policies are far removed from the reach of the masses in terms of their input, needs, and aspirations, shows the nature of the colonial character that surrounds policymaking in a country like Nigeria. It is the submission of this paper, that decolonizing policy-making processes and ensuring that the masses are integrated into the process would go a long way to synthesize the indigenous aspirations, elite groups, and valid experience for sustainable development. Hence, using the colonial policy template diagram and the post-colonial policy template diagram of successive governments, the paper evaluated the structure of policymaking and implementation in Nigeria and the disconnection between policy objectives and realities in the economy. Based on the findings, the paper recommends an indigenous and populist informed policymaking process to reverse the colonization of development policies in Nigeria and to engender a sustainable development policy trajectory

The Impact of Multilateralism and Regionalism on Trade Policy Effectiveness in Nigeria

This paper examines the impact of multilateralism and regionalism on the effectiveness of trade policy performance in sub-Sahara Africa with particular evidence from Nigeria. The paper critically assesses the implications of the multilateral trading system along the increasing but asymmetric interface between multilateralism and regionalism on SSA. The issues relating to market access and export supply response to incentives derived from the various agreements provided basis for this reasoned analysis. It is revealed that the multilateral trading system has not benefited the SSA relative to other regions like Asia. Perhaps, internal and external constraints associated with poor economic fundamentals, asymmetries between the rules of the game and the development aspirations of the nations and lack of capacity to negotiate undermine the effectiveness of trade policy in the region. To tap fully on the potentials expected from the pro-neoclassical policy however, a new framework that offers African nations including Nigeria stronger voice to renegotiate in line with their fundamentals should be invoked. Key Words: Multilateralism, Regionalism, Market Assess and Export Supply Response

Effects of Flexural Rigidity of Reinforcement Bars on the Fundamental Natural Frequency of Reinforced Concrete Slabs

An understanding of the orthotropic plates' behavior in their dynamic regime is essential because the loading can cause severe damage in the plates, such as: - cracking, loss of aesthetic, fear to the occupants, etc. To this end, a new set of stress - strain relations for. Orthotropic plates were derived. The principle of force of inertia was introduced, yielding the corresponding dynamic governing equation of orthotropic plate. The solution of the equation was obtained by numerical method, and the results show that the flexural rigidity of the bars has significant effect on the fundamental natural frequency of heavily reinforced concrete sections

Searching for Appropriate Crude Oil Price Benchmarking Method in the Nigerian Budgeting Process

One of the fundamental challenges facing policymakers in Nigeria is the benchmarking of crude oil price in the budgeting process. Appropriate projection of future behavior of crude oil price is imperative in setting and achieving macroeconomic objectives of the government. This paper surveyed the various forecasting models and examined the current Moving Average benchmarking method to determine the best forecasting model for Nigeria. Using quarterly data from 2005Q1 to2012Q4 on oil price benchmark, the study finds that ARIMA model is the best forecasting model for projecting Nigeria’s crude oil price benchmark. Based on this scenario, it was also found that $80 could be the appropriate crude oil price benchmark for 2013 fiscal year. The study suggests that benchmarking of crude oil should be based on the crude oil price fundamental to enhance predictability of policy and promote macroeconomic stability. Key words: Budget Process, Forecasting Models, Predictability and Macroeconomic Stabilit

SELF-ESTEEM AND CAREER DECISION-MAKING DIFFICULTIES AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: THE MODERATING IMPACT OF AGE AND GENDER

This study investigated the moderating impact of age and gender on the relationship between self-esteem and career decision-making difficulties among secondary school students. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population included 16,473 Senior Secondary two (SS 2) students from public secondary schools in Delta North Senatorial District. The sample size comprised 378 senior secondary school students. The students were sampled using a multistage sampling procedure. A questionnaire was used to gather data in this study. Expert judgment was used to determine the instrument's face validity, while factor analysis using the Principal Component Analysis method was used to determine the content and construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha reliability index was used to determine the internal consistency of the items in the instrument. Self-Esteem Rating Scale = 0.71, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties Rating Scale = 0.82 are the reliability coefficients found. The hypotheses were tested and answered using regression statistics of F-ratio at 0.05 level of significance, while the research questions were answered using Pearson’s coefficient of determination. The findings of the study revealed that there is no significant relationship between self-esteem and career decision-making difficulties among secondary school students; that there is no significant moderating impact of age and gender in the relationship between self-esteem and career decision-making difficulties among secondary school students. The study recommended that more studies should be carried out to explore the reason why no significant relationship was found between self-esteem and career decision-making difficulties among secondary school students in Delta North Senatorial District.  Article visualizations

An Analysis of the Expected Outcomes of Adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards in Nigeria

Unarguably, globalization has become a key driver of the increasing integration and synergy among countries, systems and standards .Consequently, the clamor for International convergence of accounting standards and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards(IFRS) is expected. The thrust of this paper therefore, was to examine the effects of adoption of selected variables which such as value relevance of accounting information amongst others. The study hypotheses were all stated in the null. An exploratory research design that involved extensive use of primary data obtained through questionnaire was used for the study. The chi-square non-parametric test was used in testing the study hypotheses. We found a positive relationship between IFRS adoption and improvements in the value relevance of accounting information in Nigeria. However, we suggest a critical evaluation of the level of compatibility of the Nigerian institutional factors against the specifications of IFRS to ascertain the cost-benefit implications