Marginal Willingness to Pay for Higher Education in Nigeria: Socio-Economic and Psychological Perspectives

This paper looks at the marginal willingness of ho'Usehold to pay for higher education in Oyo state, Nigeria. It also examined the socio- economic and psychological reasons of households' willingness to pay for education. The study employs descriptive statistics and econometric model in analysing the data generated from survey questionnaires in Oyo State. The results shows that household income, household size, parents education and type of school are major socio-economic factor that affect the willingness of household to pay for higher education. The psychological reaction of the household to increase in the cost of schooling reveals that greater percentage of household (above 60%) will use their income while other said they will borrow, sell their assets or look for other means especially to keep their girls in school. Marginal willingness results show that both rural and urban household respondents are willing to pay for higher education in both public and private sectors. This demonstrates the effectiveness of user charges (fees) as a means of improving school services and solving the problem of inadequate funding for tertiary education, The policy implication of this is that the actual effectiveness of user changes (fees) obviously depends on initial socio- economic and psychological condition prevailing in the country that is using it as a policy option, because this will influence the willingness of households to pay for further increase in school expenditure

Preventive and Remedial Measures to House Termite Infestations in Two Ikwerre Communities of Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

From forests to human dwellings, infestations of woods by termites are on the increase. Despite the increasing occurrences of termite infestations in human dwellings in the Niger Delta region, there is still insufficient information about the preventive and remedial measures towards house termites by house-owners (HOs) in the region. Through a survey of Omuoko [n = (50%) = 82] and Omuihechi [n = (50%) = 57] communities in the Ikwerre area of Port Harcourt, this study analyzed a 139-house owner samples using standard methods. Data obtained show that 64.7% of HOs use preventive measures which include chemicals (43.2%), chemicals and non-wood materials (20.9%), and non-wood materials (0.6%). A sub-total of 73 HOs representing 52.5% of the total respondents use remedial measures with chemicals (34.2%) being dominant, followed by Chemicals and replacement (27.4%), Replacement (17.8%), Scraping (12.3%), Chemical and scrapping (6.8%), and cement (1.4%). This study indicates that old, wooden, and thatched houses are highly susceptible to termites’ infestations, thus deserving periodic preventive and remedial treatments through expert consultations and/or do-it-yourself methods