Taxation of electronic commerce in developing countries: A case for shifting of focus to consumption taxes

The internet has transformed medium of business and consumers interactions. Parties to transactions are no longer confined to goods and services within their ‘brick-and-mortal’ but rather have access to goods and services beyond their physical reach. The problem however is that laws regulating commercial interactions in developing countries are still mostly conventional in their provisions and approach being tied to physical presence of the parties. As more business transactions are carried on through the internet and less business done using the traditional means, governments of developing countries suffer from a reduced tax base. The fact remains that most developing countries are importers of digital products from developed countries. This affords developed countries the opportunity to make lots of profits from the consumption of these products while escaping tax nets. This is made possible because the emergence of the internet has made it unnecessary for them to have permanent establishment in these developing countries. The focus of this paper is the assessment of the potential impact that e-commerce can have on the tax base of developing countries. The analysis is done against the background of the existing principles on international taxation. This paper concludes that it is essential to come up with an appropriate model that will suit the peculiar circumstances of most developing countries.Keywords: Taxation, E-commerce, Developing Countries, Consumption Taxe

EFFECTS OF ETHNIC MILITIA ACTIVITES ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN NIGERIA (2004-2016)

The coming together of peoples divided along socio-political and ideological lines gave birth to the Nigerian state besieged with several socio-economic and political problems. The objective of the paper is to assess the effects of ethnic militia activities on Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria. Foreign direct investment occurs when foreigner along with local investors to establish a place in another country. This paper adopts the ex post facto research design which relies on secondary data from journals, newspaper, internet and books. The findings are that the emergence of ethnic militia groups and their activities has placed a fluctuation on foreign direct investment percentages over the years and put a strain on Nigeria's overall growth, development and presence in the economic world platform. It is against this backdrop the paper draws conclusions that ethnic militia activities have specific negative effects on Nigeria’s Foreign Direct investment with investors scared of coming into the country to invest and those who have invested over time fleeing due to fears on insecurity. The paper recommends that the government should place more attractive incentives which would lure investors into the country and also ensure insecurity is tackled for a swift economic boom

Managing Ethnic and Cultural Diversity for National Integration in Nigeria

Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and culturally diverse society that has witnessed conflicts arising from this ethnic and cultural diversity. This paper expounds such conceptual issues as ethnicity, cultural diversity, federalism and national integration and then presents the historical background to ethnic and cultural conflicts in Nigeria. It is argued that national integration in the Nigerian context has been an attempt to forge “unity in diversity”, seeking to wish away socio-cultural differences and imposing uniformity in spite of complex cultural diversity. This has created more conflict and posed obstacles to unity, peaceful co-existence, progress and stable development. It recommends that national integration and its benefits can be realized only with the development and entrenchment of a supportive public culture; understanding, respecting and tolerating differences occasioned by socio-cultural diversity; as well as the development of new institutions and mechanisms that address poverty, revenue allocation and other national issues peacefully. Keywords: Ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, conflict, national integration, Nigeria

Managing Ethnic and Cultural Diversity for National Integration in Nigeria

Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and culturally diverse society that has witnessed conflicts arising from this ethnic and cultural diversity. This paper expounds such conceptual issues as ethnicity, cultural diversity, federalism and national integration and then presents the historical background to ethnic and cultural conflicts in Nigeria. It is argued that national integration in the Nigerian context has been an attempt to forge “unity in diversity”, seeking to wish away socio-cultural differences and imposing uniformity in spite of complex cultural diversity. This has created more conflict and posed obstacles to unity, peaceful co-existence, progress and stable development. It recommends that national integration and its benefits can be realized only with the development and entrenchment of a supportive public culture; understanding, respecting and tolerating differences occasioned by socio-cultural diversity; as well as the development of new institutions and mechanisms that address poverty, revenue allocation and other national issues peacefully. Keywords: Ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, conflict, national integration, Nigeria

Getting The Most Out of Your Research

Research is the cornerstone of invention, facilitator of innovation, and mother of discovery. Even though many students are competent in advancing through the class room and getting good grades, excellent research requires a different set of attitudinal and academic skills. This workshop, "Get the most out of your research" is an outstanding program developed from extensive time spent with brilliant scientists and a wide variety of mentored students. Familiarize yourself with the fine points of this workshop and arm yourself for a successful research career

LOAD MANAGEMENT AUTOMATION FOR ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM OPERATION CONTROL IN NIGERIA

This research work is borne out of the interest to examine whether poor system operation control is what is responsible for power instability in Nigeria. The author researched into the system operation control of the power holding company of Nigeria centralized at the national control centre in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The control centre was visited and the operation control engineers interviewed on the operation mode of the system. The information obtained was analyzed based on the available theoretical guides and the level of success recorded so far by the method. The result of the analysis reveals that a virile and more reliable system for load management need be discovered for effective system operation and increased overall power availability. A load management automation system was designed which has the ability to compare the power allocated and the instantaneous power being consumed by the regional  stations and then instruct any station that is consuming excess to cut down the amount of power corresponding to the difference within the limit of stability factor of the system at which the system automatically effect the command if no action is taken  by the station. The system is believed to have what is required to prevent under-frequency system collapse

Investors’ Behavioral Biases and the Nigerian Stock Market Returns (2002 – 2012)

The paper was intended to find other reasons, based on investors’ behavior that may impact on the performance of the Nigerian stock market. The objectives were in three-fold: to examine the extent of behavioral biases among stock market investors in Nigeria; to determine the level of returns in the period using the Nigerian Stock Exchange All share index; and to examine the effects of behavioral biases on stock market return in Nigeria. This study was motivated by the fundamental explanations given for the causes of the 2008 collapse of the Nigerian Stock Market. This paper adopted a primary data approach based on survey research design to investigate the effects of behavioral biases on stock market return in Nigeria. The paper also used secondary data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange and employed questionnaire as instrument and the technique of correlation with Pearson Product Moment Coefficient to analyze a survey of 110 randomly selected investors in Nigeria stock market. The study found strong evidence that behavioral biases existed but not very dominant in the Nigeria stock market because a weak negative relationship existed between behavioral biases and stock market returns in Nigeria. The paper concluded that being aware of behavioral biases in the Nigerian stock market was a crucial first step in ensuring that investment decisions were properly controlled to avoid any negative impacts on the individual investors and on the stock market; again, behavioral biases might be of relevant consideration in portfolio construction in order to moderate these biases. Key words: Behavioral, Biases, Investors, Portfolios, Stock Market, Return, All Share Index

Challenges and Prospects of e‐Elections in Nigeria

E‐governance is a momentous currency in contemporary society, and it manifests in virtually all areas of life, which include, among others, banking, insurance, trade and commerce, and democracy. The deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Information Technology (IT) devices for democratic governance has been successful in technologically advanced countries, and has inspired countries from the developing South, such as Nigeria to contemplate or commence e‐elections for democratic sustainability. The elections regulatory body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had contemplated exploring e‐elections in the country but later dropped the idea on grounds of unpreparedness. Electoral process or election however, has its several components: voter registration, registration review/update, electioneering campaigns, actual voting, and release of election results. These naturally come with their challenges and have informed a school of thought that based on Nigeria’s economic instability, corruption, resources mismanagement, and technologically backward climate, including unstable power supply, e‐elections would be far‐fetched. The other school of thought however, exhibits hope and optimism. This paper, with data scooped through questionnaire administration and from literature, examines the challenges and prospects as well as the peculiarity of Nigerian electoralsystem and the e‐election system, which will be marooned in the general Nigerian politicandl economic climate. Findings show that the prospects are and will always be good for the country, but that the stakes are far too high at a moment of huge infrastructural laybacks of the country. Moreover, not too many people have confidence in the electoral regime, let alone going ahead with such a venture as e‐elections. It therefore recommends, among other things, that the nation should develop the sub‐sectors of the economy that can sustain e‐elections before INEC goes ahead with the capital‐intensive enterprise for democratic sustainability in Nigeria

The Role of Information and Communication Technology on Transparency, Trust and Good Governance in Nigeria

Studies on transparency and trust in public sector management have generated exciting moments amongst scholars and practitioners alike in the area of good governance for development of societies. Furthermore, it has been argued by some scholars that government agencies are more likely to achieve their goals of enhanced performance for the improvement in the living standard of the people, particularly in the provision of adequate social amenities such as clean water, electricity supply, good roads, well equipped hospitals and adequate security protection of lives and properties, where transparency on the part of public officials in the use of public resources, and trust about government agencies on the part of the people are the norms in such a society. Previous studies have hinged on transparency for enhanced performance of government and its agencies on the integrity and perception of the individual employees in carrying out their assignments without taking into consideration the lack of capacity to perform, and the value judgment of such individuals. This present study focuses on the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the management of government and its activities for enhanced development in the society. The work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ICT, transparency, trust and good governance as a catalyst for development in Nigeria. With the use of structural equation model, the study empirically analyzed 261 copies of the questionnaire that were administered to respondents in the public and the private sectors of the nation’s economy, about their perception on the relationship between the variables under consideration. The findings suggest the importance of ICT as a facilitator of transparency in the management of public resources, including, revenue collection and disbursement of public funds by government officials, as a basis for societal development, than the mere reliance on individual employees’ integrity and perception in the management of public resources in Nigeria’s quest for developmen

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SMS BASED WIRELESS APPLIANCE CONTROL SYSTEM

Using GSM network, a control system that acts as an embedded system which can monitor and control electrical appliances and devices locally using built-in input and output peripheral is designed and implemented. Remotely the system allows the user to effectively monitor and control the house/office appliances and equipments via the mobile phone set by sending commands in the form of SMS messages