A TRANSLOG ANALYSIS OF INSURANCE ECONOMIES IN NIGERIA

Recapitalization process that has recently become an imperative process in the Nigerian Financial industry has implications for the survival of insurance sector, especially on their service delivery efficiency. This study therefore seeks to investigate the problem of inefficiency in the Nigerian Insurance market from the perspective of their cost structures. The study takes advantage of secondary data of financial reports of thirty randomly selected insurance firms which span over a period of ten years and applied transcendental logarithm model to evaluate their performance from the cost structures strategy. The results indicate that only large scale firms enjoy cost saving advantages. Twenty percent firms sampled belong to this category. The result suggests that premium income would contribute to insurance firm’s performance, only when a sound investment decisions are made.Transcedental Logarithm, Cost Structures, Insurance firms and Efficiency

Effects of Food Prices on Under-five and Infant Mortality Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the years, the rising food prices coupled with the prevailing food insecurity in the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region are perceived to be having debilitating effects on nutrition and health outcomes. This paper therefore examines the impact of rising food prices on under-five and infant mortality rates in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2001-2012 using the fixed effects, random effects, difference GMM and the system GMM. The results show that rising food prices exert significant adverse effects on both infant and under-five mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper suggests the need for increased government’s efforts toward increased food supply and urgent nutritional support involving nutrient-rich-food items to the target groups.Keywords: food price, under-five mortality, infant mortality, panel data, Sub-Saharan Afric

Emergence and spread of two SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest in Nigeria.

Identifying the dissemination patterns and impacts of a virus of economic or health importance during a pandemic is crucial, as it informs the public on policies for containment in order to reduce the spread of the virus. In this study, we integrated genomic and travel data to investigate the emergence and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.318 and B.1.525 (Eta) variants of interest in Nigeria and the wider Africa region. By integrating travel data and phylogeographic reconstructions, we find that these two variants that arose during the second wave in Nigeria emerged from within Africa, with the B.1.525 from Nigeria, and then spread to other parts of the world. Data from this study show how regional connectivity of Nigeria drove the spread of these variants of interest to surrounding countries and those connected by air-traffic. Our findings demonstrate the power of genomic analysis when combined with mobility and epidemiological data to identify the drivers of transmission, as bidirectional transmission within and between African nations are grossly underestimated as seen in our import risk index estimates

A cost function analysis of import demand for Nigeria

The article uses a translog cost function to examine the substitution relations among capital, labour and imports. The results show that capital has a substitute relation with domestic labour and import. However, labour and import have complementary relationship. The implication of this finding is that liberalization policies, if pursued vigorously, could impart positively on the demand for labour. In addition, it suggests that economic growth could be enhanced through trade liberalization.

Does economic freedom enhance quality of life in Africa?

This paper examines the role that the level and changes in economic freedom play in promoting quality of life in Africa over the period 1985–2016. It develops a composite index for quality of life to capture the different dimensions of quality of life. Employing the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation technique, the results indicate a positive effect of economic freedom on the quality of life. However, change in economic freedom has an inverse relationship with the quality of life in Africa. The GDP growth and foreign aid have positive effects on the quality of life index and its various indicators. The findings highlight the need for African countries to establish fiscal and monetary policies suitable for improving economic freedom. It also emphasizes the need for African countries to reduce international trade barriers and open up African economies to foreign trade. This will bring about increased economic growth and improved quality of life

Effects of Food Prices on Under-five and Infant Mortality Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the years, the rising food prices coupled with the prevailing food insecurity in the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region are perceived to be having debilitating effects on nutrition and health outcomes. This paper therefore examines the impact of rising food prices on under-five and infant mortality rates in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2001-2012 using the fixed effects, random effects, difference GMM and the system GMM. The results show that rising food prices exert significant adverse effects on both infant and under-five mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper suggests the need for increased government’s efforts toward increased food supply and urgent nutritional support involving nutrient-rich-food items to the target group