An Analysis of the Federal Budgeting Process in Nigeria: Implications for Institutional Reforms for Acheiving Timeliness.

The paper is an analysis of the federal budget process in Nigeria. It brings to the fore the nagging issue of late budget submission by the executive to the National Assembly and the attendant weak budget performance. The paper reiterates the importance of government budgetting in setting priorities and influencing the economy and thus posits that the ability to make timely and sensible fiscal choices is one of the hallmarks of good governance. Incidentally, timely budgeting is far from the norm in Nigeria and the extant laws are unable to address this important fiscal challenge. Unlike other papers on the subject matter, this analysis advances a framework that makes it easier to identify the avenues through which the Executive (President) or the Parliament can and do bungle the various elements of the budget process. The paper concludes by proffering institutional reforms that will correct the identified lapses if timeliness is to be achieved in the budgeting process thus, making budget implementation effective. Keywords: Budgeting Process, Institutional Reforms, Timeliness, Nigeria

Revenue Implications of Nigeria’S Tax System

This is a study of the properties of the Nigeria’s tax system particularly the bases of the company income tax, valueadded tax and personal income tax. The results indicate that their bases are not stable (not persistent and volatile).However, while the bases of the company income tax and personal income tax are more sensitive to cyclical swings(current state of the economy over time), that of the value added tax (VAT) is not. The policy implications of thesefindings support the recent government tax policy reform of a shift in focus in the tax system from direct taxation toindirect taxation. With the tax base of VAT being insensitive to the current state of the economy, the revenuetherefrom will not drop sharply when the economy slows down. It will also shield the government from budgetaryshortfalls as it will likely cushion against sharp declines in aggregate tax revenues.Keywords: Tax System, Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax, Personal Income, Tax Policy, Nigeria

Modelling the Long Run Determinants of Foreign Portfolio Investment in Nigeria

This study tries to ascertain the long run determinants of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in Nigeria such thatappropriate policies will be pursued to attract same in the long run. FPI has grown recently in proportion relative toother types of capital inflows to Nigeria before the wake of global financial crisis. Incidentally, there is no empiricalregularity regarding the determinants of FPI. This study tries to add to the stock of knowledge by modelling thelong-run determinants of FPI in Nigeria over the period of 1981-2010 converted into quarterly series. The variablesconsidered are, market capitalization, real exchange rate, real interest rate, real gross domestic product and tradeopenness. The study applies time series analysis specifically the finite distributed lag model and discovers that FPIhas a positive long-run relationship with market capitalization, and trade openness in Nigeria. Ongoing effortstherefore to sanitize the capital market should be vigorously pursued.Keywords: Nigeria, Foreign Portfolio Investment, macroeconomic variables

The Impact of Consumer Confidence and Expectation on Consumption in Nigeria: Evidence from Panel Data

The Nigerian economy witnessed a significant growth turning point from the early 2000s after it returned to democratic rule in 1997. But the strong economic growth posted by the country has not served to substantially reduce poverty, inequality, unemployment, exchange rate, inflation and interest rate spread. Consequently, there is a damping effect on consumer confidence, hence low spending. Fixed effect panel model was used to underscore the importance of consumer confidence and expectations in household spending, using data from the CBN survey of consumer expectation across the six geopolitical zones from 2009-2011. The result shows that consumer confidence, current income, income expectation, expected change in the prices of food and durables, and exchange rate are the determinants of consumption in Nigeria. Surprisingly, the short run MPC is substantially larger than the long run MPC, indicative of low savings, perhaps resulting from loss of confidence in interest rate among the households. Keywords: Nigeria, consumer confidence, expectation, macroeconomic variables, household spending, panel dat