Demand and utilization of Micro loan among Micro Entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Micro loan could be used by micro enterprises for productive purposes such as investments, seeds or additional working capital. The study presents empirical findings on the impact of Microfinance (MF) on the welfare and poverty alleviation in Southwest Nigeria. In an attempt to answer the research question for this study, data from field survey conducted among the microfinance banks and their customers in Lagos and Ogun States, was used to analyze the impact of loan received on earnings using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) econometric technique. Also, a linear Probability model was specified and estimated to measure the log of odds of obtaining loans from the microfinance banks by the customers. In addition, an analysis of determinants of earnings was done using the Mincer (1973) model. The study found that loan demand is interest rate insensitive but sensitive to availability. It was also established that microfinance programmes have impacted the businesses and lives of the beneficiaries in several positive ways, particularly in their economic circumstances and access to essential life-enhancing facilities and services. The study therefore recommended that MFIs’ clients should improve on their level of education, the MFIs should seek long term capital from the Pensions and Insurance Companies so that they can grant larger volume of loan and to greater number of people and the government should tackle the problems of infrastructural development and maintenance

Youth Labour Market outcomes in Nigeria: Evidence from National Labour Market Survey

This study examines the determinants of youth unemployment in the Nigerian labour market. The data for this study were obtained from the Labour Force Sample Survey of 2005, carried out by the defunct National Manpower Board. In addition to the descriptive statistics used in the analyses, the binary logistic regression model was employed. The study has empirically confirmed the magnitude of unemployment among the youths in Nigeria and that in 2005 when the data for this study was collected, the youths were more than three times as likelyas the adults to be unemployed. The data analysis also enabled the study to identify the basic determinants of youth unemployment. Some of these factors are the formal educational attainment of respondents, region of origin, household status, and household size, among others. Several policy prescriptions to reduce unemployment rate and increase both the participation rate and employment-to-population ratio among the youths in Nigeria were put forward in the paper

Mobile Learning in Africa: Strategy for Educating the Poor

This study argues that mobile learning delive1·s education more affordably, accessibly and effectively than the traditional model of delivering education, which fm·the1· deprives the pom· in Africa. The traditional model of education denoted in this study refen to the model of education that gives high regard for location and the formality of education with its additional services and costs. This model facilitates edu-flation. Th1·ee case studies were used to validate this a1·gumen

COOPERATIVE SOCIETY AND EMPLOYEES’ WELFARE

Membership of cooperatives entitles eligible members access to financial resources for capital accumulation, investment and consumption purposes. However, becoming a member of the cooperative comes with the price tag of consistent savings that qualifies such committed members access to certain benefits.the World Bank (2015) reports that about 70% of the population still live in abject poverty, 83.9% of the Nigerian population is still living on less than US $2 per day and the inequality of wealth distribution is 42.9%. Based on this background, there is the tendency to question consumer cooperatives welfare promoting impact. We explore the relationship between and employees’ welfare. A survey research design is adopted in which a Likert 5 constructed questionnaires were administered among the faculty and staff members of the Covenant University Cooperative Society, Ota Ibadan, Oyo State, as a means of data collection.through purposive random sampling. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive and inferen societies cut across people in different age, sex, educational attainment, levels of income and number of households. Majority of the respondents were satisfie cooperative societies in meeting the welfare needs of the members. disbursement by the cooperative societies was also found commendable by members

Occupational Health and Safety among Street Traders in, Nigeria

This study examined two important types of occupational hazards in the street trading activities in Nigeria which are (i) injuries sustained from road traffic accident and (ii) harassment of traders through indiscriminate arrest, seizure and confiscation of merchandise and occasional incarceration of sellers in police cells. The data for the study was generated from a 2011 national survey of 3,873 street traders in Nigeria which was made possible through a research grant provided by the Covenant University's Centre for Research and Development. In addition to the descriptive statistics used in profiling the street traders, the binary logistic regression approach -was also used to estimate the log of odds of experiencing occupational hazards in street trading activities. The study found out that 25 percent of the traders have suffered injury, while 49.1 percent have experienced harassment from public authority officials. Given these findings, policy measures that would focus on integrated national development, provide alternative selling points off the main streets for traders who cannot hire a shop, create more decent jobs for educated youths who are forced to take up street trading due to long spell of . unemployment, among others, were proposed