::ABSTRACTS::

Volume 20, No. 2, December 2004

Factors Affecting Access to Health Information among Nigerian Nursing Mothers
A.S. Jegede, E. Idemudia, S.N. Madu

Child morbidity and mortality rates are high in Nigeria; hence a preventive measure in terms of immunisation is essential. This study examines accessibility to information on immunisation among Nigerian mothers. A random sample of 1,554 women of reproductive age who have given birth to, at least, one child in the last five years in the B Health Zone of Nigeria were recruited for the study. Their responses indicated limited access to information in the rural areas than the urban areas. For those who have received information in the urban areas, their major sources of information are electronic media (television and radio), whereas the main sources of information in the rural areas were health workers, traditional rulers, friends and neighbours. These sources differed by place of residence, age, level of education and occupation of mothers. Data showed that respondents from urban areas utilise immunisation better than those in the rural areas. Thus, it is concluded that access to health information may be influenced by certain factors, and health education promotion and programming must take into consideration such factors.

Geographical Dimension to Planning and Mapping the Population Census
’Bola Ayeni

The problem of the census in Nigeria goes beyond producing figures for macro regional development. There is an important need to attend to details that include good and accurate figures at all levels of the development process ranging from streets to zones in cities, hamlets and villages through wards, local government areas, states and the nation. A proper conceptualisation and articulation of the geography of the census is necessary in order to reap the full benefits of a census exercise. The provision of good, accurate and properly geo-referenced maps of the country; the scientific and accurate delimitation using appropriate professionals and instruments to define all the hierarchies of the geography of the census and the proper geo-coding of information at all levels of the geography have been recommended as critical points to address at this point in time. The paper demonstrates from the empirical analysis of the 1991 census data of Nigeria and from a conceptual basis of expectations from a good census, that the best results from mapping census figures are obtained when these are done along the lines of the basic units within which the census data was collected.

Economic Impact Assessment of Improved Rubber Clones Developed by RRIN, Nigeria
Aigbekaen E.O. , Omokafe, K.O. and Imarhiagbe E.O.

The economic impact assessment (EIA) of improved rubber clones developed by RRIN on natural rubber production in Nigeria was carried out using economic surplus analysis. The assessment was carried out for the period 1985 to 1995. It was discovered that out of a total area of 247,000 hectares planted to natural rubber in Nigeria, 98,603 hectares were planted between 1985 and 1995, with the unselected planting materials, RRIN adapted clones and RRIN-developed clones occupying 57,683 ha, 30,469 ha and 10,452 ha, respectively. The results also indicated that RRIN developed clones and adapted technologies have a positive effect on the economy with the net social benefit of 6,640,068/ha, discounted at ten per cent opportunity cost. Thus, with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 46 per cent which is relatively high and a net present value (NPV) of N3,577,157.00, it will be possible to service the capital where the investment fund is borrowed.

Explaining Succession and Legitimacy Crisis in Africa: Colonialism Revisited
J. Shola Omotola

The central thesis of the paper is that colonialism remains at the primacy of succession and legitimacy crises in Africa. The paper begins with the methodological standpoint that, in order to situate colonialism as an intervening variable between pre and post-colonial Africa, there is need to understand the pre-colonial status of the continent. The paper posits that in pre-colonial Africa, succession and legitimacy crises were virtually inexistent, except in the few exceptional cases where the crises were not endemic features of the state, as we have it today. Rather, the advent of colonialism brought about serious crises and contradictions in the nature, composition, legitimacy and relevance of the state through the importation of alien social structures and transformation of existing ones. The failure to endogenise these structures at independence has remained a frustrating dimension of Africa’s crisis of succession and legitimacy. The paper argues that a good understanding of the excruciating crisis of succession and legitimacy in Africa can be conveniently situated within its colonial history from which contemporary African states derive their existence. If Africa must rise above this crisis and its implications, adequate efforts must be made to strengthen regional and national frameworks for promoting good governance at all levels.

Volume 20 No. 1, June 2004

The Post-Cold War Order and the Decline of Oil Power: The OPEC Factor
’Goke Lalude

Oil politics is an interesting phenomenon in north-south relations. A geographical accident places substantial reserves and power in the southern developing nations, but its high demand, need, consumption and dependency in the northern developed countries. Rather than affirm and entrench a southern power, the post-cold war era has continued to witness a reduction of this power. While the north, in an effort to maintain the status-quo, introduces strategies to considerably reduce the power-base, the southern and most especially OPEC’s role in the diminishing power cannot be over-emphasised.

Discriminant Analysis as a Technique for Classifying Nigerian Households into Poverty Levels
Atinuke O.Adebanji and Joseph O. Iyaniwura

Poverty is a global plague that has bedeviled people of all races, ages and social strata for generations. It is a multifaceted concept and makes the classification of households or individuals into poverty groups a multidimensional problem. In this study, we have applied the multivariate technique of linear discriminant function analysis to classify households into poverty levels using selected non-income and income related variables. The percentage of correct classification is also presented using the Federal Office of Statistics’ (FOS) per capita expenditure, based on a priori poverty classification, as the basis of comparison.

Pattern of Telephone Interaction in a Nigerian City: Policy Issues
Joseph O. Adeniji-Soji

This paper examines the incoming-outgoing local land telephone calls and the dominant telephone interaction patterns among the spatial landuse activities in Ibadan, Nigeria by using detailed telephone call data from a comprehensive field survey. Attention is focused on the complex intra-city telephone linkage by applying factor analysis techniques to determine the dominant pattern of telephone use. City wards telephone traffic are compared with one another in terms of telephone traffic. Factor loadings > 0.50 reveal groups of wards receiving telephone calls from common origins while related factor scores > 1.00 specify groups of wards with common telephone call origins. By using factor analysis rotation procedures and merging groups of telephone origin and destination on city ward maps, 14 functional regions emerge, revealing the principal groups of wards and their linkages. Finally, a dominant north-south direction of telephone interaction emerged. The spatial implication of telephone interaction in the study area is that telephone interaction does not necessarily fall in line with areas of landuse activities like residential, commercial and so on. Also, the socio-economic and political implications are that with appropriate telecommunication policies, telephone use can serve as a traffic and accident reducing strategy and as a measure of reducing problems of unemployment and other social ills

Widowhood Practices among the Yorubas of Ondo and Ekiti States, Nigeria
Aderinto, Adeyinka Abideen

The paper is an exploratory investigation of widowhood rites in a part of south-western Nigeria. It is predicated on the fact that the study of widows has been neglected as a major topic in sociological and anthropological literature. Yet, this category of the female population is subjected to a variety of arduous, traumatic and dehumanising rites in south-western Nigeria, and indeed in all parts of Nigeria. This paper therefore examines the various rites that widows are made to undergo at the demise of their husbands, and the feelings of the community members and widows themselves on these rites. A number of data collection methods viz questionnaire, in-depth interview and observational methods were used in the investigation. Findings from the study suggests that there is a growing resentment to some aspects of widowhood rites and that these rites vary from one culture to the other. The paper concludes by suggesting a more action-oriented approach in eliminating the dehumanising practices that widows observe.

The Unit Cost of University Education in Nigeria
W.O. Akerele

The cost and funding of education have become imperative in the emerging competitive world, hence the increased attention various governments have been giving to these since 1960. This paper contributes to the debate on the funding of education in Nigeria by investigating the unit cost of university education. Ten federal universities were selected on specified criteria. Data were collected from the National Universities Commission and National Youth Service Corps orientation camps. The estimated unit cost of training a student per session in a Nigerian university was ?212,821 in 2002. This was ?198,650 for conventional universities, ?300,489 for universities of agriculture and ?185,195 for universities of technology respectively. The direct teaching cost accounted for 60.6 per cent and students’ living expenses was 39.4 per cent in Nigerian universities with feeding accounting for 50 per cent of total students’ living expenses. The fact that government still has lion’s share in the cost of educating Nigerian university students has implication for funding. The students’ living expenses were also rising and becoming too high for a large number of the students to afford. Two major ways suggested for meeting the financial outlays are by increasing the revenue base of the government and universities and/or reducing the private expenses of students in the universities.

Volume 19 Nos. 1 & 2, December 2003

Evaluation Of The Privatisation Performance: Evidence From The Privatised Insurance Firms In Nigeria

Elias Anachioke Udeaja
Department Of Economics,
Faculty of Social Sciences,
University Of Calabar,
Calabar, C.R.S., Nigeria

Abstract
The last two decades witnessed significant reforms in both developed and developing countries. One of the most important aspects of these reforms has been the privatization of public enterprises. This paper examines the financial and operational performance of two fully privatized insurance firms in Nigeria. Accounting performance indicators were used to measure the financial and operational efficiency of these firms before and after privatization in order to ascertain the impact of the policy. The results show that the firms were profitable before privatization, however, there is also an improvement in profitability after privatiasation. Operational efficiency, capital investment spending, labours' share of the value-added in terms of salary and wages increased in the post-privatisation periods. Revenue to the government in form of taxation improved, and there was no record of subsidy in the period after privatization. However, the results of leverage and dividend were missed. Output and employment fell in the two firms. The profitability result is robust for Royal Assurance when compared with the industrial average of the sub-sector.

A Graph Theoretic Analysis of Intra-urban Road Network in Ilorin, Nigeria

A.J. Aderamo
Department of Geography
University of Illorin,
Illorin

Abstract

The paper examines the evolution of intra-urban road network in Illorin for the period 1963 to 1988 using the graph theoretic concept. Data on road network pattern were collected through mapping of aerial photofraphs of Illorin for 1963, 19973, 1982 and 1988. These were analysed to obtain road network development from 1963 to 1988. the study shows that road network development in Illorin experienced significant growth between 1963 to 1982, the stringent economic measures adopted this time in the country affected the rate of road development. After 1982, a significant decelerations of road development could be observed in the city. The study shows that network growth in the city is sensitive to the country's state of economy. Further, the growth would appear to fit the logistic curve while the city's expansion is also a significant factor in network growth. The study finally identifies the implications of the city's road network development of the city for urban transportation planning.

The Economy and Electoral Democracy in Nigeria

F.O. Nyemutu Roberts
Associate Research Professor and Ag. Head, Political Development Unit,
NISER, Ibadan Nigeria

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of the economy for electoral democracy in Nigeria. Against the background of the complex unity and increasing inter-substitutability of economic and political element of a social formation, the study finds that in Nigeria, the implications have been mainly negative. Both in the Second Republic (1979-1983) and in the 1999-2003 democratic dispensations, poor economic management translated into a weal economic base that was unable to sustain governance and democracy. Facets with specific implications for electoral democracy are identified, in relation to which some solutions are suggested. It is concluded that sustainable electoral democracy must be predicated on a high minimum level of popular well-being and continuing economic performance.

Volume 18 Nos. 1 & 2, December 2003

STATE CREATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THE EXAMPLE OF KWARA STATE OF NIGERIA, 1967 B 1979.

C.O.O. Agboola

Abstract
Since the colonial days, there have been demands by people in various parts of Nigeria for administrative regrouping. The reasons for such demands varied from the fear of political domination to alleged neglect in socio-economic development. The post-independence Federal Government on its part has continued to create more states in the country partly because it believes that state creation will promote development. It is against the foregoing background and assumption that this study has undertaken an empirical examination of the twin-issues of state creation and socio-economic development in Nigeria. The focus of the analysis is Kwara State, which had a history of such previous demands.

Governance and Legitimacy Crisis In Nigeria

Emmanuel O. Ojo
Dept of Political Science,
University of Ilorin
Nigeria

Abstract
The thrust of this paper is an indepth analysis of one of the major factors responsible for the perennial political instability in Nigeria B legitimacy crisis of the successive administrations. This paper argues that lack of good governance has always been the bane of most of the regimes, both military and civilian, whereas, without a strong legitimacy rating, the citizenry of the state cannot be a good catalyst for the sustenance of a democratic government. With both political and historical data from independence in 1960 to 1999 when the military handed over the reigns of government to the civilians, we have noted that virtually all regimes faced one crisis or the other that whittled down their general acceptability in the perception of the citizens. The paper however infers that if the current democratic experiment is to be nurtured and consolidated, the issue of legitimacy of the government should be taken seriously to avert the recurring problem of political and government instability over the years. Our findings however linked this problem to the colonial state and persistent military rule in Nigeria too. Both forms of government had little or no regard for the will of the citizens at crucial times. Thus, they were harbinger of legitimacy crisis

Some Factors Affecting Maximisation of Latex Production in Nigeria

E. O. Aigbekaen and E. C. Nwagbo
Department of Agricultural Economics
University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Abstract
The effects of age, number of trees tapped, stimulation frequency, tapping mandays, task allocation on latex output per hectare, per year were studied for latex output maximinsation. A quadractic output prediction equation was computed using year eight when the plantation comes to maturity as the base year (year 8 of plant life = year 1 of plant maturity). The output from large rubber estates depicted a parabola while that of the medium estates indicated linearity. Maximisation of latex output is optimal between 11 and 29 years of plant life in the large estates and 11 to 23 years in medium estates. The effect of the following parameters: age of rubber trees, number of trees tapped per hectare per year, tapping mandays per hectare per year, number of tasks, and stimulation frequency jointly explained 37 per cent of latex output. The age of the rubber trees was significant at five per cent level of significance. Maximisation of latex output from the rubber trees has been found to be a function of age of the trees, the price of the commodity and cost of production not withstanding. The point of latex output maxima in large estates is 21 years of plant life (about 14 years of maturity). Panel effect became important, especially during the last two years of panel B through C,D and E which were the most productive periods. It is suggested that different clones be subjected to different ages as starting point of tapping in order to determine aggregate output. Also, other unexamined factors could be tested to facilitate conclusion on time frame on latex output maximisation.

Strategies for Rebuilding the Nigerian Knowledge System

Prof. David Olu Ajakaiye
Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Social
and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan.
And
Dr. Ayodele Festus Odusola
Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Economic
Management and Administration (NCEMA), Ibadan.
Abstract

The knowledge system of any serious society serves as catalysts to genuine development. In spite of this recognition, the attention given to Nigeria=s knowledge system has been weak and unstable, and has therefore affected its effectiveness and utilisation. Prior to 1980, government was committed to institutional building through funding of training, researches, and development of training and research infrastructure. Since 1980, however, attention has shifted from institutional building to individual or contract research with inconsequential resources devoted to research and development. This has been compounded by the individual-based research focus of the international donor community. These developments have created undue foreign dependence, weak linkage between research and local development aspirations, and cynism between policy makers and researchers. Now, the knowledge system is characterised by lack of vibrancy, inability to retain competent scholars as well as reproduce itself. To reverse this trend, it is important for government to focus its attention on institutional capacity building. The new initiative should emphasize the instrumentality of the centers of excellence, endogeneity of research funding, clear specification of the role of donors and articulation of the process of mobilising stakeholders in favour of the knowledge system.

Volume 17 Nos. 1 & 2, December 2003

RURAL ROADS AND SETTLEMENTS LINKAGE:
AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTERACTIONS IN RURAL AREA OF IFE REGION, OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

S. R. Akinola

Abstract
Inaccessibility is a strong barrier to socio-economic interactions, innovation and development. About 28.0 per cent of villages within the sampled communities are linked with footpaths indicating isolation and inaccessibility by motor vehicles. The paper reported that there is no significant relationship between locational accessibility of settlements and personal accessibility of the respondents to rural facilities in Ife region. The majority of the respondents (79.0 per cent) trek to their places of work and at the same time use human porterage for movement of farm products along footpaths to their villages and to markets with an average speed of two kilometres per hour.
All inter-village movements and most of rural-urban journeys for socio-economic purposes take place on bad roads, a condition, which defeats the main agricultural function of access roads. There is need to evolve an appropriate policy for opening up isolated villages and improving the existing stock of rural roads in the region. It is also recommended that the use of bicycles and motorcycles as intermediate means of transport for rural travel should be encouraged.

Spatial Patterns of Production Subcontracting in Nigeria
Dickson 'Dare Ajayi
Department of Geography

University of Ibadan, Nigeria
E-mail: ajayidd@yahoo.com

Abstract
Studies on production subcontracting have usually been conducted within the transaction costs perspective. This has tended to hinder an understanding of the networks of interfirm relationships, which could be better understood through a spatial perspective. This paper, which analyses the spatial relationships amongst places through subcontracting, introduces the spatial perspective. In a broad sense, this study analyses the spatial relationships amongst places through production subcontracting. The case study is based on the relationship within the Lagos region and those between the region and other towns within Nigeria.
This paper shows that production subcontracting is concentrated in a few locations. The analyses of the spatial distribution of production subcontracting in the step-wise multiple regression model is highly statistically significant. While the number of subcontractors and volume of subcontracting calculated in naira were the dependent variables, the size and structural characteristics of the locations where subcontracting is found are the independent variables. The results of these analyses show that the number of industrial establishments is the only significant explanatory variable. The implication of this study is that, if encouraged, production subcontracting could be used to enhance the industrial development of Nigeria.
Expressions/Key capital accumulation, spatial division of labour, integration and industrial linkage, production subcontracting, Lagos region, Nigeria

The Psychological Climate of the Work Place As A Correlate of Psychological Well-being of Public Servants in A Depressed Economy
A Case Study of N.E.P.A.

S. K. Balogun, Ph.D
Department of Psychology,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.

and

Ahura, C. G.. MMP
NEPA Headquarters Annex,
Lagos, Nigeria.

Abstract
Effective and efficient performance of employees in most establishments is a function of favourable perception of the enabling environment (psychological climate) of the work place. This study therefore investigated the perceived psychological climate of the work place as a correlate of psychological wellbeing of employees of a government parastatal (National Electric Power Authority, NEPA) and how this affects overall performance.

A purposive sample of Sixty eight (68) managerial level workers of NEPA consisting of 52 males and 16 females with age range of between 26 and 55 years, cutting across 14 sections/departments were used in the study. A questionnaire on perceived organisational climate with 45 items that yielded 16 factors as constituting psychological climate in organizations and a stress measure was used in the study. The results showed that demographic variables such as age, service length were significant in perceived stress being experienced by employees of NEPA while number of dependants, position in the organisation and sex had no significant influence on perceived stress. Further analysis of the data revealed the cause of the perceived stress as arising from the psychological climate of the work place as represented by ethnicity, shift work schedule, poor working materials, lack of personal space, transportation difficulty, too much deadlines, work overload, separation from family, interpersonal squabbles among workers, poor medical facilities and lack of recognition. The findings were discussed along the possibility of ameliorating the negative perception of the psychological climate factors towards an improved work performance among NEPA employees.

Volume 16, Nos. 1 & 2, 2000

Analysis of Energy Pricing Policy in Nigeria:
An Application of a CGE Model

Adeola Adenikinju
Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Abstract

This paper summarises the findings from a simulation analysis of energy pricing policy in Nigeria. The issue of appropriate pricing of energy products has generated intensive debate across the country. This interest centres on the economic implications of higher energy prices on the macroeconomy. In this paper, we applied a computable general equipment (CGE) model to analyse the impact of alternative energy pricing policies on the Nigerian economy. The results from our study are in general consistent with the conclusions reached in the literature that the recessionary impact of efficient energy pricing is minimal.

The Problem of Students Residential Accommodation in Nigerian Universities: Exploring the Alternative Accommodation

Nyemutu Roberts

Senior Research Fellow
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research
NISER, Ibadan.
and
F.O. Adegun

Principal Instructor, The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Abstract

Universities in Nigeria are largely residential. Over the years, however, growing student population without proportionate expansion in residential facilities has posed a serious problem for the universities and their students. Government policy has also not been definitive and encouraging. Under the circumstance, the option has been for the affected constituencies to explore alternative off-campus accommodation.
Using the case of University of Ibadan, Nigeria=s oldest university, this study explores the alternative(s) to official on-campus hostel accommodation for Nigerian university students. Contemporary experience seems to suggest that off-campus private sector accommodation is hardly a viable alternative for the resolution of the students residential accommodation problem. Rather, it threatens the attainment of the mission of the universities as it affects the training of students.

A Stochastic Modelling of Changes in Hierarchy of Central Place Systems

Adeboyejo A. Thompson

Lecturer, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning,
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.

Abstract

A major deficiency in the literature on central place system and also the most enduring criticism against central place theory is the neglect of temporal dimension of central places. In this paper, Markov stochastic model is employed to analyse, and model observed changes in the hierarchy of S.W Nigeria central place system. From the past transition behaviour of the central places, future distribution of centres in the hierarchy is generated, while a generalisation of the processes of change is made. The result shows that changes in the hierarchy of central places can be described by Markov chain. While the probability of lower order centres moving into higher orders decreases over time, an equilibrium distribution of centres in the hierarchy will be reached by the year 2026 A.D. It is suggested that, the importance and changing role of a centre as an administrative central place and certain measures of space adjusting techniques such as transport development are some of the controlling factors of regional development.

Advocacy And Constituency Building For Nigerian Non Governmental Organisations (Ngos): An Agenda for Action

Adigun Agbaje

Professor of Political Science,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Abstract

Given the emerging global conventional wisdom that less government is better government, Nigerian Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have gradually emerged as major beneficiaries of external resources and visible actors in the development process. However, these Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) remain largely oblivious to, or incapable of utilising the tools of advocacy for constituency building.
This paper outlines an agenda for action, in which NGOs recognise that they are performing a marketing function, albeit without the profit motive, and therefore have to engage in capacity building, promotional campaigns, and various types of advocacy, without which they risk ineffectiveness and ultimately extinction

Determinants of Smallholder Credit Behaviour: A Case Study in Nigeria

T. O. Oni

Research Fellow,
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER)

Abstract

In Nigeria, agricultural production and food supply has lagged behind demand. Various policies, including credit policies were adopted to spur production and to ensure availability of adequate food at affordable prices. The paper discusses credit facilities for smallholder farmers and examines the dynamics of factors that influenced credit repayment. Analysis of data collected in 1995 from 50 per cent of ten local government areas in Osun state from farmers of each of the Nigerian Agricultural and Cooperative Bank Nig. Ltd. (NACB) and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) indicated that the amount of loan granted and the extent of farmers= contact with their respective banks were each positive, statistically significant explanatory variables of loan repayment. Disbursement lag was however negatively statistically significant all at the five per cent level.
About 72 per cent of the farmers got their facilities at not less than six months after submitting loan application forms. Average cultivated farm size was 2.9 hectares. Loans granted to majority of the farmers came to 60 per cent of the amount requested. The paper concludes that an adequate provision of feeder road will minimize long delay in processing and delivery of credit to farmers, and will enhance farmers= contact with banks officials and extension agents. This could lead to smallholders expanding their farms and their productivities which in turn would contribute to having food security in Nigeria.

Volume 15 Nos. 1 & 2, December 2000

ECOWAS vis-a-vis Democracy in the West African Sub-region

`Kunle Amuwo

Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science,
University of Ibadan

Abstract

The major argument of this article is that, notwithstanding the harsh and difficult external economic environment, that constrains and frustrates the democratic project in the West Africa sub-region, the democratic movement is neither altogether an exercise in futility nor wholly condemned to fail.
Taking as its starting point a major canon of the ECOWAS freedom charter, adopted at the 1991 Abuja Summit, to wit, Aencouraging and promoting in each of our countries, political pluralism and those representative institutions and guarantees for personal safety and freedom under the law that are our common heritage@, the article assesses the extent to which both exogenous and endogenous factors in many of the Community=s member-states militate against the impetus for, and drive towards democratisation and democracy.
The article concludes by first implicitly arguing that only the sub-region can take its destiny into its own hands. Whenever flashes of this phenomenon show up, however far between, as in Nigeria=s bold intervention to restore constitutional democracy in Sierra Leone in 1997/98, the response of the international system is usually to fall in line. Secondly, by suggesting that, whereas the eventual outcome of the dialectical confrontation between democracy and authoritarianism can hardly be predicted, ab initio, the triumph of the latter over the former is likely, in a flowering era of globalisation, to condemn the sub-region to the status of the underdog neighbourhood par excellence in the global hamlet.

Female Unequal Access to Education:
Nigerian Women's Low Participation in Politics as Cause and Consequence

T. Okoosi-Simbine

Research Fellow, Political Development Unit,
NISER, Ibadan

Abstract

The article examines women=s education in Nigeria and its impacts on or is affected by their inactive participation in politics. It is premised on the argument that, the failure of government in Nigeria today is the failure of the male gender and, in turn the male dominated nature of government and state in Nigeria conditions affects the participation of women in politics and decision-making. Though, the use of empirical data in the study concludes that, the low participation of Nigerian women in politics is both a cause as well as a consequence of women=s unequal access to education in Nigeria. This is so in the sense that, firstly the fact of Nigerian women=s unequal access to education makes their political participation a herculean task. On the other hand, that women are not numerically active participants in politics nor have policy-making power, this means that they cannot take decisions to improve their educational lot. It therefore recommends among others, the use of role models for younger and less educated women to change the situation of women in both politics and education.

Policy Modelling of Regional Integration Arrangements in Less Developed Countries: The Case of ECOWAS

E. Olawale Ogunkola

Department of Economics, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan.

Abstract

As the need for information on the existing trade potentials of ECOWAS becomes important for more active implementation of its trade agreements among member states, this paper measures the trade potentials and estimates its intra-regional trade flow. This was achieved through a combination of the coefficients of explanatory variables of gravity model that was based on Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) experience to predict potential intra-regional trade flows in ECOWAS.
This paper therefore presents a comparative analysis of ASEAN and ECOWAS case studies to deduce the effectiveness of ECOWAS on intra-regional trade in its sub-region. The analysis showed that the effect of ECOWAS on intra-regional trade was negative and minimal, while other identified regional bodies, ASEAS and CEAO had positive effects on their regions. Thus, there is no potential increase in trade among the members states implying that the regional efforts so far have not been impacted on intra-regional trade because of lack of potentials. Conclusively, the paper suggests that the ECOWAS should emulate and imbibe the experience and modalities of ASEAN in order to achieve greater increase on its sub-regional trade flows.

Factors Affecting Farmers' Adoption of Animal Traction Technology in Northern Nigeria

Ade S. Olomola

Associate Research Professor of Agricultural Economics,
NISER, Ibadan

Abstract

Emphasis on the use of animal traction technology is growing in many African countries. There is need to popularise the technology in Nigerian agriculture to achieve the expected area and output expansion. This paper examines the adoption of the technology in the country and found that farm size, access to credit, farming experience, nonfarm income, tenure status and age of the farmer are key determinants. To promote animal traction, the necessary managerial skills should be upgraded through effective extension services. Consideration should also be given to animal traction loan packages targeted at young but experienced farmers

Technology Acquisition And Endogenous Technological Capabilities Accumulation: The Case of Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plants In Nigeria

G.O.A. Laditan

Research Professor of Business and Technology,
NISER, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

The focus of most developing countries over the last four decades, on the issue of technology acquisition (transfer) has been largely on the cost, suitability and effectiveness of these imported technologies. Interest, however, became increasingly focused on what happens to these technologies after acquisition, since most of the industries/services established through these process become inefficient, underutilized, debunked from the local economy and eventually become incapable of generating exports, skills, or employment. Consequently, attention shifted the processes involved in the mastery and adaptation of these technologies especially through the development and accumulation of endogenous technological capabilities by either the recipient firms or countries.
This paper examines the performance of the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON), from its origin as a joint venture project in the 1980s, up to 1994. The paper highlights that sufficient efforts were made during this period at strengthening endogenous technological capabilities through adequate and appropriate training programmes by the firm. These efforts, the paper concludes might have been responsible for the observed high performance of the firm.