The critical need to create economic prosperity and ensure inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning for all, especially in developing countries has been the motivation behind the ...various advocacies by the policymakers and other stakeholders in these countries to achieve the SDGs comes 2030. Meanwhile, ECOWAS sub region is characterized with the lowest human capital development alongside the highest rates of illiteracy in the world despite the continuous rise in government educational spending over the years. Against this backdrop, the role of government educational spending on human capital development in ECOWAS sub-region has been investigated with a view to driving one of the strategic goals of Sustainable Development- inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning for all. In order to achieve this, annual data from 1990 to 2019 was utilized using a panel ARDL as a technique of estimation. The findings that emerged in this work are summarized as follows; the relationship between government educational spending and human capital development in ECOWAS sub region is more of a long run phenomenon. Therefore, government educational spending and human capital development have a positive and significant relationship in the long run. In the light of the above findings, this study therefore makes the following recommendations for the policymakers in ECOWAS sub region and by extension developing countries, any time the goal of these policymakers is inclusive and equitable lifelong learning via human capital development, the government at levels should embark on sustainable educational spending. In the same vein, these policymakers should be committed to funding of educational sector as stipulated by both the United Nations and the Abuja declaration of 2001, advocating for 26% of annual budget for educational sector in developing countries.
Full text
Available for:
CEKLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK
The response of terrestrial vegetation to a globally changing environment is central to predictions of future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The role of tropical forests is critical because ...they are carbon-dense and highly productive. Inventory plots across Amazonia show that old-growth forests have increased in carbon storage over recent decades, but the response of one-third of the world's tropical forests in Africa is largely unknown owing to an absence of spatially extensive observation networks. Here we report data from a ten-country network of long-term monitoring plots in African tropical forests. We find that across 79 plots (163 ha) above-ground carbon storage in live trees increased by 0.63 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 between 1968 and 2007 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.22-0.94; mean interval, 1987-96). Extrapolation to unmeasured forest components (live roots, small trees, necromass) and scaling to the continent implies a total increase in carbon storage in African tropical forest trees of 0.34 Pg C yr-1 (CI, 0.15-0.43). These reported changes in carbon storage are similar to those reported for Amazonian forests per unit area, providing evidence that increasing carbon storage in old-growth forests is a pan-tropical phenomenon. Indeed, combining all standardized inventory data from this study and from tropical America and Asia together yields a comparable figure of 0.49 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (n = 156; 562 ha; CI, 0.29-0.66; mean interval, 1987-97). This indicates a carbon sink of 1.3 Pg C yr-1 (CI, 0.8-1.6) across all tropical forests during recent decades. Taxon-specific analyses of African inventory and other data suggest that widespread changes in resource availability, such as increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, may be the cause of the increase in carbon stocks, as some theory and models predict.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The question whether globalization and its corresponding impacts carry a blessing or curse in developing countries has been a controversial issue among both the scholars and the policymakers, against ...this background this study provided an empirical answer to the question whether globalisation is a curse or cure to industrial development in Nigeria between 1990 and 2019 within the framework of the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Granger causality test. Consequently, the following principal findings emerged in this study. Firstly, both FDI inflows and trade openness which depict economic globalization had a negative relationship with industrial development respectively. Though, trade openness was significant while FDI inflows showed otherwise. In the same vein, a unidirectional causality ran from manufacturing value added to FDI inflows. However, no feedback relationship existed between trade openness and manufacturing value added. Therefore, this study submits that economic globalization is a curse to industrial development in Nigeria because the wave of economic globalization contributed a significant reduction in manufacturing value added in Nigeria in the last three decades. From these findings, the current wave of economic globalization could be a cure to industrial development in Nigeria, if only the policymakers in the country embark on policies that would drive the largest proportion of the inflows of FDI in the direction of manufacturing sub sector in the country. Similarly, all hands must be on deck by all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that manufactured products in Nigeria possesses value added quality to facilitate their competitiveness in the global market.
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on selected small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, with a view to ascertaining the impact of lockdown on SMEs engaging in ...three essentials- food and consumables, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas in Sango-Ota industrial area of Ogun state, Nigeria. Data were collected with the administration of structured set of questionnaire on 100 SMEs which were selected purposively. Findings from the analysis showed that the enterprises experienced moderate reduction in production and sales during the lockdown. However, the surveyed enterprises experienced a spike in reduction of contracts and deliveries. In view of the above, the study makes the following recommendations for the policy makers and all stakeholders in SMEs in Nigeria that: pandemic is still ongoing, a spike reduction in operations and sales of SMEs will met a morphose into cash-trap. This would increase the vulnerability of SMEs in Nigeria to other external shocks. Therefore, the government should set aside emergency fund targeting SMEs in the country. Deferment of taxes or waiver of taxes, lower of interest rate could also be embarked on by the appropriate policy makers to make SMEs remain afloat during and after COVID-19 pandemic.
Full text
Available for:
CEKLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between political corruption, income
inequality and poverty between 2000 and 2019 in Nigeria. The study utilized secondary data from
World Bank ...Development Indicators, Transparency International and the National Bureau of Statistics
in Nigeria, and fully modified ordinary least square and Granger causality were employed to address
the objective of the study. Consequently, the findings that emerged in this work could be enunciated
thus; political corruption and income inequality have a significant negative relationship. However,
corruption and poverty head count have an insignificant direct relationship. In the same vein, corruption
and exchange rate have a significant positive relationship. In addition, there is a unidirectional causality
which runs from political corruption to income inequality. Similarly, political corruption Granger
causes exchange rate. Also, there is one-way feedback relationship flowing from exchange rate to
inflation rate. However, no feedback relationship exists between political corruption and income
inequality in one hand, and political corruption and exchange rate on the other hand. In a nutshell, it
could be concluded that political corruption is responsible for the rise in poverty level in Nigeria, Also,
political corruption Granger causes income inequality in Nigeria. Against this backdrop, the study
makes the following recommendations to the policy makers in Nigeria that any time the goal of the
policy makers is to reduce poverty and inequality of income among the Nigerians, policy that will
address political corruption should be of the priority. In the same line, ant graft institutions such as
EFCC and ICPC should be strengthened in order to achieve their primary goals of curbing corruption
in Nigeria.
Above-ground biomass and structure of 260 African tropical forests Lewis, Simon L.; Sonké, Bonaventure; Sunderland, Terry ...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences,
09/2013, Volume:
368, Issue:
1625
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We report above-ground biomass (AGB), basal area, stem density and wood mass density estimates from 260 sample plots (mean size: 1.2 ha) in intact closed-canopy tropical forests across 12 African ...countries. Mean AGB is 395.7 Mg dry mass ha⁻¹ (95% CI: 14.3), substantially higher than Amazonian values, with the Congo Basin and contiguous forest region attaining AGB values (429 Mg ha⁻¹) similar to those of Bornean forests, and significantly greater than East or West African forests. AGB therefore appears generally higher in palaeo-compared with neotropical forests. However, mean stem density is low (426 ± 11 stems ha⁻¹ greater than or equal to 100 mm diameter) compared with both Amazonian and Bornean forests (cf. approx. 600) and is the signature structural feature of African tropical forests. While spatial autocorrelation complicates analyses, AGB shows a positive relationship with rainfall in the driest nine months of the year, and an opposite association with the wettest three months of the year; a negative relationship with temperature; positive relationship with clay-rich soils; and negative relationships with C : N ratio (suggesting a positive soil phosphorus-AGB relationship), and soil fertility computed as the sum of base cations. The results indicate that AGB is mediated by both climate and soils, and suggest that the AGB of African closed-canopy tropical forests may be particularly sensitive to future precipitation and temperature changes.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study focuses on examination of the relationship between entrepreneurship financing from the perspective of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and poverty eradication in Nigeria from 1990 ...to 2018. Data were collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and World Development Indicators. Consequently, Autoregressive Distributed Lagged, Bounds test and Error Correction Model techniques were utilized to address the objective of the study. Agriculture and forestry financing did not eradicate poverty in the short run in Nigeria. However, the aggregate commercial banks` SMEs financing, the manufacturing and food processing business financing contributed to poverty eradication in in the short run and long run respectively. But broad money supply contributed to poverty eradication in the short run only. However, this study recommends that any time the goal of the policy makers is to eradicate poverty in Nigeria, entrepreneurship financing with reference to manufacturing and food processing should be embarked upon since it has the capacity to alleviate poverty in the both short run in the country. Similarly, the Central Bank of Nigeria should implement appropriate policies that will increase commercial banks’ lending towards agricultural sub sector.
Full text
Available for:
CEKLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, UL, UM, UPUK