Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Nigerian economy has suffered huge infrastructure deficits since her independence in 1960, thereby limiting economic growth potential of the country considerably. This research conducted a Granger causality test between Real Gross Domestic Product, infrastructure investment and productivity across manufacturing, agriculture and industrial sectors in Nigeria for the period 1981 – 2012 using multivariate vector error correction model. The co integration test shows that there is a long run relationship between infrastructure investment and economic growth at both at 1 percent and 5 percent levels of significance. Further, the granger causality test indicated a one way causal relationship between infrastructure investments and economic growth in Nigeria running from infrastructure investment to Real Gross Domestic Product growth. We equally established a one way causality relationship between agriculture sector productivity and gross domestic product growth, a one way causal relationship between manufacturing sector productivity and Real Gross Domestic Product growth and a very significant one way causal relationship that runs from infrastructural investment to agriculture sector productivity, all running from the former to the latter. The economic implication of this is that the existing level of infrastructure investment in Nigeria is a significant contributing factor to growth in the level of rea gross domestic product. However, despite the sustained real gross domestic product growth, the Nigerian government has been unable to translate this growth to physical infrastructure development. We conclude that in order to achieve the double digit economic growth needed for a comprehensive economic transformation of Nigeria, the Nigerian government needs to accord greater priority to infrastructure development, particularly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

No description available.

The Internet and e-business has had enormous impact on many companies in Nigeria and there has been much research on how e-business influences the environment, but little can be found on how the environment of a developing country like Nigeria influences e-business. In e-business, technology tells the business what can be done in smarter ways. Technology not only can make business more efficient but also can make business more effective in targeting and reaching markets, however technology cannot enhance business in isolation as there are other vital factors that equally impact business. This thesis presents an adapted version of the PESTEL (Political, Economic, Socio cultural, Technology, Environment, and Legal) framework so called e-business PESTEL framework, as a method for structural analysis of macro environment forces in the future. In addition to this PESTEL framework, the Porter’s five forces model was employed to analyse the industrial forces that also influence MTNN e-business strategy. The main goal of this research is to give an overview of industry and macro-environment forces influencing the e-business strategy MTN-Nigeria and the impact of future developments. The research methodology was explorative and descriptive. A further method for future analysis of the macro-environments influences and a suggestion on how to incorporate it in this research work is given. The e-business strategy of MTNN consists of four areas: E-procurement, E-collaboration (CRM), Supply chain management and E-commerce. The influences found on macro-environments level are political and sociocultural forces and in the industry levels are bargaining power of customers and suppliers of its products and services .The most recommendations are that MTN-Nigeria should add e-business PESTEL framework described in this thesis to its e-business strategy check. Furthermore MTNN should include environment analysis more extensively in their e-business strategy approach as the factors in this research work shape the environment in which it carries out its business. / toks_philip@yahoo.com,adac06@student.bth.se,++447976105543

The dissertation evaluates changes in child labor practices in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria during the colonial period from the 1880s to the 1950s. The argument concludes that child labor was part of a socializing, educational, and survival strategy prior to colonial conquest. British policies influenced by civilizing mission ideology and indirect rule fundamentally altered the relationship between children and their families. Child labor in Nigeria's cultural context was neither completely exploitative nor beneficial, but had the capacity to affect children in both ways depending on specific circumstances. Child labor initially existed in the context of the kinship group, but during the first half of the twentieth century child labor increasingly became an independent strategy outside the confines of the kinship environment, which was a direct result of social and economic change. The research underscores the central position of child labor in the Nigerian economy and the British colonial agenda. Towards the end of colonial rule, child labor issues composed part of the anti-colonial movement as it assisted discontent elites to gain support beyond coastal cities. / text

Four assumptions-- 1. That there is an effective and potential demand for processed fruit products in the Western State of Nigeria. 2. That current supply of raw materials in the Western State of Nigeria is more than sufficient to meet the increased demand which the short-term addition or expansion (or both) of market opportunities as provided by processors will stimulate. 3. That farmers could be better-off economically by widening their margin. 4. That while a processing unit may have many objectives, like survival, large size, power and status, the overriding motive of the unit is to try to maximize profit. -- were made in conducting this study which is an attempt to understand the impact a particular processing firm in the Western State of Nigeria has made on farmers in its surrounding, and a postulate of the role such firms could play in the improvement and expansion of fruit crop production, especially in the context of the stage of development Nigeria is today. With orange and pineapple as fruits of emphasis, the field work, done in Nigeria, took 59 days (July 20, 1970, to September 17, 1970); 45 days spent in interviewing farmers, 12 days in watching processing activities of 'Blaize'--the fruit processor; and 2 days taken off in-between. Three major issues examined are 1. The system of farming practiced by the producers--farmers producing for Blaize--particularly the farming changes (if any) induced by the addition or expansion (or both) of market opportunities as provided by the processor--'Blaize'. 2. The organization, activities and program of the processor-buyer (Blaize) as they relate to the purchase of orange and pineapple from Abeokuta area. 3. The kind of relationship which has been established between the processor firm (Blaize) and farmers who supply to it. Findings are: 1. The area of land planted to orange and pineapple in Abeokuta has been increasing over the years. 2. Farmers are responsive to price incentives; and are willing to increase their productivity to take advantage of profit opportunities, but they tend to guard against a long-term curtailment of food production. 3. Farmers earn their most cash-income from farming. 4. Nonfarm activities of the present farmers provide an increasingly smaller resource potential for production increase. 5. Capital, labor, good roads and transport are major constraints on farmers' production in Abeokuta area. 6. Abeokuta farmers diversify, but they grow more crops for domestic market than for export. 7. Land-use in Abeokuta features 9.2 percent devoted to ara-ables, 16.3 percent to tree crops, about 11.6 percent and 15.4 percent devoted to orange and pineapple, respectively; and 60 percent still residual. Average land-size per farm family is 32.7 acres, all scattered on an average of 8.6 plots. 8. Fruit growers in Abeokuta area are market oriented. 9. People in age brackets (26-37) and (37-46), as compared with other age brackets, have the largest amount of land, are more numerous, and are more market oriented. Areas of possible further investigation are: 1. Analysis of consumer demand. 2. The difficulties which may be faced by the expansion of processed fruit products when such will be meant for exports. 3. Promotional measures, and the utilization of by-products of processing plants. 4. Analysis of the existing marketing channels and services. 5. Capacity assessment of any given processor-plant. 6. The determination of the most suitable location of any proposed plant. / Graduation date: 1973

A major question in ecology is 'why are tropical forests so species diverse?' One hypothesis to explain tropical species diversity is the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. This model assumes high levels of host-specific seed and seedling predation and / or pathogen attack when seedlings occur at high density near to the parent tree; seedlings are more likey to survive and reach maturity the further they are away from parents / conspecific adults. Theoretically this should lead to a random distribution of each species in the forest, which in turn will lead to high species diversity. Here I test the Janzen-Connell hypothesis for the first time in a submontane dry forest in Nigeria, West Africa. Specifically I tested whether or not a) leaf herbivory decreases and b) seedling survival increases with distance from parent / conspecific adult trees. These two components were tested separately on naturally occurring seedlings and on experimentally planted seedlings. I also tested whether or not conspecific adult trees showed clumped distributions by testing if conspecific nearest neighbours were observed more often than would be expected by chance alone. Naturally occurring seedlings of three species, Pouteria altissima, Newtonia buchananii and Isolona pleurocarpa showed significantly greater survival at distances away from parent / conspecific adult trees. Two out of a total of three species (Entandrophragma angolense, Deinbollia pinnata and Sterculia pinnata) of experimentally planted seedlings showed increased survival at distances away from conspecific adult trees, but this trend was non-significant. Leaf herbivory decreased with distance from parent / conspecific adult trees for four out of a total of six study species, but all relationships of leaf herbivory with distance for these six species were non-significant. Of two individual species, Anthonotha noldeae and Carapa procera, and two species groups tested for clumping, all had a greater number of conspecific nearest neighbours than would be expected to occur by chance alone, and this was significant for the two species groups. The decreased survival of seedlings under parent / conspecific adult trees is likely to maintain tree species diversity in West African submontane forests as predicted by the Janzen-Connell model. The role of host specific seedling herbivores in reducing recruitment under parent / conspecific adult trees requires further investigation. Although conspecific adults showed some degree of clumping no conclusion was reached as to whether this was evidence for or against the Janzen-Connell model.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Most scholars of female farmers of sub-Saharan Africa have come to agree that the transition from subsistence to market agriculture has hurt women's independent agricultural enterprises and incomes. Research conducted among a group of farmers known as the Kofyar of central Nigeria provides a case study which runs counter to this general consensus. Kofyar women have not suffered a loss of economic or social independence with the introduction of cash-cropping but have in fact embraced the new opportunities of the markets to produce crops for sale independently of their households. The Kofyar farming system as a whole is outlined, and the system of independent production is described within this context. The recent history of the Kofyar is sketched including, most importantly, their migration into an agricultural frontier, the adoption of yams as the primary cash crop, and the evolution of a complex set of mechanisms for mobilizing labor. The role of women in the cooperative labor network and in household labor is described and women's important contributions to all types of labor are linked to their access to labor for their own independent production. One of the basic arguments is that Kofyar women are prospering relative to other African women because their labor has been so crucial to the agriculture of the Kofyar both before and since the introduction of cash-cropping. The other basic argument for Kofyar women's relative success is that they are successfully exploiting the flexibility inherent in their farming system to maximize their own production. The use of intensive techniques such as intercropping and taking advantage of the flexibility in the timing of certain agricultural tasks on their major crops of groundnuts and yams are examples of this strategy. Women have, in other words, evolved a system of independent production which fits around rather than competes directly with male/household farming. The dissertation goes on to place women's independent farming within the broader social system by analyzing differences between women in marriage and childbearing statuses and histories. Regular differences in magnitude of independent production are found between women with contrasting social characteristics (e.g. age, marital status, divorce history, numbers of children). The portrait of the most prosperous woman is sketched. Kofyar women's activities are seen as an essential part of Kofyar development. The system in general has become more prosperous and women as important contributors to that prosperity are also benefiting as individuals from these changes.