No description available.

The primary focus of this study is to highlight those unobtrusive, yet fundamental, factors undermining economic development in Nigeria. To begin with, it posits that the decelerating pace of capital accumulation in Nigeria, which naturally occasions rising unemployment and poverty levels, and widening inequality gap, is the result of the ‘low possibility’ of capitalist enterprises in the country of earning an adequate rate of profit from their productive processes. In turn, the ‘low possibility’ is argued to be the result of the uneven development inherent in the modern capitalist structure, the high cost of capital and of production peculiar to Nigeria, and the ineffective demand for goods made in Nigeria: these elements are viewed as been precipitated by the contradictions of the contemporary political-economic arrangement that organises the Social Structures of Accumulation. For Nigeria to ‘develop’, it is contended that the unobtrusive elements inherent in the contradiction of the political-economic economic that undermine the capitalists’ ability to earn a commensurate rate of profit in the country needs to be fully addressed first. Furthermore, this study suggests that it is crucial the country embraces knowledge-based industrialisation if it is to achieve some form of ‘competitive advantage’ in the global market, which could enable its productive processes extract a commensurate level of profit from the market. To facilitate the knowledge-based industrialisation, the state should, not only create a conducive environment for industrial development but also play the lead role in transforming the peripheral and oil dependent economy to a knowledge-based economy by coordinating business organisations and investing in high-risk innovations.

No description available.

Infrastructure development is the bedrock of any economy and it is an important factor for the improvement of wellbeing and quality of life. Many nations are struggling with meeting the increasing demands for infrastructure while local communities are devising different approaches to meeting supply. However, the focus of the Nigerian government is more towards the development of the urban and rural areas while the suburban areas are often neglected. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of community participation on infrastructure development in Akure, Nigeria. The study was carried out to understand how community participation contributed to adequacy of infrastructure development in the suburban areas of a medium size city, and was carried out in five suburban communities within Akure city, Nigeria. Using a range of qualitative methods, the study examined the role of government in the provision of road and water infrastructure in the selected suburban communities. It also examined the participation of the local residents and contribution of community self-help projects to adequacy of infrastructure development in these communities. The study established that a multi-organisation and sectorial approach was adopted for the planning for road and water infrastructure development in Akure city withe more emphasis placed on provision of infrastructure in the urban and rural areas. There are overlapping responsibilities as regulatory institutions are also the major providers of road and water infrastructure in Akure suburban area. The study further revealed the preference of top-down approach to infrastructure development as only few agencies make use of bottom-up approach while there is no collaboration between the state-based and local-based agencies and neither with the regulating agencies. Lastly the study showed that community self-help projects contributed to the adequacy of road and water infrastructure. Community participation contributed more to availability, accessibility and affordability of road and water infrastructure while the qualities remain poor and not improved. Water infrastructure was more on individual basis while road projects are through collective actions.

No description available.

No description available.

The issue of price deregulation in the downstream oil sector of Nigeria through gradual subsidy withdrawal has generated a heated debate in the country with the government claiming that it will guarantee long term stability in product, supply and price. This will translate into economic growth and development. Others, especially the organised labour, claim that deregulation will lead to higher product prices, higher cost of production, and cut of jobs and will bring about recession in the economy. Therefore, this thesis employs Vector Auto regression Model using Variance Decomposition, Impulse Response Function and Granger Causality tests to assess the effect of price deregulation through gradual subsidy withdrawal in the downstream oil sector of Nigeria on four macroeconomic variables which are; GDP, Inflation, Unemployment and Minimum wage. The research finds evidence that changes in oil price, as a result of subsidy withdrawal, is the major source of variation in GDP, Inflation and Unemployment, while it is not found to be a significant source of variation in minimum wages. The result also reveals that there is positive impact of oil price changes on GDP and Inflation but negative impact on Unemployment and Minimum wages at the beginning of the observation period which became positive in the later stage of the observation. Finally the Granger causality test indicates unidirectional causality running from Petroleum prices to GDP and from Inflation to Petroleum prices while there is no evidence of causality on Minimum wage and Unemployment. The result of the granger causality test is an indication that the positive effect of changes in petroleum prices on GDP is not as a result of increased economic activity but a result of increased government spending due to increased revenue available to it as a result of subsidy withdrawal. The study suggests that countries wishing to deregulate their downstream oil sectors should evolve ways that will reduce the impact of the policy on cost of production, protect jobs, control inflation and protect real wage. This will mitigate economic recession and promote growth.

No description available.

As oil bearing country, the issue of development in Nigeria has been a complex one that has attracted attention of both the government and scholars because oil politics appears to shape resource management and the development process. While academic focus has been on the analysis of national development, there is a paucity of academic studies on the internal dynamics at the regional level that shape the development process. This study therefore aims to: “examine the effect of oil resources on Nigeria’s development and the South-South compared with the situation in the South-West”, with an explicit focus on the complex nexus between oil, politics and regional development in Nigeria. The thesis adopts both methodological and theoretical triangulation to generate data to test the main and supporting hypothesis adopted for the study: “the oil industry has had an adverse impact on the development of Nigeria, and, in particular, the Niger Delta region in which it is concentrated”. In so doing, it explores the failure of oil politics to mix effectively to engender both national and regional development; leading to a regional development disparity. The study concludes that oil wealth failed to fuel development in Nigeria but instead, led to leadership failure. This failure is particularly found to have given vent to the negative impact of oil wealth on elite behaviour that is shaped by corruption, made worse by a dis-functional federal system where those with links major ethnic groups, get resource allocation and development advantage. The study consequently recommends that elite induced oil politics and attendant corruption, be tackled to pave way for both national and regional development in Nigeria. The study also recommend replication of this study in a larger scale in other oil bearing developing nations to further explore the relationship between management of resource wealth and regional development.

The problem of weak economic development in Nigeria despite a substantial inflow of revenues from oil exports especially from the early 1970s and other subsequent periods is an important issue to examine. This outcome presents a number of problems for any government regime in Nigeria seeking to provide solutions to enable the country to escape the adverse effects of natural resource wealth. At present, the Nigerian government is still struggling to find solutions to tackle the deteriorating state of affairs, particularly in terms of unemployment, rising food prices and internal security. The main aim of this study is to help understand the dynamic relationship between natural resource wealth and economic development. This research study analyses the trajectory of economic and political development in Nigeria over the period 1960 to 2010. This study employs historical political economy and empirical approaches in examining the relationship between oil wealth and economic development. This method distinguishes the study from others carried out in the literature, particularly from those on Nigeria where the common approach in this strand has been to examine the relationship using economic theories alone. The rationale for the approach employed in this study is that Nigeria has its own unique development in terms of politics, which has been influenced by the social structure and colonial history of the country and thus the impact of oil on economic growth should be investigated separately using a historical and empirical approach so as to capture time trend interactions between societal issues, politics and economic outcomes. First, this study examined the relationship between oil and economic performance using social, political and economic factors such as ethnic and regional differences, political instability, changes in ownership structure of the oil sector and government expenditure, which is largely financed by oil revenues. Next, the research empirically examined the impact of these factors on economic sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. Afterwards, it analyses the impact of political and economic events in the preceding periods on the current or subsequent period that coincided with a return to democratic rule on major economic sectors. In general, the results show that the period, which marked a transition to a stable political regime, has no impact on economic performance from 1999 - 2010. Implicitly, this means that democracy in isolation is not a process that accompanies economic development and that a strong policy which could foster national unity and overcome regional and ethnic differences is needed. In order to promote sound economic development this policy should be dynamic, specific and directed to the promotion of a national agenda that will target and benefit important sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing through creating forward and backward linkages in a multiplier effect.