Ondo State is one of the States in Nigeria that have taken significant action to reduce the burden of malaria. Specifically, the State currently runs a free health care programme for infants and pregnant mothers as the disease account for most of the maternal and infant deaths record in the country. Given the prevalence of malaria in the morbidity and mortality incidence of Nigeria and the public health care problem it poses, this study attempts to estimate the cost disparity in malaria treatment in private and public hospitals in Ondo State. Using the morbidity statistics of 85249 malaria patients' visit to public hospitals in Ondo State between 2008 and 2013, and responses of 245 patients who had been treated of malaria in public and private hospitals, the finding showed the average cost of treatment to be higher in the private than the public hospitals. The minimum cost for treating malaria in the private and public hospitals were estimated as N1727 and N1203 for the non complicated case and N8900 and N4850 for the complicated cases respectively in the two hospital types. The disparity between the cost groups was observed to be more pronounced in complicated malaria cases. The wide disparity between costs of treatment in the two hospital types worsens the disease burden in the economy. The study suggests narrowing the gap between the treatment costs in the private and public hospitals to increase access to health care.

The study critically investigated the dynamics of growth and growth implication of money supply in Nigeria between 1985–2013. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression method were used to investigate the relationship between money supply and some selected macroeconomics variables such as the gross domestic product, inflation rate, budget deficit and government expenditure in the study. The study found a direct and significant relationship between money supply and economic growth. The same relationship holds for the budget deficit and inflation while government expenditure was not significant. It was also discovered that a 1 percent increase in the level of money supply will increase the volume of the gross domestic product by about 73 percent. The study thus recommended that the monetary authority should look into the transmission mechanism of money supply in other to determine its lagged effect on the output growth.

The paper investigates the validity of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in Sub-Saharan African countries, using panel data analysis for the period 1980 to 2012. It seeks to examine the effects of economic growth on the environmental quality of the countries in the sub-region. The paper used annual secondary time series data obtained from World Bank Development Indicators (WDI) for the period under review. The validity of EKC hypothesis was examined through panel data fixed and random effects analysis. Panel unit root test and panel cointegration test were conducted to determine the degree of stationarity of the variables and long-run relationship among our variables of interest respectively. The paper considers a variety of pollutants in estimating the EKC pattern with observation that the responses of EKC depend largely on the nature of pollutants. The results of the empirical analysis supported the validity of the EKC hypothesis for solid emission (CSF) and composite factor of emission (CFE) but maintain non-existence of EKC hypothesis for other pollutants: carbon emission (CO2), industrial emission (CIN) and liquid emission (CLQ). The paper confirms that not all the selected environmental pollutants follow the same EKC process in the selected countries of Sub-Saharan African (SSA). The paper recommends that the impression of “polluting the economy now as it clears itself later” does not hold for most of the pollutants and should not be adopted in the region so as to ensure better environmental quality as there seems no proof of better quality if not regulated. The findings show that SSA countries need to harmonise a well-coordinated environmental and economic policy mix that would ensure greater output but at the same time protect their environment from degradation and pollution.

Small scale industries have formed the bedrock of the economy of many nations especially, Africa. The tremendous multiplier effect generated is a panacea for economic expansion, boosting, advancement, sustenance and economic regeneration. The paper therefore, underscores the regional economic performance of small scale enterprises, using Akure, Ondo State as a case study. The first step in the collection of primary data involves the reconnaissance survey, where ten wards were identified. The second stage involves the administration of questionnaire based on total sampling. On the whole, one hundred and forty-five questionnaires were retrieved. The questions sought in the questionnaire were largely centered on the economic performance of the small scale industries. The Chi-square test was conducted in testing the impact of the small scale industries on economic development. The research found out a positive relationship between the small scale industries and employment generation, transportation, technological innovation, standard of living, poverty alleviation, commercial activities as well as on the other sector of the economy. The hypothesis tested on the impact of small scale industries and the economic development was significant at 0.5% level. The paper however recommends a direct inverse relationship between small scale industries and infrastructural facilities. Due to the amazing economic transformation and rejuvenation which small scale enterprises is capable to infuse into regional economy, this paper therefore, recommend more Government active participation in the small scale sector. This could be achieved through granting or giving loan to interested investors on an affordable interest rate. The location factors such as power supply, water and other government policies etc. should be made liberal. Also, tax holiday policy should be implemented, so as to encourage investors who are able to benefit from it. Entrepreneurs should have close associations with themselves by forming co-operative and thrift societies; this will substantially help in the area of finance, and also provide an avenue through which various regulations and laws that would govern the small scale firms positively will be provided.

Oil rich economies continue to be ranked poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Attempt is made in this study to establish that oil production increases the probability of being ranked poorly on CPI. Using binary choice logistic regression model, this study tested the hypothesis that the higher the volume of oil produce in barrel per day, the higher the probability of scoring high in corruption perception index. It was found that oil production volume was not a major cause of high corruption perception in oil rich economies. The results suggest that high corruption perception is explained by institutions as measured by index of economic freedom including gross domestic product per capita and oil rents share in gross domestic product.

The paper investigates the effect of working capital on profitability of firms in Nigeria for the period 1999 to 2007. The study adopts the dynamic panel general method of moments in analysing the data. Results of the estimation show that sales growth, cash conversion cycle, account receivables and inventory period affect firm positively, while leverage and account payable affect firm profitability negatively.

This study continues the gender debate by evaluating the roles of women as proprietors, and workers of small scale industrial enterprises in Ondo state of Nigeria. The study made use of 200 questionnaire which was administered on women owned enterprises sampled from the existing 1250 enterprises in the state. The second questionnaire was administered on two workers who were picked randomly from the selected industries making 400 female workers. Data collected were analysed using descriptive methods such as simple tables, pie charts and ANOVA. Previous studies had established the importance of women as entrepreneurs and workers of small scale industries, this study emphasized that 82% of women were involved in informal enterprises mostly in agro and food products industries. For example out of the 200 women proprietors 36.7% were in Textile, 41% in Agro/Food products, 12.1% in Consumer products, 10% in Industrial/Constructional products sector. The study also revealed a very low capital base among women. Some 20% (40) of respondents had businesses whose values were below ₦21,000 and 90% of them paid their workers less than the workers are appreciated (40%) with a low average income that averaged 7,500 ($47.4) per month. The study established that women entrepreneurs and workers will be better served when they have improved access to means of production across the three regions of the state.

The study appraised the effects of investments in telecommunication infrastructure on economic growth of Nigeria measured by gross domestic product using a comprehensive national level data set in Nigeria for a sample period of 16 years (1992-2007). Data on economic variables such as gross domestic product, government expenditure were obtained from the Statistical Bulletin published by Central Bank of Nigeria. Data on telecommunication infrastructure investment such as telephone mainlines (both fixed line and mobile), total capital expenditure, telecom sector revenue and telecom sector employment were sourced from the publication of the International Telecommunication Union , the Nigeria Communication Commission and as well as World Bank Development Indicator Database. The data were analyzed through the pooled ordinary least squared (OLS) regression methods. The causal relationship between the likely interdependence of telecommunication and economic variables were tested using the time series data. The results showed that telecommunication infrastructure measured by teledensity and telecommunication employment is both statistically significant and positively correlated with economic growth. The study concluded that the stock of telecommunication infrastructure plays a role in determining growth and productivity in Nigeria and that there is the need to create a conducive and competitive climate for the growth of the telecommunication industry, encourage more investment in the sector through private participation, stable and transparent telecommunication policies so that the capital required for building telecommunication infrastructure can be met.

The argument as to the regime type that engenders more real output growth has featured prominently in many academic discourse for many decades now. Empirical submissions from many cross-country studies on this issue have been mixed. This country-specific, inter-temporal comparative study on Nigeria was undertaken to find out which regime type in the country can be adjudged to have recorded more real output growth than the other; and also to identify the macroeconomic variables that may be responsible for this outcome. Secondary data on the macroeconomic variables relevant to the study were collected and inferentially analysed. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression performed showed that the two regime types in the country did not record any growth in real output (RGDP) during the study period. The regression also showed that Real Gross Fixed Capital Formation (RGFCF) and the Literacy Rate (LTR) positively influenced RGDP growth. The Granger-causality regression performed revealed that there was neither a unidirectional nor a bidirectional (feedback) relationship between Democracy Index (D) and RGDP during the study period. The paper therefore recommended that governments in Nigeria must continue to formulate policies that promote economic democracy and also, interest groups and the civil society must continue to dialogue with governments to improve on spending on education so that RGFCF and LTR can continue to positively contribute to RGDP growth in the country irrespective of the stripe of the regime in power.

This paper provides new evidence on the effects of bank capital requirement in Nigeria. In investigating the impact, we set up a simple model of the banking firm which can detect the impact of capital regulation on banks’ behaviour as well as having possible effects on the economy. In estimation, we use time series data covering the year 1970- 2009. We employed both OLS and vector error correction method of estimations. The results of the two methods were not significantly different. The simulations based on vector autoregressive (VAR) method indicate the importance of growth of economic activity (growth of GDP) as a major determinant on change in deposits and change in loans.

The study critically assessed the extent to which financial sector liberalization has affected Bank performance in Nigeria. The Panel data model was employed for data spanning a period of thirty four years (i.e. 1971-2005). Earnings Per Share (EPS), Returns on Capital Employed (ROCE) and Returns on Equity (ROE) were used as proxies for Bank performance (i.e the dependent variables) while Interest Rate, Real Financial Savings and Exchange Rates were used as the proxies for financial sector liberalization (i.e. the independent variables). A number of diagnostic tests were also conducted on the residuals to evaluate the models; these include the Breuch-Godfrey Serial Correlation Lagrange Multiplier (LM) Test, the Ramsey REST Test of Specification Error (i.e. to test for omitted variables, incorrect functional form, correlation between exogenous variables and error term) and the Cummulative Sum (CUSUM ) tests of parametric stability, the LM test of Serial Correlation showed that there was an absence of first order serial correlation in the residuals and cumulative sum tests also showed that observations are more stable during Pre-SAP period than the Post-SAP era. The result obtained showed that though the effect of financial sector liberalization on bank performance in Nigeria for the period of study has been significant, especially as measured by the proxies of Earnings per Share and Return on Equity, it has not been significant enough to transform the nations' economy to the desired level. Hence, the study suggests among other things that a precondition for the efficiency of a liberalized financial sector is a stable macroeconomic environment and it is essential to ensure that government fiscal policy is assigned to complement monetary policies not to work against monetary and fiscal policies and help restore domestic and international confidence in the Nigeria banking system.

This study was conducted to examine empirically, the effects of macroeconomic variables like money supply, interest rate, investment and inflation rate on the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria for the period 1970 to 2009. These macrovariables could be manipulated to control the economy to achieve macroeconomic equilibrium and hence economic growth. The econometric methods of unit root test, cointegration test, error correction mechanism and Granger causality test were used to analyse the secondary data sourced from the Central Bank Statistical Bulletin, volume 22, December, 2011. Both the error correction results and the Granger Causality results complement each other. With the exemption of interest rate all the regressands were properly signed but none of them was statistically significant. The poor performance of these variables was reflected in the low values of the R2 (0.358089) and F-statistic (3.681796). The positive value of the coefficient of the ECM-1 variable of 0.415208 indicates that the GDP was above its equilibrium value and so must be falling in the next period towards its equilibrium value with the speed of adjustment of 0.415208 or at the rate of 41.5% per period. The result of the Granger causality test indicates bilateral causation between inflation and interest rates, as well as between interest rate and investment. It also indicates unidirectional causation from money supply to inflation and investment and from GDP to money supply and investment, money supply to investment, interest rate to GDP, inflation to GDP. Finally it also indicates independence causation between money supply and interest rate, inflation and investment. The bilateral causation between interest rate and inflation rate is very strong and they are the major cause of the poor performance of the economy. It is highly recommended that the two of them should be reduced to their threshold one digit rate of between 5-7% each.