CONTENTS

Assessment of the Costs and Returns in Organic Tomato Production and their Profitability in Zuru Local Government Area of Kebbi State, Nigeria

Mshelizah R. J., H. I. Germace, M. S. Ribah& U. Z. Senchi………………………….1

An Assessment of the Institutional Mechanism for Fighting Corruption in Nigeria from 1999 till 2009

Ibiam Sunday Mba & Ugwuja Okwudirichukwu Norbert……………………….18

An Ex-Ray of Treasury Single Account (TSA) for Sustainable Development

T. A. Odetayo………………………………………………………………………..43

The Relationship between Working Capital Management and Account Receivable

Ajanaku, Emmanuel Ademola & Oluwayomi Ayoade Ekunday…….…………..57

The Impact of Contractor’s Technical Competence on Cost and Time Performance of Construction Projects in North-Central Nigeria

Zubair, Ahmed & Ataguba, Joseph Obaje…………………………………..………70

Government Expenditure and Economic Growth: Evidence from Nigeria

T. A. Odetayo & A. Z. Adeyemi………….……………………………………………97

An Assessment of Credit Accessibility of Rural Farmers in Benue State: A case study of Bank of Agriculture (BOA)

Victor Ushahemba Ijirshar & Simeon T. Asom………………..…………………..118

An Empirical Analysis of Fiscal Expansion on Defence and Economic Growth in Nigeria

Bridget Ngodoo Mile & Dr. PhilipTerhemen Abachi………….…………………147

Risk Management and Profitability in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks

Adedeji, Abosede o. & Depo-Mogaji, Taiwo o………………………………….166

Labour Turnover and Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria

1. A.                O. Ojo & A. O. Adedeji………………………………………………………………………….182

“Impact of Management Practices in Industries in the Industrial – Free – Trade Zones in the South West and Littoral Regions of Cameroon: “Challenges and Prospects’’

Francis A. Fumenya……………………………………………………………………196

Evaluation of Presidential Cassava Transformation Initiative on marketing of cassava products, produced by Micro-Scale Cassava Processing Enterprises in Southwest Nigeria

O. T. Okhankhuele, Z. O. Opafunso; O. O. Akinrinola & O. J. Ojo…….………224

Assessment of the Costs and Returns in Organic Tomato Production and their Profitability in Zuru Local Government Area of Kebbi State, Nigeria

Mshelizah R. J. ¹, H. I. Germace², M. S. Ribah³ & U. Z. Senchi⁴

¹Department of Agricultural Extension and Management, College of Agriculture,  Zuru, Kebbi State,

²Department of Science, College of Agriculture, P.M.B. 1018, Zuru, Kebbi State, Nigeria

^3&4Department of Animal Health Technology, College of Agriculture, Zuru, Kebbi State, Nigeria

Corresponding Author: Mshelizah R. J.

ABSTRACT

The study assesses the costs and returns to organic tomatoes production in Zuru LGA of Kebbi State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are to determine the profitability of organic tomato production, to determine the total costs of producing an acre of organic tomatoes, to determine the returns in organic tomato production, and to identify the costs per labour of organic tomato production. The population of the study area comprises of both male and female, four (4) villages in Zuru LGA were purposively selected, while simple random sampling was used to select ten (10) tomato farmers from each of these villages, making forty (40) sampled organic tomato farmers as sample size for this study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and farm budgeting technique were used as tools of analysis to achieve the stated objectives. The result of the descriptive statistics revealed that, only 15% of the respondents cultivates above 21 hectares of land, while the result of family labour shows that, 70% of the respondents use family labour. The result of the farm budget revealed the average total costs of organic tomato production to be ^56,236.66 per respondent. The result also revealed the total average variable costs to be constituting 96.32% of the total cost of production, and the total fixed costs on depreciation consist of 3.68% of the total fixed costs of production which is ^874 per/hectare. The study recommends that the organic tomato farmers should enlarge their farm land to achieve higher production output.

Key: Assessment, Costs, Returns, Organic Production and Profitability

An Assessment of the Institutional Mechanism for Fighting Corruption in Nigeria from 1999 till 2009

An Assessment of the Institutional Mechanism for Fighting Corruption in Nigeria from 1999 till 2009

Ibiam Sunday Mba & Ugwuja Okwudirichukwu Norbert

Department of Public Administration & Local Government

University of Nigeria Nsukka

Email: s.ibiam@yahoo.com

Corresponding Author: Ibiam Sunday Mba

An Ex-Ray of Treasury Single Account (TSA) for Sustainable Development

T. A. Odetayo

Department of Accountancy

Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Nigeria

Email:  deentao@yahoo.com                                                                                       

ABSTRACT

Sustainable development lacks where poor financial discipline, transparency and accountability exist. Treasury single account (TSA) was introduced into Nigeria accounting system as a result of numerous corrupt practices that prevail in the public accounting system. The paper starts by discussing the concepts of sustainable development and treasury single account (TSA). This is followed by an assessment of objectives, benefits and operational guidelines of TSA. It then ex-rays the challenges facing TSA implementation in Nigeria. The study concludes that TSA as a financial policy can curb corruption and financial recklessness among government functionaries and executives, if government provides legislative supports and practicable enabling environment. In addition, the study recommends that proper monitoring of government account should be carried out promptly and stringent punitive measures should be mete out against corrupt officers.

Keywords: Treasury single account, financial policy, sustainable development, accountability

The Relationship between Working Capital Management and Account Receivable

Ajanaku, Emmanuel Ademola & Oluwayomi Ayoade Ekundayo

Department of Accounting, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Ilesha, Osun State

Department of Actuarial Science & Insurance, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State

Email: ajibest2001@yahaoo.com , oaekundayo@jabu.edu.ng

Corresponding Author: Oluwayomi Ayoade Ekundayo

ABSTRACT

This paper dealt with the relationship between working capital management and account receivable in some selected metal manufacturing companies in Nigeria.  in order to achieve this objective of the study, a survey designed was adopted to gather data for the study. The study made copious use of secondary data derived from the annual financial report of the selected metal manufacturing companies for the periods 2007-2016 financial years.  More so, a purposive random sampling technique was used to select five metal manufacturing companies from the population of 15 metal manufacturing in Nigeria. The ordinary least square regression was used to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. the result of the findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between working capital management and account receivable. This inference was based on the fact that the p-value of the f-statistic computed of 0.000 was less than the critical value of 5%. In fact, the coefficient of determination (r²) of 0.996 obtained indicated the fact that 99.60% of account receivable might be due to effective working capital management. It was concluded that working capital management and account receivable were positively related. it was recommended that effective working capital management should be encouraged in the metal manufacturing companies for the betterment of their accounts receivable.

The Impact of Contractor’s Technical Competence on Cost and Time Performance of Construction Projects in North-Central Nigeria

Zubair, Ahmed^* & Ataguba, Joseph Obaje

Department of Quantity Surveying, the Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria

Department of Estate Management, the Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria

Email: zubairahmed6295@gmail.com

Corresponding Author: Zubair, Ahmed

ABSTRACT

Existing literature indicates that contractor’s technical competence is driven by an array of variables. These variables were deployed in this study to assess the impact of contractor’s technical competence on cost and time performance of state government-funded projects in North-Central Nigeria. 177 out of 225 questionnaire administered to contractors, consultants and clients across the six states of the study area were adjudged suitable for data analysis. Reliability analysis returned Cronbach’s alphas of 0.814 and 0.456 for subscales for cost- and time performance respectively. In descending order, contractor’s experience and ability (1st), quality of plant and equipment (2nd), quality of personnel (3rd), and sophistication in construction technology (4th) were found to exert significantly high impact on cost performance (p < 0.05). Although ranked in the first position, the high impact of contractor’s experience and ability on time performance was not significant. On the other hand, the quality of personnel (2nd), sophistication in construction technology (3rd), and the quality of plant and equipment (4th) were found to exert significantly moderate impact on time performance (p < 0.05). Contractor’s technical competence was generally found to have a significantly high impact on cost performance of projects (p < 0.05), contrary to time performance for which the moderate impact of contractor’s technical competence was not significant (p > 0.05). These results imply that contractor pre-qualification team for government-funded projects in North-Central Nigeria would have to rely on the specific variables of contractor’s technical competence in the quest to meet cost and time performance benchmarks.

Keywords: Cost performance, Time performance, Contractor, Technical competence, Construction projects, North-Central Nigeria

Government Expenditure and Economic Growth: Evidence from Nigeria

T. A. Odetayo & A. Z. Adeyemi

Department of Accountancy

Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Nigeria

E-mail: deentao@yahoo.com

Corresponding Author: T. A. Odetayo

ABSTRACT

The study examined impact of government expenditure on economic growth with the aid of secondary data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria for the period of 1978 to 2015. Augmented Dickey Fuller and Philips-Perron Statistic tests were used to check stationarity of the variables employed.  Johansen co-integration technique was employed to test long run relationship of the variables. Error Correction Model (ECM) was used to examine the effect of government expenditure on economic growth. The study revealed that there is a long run relationship between government expenditure and economic growth. Furthermore, total recurrent expenditure, total expenditure on defence and total expenditure on agriculture have significant positive impact on economic growth. On contrary, total capital expenditure, total expenditure on health and total expenditure on education have negative impact on economic growth. Based on these findings, the study recommended that government should increase its revenue through diversification of nation’s economy in order to have adequate funds to spend on social infrastructure, which would spur economic growth. In addition, government needs to raise expenditure on major core sectors like health and education to enhance the economic growth activities in Nigeria.

Keywords: Government Expenditure; Economic Growth; Recurrent Expenditure; Capital Expenditure; Nigeria.

An Assessment of Credit Accessibility of Rural Farmers in Benue State: A Case Study of Bank of Agriculture (BOA)

Victor Ushahemba Ijirshar & Simeon T. Asom

Department of Economics

Benue State University, Makurdi-Nigeria

Email: ijirsharvictor@gmail.com, asomts@gmail.comCorresponding Author: Victor Ushahemba Ijirshar

ABSTRACT

The study assessed credit accessibility of rural farmers in Benue State using Bank of Agriculture (BOA) as a case study. A sample size of 724 respondents was selected through a proportionate random sampling technique. The sample is made up of 362 beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries each. The study used both descriptive and legit regression. Findings from the study showed that the rural farmers (that is, even beneficiaries) have moderate level of accessibility to the BOA loan with high level of inadequacy in terms of the volume of the loan granted to the farmers, while most of the non-beneficiaries have informal financial institutions as their main source of income. The study also showed that gender, age, marital status, household size, main occupation of the respondents, the status of off-farm activity, membership of farmers’ group, years of farming experience, crop yield of farmers, land area cultivated, years of education and lending interest rate are the socio-economic factors that have significant influence on the farmers’ access to BOA loan in the study area. The study therefore recommends that government should establish more formal credit institutions in the rural areas, generally; and revive the moribund branches of BOA in the state, create more awareness about the existence of formal agricultural credits for agricultural production among the farmers, and enlightenment campaign on how to access these credit facilities especially in the rural areas and ensure enough disbursement of funds through BOA to enhance the level of credit facilities.

Keywords: Accessibility, Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and Credit

An Empirical Analysis of Fiscal Expansion on Defence and Economic Growth in Nigeria

Bridget Ngodoo Mile & PhilipTerhemen Abachi

Department of Economics,

Benue State University, Makurdi

Corresponding Author: Victor Ushahemba Ijirshar

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between fiscal expansion on defence and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1981-2011. It is bore out of the fact that it is difficult to say whether the ever increasing rate of defence expenditure over the years has impacted positively or negatively on the economic growth in Nigeria. A number of macroeconomic variables such as RGDP (Real Gross Domestic Product, proxy for Economic Growth), LAFOR (Labor Force), DEXP (Defence Expenditure), GFCF (Gross Fixed Capital Formation) and FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) formed the model for the study as well as a strategic and political variable included as a dummy to capture the regime effect of both the military (16 years) and civilian (14 years) leadership in Nigeria within the study period. The Augmented Dickey- Fuller and Engle- Granger Co-integration Tests as well as the Granger Representation Theorem were employed to model the series. Both long and short run relationship among variables were established. The major finding of the study is that there exist a positive and significant relationship between defence expenditure and economic growth; As a result, the study recommended increased government spending on productive defence expenditure, adequate utilization of funds made to the defence sector and reduced spending on protective defence expenditure without wastage.

Keywords: Defence expenditure, Economic growth, Labor force, GFCF, FDI

Risk Management and Profitability in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks

Adedeji, Abosede o. & Depo-Mogaji, Taiwo o.

Department of Business Administration, Federal University of Technology, Akure

Department of Project Management Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure

Corresponding Author: Adedeji, Abosede o.

ABSTRACT

The study was designed to examine the effects of risk management on profitability of deposit money banks (DMB) in Nigeria. Survey research design was employed Place and The study was carried out on licensed deposit money banks in Nigeria. It covered five years from 2009 to 2014. This research involved eight (8) out of the 21 deposit money banks in Nigeria for the period 2009 to 2014. The sample was selected using judgmental sampling technique which is a non-probability sampling method. The eight banks in consideration are First Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank Plc, Zenith International Bank, Wema Bank of Nigeria, First City Monument Bank, Skye Bank and United Bank for Africa Plc. Secondary data were collected from 2009 to 2014 based on the annual reports and accounts of the chosen banks. The research used both descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency and standard deviation and inferential statistics which are multiple regression and panel data to test the relationship between risk management and profitability. The findings revealed that banks with good credit risk management have better performance. The average Return on Asset (ROA) was 9% and the average value for Return on Equity (ROE) was 18%.  The result shows that non-performing loans and provisions have an adverse effect on profitability with negative 0.1451NPL and negative 0.1452NPL on ROA and ROE respectively. The findings showed that bad loan provision eat deep into profit in Nigerian DMB.                                                                                                                                        The work concluded that risk management positively affects profitability of Nigerian deposit money banks and recommended that banks should implement effective tools and techniques to reduce credit risk failure in Nigerian DMB.

Keywords: Risk management, profitability, deposit money banks