Public Administration and Regional Studies

Governance Deficit, Public Policy, and the Challenges of Public Administration in Nigeria

Adeleke Adegbami — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

To achieve the quality of governance, there must be synergy between the government and its civil service. The synergy between the duo is essential, in that, the former will be making policies, which the latter will interpret, for implementation. However, there has been a gap between the policies making and policy implementation, which has continued to culminate in policy summersault, hence, the deficit in governance. Given the foregoing, the study examines the place of civil servants in policy formulation and implementation; analyses the nexus between public policy and quality of governance, and identifies challenges hindering civil servants from effectively implementing government policies. The study relies on the authors' observation of governance events in Nigeria, and secondary data including textbooks, journals, official government documents, newspapers, and internet sources. The study data were analyzed using content analysis. On the place of civil servants in policy formulation and implementation, the study showed that civil servants provide policy advisory roles; give rational solutions to policy problems; offer advice to policymakers, and mediate between different interest groups and politicians, Concerning the nexus between policy-making and the quality of governance, the study revealed that good policies propel the quality of governance, as such, they help make the governance system more accountable and reasonable for the citizens. The study identified the challenges impeding the civil service from effectively implementing governmental policies including the non/low involvement of the civil servants in the policy planning process; the practice of making gains from the budget for social services; over-ambitious public policies and programmes; and inadequate /insufficient resources. Other challenges include a change in government; poor or ineffective communication; the disposition or attitude of public administrators; inefficient or poor bureaucratic structure, as well as; the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural environment. The study concluded that, as far, as the government and the civil service are not on the same page, concerning policy-making and policy implementation, the governance deficit will continue to subsist.

Examining the role of community engagement and capacity building in the acceptance of renewable energy projects: The mediating role of trust

Abdulrazaq Kayode Abdulkareem — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Global climate change threats demand urgent renewable energy transitions, yet public scepticism rooted in unfamiliarity and lack of trust poses barriers to widespread adoption. This issue persists in Nigeria despite supportive policies as scepticism erodes cooperation needed for success of community-based projects. Accordingly, this study investigated how targeted community engagement strategies and capacity building interventions shape public trust evaluations to influence citizens’ willingness to participate in local renewable energy initiatives. Quantitative survey data from 876 Nigerian residents were analyzed using PLS-SEM methodology. Results revealed participatory engagement platforms and education demonstrations exerted significant positive effects on public trust in proposed projects. Moreover, trust mediated the relationships between engagement, education and willingness to participate - substantiating its pivotal role fostering cooperative behaviours. Findings contribute empirical evidence regarding comparative influence mechanisms driving sociotechnical transitions in the understudied Nigerian context. Practical implications centre on building early-stage community partnerships and competence signalling to shift scepticism. Without renewing public trust, well-intended incentives and persuasion attempts falter. Accordingly, facilitating transparent interactions, conveying reliability and matching communications to localized priorities constitutes imperative starting points for transition strategies seeking participatory momentum. This supports decentralizing policy efforts for more resilient locally attuned renewable energy futures.

Towards Addressing Inequality and Irresponsibility in Indigenous Education in Nigeria; a Lesson from Soviet Russia's Education Policy

Adeola Oluwafemi — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Education is the bedrock of development economically, politically, socially and culturally. It is an eye opener via which skills are developed, guarded and utilised to better the advancement of the human socio-cultural settings. Over the years, there has been global yearning towards child education right. Although, this has been greatly addressed in the advanced polities, developing economies have faced setbacks in relation to education policy; its formation and implementation. This paper interrogates Soviet Russia's education policy; showcasing leadership relevance as actor and implication on education policy direction among developing African countries, especially Nigeria. Constructivism was adopted as the framework while the interpretive design was used. Data were sourced through primary and secondary sources. Archival materials, journal articles, books and internet materials were used. Data were subjected to content analysis. The study unraveled the significance of education policy in the Soviet Russia. Vladimir Lenin, the forerunner of the Bolshevik Revolution, saw the need for literacy amidst the vast populace of the newly formed Russia under the umbrella of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). To enhance overall impactful governance, policies were tailored towards making every Soviet citizen literate. Nigeria over time has embarked on various education policies. Importantly, efforts have been espoused towards making education a free possession of citizenry, particularly, every Nigerian child. As the Soviet Russia served a template for promotion of literacy amidst the divergent cultural heritages, a multicultural setting like Nigeria stands a good chance of addressing illiteracy, lending credence to the Soviet Russia education policy.

Corporate Social Responsibility Activities and Organizational Performance of Selected Cooperative Societies in Ile-Ife Metropolis

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility activities and organizational performance of selected cooperative societies in the Ile-Ife metropolis. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A population of 15 registered cooperative societies in the Ile-Ife metropolis was used for the study. One hundred (100) cooperative society members were randomly selected as the sample size. The instrument used was a questionnaire to seek information from the co-operators as respondents. This instrument was validated, and its reliability was tested using Cronbach alpha statistics, which revealed a coefficient of 0.721. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to test the research questions. The study results revealed that corporate social responsibility activities such as community service, education and training, environment protection, and ethical behavior significantly impact the organizational performance of the selected cooperative societies. The study also identified challenges like inadequate funding, access to information, and lack of political will as some of the challenges the cooperative societies faced in implementing cooperative social responsibility activities. The study recommended that cooperative societies should develop initiatives for funding their corporate social responsibility activities, enhance access to information by providing adequate library materials and libraries, and strengthen the government's political will to support the cooperative social responsibility activities.

Effects Of Russian Imperial Policy On Forest Management In Bessarabia

Catalina Frangopol — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The Soviet system of forest management in Bessarabia, similar to that of the entire Soviet Union, was characterized by centralization and strict state control. Forests were considered its property and specialised institutions, such as the Ministry of Forestry and Forest Fund Management, were responsible for their management. During the Soviet period, the forests of Bessarabia were intensively exploited, without taking into account the need for natural regeneration or biodiversity conservation. A feature of the Soviet system was the lack of promotion of private ownership of land and forests, which led to ineffective management and deterioration. A feature of the Soviet system was the lack of promotion of private ownership of land and forests, leading to inefficient management and deterioration. The exclusion of local communities from the forest management process also contributed to a lack of responsibility and involvement in forest protection and management. The negative results of the Soviet period on forest resources in Bessarabia are evident, including massive deforestation, loss of biodiversity and degradation of soil and water quality. After the fall of the Soviet Union, efforts were made to improve forest management and develop private ownership, but obstacles such as bureaucracy and corruption prevented adequate progress. Today, the forest fund in the Republic of Moldova is considerably smaller than in the pre-Soviet period, but protection and development efforts are limited by financial resources and problems related to improper exploitation and illegal logging. It is imperative to continue and improve management efforts to protect and sustainably develop the forest fund, given the negative consequences of past logging practices and the prospects for improving management and private ownership of forest land to ensure a sustainable future.

Public Administration In Nigeria: Issues, Challenges And Prospects For National Development

Chuks Cletus Egugbo — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The role of public administration in any country’s development cannot be overemphasized. This is because the nature of a country’s development is dependent on its public administration. In other words, public administration is a tool for national development. This explains why virtually all countries of the world particularly those interested in development have been consistently reforming their public administration systems to position them to contribute meaningfully to their development. Public administration in Nigeria has witnessed many vicissitudes right from the pre-colonial, the colonial and the post-colonial eras. The history of the country, the environment and some events around the world has greatly influenced public administration in Nigeria. The paper found out that the challenges facing public administration in Nigeria such as multi-ethnicity, corruption, poor remuneration of public servants, epileptic power supply, among others have negatively affected public administration in Nigeria, hence its seeming weakness in helping to a large extent the country to achieve the much needed development. The data for the paper were collected through secondary means and analyzed using the historical and descriptive methods. The paper adopted the systems theory as theoretical framework. In order for public administration in Nigeria to be in the stead to contribute meaningfully to national development, the paper recommended among other things that merit should be the determining factor in recruitment and promotion of public servants, there should be adequate remuneration for public servants to motivate them to do their work satisfactorily and the power sector should be fixed to boost public service activities.

Terrorism Financing And The Nigerian Economy

Lucky. O. Osagioduwa, Chiwuba Okafor — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Terrorism activities have advanced in Nigeria leaving the country’s economy with numerous challenges. Of recent, terrorist attacks once more dominant in the northern part of the country have extended significantly to the southern parts of the country. Unfortunately, more attention has been given to terrorism activities with little focus and time expended on curtailing terrorism financing. The cardinal objective of this article, therefore, is to comprehensively investigate the implication and effect of terrorism financing on each component of the Nigerian economy. The study concludes from the literature reviewed that the strength of terrorist activities is a function of the ease with which the terrorist gets funded for their activities. Terrorists thrive in nations like Nigeria when the terrorists can without a tough resistant source for resources or generate funds with or without government concerns. Secondly, the literature also revealed that terrorist financing probably impedes some economic indices in Nigeria like economic unemployment growth, investment, and among others. Therefore, the study recommends among others that significant government programs and policies should be channeled towards curtailing terrorism financing while less effort should be tailored towards combating terrorist activities. However, if the activities are a resources-generating stream for terrorists like kidnapping, quick and thorough effort should be engineered towards tackling such activities being that such activities are a double barrel in the hands of the terrorist due to its multiplier effect.

Application Of Academic Knowledge And Potentials For Sustainable Staff Welfare Improvement In Nigerian Universities

Ojonimi Ferdinand Edino, Chinedu Valentine Ofoma — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

One of the fundamental issues faced by Nigerian university staff over the years, which has not only led to inefficiency, low morale, poverty of staff, and incessant strike actions by labour unions, is the inability of university management to provide robust and sustainable staff welfare packages, despite the knowledge and potentials that abound in the universities locally and internationally. This paper aims at providing workable insights, through the application of academic knowledge and other university potentials, which can produce diverse material and food needs of university workers to improve their welfare, morale and productivity with high degree of sustainability. The paper relied on secondary data and utilized resource-based theory, including a model developed by the researcher for discussing main themes of the paper. The paper found among others, that universities in developing countries with emphasis on Nigeria, do not only have abundant human and natural resources, but are also custodians and creators of knowledge that has the capabilities to build, fabricate, and engage farm implements in the production of agriculturally based goods as well as manage their natural resources, first, for the wellbeing of their staff and the society at large. Universities are therefore strongly admonished to engage in the agricultural production of food and other material needs of workers by engaging the faculties of agriculture/agricultural engineering and entrepreneurship development centers to achieve this goal.

Of Social Investment And The Development Of Basic Education In Nigeria- What Does The School Feeding Program Offer?

Oluwatosin Juliana Oyetayo, Sakiru Oladele Akinbode, Ebenezer Adesoji Olubiyi — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Social investment as a complement to social expenditure focuses on specific social needs, specifies its goals and outlines its expected outcome(s). Government around the world have found the need to complement social expenditures with social investment drives in other to achieve some socioeconomic outcomes in the area of health, employment, education and income. In 2016, government of Nigeria adopted the home grown school feeding program which to be implemented in the public primary schools across the country. Amongst others, the main goal of the program is to increase the number of primary school enrolment and retention rates, as well as improve child nutrition. Guided by the social return on investment concept and model, this study sought to examine the relationship between the enrolment and completion rates for male and female public primary school pupils and the expendpenditure on school feeding. A panel dataset of six states from the six geographical regions of Nigeria where the school feeding program has been implemented from 2017 -2021 was developed. We employ the generalized least squares (GLS) for random effects as determined by the Hausman test for analysis. Our major findings is that on the one hand, school feeding has had more significant effect on primary school completion rate for male than female pupils. On the other hand, it has had a better significance on female primary school enrolment rate. We therefore recommend periodic evaluation, health incentives for the pupils and economic incentives for the parents.

A brief Historical Excursion on Albania

Renata Tokrri — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0300

To fully understand the secular soul of Albania, or the lack of devotion and religious spirit, as some scholars define it, it is extremely important to know its painful history, little known in the international arena. This history is made up of centuries-old struggles to achieve freedom, especially in recent centuries in which invaders, aggressors and winners have implanted their own cultures, customs and religions, often stripping them not only of individual conscience, but also of national identity.

An important aspect is the fact that in five centuries of invasion by the Ottoman Empire there was a progressive Islamization of the people. The Ottoman administration used many mechanisms, one of which was taxation as a means of conversion from Christians to Muslims.

However, the reasons that led Albania to bend to the religion of the invader are still today the subject of debate between Christians and Muslims.

Dynamic Stochastic Panel Analysis of FDI Inflows, Employment Generation And Poverty Reduction In Some Selected Ecowas Countries

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Background and aim: over the years, FDI has been positively and significantly contributing towards economic growth and development through job opportunities and technological transfer in many developing nations. However, a persistent decline in FDI inflows to ECOWAS over the last decade has created an investment deficit for employment-enhancing initiatives. In the light of this, dynamic stochastic interaction among FDI inflows, employment generation and poverty reduction in ECOWAS sub region was examined. Scope: The data used in this study spanning from 1990 to 2021. Methods: this study utilizes impulse response and variance decomposition. Results: findings in this study show a high linkage among FDI, employment and reduction of poverty exists in the study, which implies a significant role of FDI in generating employment and consequently reducing poverty ECOWAS. Conclusions: it is worth noting that policy shocks to FDI, employment generation poverty reduction in ECOWAS sub region do not respond with an immediate actions in the best direction. Originality: the use of impulse response and variance decomposition in estimating the goals of this study. Practical implications: policy makers should as a matter of necessity consider the time lag it involves in order to ensure appropriateness in the timing of policies when employment generation and poverty reduction are the goals of the policymakers.

Institutional Quality, Fiscal Policy And Economic Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This study examined the impact of institutional quality and fiscal policy represented by Country Policy Institutional Assessment indicators, Total government expenditure and tax. The study applied the Pooled OLS to the data sourced from World Development Indicators (WDI) and Country Policy Institutional Assessment (CPIA) for the period of 2005 to 2020. The study found that institutional quality is negative and significant to economic growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries. This implies that institutional quality is significant to economic growth but the values of the Country Policy Institutional Assessment indicators have been negatively significant from 2005 to 2020 in Sub-Saharan African Countries. This study also found fiscal policy to be positively significant to economic growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries. This implies that a unit increase in Total government expenditure will result in a 0.5289 to 1.5074 increase in Gross Domestic Product per Capita, while a unit increase in tax will result in a 0.3127 to 1.3088 increase in Gross Domestic Product per Capita. The study concludes that the state of institutional quality is crucial to the advancement of economic growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries as it would prevent corruption and the implementation of ineffective policies.

Taxation Issue In A Digital Economy: An Overview And Perspective Of Selected Countries

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The study examines the taxation issues in the digital economy, focusing on the perspectives of India, the European Union (EU), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Nigeria. This is to take a cursory look on the challenges and approaches adopted by these countries in addressing the complexities of taxing digital transactions and business models. The study employs a comprehensive literature review, analysis of policy documents, and examination of relevant reports to assess the taxation frameworks and initiatives implemented by India, the EU and OECD country. It explores the key concepts, theories, and practices underlying digital taxation and evaluates the impact of digitalization on traditional tax systems in these jurisdictions. In India, the introduction of the "significant economic presence" (SEP) concept and the implementation of the digital services tax (DST) have been significant steps toward taxing digital companies. The EU has pursued a digital services tax proposal, while the OECD has led international efforts through its BEPS 2.0 project to update tax rules for the digital economy. Nigeria has also made efforts to address digital taxation challenges, considering the rapid growth of the digital economy within its borders. The findings highlight the common challenges faced by these jurisdictions, such as the difficulty of "ring-fencing" the digital economy for tax purposes and the need for international cooperation. The study identifies potential solutions and offers recommendations for effective digital taxation strategies, including the importance of clarity in tax laws, the promotion of cross-border cooperation, and the adoption of technology-driven tax administration systems. This study contributes to understanding taxation issues in the digital economy from the perspectives of India, the EU, the OECD, and Nigeria. It is also beneficial to policymakers, tax authorities, and stakeholders in developing robust and adaptable tax frameworks that support the growth of the digital economy, ensure tax compliance, and foster sustainable revenue generation.

The Importance of Maintaining Long-Term Sustainability of Public Finances

Camelia Madalina Beldiman — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This paper seeks to emphasize the significance of preserving long-term fiscal sustainability by continuing measures for economic recovery, boosting economic growth, and upholding a new framework for sustainable development. This approach aims to eliminate economic vulnerabilities and secure a decent standard of living. The main objectives for creating and consolidating public finances aim to improve the quality of public spending by improving budget planning, implementing reforms in the labor, pension, and SME support sectors, prioritizing sectoral policies, ensuring real competition between proposed projects for funding, and supporting performance by using the best practices at the European level and avoiding wastage of public funds. The paper analyzes the degree of fiscal consolidation achieved, contributing to reducing inflation, interest rates, the trade deficit, and the current account deficit of the balance of payments, as well as the stability of the leu exchange rate, taking into account the fragility of the domestic and external environment, the budgetary effort required for the new pension system law, and the implementation of reforms from the PNRR, which must be completed by 2026. Considering the issues mentioned above, Romania has set several objectives to ensure the sustainability of the gross financing needs, such as reducing the budget deficit by supporting and adapting the business environment to the challenges posed by economic crises, simplifying taxation, and improving legislation to address tax evasion, to create the conditions for healthy and sustainable economic growth.