Department of Economics
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- ItemHealth and Sustainable Development: can Nigeria meet the 2030 target?(University of Port Harcourt Business School, 2024-06) Dauda, RasakiAt the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, the UN and all stakeholders were swift to develop seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the year 2030 as target date. Since 2015, countries globally, have focused on policies and programmes required to achieve these goals before 2030. A critical examination of the progress recorded in achieving the goals showed evidently that some countries across developed and developing economies will no doubt meet the date. However, available facts suggest that Nigeria is lagging behind in several of the goals. The objective of this paper is to access Nigeria’s progress with respect to the attainment of goal 3 (good health and well-being) of the SDGs, using stylized facts and review of related literature. Findings of the study revealed that the state of health outcomes in Nigeria is not inspiring, given the slow progress in reducing infant, under-five and maternal mortality rates. Moreover, the degree of risk of major infectious diseases is still high while life expectancy is just a little above 50 years. These all reflect in the nation’s SDG 3 performance over the years. For instance, Nigeria’s SDG3 index, which rose from 27.6% in 2017 to 34.6% in 2018 dropped sharply to 28.04% in 2019 and further to 28.0% in 2020. By 2021 it increased marginally to 28.9% before surging to 31.5% in 2022, and thereafter to 36.2% in 2023. These suggested that Nigeria’s ability to achieve SDG3 by the target date may remain a mirage. Therefore, concrete and detailed policy initiatives should focus on improving health outcomes in the country. Specifically, budgetary allocation to the health sector should be raised substantially, health infrastructure and facility development should be accorded priority, attempt should be made to invest in activities that will improve health related SDGs while health personnel should be trained, retrained and retained in the country. In addition, more health sector research and development programmes should be encouraged, there should be strong commitment and political will on the part of the government towards implementation of health sector development policies and programmes, primary health centres across the country should be revamped, policies should encourage quality and timely data for effective planning, follow-up and review of SDG 3 implementation at national and sub- national levels while the remaining 16 SDGs should not be neglected because SDG 3 cannot be achieved in isolation of them since they are also related either directly or indirectly to health.
- ItemDoes Misery affect Economic Growth in Nigeria?(Journal of Finance, Governance and Strategic Studies, 2024-04) Dauda, RasakiNigeria’s economy continues to struggle with elevated misery index (MSI), occasioned by high rates of inflation and unemployment. This situation is capable of dragging both micro and macroeconomic outcomes in the country. This paper assessed the impact of economic misery on the growth of Nigeria’s economy within the period 1990-2022. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag modeling approach, anchored on the neoclassical growth theory was employed after the unit root test results confirmed integration of order zero and one. The Bounds cointegration test was conducted and the results established the existence of long run relationship among the variables. Findings of the study indicated that economic misery is a threat to the growth of the nation’s economy. This was evident in the negative and statistically significant coefficient of MSI. Other variables such as labour force and foreign direct investment raised economic growth significantly. The policy direction therefore, is that government’s efforts should be geared towards reduction in economic misery in Nigeria. For this to be possible, monetary and fiscal policies should be employed to address high rate of inflation while employment should be generated through provision of enabling environment. The motivation for the policy suggestion is the statistical significance of coefficients of the variables. In addition, inflation and unemployment are components of MSI equation, which Hanke referred to as the ‘bads’. Therefore, addressing these issues will help to reduce the index and control its negative influence on economic growth in the country.
- ItemFormalising the Informal Sector: a Critical Policy for Nigeria’s Economic Stability(Department of Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 2024) Dauda, Rasaki
- ItemPopulation dynamics and human capital development in West Africa(Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies, 2020-07) Dauda, RasakiWest Africa is one of the sub-regions threatened with development challenges globally and in sub- Saharan Africa. Fourteen out of her sixteen countries are in the low human development category while the remaining two fall under the medium group. A greater proportion of her population lives in multidimensional poverty, with a very high degree of intensity of deprivation. This study assessed the effect of trade openness and human capital on poverty in West Africa over the period 2005–2018, with focus on 16 countries. A dynamic panel data model, estimated using the Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond System Generalized Method of Moments was employed. The findings revealed that human capital contributed significantly to poverty reduction in West Africa, whereas, trade openness did not reduce poverty significantly except through human capital (education). Therefore, for trade liberalization to enhance poverty alleviation in West Africa, countries in the sub-region should invest substantially in human capital development activities (tertiary education).
- ItemExploring the determinants of child mortality in Nigeria: insights from multiple econometric techniques(Springer Nature, 2024-07) Dauda, RasakiOver the past several years, global infant and under-five mortality rates have decreased significantly, with advanced economies experiencing single-digit mortality rates. However, Nigeria continues to grapple with rising infant mortality rates, which remain the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The present study offers new perspectives on the determinants of child mortality in a developing country, Nigeria, from 1980 to 2021. The study analyses the child mortality determinants by deploying different econometric strategies: autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and canonical cointegration regression (CCR) procedures. The empirical outcomes indicate that the increasing child mortality rate in Nigeria is driven by rising fertility rates among women. While improvements in educational attainment for females, immunization vaccines, nutrition, and economic growth are critical for reducing child mortality in Nigeria. The estimated outcomes of the ARDL technique were robust to the alternative estimation techniques employed in this study. This study offers important implications for policymakers in Nigeria regarding the design and formulation of sustainable universal health policies.