scholarly journals Assessment of procurement capacity challenges inhibiting public infrastructure procurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Manu ◽  
Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu ◽  
Colin Booth ◽  
Paul Olomolaiye ◽  
Ahmed Doko Ibrahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
National Environment ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose Public procurement capacity is composed of three facets: individual, organisational and an enabling national environment which encapsulates national legislation, policies and institutional arrangements that can facilitate or hamper the effectiveness of procurement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which procurement capacity challenges in the national environment affect the effectiveness of infrastructure procurement by public agencies in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A total of 30 procurement capacity challenges drawn from literature were operationalized in a survey of infrastructure procurement personnel in different tiers of public agencies (i.e. local and state government) in order to ascertain the critical challenges affecting the effectiveness of infrastructure procurement. The survey yielded 288 responses, which were analysed using descriptive statistics, one-sample t-test and independent-samples t-test. Findings Challenges related to transparency, integrity and accountability are amongst the topmost challenges adversely affecting the effectiveness of public infrastructure procurement. There is limited difference in the extent to which the challenges affect the effectiveness of infrastructure procurement in different tiers of public agencies in Nigeria. Originality/value Whilst various procurement capacity challenges have been identified in the extent literature, this study has shown that an assessment of their effect on the effectiveness of infrastructure procurement could reveal valuable insights regarding the status of public infrastructure procurement within a country, particularly countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions where there is acute infrastructure deficits. Such insights could inform appropriate infrastructure procurement reforms by policy makers, procurement entities and infrastructure funders.

scholarly journals Fighting non-communicable diseases in East Africa: assessing progress and identifying the next steps

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. e003325
Author(s):  
Christian Kraef ◽  
Pamela A Juma ◽  
Joseph Mucumbitsi ◽  
Kaushik Ramaiya ◽  
Francois Ndikumwenayo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Communicable Disease ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
East African ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
East African Community ◽  
Monitoring Tools ◽  
The Status ◽  
African Community ◽  
Sub Saharan

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a rapid increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) burden over the last decades. The East African Community (EAC) comprises Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, with a population of 177 million. In those countries, 40% of deaths in 2015 were attributable to NCDs. We review the status of the NCD response in the countries of the EAC based on the available monitoring tools, the WHO NCD progress monitors in 2017 and 2020 and the East African NCD Alliance benchmark survey in 2017. In the EAC, modest progress in governance, prevention of risk factors, monitoring, surveillance and evaluation of health systems can be observed. Many policies exist on paper, implementation and healthcare are weak and there are large regional and subnational differences. Enhanced efforts by regional and national policy-makers, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders are needed to ensure future NCD policies and implementation improvements.

scholarly journals Infrastructure procurement capacity gaps in Nigeria public sector institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1962-1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Manu ◽  
Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu ◽  
Colin Booth ◽  
Paul Olaniyi Olomolaiye ◽  
Akinwale Coker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organisational Capacity ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local

Purpose The achievement of sustainable development goals is linked to the procurement of public infrastructure in a manner that meets key procurement objectives, such as sustainability, value-for-money, transparency and accountability. At the heart of achieving these procurement objectives and others is the capacity of public procurement institutions. Whereas previous reports have hinted that there are deficiencies in procurement capacity in Nigeria, insights regarding critical aspects of organisational capacity deficiencies among different tiers of government agencies is limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical gaps in the procurement capacity of state and local government agencies involved in the procurement of public infrastructure in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a survey of public infrastructure procurement personnel which yielded 288 responses. Findings Among 23 operationalised items that are related to organisational procurement capacity, none is perceived to be adequate by the procurement personnel. Additionally, among 14 procurement objectives only 1 is perceived as being attained to at least a high extent. Originality/value The findings underscore the acuteness of organisational procurement capacity weaknesses among public procurement institutions within Nigeria’s governance structure. It is, thus, imperative for policy makers within state and local government to formulate, resource and implement procurement capacity building initiatives/programmes to address these deficiencies. Additionally, the organisational procurement capacity items operationalised in this study could serve as a useful blueprint for studying capacity deficiencies among public infrastructure procurement agencies in other developing countries, especially within sub-Saharan Africa where several countries have been implementing public procurement reforms.

scholarly journals Institutional shareholder activism in Nigeria

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinyere Uche ◽  
Emmanuel Adegbite ◽  
Michael John Jones
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
Shareholder Activism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate institutional shareholder activism in Nigeria. It addresses the paucity of empirical research on institutional shareholder activism in sub-Saharan Africa. Design/methodology/approach This study uses agency theory to understand the institutional shareholder approach to shareholder activism in Nigeria. The data are collected through qualitative interviews with expert representatives from financial institutions. Findings The findings indicate evidence of low-level shareholder activism in Nigeria. The study provides empirical insight into the reasons why institutional shareholders might adopt an active or passive approach to shareholder activism. The findings suggest the pension structure involving two types of pension institutions affects the ability to engage in shareholder activism. Research limitations/implications The research study advances our understanding of the status quo of institutional shareholder activism in an African context such as Nigeria. Practical implications The paper makes a practical contribution by highlighting that regulators need to consider how the financial market conditions and characteristics affect effective promotion of better governance practices and performance through shareholder activism. Originality/value This study draws attention to the implication for shareholder activism of complexities associated with an institutional arrangement where two types of financial institutions are expected to operate and manage the private pension funds in a country.

Moroccan phosphates sector may see virus silver lining

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Value Added ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Silver Lining

Subject Outlook for Moroccan phosphates exports. Significance Phosphate rock prices have slumped over the past year and have since stabilised at 72.50 dollars per tonne, down almost 30% since early 2019. Morocco, the second-largest producer of phosphates after China and home to the vast majority of global reserves, has felt the resulting squeeze. The national phosphates company Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP) Group has managed to offset some of this by accelerating its shift to downstream production of acid and fertilisers, but margins have likely been hit and the company may lack the scope to continue scaling up value-added production without further investment. Impacts OCP's ongoing work to consolidate its position in sub-Saharan Africa will also help support Moroccan export revenues. At current extraction rates, Morocco may be the only major producing country with phosphate reserves to last beyond 50 years. Rabat's drive to increase revenue from mining other minerals and metals is likely to yield only modest results. A diplomatic shift over the status of Western Sahara (and thus key OCP mining locations) is unlikely.

scholarly journals Examining the Status of English as a Medium of Instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Study of Botswana and Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (36) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Oris Tom-Lawyer ◽  
Michael Thomas ◽  
Maureen Sindisiwe Kalane
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
English Language ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Status ◽  
Sub Saharan

This paper examines the status of English as a medium of instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by comparing how it is taught and learned in Botswana and Nigeria. The paper’s argument is based on the premise that learners acquire literacy skills in a familiar language (Williams, 2011). The English language is an official language in the two countries and has been linked to their social, economic and political development (Cholakova, 2015). The aim of the study is to compare the status of English as a medium of instruction in Botswana and Nigeria, identify and examine the implications for its use, and recommend best practice for policymakers in the field. Based on a systematic review of research between 2000 and 2021, the paper identifies several key findings affecting both countries: the insufficient acquisition of literacy skills in English, the need for a language policy review in Botswana, and the need for a thorough review of teacher quality by the governments of both countries if United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.c is to be achieved by the deadline of 2030. The implications of the review for both countries are that pupils drop out of school as a result of their lack of understanding of English; a non-credit pass in English at the secondary level can hinder students’ career progression; English remains parents’ educationally preferred language; and policy makers need to have a strategic awareness of how English and other languages are used in their communities for educational purposes.

scholarly journals Nascent multinationals from West Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin I.N. Ibeh ◽  
Idika Awa Uduma ◽  
Dilshod Makhmadshoev ◽  
Nnamdi O. Madichie
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Entry Modes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the motivations underpinning the foreign direct investment (FDI) activities, including the location and entry mode decisions, of nascent multinational enterprises (MNEs) from West Africa. Design/methodology/approach This research adopted a case study approach entailing the triangulation of interview data with documentary evidence on two leading West African financial service companies that have FDI footprints in over 50 country markets. Findings Evidence suggests the primacy of market-seeking motivations in explaining the FDI activities of the explored nascent MNEs, with relationship, efficiency and mission-driven motivations emerging as strong sub-themes. Having neither the global resonance of their traditional counterparts nor the government-augmented resource profile of their Asian counterparts, the study firms appear to have shied away from costly strategic asset and prestige-seeking FDI, and preferred psychically and institutionally proximate sub-Saharan African markets and non-organic collaborative entry modes. Research limitations/implications The above insights should be considered tentative given the study’s limited evidence base. This underscores the need for a larger scale empirical effort to assess the propositional inventory outlined at the end of this paper. Practical implications Africa’s growing population of MNEs are urged to continue to strengthen their positions across African markets, view these regional markets as a platform to learn and upgrade their capabilities for future expansion into more challenging global markets, and to augment their limited resource profiles, including by tapping into their global diaspora networks. Policy makers should support their market-seeking initiatives given evidence that they could be a pathway to higher order FDI motivations. This evolutionary approach reflects enduring lessons from earlier generations of MNEs. Policy makers should also support continuing intra-African investment flows as a pathway to creating more sizeable, integrated African markets and generating positive spill-overs, including in typically blind-sided post-conflict or fragile African markets. This also entails pushing for cross-border regulation needed to minimise the transfer of systemic risks across countries. Originality/value The study provides rare empirical evidence on hitherto neglected MNEs from sub-Saharan Africa, thus extending the geographic compass of research on FDI motivations. It identifies some distinctive aspects of the explored MNEs’ FDI behaviour, including the previously unheralded mission-driven motivation, whilst also revealing shared characteristics with traditional MNEs and emerging market multinational enterprisess.

Procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Tumuhairwe ◽  
Arthur Ahimbisibwe
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Management Performance ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose – Procurement records are critical for the effective execution of the procurement process and have been applied as tools to measure compliance and performance of Public Procuring and Disposing Entities (PDEs) by the regulating authority in Uganda – the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA). However, the state of records in various Ugandan PDEs depicts poor records management. This situation has adversely affected the effective creation, usage and storage of public procurement records. This compromises the value and importance of records within the procurement process, with most documents being unavailable and unreliable. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance in Ugandan PDEs. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a quantitative research design and used a cross-sectional survey. The researchers developed a questionnaire on the study constructs of procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance using measurement scales derived from previous empirical studies which were modified to suit the current study. Findings – The results indicate quantitative evidence of significant positive relationships between procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance. Findings also reveal that procurement records compliance and effective risk management are significant predictors of record management performance. The results also suggest that effective risk management has a stronger influence on records management performance than that on procurement records compliance. Research limitations/implications – The study context is sub-Saharan Africa, and the findings are, therefore, limited to that context; they reflect existing knowledge in other contexts. The use of a standard questionnaire limited the ability to collect views about information outside the questions asked. The study was only cross-sectional, and the study variables could not be analyzed over a long time. Common methods bias remains a potential threat; future studies should use different source data. Practical implications – Custodians of procurement records, that is, procurement officers, records officers and accounting officers for Ugandan PDEs need to pay special attention to prevailing records laws and policies to minimize risks associated with the poor management of records, as well as improve performance in the management of records creation, storage, retrieval, access and the preservation of vital records. Originality/value – The study contributes to an important area which has not been given attention in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, especially Uganda where there is a difficulty of linking the value of records management to business processes due to a lack of quantitative evidence.

scholarly journals Health technology assessment in sub-Saharan Africa: a descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Hollingworth ◽  
Ama Pokuaa Fenny ◽  
Su-Yeon Yu ◽  
Francis Ruiz ◽  
Kalipso Chalkidou
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Narrative Synthesis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are moving towards universal health coverage. The process of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) can support decisions relating to benefit package design and service coverage. HTA involves institutional cooperation with agreed methods and procedural standards. We systematically reviewed the literature on policies and capacity building to support HTA institutionalisation in SSA. Methods We systematically reviewed the literature by searching major databases (PubMed, Embase, etc.) until June 2019 using terms considering three aspects: HTA; health policy, decision making; and SSA. We quantitatively extracted and descriptively analysed content and conducted a narrative synthesis eliciting themes from the selected literature, which varied in study type and apporach. Results Half of the 49 papers identified were primary research studies and mostly qualitative. Five countries were represented in six of ten studies; South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Half of first authors were from SSA. Most informants were policy makers. Five themes emerged: (1) use of HTA; (2) decision-making in HTA; (3) values and criteria for setting priority areas in HTA; (4) involving stakeholders in HTA; and (5) specific examples of progress in HTA in SSA. The first one was the main theme where there was little use of evidence and research in making policy. The awareness of HTA and economic evaluation was low, with inadequate expertise and a lack of local data and tools. Conclusions Despite growing interest in HTA in SSA countries, awareness remains low and HTA-related activities are uncoordinated and often disconnected from policy. Further training and skills development are needed, firmly linked to a strategy focusing on strengthening within-country partnerships, particularly among researchers and policy makers. The international community has an important role here by supporting policy- relevant technical assistance, highlighting that sustainable financing demands evidence-based processes for effective resource allocation, and catalysing knowledge-sharing opportunities among countries facing similar challenges.

Cross-cultural communication imperatives

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 170-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Baba Abugre
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Work Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Local Staff ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose Given the rising expansion of Western multinational companies (MNCs) to the African contexts, the development of expatriates and local employees has become increasingly important to the human resource management of these MNCs. This paper aims to provide critical lessons on cross-cultural communication competences for Western expatriates working in the sub-Saharan Africa business environment. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a qualitative phenomenology that makes use of lived experiences of senior expatriate staff working in Ghana in the form of direct interviews. Findings Results showed that cross-cultural communication competence is very important for Western expatriates’ functioning in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings also established a plethora of cross-cultural communication skills that are essential for Western expatriates’ successful adaptation and work outcomes in Africa. Practical implications This research argues that there is the need for the appreciations of the differing cultural patterns of expatriates and local staff, and this provides the underlying assumptions of intercultural and cross-cultural communication in global business. Originality/value A critical perspective of international business that has scarcely been studied offers lessons for Western expatriates working in sub-Saharan Africa.

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