VALUE CREATION AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry is one of the key contributors to the Nigerian economy; providing substantial revenues to government and sizable employment opportunities at the processing and retailing levels. Previous studies in Nigeria investigated customer value from the customer’s perspective but rarely has research sought to achieve both QSRs’ owners/managers and customers’ perspectives in a single study. Despite the increasing popularity of “eating out,” Quick Service Restaurants in Nigeria have shown a negative growth rate, with decline in total income, as it has become increasingly difficult to satisfy modern restaurant customers who seek unique experiences that are more than just consuming food. Hence, this study investigated the effect of value creation on customer satisfaction of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The population of the study was 799 owners/managers, accountants and customers of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. A well-structured and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.72 to 0.92.The response rate was 75.8 percent. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that value creation dimensions had no significant effect on customer satisfaction (Adj. R2 = -0.011; F(6,296) = 0.450, p<0.05).The study concluded that value creation had no significant effect on customer satisfaction of Quick Service Restaurants in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommends that owners / managers of Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) in Lagos State, Nigeria should go beyond transactional operations and develop customer relationship management programmes in order to enhance customer satisfaction.

POVERTY REDUCTION, UNEMPLOYMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT; AFTERMATH OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA

Nigeria has one of the countries whose experience of poverty and unemployment is on the high side makes this study to look into the effect of the economic lockdown during the global pandemic in the country, with the aim of making effort on how this effect can be translated into economic development. Survey research design method was adopted with self-administered questionnaire used to collect data. Findings revealed that in Nigeria COVID -19 outbreak effects was felt in almost all sectors and the aftermath greatly affected the country’s GDP and this adversely affect rural development in the country, which translated to a worrisome rate of poverty and unemployment. Hence, both individual and government have now seen that campaigning for economic diversification is not sufficient for economic development but rather a prompt swing into action by all is needed for sustainable development of rural areas to respond to the worrisome rate of unemployment and in turn high level of poverty caused by the COVID-19 lockdown in the country. It was recommended that government at all level as well as individuals and stakeholders should put in place actions that would gear up rural development and set policies at their various helms of affairs that would encourage economic participation of all citizens in all sector of the economy.

THE IMPACT OF ICT IN MARKETING LIBRARY SERVICES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARY

In order to promote utilizing the available resource made in any library information has to be taken to the door step of a clientele a such information and communication technology will serve as a catalyst in doing that. This paper has explored the role of information and communication technology ICT in academia and as well as the strategies used in propagating the available services in an academic library this is because tailor made information it is highly required so as to avoid wasting the precious time of academicians and this can be only achieving with the help of information and communication technology software, therefore, descriptive method was adopted in the methodology of this study.

THE IMPACT OF INNOVATION ON SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES GROWTH

The role of Innovation on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growth is inevitable in any form of business organisation. Innovation has to do with a new idea, creative thought, and new imaginations of device of production of new product to add value to its customer. Innovation save as rebirth of product and reintroduce product in new look. This study have assess the impact of investment and technological innovation in growth of SMEs in Yobe State Nigeria. Structured questionnaire were used to gather the data, random sampling method were also adopted in surveying the 150 number of respondent. The finding shows significant relationship between innovation of product and production device and small and medium Growth, the result shows there is a relationship and the relationship is medium and positive. Moreover therefore there is impact of both investment and technological innovation on small and medium enterprises Growth The innovation has highly increase the growth of the enterprises. The study also recommend the government to consider and increase funds being allocated to grow the SMEs to make more innovations.

STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO AS A MEASURE OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

Over the years, perennial problem of classroom congestion, poverty level and low classroom utilization rates in Nigeria worsen the teaching and learning of Mathematics. This paper investigates the student-teacher ratio as yardstick for students’ performance in Mathematics in Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE). The enrolment of students, the numbers of teachers, together with students’ performances in Mathematics were sampled from four schools for a period of four years. Two of the schools have an average student-teacher ratio of (50:1), with performance average of (33% - 45%) and standard deviation (11.21); while the other two have average student-teacher ratio of (18:1) with performance average of (60% - 77%) and standard deviation of (8.43). Some statistical tools like standard deviation and T-test were used to test the Null hypothesis. At significant level (0.05) and degree of freedom (14), the t-value was 0.0000517, while the p-value was 0.999922. The results of the findings show that there was significant difference in student-teacher ratio and their performance in Mathematics, and invariably, may be among the factors that account for the credible performance accounted for in the private secondary schools as against their public counterpart. The result suggested that more teachers should be hired in order to decrease the number of students per teacher so that students’ achievement can be enhanced and hence, brings about National Development.

EFFECT OF MICRO LENDING RATE ON SMES GROWTH IN NIGERIA

Small and medium enterprises are acknowledged as the lubricants that wheel the socio-economic development of a nation yet their growth has been stunted by harsh fiscal and monetary policies. This study seeks to investigate the effect of micro financing interest rate on small and medium scale enterprises growth in Lagos and Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary data was employed using structured self-administered questionnaire with five-point Likert scale. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to give an accurate description of the research variables. Yaro Yamane’s sampling technique was used to select four hundred (400) SMEs from the total population of thirteen thousand four hundred and fifty-seven (13,457) in both Lagos and Ogun States, while stratified and proportionate sampling methods are used to determine the sample size of three hundred and fourty eight (348) SMEs in Lagos state and fifty-two (52) in Ogun state. Ordinary Least Square Regression (OLS) was used to estimate the regression. In the study, one hypothesis was formulated and tested. The results from the hypothesis tested revealed that a significant negative relationship exist between micro finance interest rate and SMEs growth in Nigeria at 5 per cent level (tc= -1.570731; p= 0.0009). Based on the finding, the study concluded that significant negative relationship exist between micro finance interest rate and small & medium enterprises growth in Nigeria. The study recommends that microfinance banks should charge moderate interest rate to SMEs without stringent collateral requirements to boosts SMEs growth in Nigeria.

IMPACT OF FOREIGN TRADE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

This study investigated the impact of foreign trade on the economic growth of Nigeria for the period 1981–2018. Economists hold two contrasting opinions on the effect of foreign trade on a nation’s economy. While the positive-sum game school of thought holds the view that, when nations engage in foreign trade, there are bound to be mutual gains as each country’s utility is expanded, the negative-sum game school of thought holds the view that trade relations amongst nations of the world benefit one economy at the expense of the other. This study was embarked upon to ascertain which of these two conflicting opinions applies to Nigeria. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to determine the impact of foreign trade proxy by oil revenue, non-oil revenue, and foreign exchange rate on Nigeria’s economic growth proxy by gross domestic product growth rate. The study adopted the ex post facto research design and secondary data were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model to evaluate the effect of foreign trade on economic growth in Nigeria. Findings suggest that oil revenue, non-oil revenue, and foreign exchange rate have a significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria. The study recommended that Nigeria’s oil revenue be heavily invested in non-oil revenue-earning productive sectors such as agriculture and mining to create the desired multiplier effect on the economy.

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS (CSOs) PARTICIPATION IN POLICY IMPLEMENTATION ON POVERTY REDUCTION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA AND GHANA

The paper examines the people’s perceptions of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) participation in policy implementation on poverty reduction: A comparative analysis of Nigeria and Ghana. This interrogation is necessary in order to improve the performance of CSOs and participate in the poverty reduction policies in Nigeria by borrowing a leave from Ghana. For proper analysis, key informant interview was carried out and relevant literatures were also reviewed. The paper revealed that efforts have been made by the CSOs to influence government policies on poverty reduction in Nigeria and Ghana for the benefit of the people but Ghana has made more progress. Despite poverty level has decreased in both countries; there is still much suffering in their rural areas. It is worst in Nigeria because of corruption, insurgencies and economic recession. The CSOs in both countries faced repressions and manipulation over the years. From 1990s Ghana CSOs enjoyed symbolic relationship with the state while its Nigeria counterpart struggle for space. The paper recommends that there is need for the governments in both countries to do more by ensuring CSOs participation in policy decisions on poverty reduction. The Nigeria government should borrow a leave from Ghana on building more relationship and partnership with CSOs on policies on poverty reduction. There should be collaborations and consultations between the government and the “major groups” at local levels on policy issues. The CSOs and the target beneficiary should be allowed to take joint ownership of policy decisions, processes and implementation to ensure accountability and transparency in order to reduce poverty in Nigeria and Ghana especially in their rural areas.

THE ROLE OF DIVIDEND POLICY IN DETERMINING THE MARKET VALUE OF SHARE OF LISTED INDUSTRIAL GOODS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

This study examines the role of dividend policy in determining the market value of share of listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria, the research design used as a guide is ex-post facto method, as the study entails the use of annual reports and accounts of listed industrial goods companies in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The secondary data were sourced from the company’s financial report for the period of five years from 2013 to 2017 contained in company’s annual reports and account and all were used to compute the dependent variable (share price) while dividend payout ratio and dividend yield as proxies of independent variable respectively. Regression analysis is use establish the relationship between the variables by using Statistical Software (SPSS). The result showed that there is no positive significant relationship between dividend payout ratio, dividend yield and share price of listed industrial goods companies in the Nigeria. Based on findings the study recommends that the existing investors in the Nigerian industrial goods sector should from time to time; ensure extensive and critical evaluation of dividend policy as it can significantly influence their market value which has ultimate effect on the investments.

POVERTY REDUCING IMPACT OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN NIGERIA

The study examines the poverty reducing impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria between 1992 and 2016, sectoral inflow of FDI, as well as the factors preventing the inflow of FDI into the economy making it difficult to achieve economic growth and development. Secondary data was sourced from World Development Indicator (WDI). The regression analysis of ordinary least square (OLS) was adopted to examine the poverty reducing impact of foreign direct investment. Augmented Dickey Fuller Test (ADF) unit root test was used to test for stationarity of the data series and ARDL was thereafter adopted because of the level of stationarity of the variables. The regression result revealed that there is little correlation relationship between foreign direct investment and poverty reduction and the ADF result showed the presence of stationarity among the variables data set, while the ARDL result confirmed the existence of foreign direct investment (FDI) has a significant negative effect on poverty reduction in the short run at 5% level of significance. The study established that foreign direct investment as an engine of economic growth and also key in alleviating poverty has often been directed to sectors with low impact on poverty reduction. The study recommends that government should intensify efforts to encourage the inflow of foreign direct investment to sectors that has very high capacity for poverty reduction, formulate favourable policies and increase the ease of doing business in the country. FDI inflows should be diversified from oil sector to non -oil sector to ensure it generate more employment opportunities for poverty reduction.