The Role of Institutional Quality in Boosting Total Equity Investment in Nigeria (Published)
This study explores the link between institutional quality and total equity investment in Nigeria with the years under consideration spanning from 1981 to 2016. The specific objectives focused on the impact of impact of economic, political and social institutions as well as information flows on total equity investment. The datasets for each of the variables were obtained from various sources comprising World Bank, World Development Indicators, International Monetary Fund Annual Report, KOF indexes on social, economic and political institutions based on data adapted from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Statistics, International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database and the CIA World Factbook (various years). Combinations of Dynamic Least Squares (DOLS) based cointegrating regression methodology and Error Correction Model were utilized as analytical techniques. The KPSS stationarity test results indicate that the variables are mixed integrated with combinations of I(0) and I(1). The Johansen cointegrating test result validated the KPSS stationarity result as it evidenced four cointegrating equations. This suggests that the variables have long run relationship. The cointegrating regression result shows that the coefficients economic institutions, political institutions and index of information flows appear with the hypothesized positive signs and statistically significant at 5 percent level. A percentage change in index of economic institutions stimulates total equity investment by 2.8 percent while 1 percent increase in political institution and index of information inflows robustly boost total equity investments by 4.4 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the long run. The parsimonious ECM reveals that the cotemporaneous values of economic and political institutions have positive and significant impact on total equity investment in the short run. The Granger causality test results show that on individual basis, economic institutions and information flows cause total equity investment in Nigeria while collectively all the explanatory variables have predictive power for total equity investment in Nigeria. Thus, it is recommended among others that policy makers should prioritize improvement of the requisite economic institution by continuously promoting sound financial system and investment-friendly tariff, exchange rate and trade policies amongst others in order to improve Nigeria’s position as a viable destination for total equity investment.
Keywords: Social Institution, economic institution, equity investments, institutional quality, political institution and Nigeria.
Social Institutions and Human Development: Exploring the Relevance of Religion in the Pursuit of Social Inclusion in Nigeria (Published)
Although Nigeria ranks high in religious activities, yet its human development indices remain low. This paper reviews the concepts of social institutions and human development, and specifically tries to situate the relevance of religion in the pursuit of the objectives of social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity in contemporary societies. Although the paper looks at religion as a social institution, it specifically considers the Christian religion and investigates the extent to which it has initiated or can initiate projects that will foster social inclusion in Nigeria. The primary objective of this paper is to establish a basic connection between religion as a social institution, and its role as a vehicle for social inclusion and prosperity. The paper reviewed relevant literature to establish the functions of religion and its potential as a veritable tool for social transformation. It also highlighted the historical activities of some Christian denominations in Nigeria with a view to establishing how relevant they have been in promoting human development. The paper concludes that religion has demonstrated that it has social relevance and can serve as a tool for promoting social inclusion in Nigeria. In a time when religion has been implicated in many conflicts around the world – the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, the ISIS insurgency in Syria, and even the recent attacks and displacement of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, this topic deserves critical research attention. It is also hoped that other researchers may be inspired to investigate how other religions have or can promote social inclusion, peace and prosperity in Nigeria.
Keywords: Christian Religion, Human development, Social Exclusion, Social Inclusion, Social Institution