Covid-19 Pandemic and Capital Structure: Evidence from West Africa (Published)
The question of whether the Covid-19 pandemic is a predictor of firms’ capital structure has remained unanswered following limited empirical studies. The financial structure of every business is its lifeblood which is the most important decision-making at any stage of the business’s operation. This study investigated the effect of covid-19 on the capital structure of non-financial firms listed on the Ghana stock exchange (GSE). The study focused on long-term debt, short-term debt and total debt ratios as a measure of capital structure. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design, the population consisted of 23 listed non-financial firms out of which 21 were sampled. Data was sourced from audited annual financial reports of the selected companies. Panel regression and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that covid-19 pandemic showed an insignificant effect on capital structure measured as long-term debt. This implies that the pandemic did not cause significant volatility to the long-term debt of non-financial firms in Ghana within the period of the study. Furthermore, the covid-19 pandemic showed no significant effect on short-term debt. This indicates that short-term borrowings for non-financial firms listed on GSE were not significantly affected by the covid-19 pandemic. The findings of the study further revealed that the covid-19 pandemic does not have a significant effect on the total debt of listed non-financial companies in Ghana. The study recommends that the capital structure policy of non-financial firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange should be maintained. This is because the study revealed that the severity of the covid-19 pandemic on business operations did not significantly affect the capital structure of the firms as measured by long-term debt, short-term and total debt.
Keywords: COVID-19, Capital Structure, Ghana, West Africa, pandemic
Housing Inadequacy in Nigeria and Ramifications (Published)
This article critically analyses housing inadequacy in Nigeria and its effects. The study is exploratory in nature and used qualitative methodology. Key findings suggest that protests, informal settlements, health challenges, shack fires, flooding, violence and criminality, corruption and xenophobic attacks are the ramifications of housing inadequacy in Nigeria. This study used relevant review of literature, document and policy review, and a qualitative inquiry of secondary sources with regards to housing inadequacy in West Africa/ Nigeria and its ramifications to answer the research questions. Through the Federal Housing Authority, the government needs to engage the private sector, state-owned enterprises, States and Local Governments to unlock strategic parcels of land suitable for human settlements development, which provision, especially for low-income groups should be at subsidized rates. The country needs an efficient, formidable and incorruptible Ministry of Housing Development that is able to perform the huge task of spatial integration.
Keywords: Housing, Nigeria, West Africa, inadequacy