Abayomi Oyekale

Measurement and Sources of Income Inequality among Rural and Urban Households in Nigeria

Income inequality and poverty are closely related. This study decomposed income inequality in Nigeria using the Gini-decomposition, regression-based and Shapley approaches. Results show that in 2004, income inequality is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The study also noted that employment income increases inequality while agricultural income decreases inequality. Factors suchs as urbanization, residence in the southwest zone, household size, the house heads formal education, number of time suffered from illness, engagement in a paid job, involvement in a non-farm business, formal credit and informal credit contributed to the increased income inequality. Between 1998 and 2004, income redistribution and income growth increased poverty. The study recommended that welfare enhancing programs that will benefit urban/rural poor should be identified, while better economic opportunities should be created for those in rural areas.

An Error Correction Modeling (ECM) of the Determinants of Deforestation in Nigeria

Abstract Persistent deforestation is one of the major constraints to sustainable economic development in Nigeria. This study used the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) to determine the economic factors influencing deforestation. The data were national aggregates collected from several secondary sources for 1961-2000. Data analysis showed that there were at least 7 cointegrating vectors in the estimated model. Also, the dynamic unrestricted short-run parameters of cereal cropland growth rates (0.564), tuber cropland growth rates (-1.961), permanent cropland growth rate (22.136), tuber yield (0.126), livestock population (-2.156), human population (-9.214), other land areas (0.281), agricultural Gross Domestic Product (0.156), and roundwood production (0.684) had significant impact on deforestation (p < 0.05). The study recommends that efforts to address further deforestation should include enforcement of laws guiding the cutting of forest trees and research development to ensure development of crop hybrids that are resistant to environmental Stress, among others.

Occupational health hazards, stress and reported hypertension among food crop farmers in South West Nigeria

C is defined as the combination of climate and air elements of a given region which is usually measured for a period of decades. De-marton climate classification has been established based on many factors, including elements such as temperature and rainfall. Vesicle schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by Schistosoma haematobium. This parasite lives in the blood vessels of the bladder. The parasite can cause hematuria in human and if not treated properly can lead to vesicale carcinoma. The parasite is distributed only in certain parts of the province and it is highly dispersed along the rivers of Dez, Karkheh and Karun with high emissions. In 1970, the prevalence of infection in infected foci was 23.8 %. Campaign against the parasite began in 1958 but it did not encompass all centers of infection. Preventive measures include diagnosis and treatment of patients, public health promotion, health education, drying swamps and ponds, improving the environment, cementing the irrigation canals, and the use of moluscocide eventually leads to changing the ecological and conditions of parasite and snail inhabits. Application of preventive measures resulted in the reduction of infection level to 0.7 % in 1979. By continuing struggle and intensifying preventive measures and changing ecological and climatic environment, in 2008, the examination of 3400 urine samples of students in Andimeshk district revealed no cases of the vesical schistosomiasis. It is concluded that S. haematobium and vesical schistosomiasis is eliminated from Khuzestan province southwest Iran, but the disease is still prevalent in neighboring Iran’s western border country (Iraq) and due to the special conditions of its facilities and the traffic between the two countries, it is necessary to control and eradicate the disease in Iraq by using the experiences of Iran in eliminating the disease.

Climatic variablity and its impacts on agricultural income and households' welfare in Southern and Northern Nigeria

This study assessed variability in some weather variables and its impacts on agricultural incomes in northern and southern Nigeria. To achieve these, we combined time series weather variables obtained from some meteorological stations in Nigeria with household cross-sectional data collected by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The descriptive and regression methods were used to analyze the data. The results show high variability in some weather with rainfall exhibiting the highest variability between 1971 and 2003. Impacts of climatic changes on agricultural income and welfare were modeled with climate-related variables like variability indices of annual for 1971-2003, actual annual rainfall data in 2003, time for gathering fuel wood, time for fetching water and season of interview. It was found that agricultural income and welfare in northern part of Nigeria will be more negatively affected by climatic changes than southern part. The study recommended development of alternative energy sources, promotion of irrigate agriculture and skill development for combating adverse climatic changes, among others.