Kehinde Adekunle Adetiloye

Agricultural Financing in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) For Food Security in Nigeria (1978-2006)

Abstract Aside from the eradication of hunger, being one of the one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), food security is an essential development strategy that a viable country must inculcate. As a result of the government agricultural credit policies of, this paper examined the provision of credit to agricultural sector along with the performance of the ACGSF while at the same time evaluating the food security status of Nigeria. It adopts the available data for the period 1978 to 2006 because of data uniformity. It finds out that though credit to the agricultural sector is significant it has not been growing relative to the economy. The ACGSF settled claims are negatively significant and the tardiness is observed in the claims process. The food security aspect shows that that Nigeria is food insecure as the import of food is on the rise as the tests show. Among the recommendations made to improve the current situation includes further enlightenment campaigns to bring the youth into agriculture and the management of the ACGSF by professionals.

A comparative analysis of the practice and performance of microfinance institutions in Nigeria

Purpose The successful story of microfinance institutions is often tied to the practice and methods of credit delivery as evidence among international world class microfinance institutions across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of practice and methods of credit delivery employed by “non- profit” and “for-profit” microfinance institutions on financial sustainability and outreach programmes of the microfinance institutions in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the survey research design and multi-stage stratified random sampling procedure to collect data from 372 senior management staff, managing directors and board members of microfinance institutions of both groups in Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions analysis. Findings The findings suggest that the current practice and methods of credit delivery of microfinance in both “non-profit” and “for-profit” microfinance institutions have an inverse relationship with the financial sustainability and outreach programmes of the institutions. This study provides empirical evidence for the incessant failure of microfinance institutions in Nigeria. Research limitations/implications The study therefore recommends an immediate overhaul of the methodology and practice of microfinance institutions in the country to align with international best practice. Originality/value In spite of the huge literature on microfinance in Nigeria, there is not enough evidence to empirically prove that the practice of microfinance has affected the performance of the industry in Nigeria. This study sets out to fill that gap in the literature. The paper examines the practice of microfinancing in Nigeria vis-a-vis the performance of the microfinance institutions, categorized into NGO and microfinance bank “for-profit” institutions using international best practices from countries where microfinance is highly successful as a benchmark for deployment of microfinance in Nigeria, in order to proffer policy direction to stakeholders on steps to take to ensure viability in the microfinance subsector in Nigeria.

Market Risk Instruments and Portfolio Inflows in African Frontier Economies

Financial investments enable portfolio investors to earn above market returns which do not come without risks. The African frontier markets (FMs) are investigated here and this chapter brings into focus the determinants of portfolio flows into these markets. The number of FEs in African investigated is six and two key financial instruments are used as returns: stock market returns and interest rate spread. Other variables used in the study include reserve liquidity, exchange rates and national income. The method of estimation adopted is the Vector autoregression with Granger causality. The results show that the all the variables are significant with the portfolio inflows. Specifically, portfolio funds are income chasing; the liquidity of reserves is also significant for every country among the FEs to enjoy inflows of portfolio funds, impacting on the exchange rates. Stock market returns is also highly significant in the Granger causality tests. Recommendations made include the increase in productivity to increase income and exports in these economies. In addition, African FEs must reduce interest rate margins to increase real production and encourage bonds markets development and thus attract portfolio investment into the sector rather than to concentrate all attention on the equities market.

Internal Lending Constraints and Deposit Money Banks' Performance in Nigeria

The banking business is full of both internal and external constraints that impede performance. This study attempts to empirically investigate the internal constrains to bank lending and performance. The paper adopts the major variables of volume of deposits, interest rates and shareholders’ Funds against performance. The study finds out that while all the variables are significant, volume of deposit is the most important of the entire set of variables because of its capacity to transmit growth to all other variables especially shareholders fund. The rate of interest displayed a fairly lower level of significance of the variables. The study recommends that banks should introduce new products that can encourage further savings in the financial system. KEywoRDS Bank Performance and Volume of Deposits, Interest Rates, Internal Constraints, Shareholders’ Funds, Volume of Loans

Financial Architecture, Real Estate Market and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan African Countries: Evidence from Nigeria

This study examines the causal-relationship between financial architecture, real estate market and economic development in Nigeria. The Nigerian financial system may have performed creditably in the last few years there remains a major concern to developing Nigerian huge real estate market. Real estate phenomena, inclusive of its “green culture” and environmental planning and zoning system, may constitute a platform for achieving social and economic development objectives, such as: quality human capital, comprehensive and quality health system, increasing national productivity, serene and quality environment, balanced demography and optimal population growth, as hallmarks of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. The aforementioned gap suggests a vacuum in the Nigerian development paradigm. Findings from this study suggest that the Nigerian financial structure has impeded the development of Nigerian real estate sector, hence, has accentuated the poverty syndrome of its citizens. The study suggests the financial “matching principle”, where market driven financial institutions commit to long term funding, such as the Sovereign Wealth Funds, Pension Funds, etc, invest in mortgages and real estate development; the government should also commit higher capital budgetary allocations for infrastructural development. Finally, the government should set up construction bank, adopt responsive macroeconomic policies that would nip inflation rate, overhaul the Federal mortgage institutions and improve people’’ savings culture.