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The prevalence of women in the knowledge-based enterprise of traditional healing underscores the role of women in sustainable development. The World Health Organization (WHO) finds that about three quarters of the world's population depend upon traditional remedies for their health. However, ecosystems suffer and environmentally important animals become extinct due to the wide use of traditional medicine. This paper investigates the linkages between intellectual property rights (IPRs), gender inclusiveness and environmental sustainability. Adopting a feminist legal methodology, the paper analyzes the challenges of securing IPRs for female traditional healers and how these impact on environmental sustainability. The paper finds that ownership of property rights (including IPRs) is central to exercising judgment over the sustainable use of the environment and that such ownership is lacking among female traditional healers. The paper proposes the active synergy of patent offices and traditional healers, following an example from China, as one of the remedies to devise new forms of IPRs that may better suit the needs of women who seek to protect their innovations in the field of traditional medicine. This paper links the ownership of IPRs to environmental sustainability and gender inclusiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African bioeconomy strategy did not clearly articulate the measurement framework to monitor the implementation of the strategy. This paper provides an analysis of bioeconomy patents, the most prolific organizations and citations at the EPO and USPTO for South Africa, BRICS, Egypt and Nigeria during the Ten-Year Innovation Plan 2008–2018. The terms 'biotechnology', 'medical technology', 'pharmaceuticals' and 'selected environment-related technologies' were used to search for patents. The OECD patents by technology, the EPO PATSTAT and the USPTO PatFT databases were used to map patents and citations. The results show that South Africa ranked last in the BRICS group but produced a higher number of patents than Egypt and Nigeria. The number of patents generally decreased for the selected countries except for China. The total citations for the selected countries was generally inconsistent. The important innovators for South Africa in the bioeconomy are mainly universities and public research institutions. A new fiscal approach to encourage knowledge application in bioeconomy in South Africa is required. Incentives from government that encourage collaboration between research institutions and industry to direct research with industry application are required. The study contributes to the development of metrics to monitor the bioeconomy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of multinational oil companies (MOCs) in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on enhancing rural women's financial inclusion in the areas of access to credit, insurance, propensity of women to save and the widening of economic opportunities in the Niger Delta. A total of 800 rural women were sampled across the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that the GMoU model has made significant impact on closing the gaps in financial services, thereby removing women's constraints on their efforts to enhance their financial literacy. The results also confirm that innovative delivery channels and social networks of the GMoUs have reduced some costs in the areas of access to credit, insurance, propensity to save and the widening of economic opportunities of rural women in the oil host communities. However, a further look at the rural women's participation in the CSR activities using SCOTDI shows that even though the involvement of the women is appreciable, it is insignificant when compared with their male counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering Chinese FDI in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the paper attempts to verify if the long-existing 'flying geese' paradigm (FGP) might be used to clarify the headway of Chinese migrating geese transmission of skills and job generation in SSA. Notably, since factory workers' wages have increased in China, small but important migrating geese could, perhaps, be perceived as the vanguard of the flying geese – migrating to SSA to capitalize on those SSA nations with lower costs bases. As a result, the scientific task of this paper rests on answering three questions: Why do we have growing Chinese manufacturing activities in SSA? Are these new Chinese migrating geese bridging the unemployment gap and skills shortage? Also, since the Chinese migrating geese are moving to an environment where operations are cheaper, a third question is to specifically find out if the Chinese migrating geese are in Nigeria, and if they perceive local skills development and job creation to be a salient matter? Against this backdrop, the author argues that these Chinese migrating geese seem to contribute partly in transferring skills and job creation by standing-in as a worthwhile catalyst to upgrade the follower's economy in the process of catching up a leader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting innovative capabilities in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) is crucial if African countries are to progress in terms of being active in the Global Value Chain (GVC) and achieve inclusive development. Enhancing innovative capabilities in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been identified as strategic to Nigeria tapping into the GVC and deepening industrial sustainable development. Despite increasing awareness that enhanced innovative capabilities can foster the integration of SMEs into the GVC, there still exists scanty evidence of SMEs' innovative capabilities, especially in the ICT sector and software sub-sector in Nigeria. This paper broadly explores SMEs' innovative capabilities in the ICT–Software Incubator sub-sector in Lagos metropolis. Specifically, the paper seeks to understand what limits SMEs' innovative capabilities and the kinds of government support required to mitigate the effects of these factors. The study used 200 SMEs and 10 key incubator hubs operating in the sub-sector as a case study as well as in-depth interviews with the owners/managers. Our findings show that there is improvement in the software sector's knowledge and development and its value chain in the country; most businesses copy innovative concepts from abroad, adopting about 30% local innovation content due to the high demand for foreign software innovations by clients; overall most incubation hubs are underperforming in their core services to incubating firms; and poor educational infrastructure, brain drain and poor support from the government are key challenges facing the sector. We recommend a strong peer review among the innovation hubs and a check on the brain drain in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observed low level of information and communication technology (ICT) usage among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) firms in many African countries may serve as a major constraint to their productivity. The productivity of service and manufacturing firms is impacted differently due to this low uptake of ICT. This paper seeks to examine the differential effects of ICT on MSMEs' productivity in emerging African economies, specifically Egypt and Nigeria. This study evaluates the effects of ICT on MSMEs' productivity across different sectors (services and manufacturing), by size and aggregated. The estimated results support the positive impact of MSMEs' website presence and use of email on their productivity, though the magnitude varies across different analyses and sectors. This appears to support the differential sectoral impacts of ICT on MSMEs' productivity across countries in emerging markets. Specifically, this study finds evidence for a higher impact of firms' website presence on productivity in the manufacturing sector than the services sector across emerging economies. The study, therefore, recommends that emerging markets economies that want to implement appropriate national technology policies to enhance their firms' productivity should always consider their differential effects on various sectors, as universal ICT policies may not achieve the desired objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study purposively selected 148 Science and Engineering Journals out of the 221 Journals registered on the African Journal Online (AJOL) directory. Data harvested were analyzed on a year-wise basis from 2012 to 2016, to identify the positive or negative growth trend of research output. The open source software "Publish or Perish" was used to query metrical data for the purposively selected journals by accessing the Google scholar database over the internet. Data were obtained to determine the degree of collaboration based on the 19 thematic areas as identified in the Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy document. It was further examined by measuring the authorship pattern and co-authorship index (CAI). The analysis from the study provides information on the productivity of research that has been carried out in the various thematic areas in Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy. It also provides information on the nature and extent of collaboration of research among the actors in the research and development system. It thus serves as a reference tool for policymakers to review science, technology and innovation policy in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A region-adaptive hierarchical framework for realizing Sustainable Development Goal 7.3 is proposed in this paper, using Nigeria as a case study for strategy adoption and adaptation. In 2013, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rolled out strategic plans to phase out incandescent lamps by 2020, as a critical component essential to realizing the SDG 7 by 2030. However, at the expiration of the 2020 deadline, this ambition has not materialized. Current regulatory indicators for sustainable energy shared by the World Bank and the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicated poor-to-average performances among member states, which suggests the need to adopt ingenious strategies to increase electricity access and accelerate energy efficiency by 2030. In this paper, we systematically reviewed literatures on past campaigns in ECOWAS member states and inferentially call for a revisit of the campaign to phase out incandescent bulbs as a critical component for achieving energy efficiency. The paper also pinpoints some domain factors that are militating against the realization of SDG 7 in Nigeria. We proposed an all-inclusive top-down hierarchical framework which involve all relevant stakeholders (national, state and local governments, delineated wards in local governments, street representatives and household heads), civil society organizations, and educational institutions, for convergence, efficient collaboration, synergy and achievement of goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selected biometric technologies such as iris, face, gait, voice, etc. are widely used for the recognition of individuals. This paper presents a biometric technology perception by members of staff from government agencies in Nigeria, namely: the National Identity Management Commission and Joint Admission Matriculation Board, on the use of selected technology for ethnicity recognition. The study was conducted using the quantitative method. Data were collected from the staff of selected agencies. Fingerprint, facial, and iris biometrics were selected for this experiment. Using the modified Technology Acceptance Model framework, results from the experiment showed the perception of staff on selected technologies in ethnicity recognition. Results show that technology enhanced job effectiveness, the majority of respondents agreed that fingerprint and facial biometrics would improve ethnicity detection; hence they were a popular choice for ethnicity recognition. The study showed that determining ethnicity from iris biometric would be difficult as the majority do not see the iris as a means of identifying a particular ethnic group. Five different hypotheses were tested to determine compatibility, ease of use, and attitude towards use (ATU) of the selected technology. Results showed that selected biometrics can effectively determine an ethnic group with a significance value at 0.000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resources are recognized as the ultimate and most indispensable resource in economic development. In this study, an inquiry was made to ascertain the determinants of workers' innovativeness. A survey of 229 respondents in food and beverage processing firms selected through random and snowballing sampling techniques was implemented. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation model. Findings reveal that though personal, family, organizational and social factors were hypothesized to be influencing the ability of employees to innovate, only family (β = 0.358; p < 0.001) and organizational (β = 0.213; p < 0.01) factors showed a significant and positive influence on employees' innovativeness. The paper concludes that the support employees received from their homes and organizations is crucial and contributed significantly to their innovative ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theorize a novel mechanism by which technology-based banking services – automated teller machines (ATMs), point of sale (POS), mobile and internet banking – stimulate bank deposit growth based on observed practical experiences. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds-testing and Granger causality approach were used to analyze the short-run, long-run and causal relationships among the variables for the period of 2006 quarter 1 to 2019 quarter 4. Since a long-run cointegrating relationship exists among the variables, the study proceeded with an error correction model (ECM). The results of the ARDL-ECM based analysis revealed that number of ATMs and value of POS transactions have a significant positive relationship with total bank deposits in Nigeria, both in the short run and long run. Those of mobile and internet banking were found to be negative and insignificant signifying that there is still low penetration of mobile and internet banking in Nigeria. Also, the Granger causality test result revealed that only the number of ATMs has a causal influence on bank deposits, suggesting that continuous deployment of ATMs by commercial banks is seen as the best strategy to boost deposit growth. Based on the findings, the study recommends that banks in Nigeria need to partner with the telecommunication sector to improve their network coverage and provide a fast and reliable network that is necessary for mobile and internet banking to thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an overview of organizational innovation practices within the context of a developing country, Nigeria. Using innovation survey data from 2008 and 2011, the paper provides an analysis of the complementarity or otherwise of organizational innovation practices used by manufacturing and service firms in the country. The consistent co-occurrence of different organizational innovation practices suggests that they are complements rather than substitutes. Results of our multivariate probit analysis show a clear pattern in the manufacturing sector, with complementarity between all the organizational innovation practices. There are however marked differences between the manufacturing and service sectors, suggesting that innovation policies should be sector-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent need for clean innovative energy systems is widely recognized amidst increasing concerns over energy insecurity, climate change and other environmental impacts of a carbon-constrained economy. Several renewable energy technologies such as small hydropower (SHP) are poised to play a critical role in the transition to a low-carbon future in Nigeria. The technically exploitable small hydro capability in Nigeria is high but underutilized in spite of the recent power sector reform of the government. The main objective of this paper is to trace the evolution of small hydropower and determine what component of the interactive learning mechanisms would result in the most significant outcome. The paper also maps out the networks of actors and linkages among those involved in the development and deployment of SHP technology in Nigeria. The study assesses the innovation process of the key stakeholders on models of sustainable SHP in the country. In the final assessment, the study identifies four models with firm-driven and a hybrid of policy and donor-driven models producing the most significant outcome. The findings of this study suggest that SHP could play an important role in remote off-grid communities as well as grid-based power generation. However, barriers such as low level of technological capability, lack of up-to-date sound technical and financial analysis and low investment have hindered its deployment. This paper concludes by outlining several policy priorities that would entrench sustainable SHP for multiple societal and economic development objectives in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nexus between innovation and employment growth. In contrast to most studies that employ data from technologically advanced economies, the study uses well-documented data from a leapfrogging and catching-up economy in sub-Saharan Africa. We find a positive relationship between process innovation and employment growth among Nigerian manufacturing and services firms from 2005 to 2010. Furthermore, product innovation is also positively related to employment growth in manufacturing. This study's peculiarity is that innovative firms' ability to grow rely on their operations in regional and export markets, respectively. Our study contributes to the understanding of innovation and firm development in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has rich energy resources but continues to remain an energy poor continent. The industrialization potential of the continent and its rapidly growing population have caused a sharp increase in demand for electricity. South Africa and Nigeria are the biggest economies in Africa with large appetites for energy. South Africa, using its vastly developed and industrial economy, produces about 50 GWe of electricity, the highest of any African country. In contrast, Nigeria produces far less for a population four times the size of its African economic rival, South Africa. Without solving the energy deficit, neither economic growth nor sustainable development and improvement of citizens' welfare will be possible. An effective way to solve the energy shortage may be the introduction of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is not only able to overcome the electricity deficit in African countries, but can also contribute to a soft transition from environmentally polluting fossil-fuelled power plants to carbon-free technologies. However, for various reasons, there is strong opposition to nuclear energy development in these countries. This paper seeks to answer the question of whether the construction of nuclear power plants in Africa is the optimal solution to the continent's acute energy deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of patterns of university interaction for innovation that engenders inclusive development in Nigeria. Specifically, it explains innovative solutions for women empowerment that occurred through interaction between the University of Ibadan and the Ile-Ogbo community and its implication for sustainable development goals. It is a case of innovation and skills upgrading aimed at improving the livelihood conditions of women in a semi-urban marginalized community. The results demonstrate that interactions of the sampled respondents generated three types of innovation: process, products and marketing innovations, which promote livelihood of the marginalized women. It also identified a well-defined pathway that connects innovation to empowerment and how marginalized women can improve and control their earnings. The study concludes that interactions at the community level, that addressed livelihood problems of a typical marginalized community in an informal set up, can help in achieving sustainable development goals, especially that of women empowerment in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study outlined how the microenterprises overcome numerous challenges common to start-up through 'open development' characterized by collective sharing of knowledge, tools, equipment and workforce amongst competing microenterprises, and belonging to trade/professional associations that ensure that knowledge becomes a public good that can be accessed by everyone who needs it. The study found that majority of the microenterprises studied experienced scaling-up from between a few months to around three years from inception, while only a few scaled-up after three years. This paper shows strong positive relationships between variables capturing open development activities (internal training programmes within enterprise, knowledge acquisition from competitors within the cluster, intra-family learning and training, open innovations) and incidence of scale-up. Incidence of scale-up was captured using significant increase in the size of the enterprise, capital base, business activity or turnover or gross sales relative to start up. The study concluded that clustering of small businesses in Africa facilitates open development and is a potential avenue to overcoming the financial constraints commonly associated with small firms and can thus be an enabler of industry growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers' use of a variety of devices, for example desktops, laptops, tablets, and/or smartphones to conduct intelligent site searches, is advancing mobile commerce. Consumers' choice of devices to use depends largely on their perceptions of value. Given the importance of human, cultural and personal values, this study purposefully selected Nigerian tablet consumers to better understand the factors that impact on the adoption of mobile and tablet commerce in a developing economy. A paper survey was administered to the academic community in Nigeria with (n = 312) responses. To measure the hypothesized latent constructs through the indicators that represent each of the underlying constructs, the authors embarked on three steps: a confirmatory factor analysis, partial least squares-structural equation modelling and probing the tablet commerce structural relationship by running a bootstrapping. This study filled a vacuum in the existing studies in developing countries by taking into cognizance the prominent status of mobile devices, especially tablets. Further, this study integrates the theory of trust, privacy, reputation, ease of use, and loyalty with gender moderation. The study also gives future direction to tablet commerce practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study illuminates the linkages between disruptive innovation (DI) and sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) within the context of small and medium firms (SMFs). By adopting a systematic review of the literature, we thematized the possible connections between DI and SE practices to include: (i) contextualization of DI in Nigeria's entrepreneurship ecosystem; (ii) a model for linking DI and SE among firms in Nigeria; and (iii) mechanisms and structures that achieve DI and SE. The study elaborates on theoretical and practical implications for the SMFs stakeholders. Among the viable arguments of this research is that disruptive efforts should align with financial expectations and social value, and other expected returns for the customers. Our study extends the theoretical frontiers of the DI literature by demonstrating the interconnectedness of the DI model for SE in a developing economy, specifically Nigerian SMFs, which is seeking a transition from heavy reliance on oil exploration to a much more widespread economic base that taps other natural resources and diverse economic contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a disconnect between the abundant resources at the national level and the severe poverty at individual and household levels in Nigeria. Information and communication technology is an efficient tool that the Asian economies have used to alleviate poverty. Information and communication technology is regarded as a tool which helps create an information and communication technology-based economy. This quantitative study examined how Nigeria can use information and communication technology to alleviate the enormous poverty levels. Data were sourced from the World Bank and International Telecommunication Union, for the period 1992–2020. In terms of the research methodology, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model was employed in the research. The empirical findings showed that information and communication technology can have a projected 50% positive effect in reducing poverty. Foreign direct investment had a positive effect on reducing income inequality. Primary research findings depicted that information and communication technology, economic growth, foreign direct investment and private domestic credit were key tools for reducing poverty in Nigeria. Concerning policy recommendations, it was suggested that private domestic credit and foreign direct investment should be channelled to the information and communication technology sector to have a greater impact on poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential environmental benefits of corn cob ash (CCA) as pozzolan in stabilizing soils for road construction was investigated. Corn cob obtained from Maya in South West Nigeria was processed to ash similar to Class C Fly Ash and blended with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in the OPC:CCA ratios of 1:1 and 2:1. Each of these blends was then mixed with lateritic soil of classification A-2-7(3) in varying percentages from 0–7.5% and thereafter tested for Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS). The cost of the binder inputs was determined from the production cost of CCA and the prevailing market price of OPC. Using the processed laboratory results, an optimization problem was set up, with the cost of the OPC-CCA binder as the objective function to be minimized, subject to the constraints of minimum UCS of 1800 kN/m2 and solved. The study showed that OPC-CCA blends used at optimization levels reduced the overall OPC consumption by up to 26.8% and could result in a corresponding reduction in net CO2 contribution to the environment. The paper concluded by recommending the development of bio pozzolan cements for use in soil stabilization to reduce the CO2 contribution of the construction industry to global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing demand for electrical power in Nigeria, coupled with a limited supply, have restricted the nation's socioeconomic development. The country's policymakers, aware of this, have formulated and enacted energy development policies in recent years targeted at diversifying the current electricity mix and increasing electrification to rural settlements. Despite these efforts, electricity infrastructure projects have been sidelined, power outages are common and grid unreliability is costing industry significant amounts to secure the electricity supply necessary for business sustainability and profitability. This paper presents the current state of the electricity industry in Nigeria and argues the case for integration of renewable energy technologies. A case study is presented based on electricity cost information collected from a survey of Nigerian industry. Three future electricity supply scenarios are presented: a do-nothing or business-as-usual scenario; a scenario of increased reliance on grid power due to improvements in reliability; and a scenario involving shifting some of the current diesel on-site generation to solar photovoltaics. It is shown that increasing the utilization of renewable sources could significantly reduce the costs and CO2 emissions incurred due to the current reliance on self-generation, primarily using diesel generators, amidst grid unreliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, the focus of strategic management studies has been on technological innovation. However, recent studies have shown rising importance of non-technological innovation to firms' productivity, especially in developing country contexts. One limitation in empirical firm innovation analyses this study attempts to resolve, is the role of information sources in driving non-technological (organizational) innovation in a developing country context. Developing countries rely on knowledge from external sources to make up for their deficiencies in R&D capability to drive their innovation efforts. Using pooled, cross-sectional data from two rounds of Nigeria's Innovation Surveys, this study assesses the role of external information sources in organizational innovation practices in Nigeria. A comparative analysis of the manufacturing and service sectors was also undertaken. Using a multivariate probit analysis, our results provide strong evidence of heterogeneity in firms' information sources used in implementing organizational innovation practices in Nigeria. Most information sources which drive organizational innovation practices in manufacturing firms do not have an impact on service firms. The study recommends sector-specific polices to drive organizational innovation in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability and the future of food systems have become major food policy discourses in recent years. While prior research has focused on analyzing social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability separately, the present study takes a broader approach to understand the interconnectedness of these dimensions. The present study involves a cross-sectional survey of 90 biofortified cassava base of pyramid (BoP) producers in Nigeria. Data for this study were collected through structured interviews and analyzed using a combination of descriptive analysis and the structural equation modelling (SEM) method. The analysis of the fit indices indicates that the model is appropriate, and the associations between the dimensions and their constructs are statistically significant and positive, suggesting a robust relationship that supports the hypothesized path movements. Our analysis revealed a strong correlation between environmental and economic issues, emphasizing the significance of value-based supply chain practices as a marketing option and its considerable market potential, among other considerations. The study supports adopting a systemic approach in managing sustainability challenges and, thus, serves as a foundation for developing sustainable policies that align the demands of the market, society, and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food prices in Nigeria have become significantly higher and more volatile since 2012. The purpose of this research was to find out what affects farmers' participation in the growth enhancement support scheme (GESS) in the country. We determined the effect of the GESS on the ease of access to market information and agricultural inputs that influence price volatility at farm gate level. A total of 2100 rural farmers were sampled across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones. Result from the use of recursive bivariate probit model showed that farmers depended on the GESS for the resolution of food price volatility by providing food market information and agricultural inputs that bring down the incidence and amount of anxiety-impelled price rise in Nigeria. The results advocated for the need to improve the GESS in line with the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) by cutting down the deterrents mostly linked with the use of mobile phones, and the distance of registration and assemblage centres. In extension and contribution, the findings suggest that smallholder farmers can be part of the volatility solution when they are provided with rural roads and transportation to get their product to the market, and technology to receive and share the latest market information on prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil palm has been identified as one of the key agricultural products that can diversify Nigeria's economy. However, its production and export have been hampered by capital constraints. Consequently, the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) was introduced to encourage lending to farmers and agro-processors to enhance agricultural productivity. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of ACGSF allocations to the oil palm production subsector. Time series data on oil palm production, as well as data on ACGSF allocations to oil palm and cash crop production, prime lending rate and commercial banks' loans to agriculture were obtained from FAOSTAT and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Vector autoregression, Granger causality and impulse response functions were used to estimate the short-run relationship. The results reveal that ACGSF allocations to the oil palm subsector and commercial banks' loans to agriculture have negative and positive effects, respectively, on oil palm production. There was unidirectional causality from ACGSF and commercial banks to agriculture to oil palm production. The findings suggest expansion and close monitoring of the ACGSF scheme, and the intensification and esterification of oil palm production. The study shows that estimating the effect of ACGSF on overall agricultural productivity does not provide deep insight into commodity-specific credit packages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scourge of poverty has spread over Nigeria. Efforts to address the problem have yielded no tangible results. This study investigated a gendered approach to determinants of adoption of cassava-legume intensification technology and its impact on households' poverty status in innovation platforms. A multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 160 respondents. The adoption index, the Tobit regression model, FGT analysis, and the ordered probit regression model were used to analyze the data. The adoption intensity of cassava-legume intensification technology was relatively low (28.06%), with that of female gender households 3.20% higher than that of their male counterparts. The Tobit regression model revealed that the intensity of adoption of cassava-legume technology was positively and significantly influenced by the years of education, household size, credit accessibility and household gender participation, among other factors. In addition, the ordered probit regression model revealed that revenue generated from cassava-legume, adoption intensity of the technology, extension visits, and gender of the household head were significant factors positively affecting household poverty while household size negatively affected household poverty. This indicates that cassava-legume intensification technology can assist individuals in escaping poverty. Gender sensitivity should, however, be considered when adopting new technologies, and an enabling atmosphere should be developed to enable women to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research focus of an institution indicates the academic strength of the institution. This academic strength goes a long way to determine the quality of academic product expected from such an institution. To this effect, this study aims at analyzing the research publication strength of 70 Nigerian universities that are visible in Scopus database for Computer Science from inception to 22 December 2017. They include 35 federal, 27 state and 8 private universities. This study is divided into two phases; the first phase consists of six major steps in a waterfall model and the second is carried out by adopting a knowledge discovery model using a clustering algorithm for pattern discovery in an unstructured data model. The data source for the analysis is the Scopus indexing database recommended by the Times Higher Education for international ranking of higher institutions. From the first phase, the predominant outlet for each institution was discovered alongside the percentage of publications in the dominant outlet and the number of publications by the institution within the database over the period of the analysis. In the second phase, the predominant areas of research of each institution within the field of Computer Science was determined. In particular, it was observed that such areas as deep learning and data science are under researched. The findings also revealed networking as the most published area in Nigerian universities, and a number of Nigerian computer science scholars engage in application research which link Computer Science with other disciplines with Nigeria and Africa as case studies. The findings from this research can support postgraduate students' decision in making the right choice of institution based on their research interest. It will also serve as an eye-opener for industries in promoting a result-oriented university-industry partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on the total quality management and innovation relationship have had mixed findings. We predict that organizational culture could moderate the relationship between total quality management and organizational innovation. The study collected empirical data from 433 small and medium-sized enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria. Structural equation modelling–partial least squares were used to test the conceptualized model to determine the examined relationship with a moderating effect of organizational culture, customer relation, and employee relations that were positively and significantly related to innovation. However, management leadership was found to be negatively related to innovation. Organizational culture positively and significantly moderates the relationship between continuous improvement, management leadership and innovation, while it had a positive but insignificant moderating role on the relationship between employee relation and innovation. The study contributes to a better understanding of how organizations adopt a combination of cultural components to achieve total quality management and innovation performance. The study concludes that organizational culture interacts with continuous improvement and management leadership to influence positively the innovation performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The findings imply that the model of this study can be used in management literature as empirical evidence for selecting the critical elements for total quality management implementation and innovative culture. Using an extended method of analysis such as the importance performance map analysis to establish the direct and indirect relationships has provided the methodological rigor required for theory confirmation. Finally, the study made a significant contribution to the existing literature through testing and proving of the moderating role of organizational culture in the underlying relationship using empirical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livelihood diversification is a coping strategy that functions as a cushioning effect owing to dwindling income from agriculture. This study examined the significant differences in income between males and females before and after livelihood diversification. The multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select the respondents. Data were collected through the administration of well-structured questionnaires and were analyzed using both descriptive and multiple regression analyses. The mean annual income of male and female household heads before livelihood diversification was N195,200 ± 4,135 and N220,203 ± 5,300, respectively, while annual income after livelihood diversification averaged N206,195 ± 6,540 and N275,105 ± 4,100 for male and female, respectively. Age (p < 0.01) and years of formal education (p < 0.05) both had positive influence, and farm size (p < 0.01) which was negative were the determinants of livelihood diversification among males. The determinants of livelihood diversification of females were age (p < 0.05) which was negative, while positive factors included household size (p < 0.05), and access to credit (p < 0.01). It was concluded that livelihood diversification increased the earnings of the rural dwellers, with females earning higher marginal incomes than their male counterparts. The study, therefore, recommended that government policy focus on assistance for female rural dwellers in credit accessibility should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of quality of health, water and sanitation as key drivers of economic progress, with a focus on Nigeria from 1990 to 2015. The indicators considered were economic progress (GDP per capita), health (infant mortality rate), access to water and sanitation. The ex-post facto research design was used in this study. Also, the Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) estimation method was chosen. Empirical findings show that there is a long-run relationship where the quality of health, water and sanitation has a positive effect on economic progress. The results indicate that access to water, sanitation and better health boosts the economic progress of Nigeria. It can be said that these facilities complement labour productivity. While comparing the policy options tested in this study, the improvement of the sanitation facilities has the highest marginal impact in fostering growth in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that innovation in the modern economy is driven by interactions among the stakeholders that make up the innovation system. Effective interactions among key actors in an innovation system foster flow of knowledge and resources development and commercialization of new products. This study assesses the depth of research and development (R&D) and level of interaction existing among key elements in the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry. Data were obtained from thirty-two manufacturing pharma firms, and sixty-nine researchers from faculties of pharmacy across Nigerian universities and three key research institutes with drug-related mandates. The results reveal poor synergy in research among the actors, and weak academia-industry interaction as only about one-third of industrial firms indicated active collaboration with knowledge institutions. More pertinently, over two-third of researchers in universities rated research-industry collaborations on most of the key aspects considered to be at least weak, Contract research and joint R&D activities were equally rated weak. The study concludes that the pharma innovation system in Nigeria requires serious government interventions by creating robust platform to promote productive interactions between these actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the consumption of locally available food crops such as orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) that are rich in beta carotene, a precursor for vitamin A, has been shown to be a highly effective means of fighting against vitamin A deficiency at the community level when combined with nutrition education. After a three-year intervention promoting OFSP uptake using different market-led approaches, a structured survey was conducted among 204 participant and 422 non-participant households in Ghana and Nigeria in 2017. In this study, we test whether the adoption of OFSP has a significant effect on dietary diversity, using a counterfactual approach based on the conditional independence-based estimators of average treatment effect techniques. Results found that household, young child and woman's dietary diversity scores increased when households adopted OFSP varieties. However, the positive effects of OFSP adoption on household dietary diversity only occurred in the Ghanaian sub-sample, not the Nigerian. Policymakers and development support partners should ensure institutional support in terms of intensive campaigns to sensitize farmers and their families about the benefits of these crops in order to create and sustain demand for biofortified foods as a means of fighting micronutrient malnutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is an essential strategy for businesses to increase performance and profitability. While current literature focuses on technology and other technical barriers to innovation, many businesses in developing countries are unaware of the significance of organizational policy and practices on a firm's capacity to innovate, thus being confronted with stagnant or low innovation performance. A quantitative survey (n = 351) study was conducted to investigate the importance and impact of management barriers to innovation within production and manufacturing plants in Nigeria. Five hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). A questionnaire was developed based on relevant constructs adapted from previous studies. These were validated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and Composite Reliability Index. Garrett's ranking technique was used to determine the order of importance of identified barriers. Results indicate that all five management barriers investigated (i.e., management support, low motivation, resistance to change, risk avoidance behaviour, and financial resource) inhibit innovation performance in the sampled organizations. Furthermore, resistance to change, risk avoidance behaviour, and lack of management support ranked as the most significant management barriers. The study findings inform managers, senior executives, and policymakers how to reduce innovation barriers during the formulation and implementation of management strategies. The distinct characteristics of innovation barriers within Nigerian manufacturing businesses were highlighted, expanding the body of knowledge in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato production is increasing along with postharvest losses in Nigeria, Rwanda and India. Modified Commodity Systems Assessment Methodology on tomato was conducted in the study areas during the July – August 2017 harvest season to evaluate the costs and benefits of improved postharvest practices or technologies that will reduce losses in the value chain. The use of colour chart as maturity index to harvest tomato fruit at breaker stage for long distant market in Rwanda when adopted showed that tomatoes were better protected from mechanical injury during handling and generated an immediate increased profit of US$170 for each 1000 kg load when compared with handling tomato fruit harvested at full ripe stage. In Nigeria, the use of a Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC) resulted in reduction of tomato loss to five percent when compared with the current practice of immediate sales of harvested produce with loss of 40%. This simple ZECC technology and use of Reusable Plastic Crates (RPC) reduced loss from 30% to 10% and increased the earnings of the farmer/trader in Rwanda. In comparison, in India the use of maturity indices and RPCs during harvesting and transport of tomato was common, and resulted in lower postharvest losses during marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality (AR) is the combination of real and computer-based images and scenes to bring about a unified and improved view of the world. This study assesses the benefits of augmented reality technology (ART) to the construction industry so that productivity in construction can be enhanced. A survey of construction professionals involved in the built environment was carried out in Lagos State, Nigeria. Architects, Project managers, Engineers, Quantity surveyors, and Builders were engaged in the survey, and they were sent a well-structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling techniques were adopted in choosing these professionals. The collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. According to the findings, the five most important benefits of ART are improved team collaboration and communication; enhanced repairs, rehabilitation, and maintenance; improved communication / real-time information retrieval; accurate automated measurement; and low-cost virtual training in operating heavy construction equipment. The results showed that there nine (9) out of fifteen (15) benefits had no significant difference in terms of the opinions of professionals, while the other six (6) had a significant difference. A post-hoc test revealed that there is a significant difference in opinions between the Architects and Quantity surveyors or between Quantity surveyors and Project managers on the benefits of AR while there is no significant difference for other professionals. The study concluded that AR improves collaboration and communication between workers on construction sites. It is therefore recommended that the Nigerian construction industry should create awareness programmes and platforms to inform its current and upcoming professionals on the benefits of using AR in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of Moringa oleifera tree for food security at the smallholder farmers' level, there is no consolidated socioeconomic information about the crop such as its contribution to household food security and income, and its production potential, commercialization and constraints. This study estimated the commercialization level and factors influencing the level of commercialization among the moringa farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A double-hurdle model with quasi-maximum likelihood fractional response model was employed to analyze the participation and level of participation in commercialization among smallholder moringa farmers in Southwestern Nigeria. The commercialization level was captured by the household commercialization index (HCI) which was calculated as the ratio of the value of marketed moringa output to the value of moringa produced. The result revealed that half of the moringa farmers are still operating at the subsistence level with a large number of them at the low-medium level while the rest are high-level market participants. The participation in commercialization of moringa was influenced by age and square of household head age, marital status, level of education, farming experience in moringa farming, and access to market information. In the same vein, age and age square of household head, level of education, access to credit and extension services were factors influencing the level of commercialization. Thus, the study concluded that access to affordable credit, adequate access to extension services and prompt market information for small-scale farmers would not only improve their production capacity but also serve as a driver for market participation. The study recommends that for the enormous potential of the moringa tree species and its various products to be harnessed, stakeholders, NGOs, and policymakers should, through adequate extension services, widely promote and scale up the domestication of the miracle tree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To decarbonize the Nigerian power sector and ensure a reliable electricity supply, nuclear power will play a key role. However, public acceptance must be considered for the successful introduction of nuclear power. This study examines the perceptions of Nigerians towards nuclear power generation and its opportunity as a viable source of power in Nigeria. The study adopts a quantitative method through surveys, using simple random sampling by administering questionnaires of structured close-ended questions to 10,001 respondents via social networking services and handdelivered questionnaires. However, the response rate was only 71%. The data were analyzed using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation to measure the relationship between the various perceptions of nuclear power as a viable solution to the electricity problems in Nigeria using the statistical analysis software, Statistical Product and Service Solutions Statistics (IBM SPSS). The Cronbach's alpha value of 0.821 of the items (questions) illustrates the acceptable internal consistency of the study and shows that it has reliability and validity on a five-point Likert scale. The study shows that over 56% of the respondents support the use of nuclear power generation as a viable option for electricity supply in Nigeria. Furthermore, it is recommended as a boost to the Nigerian economy, safety, security, and environmental sustainability, therefore, indicating positive perceptions towards building a nuclear power plant in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite generally low return on investment, modular-mini refineries from simple diesel production units to more sophisticated refineries are increasingly becoming a choice of flexible and cost-effective supply for oil producers in remote regions, particularly in developing economies with reasonable to rich oil resources. The new wave of mini refineries includes the modular refinery in Fujairah, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria's burgeoning market for mini-refineries and their increasing role in the development strategy of Indonesia. Honeywell International reports a market for its readymade mobile refineries in war-torn Iraq. Significant rationalization of the refining industry during last three and half decades and considerations like changing environmental legislations or investment incentives to mitigate security of supply issues and sudden finds of light sweet crude as in USA, have all led to change in investment pattern in the refining industry, thereby leading to the growth of modular-mini refineries in different nations. This has been further supported by factors like ability to boost industrialization growth and development of the country. Relatively low capital cost, speed and ease of construction are the other main advantages of modular-mini refineries. The necessary conditions for such viable investment usually include a location in close proximity and access to oil supplies, and being close to markets with considerable logistical advantages that reduce the high cost of distribution to remote locations. This article is an attempt to review the current status of modular-mini refineries as business opportunities in developing economies like Nigeria and Indonesia, based on published information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of eco-bricks have been highlighted in contemporary literature. Notwithstanding, the adoption of eco-bricks masonry for the construction of houses in rural communities of low-income countries is significantly low. This study investigated the features, benefits, drivers and barriers to eco-bricks masonry from the expert's perception. Yelwa village, where the first bottle bricks masonry building was constructed in Africa, was selected for the study. Empirical survey, interview and questionnaire design approach were used to gather data for the research. The study found that eco-bricks are used in the construction of masonry walls and columns, septic tanks, and water reservoirs, and in the construction of multistorey buildings. Door and window openings are created with wooden or metallic frames, and wall plate clits are secured with mortar. Principal drivers of eco-bricks masonry include job creation, high durability, cleaner environment promotion and high cost of conventional building materials. Inadequate skilled workers, lack of government incentives and research funding were identified as significant barriers to the propagation of bottle brick technology. This study is of value in that it can assist in the reduction of plastic waste and the housing deficit, and is also expected to inform policy deliberations and directions towards the creation of innovation-friendly environments in the housing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in the global carbon footprint arising from fossil fuel sources has necessitated the need to explore sustainable and eco-friendly sources of energy. Wind as a source of renewable energy has been underutilized in Nigeria and this study is focused on investigating the wind energy potential in three offshore regions of Nigeria. Three statistical models namely, Weibull, Rayleigh and Exponential distribution were used to analyze the daily time series wind data for the offshore regions in Lagos (VI), Rivers (Abonemma) and Warri (Koko). This was done for a 10-year period between the year 2002–2011. The annual mean wind speeds for Lagos (VI), Rivers (Abonemma) and Warri (Koko) were determined to be 6.25, 7.32 and 7.29 m/s, respectively. The annual mean wind power densities were determined to be 171.47, 240.43 and 237.60 W/m2, respectively. The values of the wind speed carrying the maximum energy were determined to be 7.43, 8.37 and 8.96 m/s, respectively. It was found that the wind classes of the three locations are suitable for power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information flow has increased significantly due to globalization and technological advancement, which has resulted in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). This phenomenon has necessitated all sectors to adapt to the changes and align themselves with technology in order to maximize the benefits. The banking sector, in particular, has been at the forefront of the adoption of BYOD. However, this adoption of BYOD makes the banking sector vulnerable to various security threats. Ofusori, Dlamini, and Prabhakar (2018) classified these threats within technical, social and mobility domains. This article focuses on and investigates the influence of threats related to technical and mobility domains within a BYOD environment. Data were collected from employees of four banks in Nigeria to assess individual practices. The study found threats that overlap both technical and mobility domains and the existing security measures were found to be inadequate to alleviate those overlapping threats. As a result, this study recommends possible solutions to limit these security threats. In addition, this study contributes to the current theoretical perspectives concerning the use of mobile devices, therefore contributing to the existing body of knowledge regarding security threats for banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing literature in the field of mobile phones for agriculture and rural development adopted an economic stance that focused mainly on agriculture marketing and pricing. Little attention has been given to other areas of the farming value chain. To address this shortcoming, this study adopts an interpretive approach, to assess the influence of mobile phone use in farming and its effect on the livelihoods of poor rural farmers. Analysing interviews from farmers in a rural Nigerian agrarian community based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA), the findings reveal that the ease of communications, social interactions, improved farm skills and knowledge afforded by mobile phone use leads to improved opportunities for farmers. These opportunities resonate in the entire farming value chain thereby enhancing farmers' livelihoods. However, some human capital deficiencies and contextual factors bordering on language barrier, lack of capability and awareness in the use of mobile phone features and functionalities inhibit farmers from benefiting optimally from the leverages provided by mobile phones. This calls for policies geared towards capacity building and sensitization of the rural populace on the prospects of mobile phone use in farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria has a large population and growing consumer class, which makes it an attractive market for e-commerce. Despite the growing appetite for e-commerce in Nigeria, data shows that most Nigerians are still lagging in e-commerce evolution by continuing to dwell on traditional ways of shopping. If the full potential of e-commerce is to be reached, it is crucial to understand professionals' perspective on e-commerce technology, because they have the spending capacity to adopt and use this technology. This study examined the factors that positively influence the adoption of e-commerce among professionals in the Surulere area of Lagos, Nigeria. A quantitative approach using a modified UTAUT2 framework was adopted. Data was collected from professionals in the Surulere area of Lagos by means of convenience sampling. The results show that behavioural intention is significantly influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, the facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and perceived trust. The regression analysis showed that the model used accounts for 65% of the variance in e-commerce adoption in Nigeria. These findings provide online retailers and the Nigerian government important factors to enhance the adoption and usage of e-commerce in Nigeria, thus enhancing efficiency and effective productivity in the Nigerian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the impact of rural infrastructure on production efficiency of food crop rural farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. A total of 160 farming households from 20 communities in Abeokuta and Ilaro in Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) were randomly selected. Descriptive statistics, budgeting, Infrastructure Index Estimation (IIE) and Stochastic Production Frontier (SPF) were used to analyze the collected data. Results revealed that rural dwellers' major economic and livelihood activities were farming (51.9%), trading (26.3%) and food processing (19.4%). The budgeting analysis showed that food crop production was more profitable in developed areas than in less-developed areas with Net Farm Income (NFI) of $328.900 (₦119,402.90/hectare) and $179.496 (₦65,163.68/hectare), respectively. SPF showed that total land cultivated (p<0.05), family labour (p<0.01), hired labour (p<0.05) as well as cost of planting inputs (p<0.01) significantly influenced food crop output. It was concluded that farm size, labour and cost of planting materials were the major factors affecting food crop output, irrespective of the presence of infrastructural facilities or not in the study area. The research recommends that all-inclusive rural infrastructural development policies should be formulated towards efficient food crop production in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet of Things is a model in which computing and networking abilities are inserted into any sort of possible object. These abilities are utilized to inquire about the condition of the object and to change its state if feasible. This study assessed the challenges faced in the adoption of the Internet of Things in the construction industry in Nigeria, with the view of increasing the awareness and usage level for the benefits of stakeholders in the industry. The quantitative research method was adopted for this study and the adopted questionnaire was structured on a five-point Likert scale to elicit the opinion of respondents on the challenges of the application of the Internet of Things in the Nigerian construction industry. The respondents included builders, quantity surveyors, land surveyors, architects and engineers in the study area. Mean item score, pie chart, bar chart, percentiles, ANOVA and post-hoc test were used in analyzing the retrieved data. The results show that power supply, cost, limited consumer demand, and challenges in online security and data volume are the major challenges that are faced by construction stakeholders in the adoption of the Internet of Things in the industry. The study concludes that most professionals are aware of and have knowledge of the Internet of Things but the principles are not effectively utilized because of the constraints listed above; in addition, some organizations think the Internet of Things is not necessary. It is therefore recommended that the government should help in promoting and motivating the construction industry by regulating and subsidizing the cost of supply of IoT materials. This will improve the standard of living of people and thereby increase the country's economy through enhanced productivity and performance in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that locally developed innovation technology can foster sustainable growth and development, this study assessed the factors that underpinned the choice of improved biomass stoves among rural households in Kwara South, Nigeria. The study involved the use of primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were collected with the use of a well-structured questionnaire. A three-stage random sampling technique was used for the selection of one hundred and fifty (150) household respondents which represent the sample size used in this study. The secondary data were collected from FAO Forestry Department report. Descriptive statistic and a five-point Likert type scale were used for the data analysis. The results revealed that easiness to purchase fuel and the ability of the fuel to cook quickly were the major factors underlying the choice of cooking stove and fuel used among rural households in the study area. The result also revealed that the clay charcoal stove consumed 17.86MJ/meal while clay lining metal charcoal stove and the local metal charcoal stove consumed 22.48MJ and 36.96MJ per meal, respectively. Improving access to and cost implications of the biomass fuel and stove can enhance the adoption of improved biomass stoves and this will help in sustainable use of biomass energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how agricultural sector performance will be enhanced in Nigeria through access to credit. The study engaged a time series data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank for the period 198–2018. The Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) method was used in the analysis. Results showed that agricultural credit proxied by agricultural credit guarantee scheme fund (ACGSF) and commercial bank credit to agriculture significantly increased agricultural performance by 10.30% and 17.05% respectively. Also, other explanatory variables included in the model (arable land and agricultural employment) tend to increase agricultural performance by 65.51% and 12.40% respectively. Based on findings, the study recommended that farmers should be provided with sufficient access to credit which will enhance their ability to purchase agricultural inputs required to increase productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that technology transfer is essential for innovation and knowledge diffusion. However, without appropriate policies, technology transfer cannot be successful. This research studied technology transfer and its policies in Korea with the aim to determine whether it contributed to the catching-up of the Korean economy while seeking to prove Schumpeter's theory of innovation. In this study, a mixed methodology that involved the use of a systematic review of literature and an analysis of secondary data was employed. The results show that technology transfer policies are essential to economic growth and income generation of the National Innovation System (NIS) while fostering innovation. In line with this, three key policies were discovered that helped the Korean NIS make an economic catch-up from a developing country to a developed country. These are: Intellectual Property Rights, Foreign Direct Investment, and a third class (which was referred to as the general technology transfer policy) of technology transfer policies. These policies improve technology transfers by establishing free trade zones, giving tax breaks to foreign firms and easing the process of foreign direct investment. Based on these results, a policy structure was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technical inefficiencies of crop production system in terms of large-scale irrigation schemes are major problems attributed to the underperformance of crop farms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate and compare farm-level technical efficiencies of four major crop productions system including, pepper, okra, garden egg, and tomato under the large-scale Kampe-Omi irrigation scheme, Nigeria. The data development analysis (DEA) approach was used to study the hypothesized determinants affecting the efficiencies of crop farms using an ordinary least squares regression model. The results showed that the selected pepper, okra, garden egg, and tomato crop farms were fully efficient at 20, 10, 16.92, and 40% under constant return to scale (CRS), and at 13.33, 30, 10.77, and 25.71% under variable return to scale (VRS), respectively. DEA revealed a considerable variation in technical inefficiency among the selected crop farms under the irrigation scheme. The significant determinants of technical efficiencies of the four crop farms include farmers' age, family size, experience, alternative income, education, credit accessibility, and contact with extension agents. The outcomes of this study are useful for improving production efficiencies while serving as a convenient guide for both farmers and irrigation scheme managers of selected crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]