Ebele Stella Nwokoye

We assessed the differential effects of social expenditures on males and females by establishing the impact of public expenditures on education and health on gender parity in primary and secondary enrollment and on gender parity in life expectancy for Nigeria given age dependency ratio, annual population growth rate, and GDP per capita growth rate. We found that increased social spending on health and education increased female education enrollment which was hitherto lower than male enrollment. Again, increased social expenditure on health and education improved male life expectancy which was hitherto lower than female life expectancy. We established the importance of increased social expenditure on health and education; gender budgeting and gender-sensitive budgets; and implementation of inclusive growth policies in engendering gender parity in Nigeria.

Investigating the impacts of globalization on vulnerable employment with a focus on sub‐Saharan African (SSA) women's job experience is in line with efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8. We examined the impacts of social, economic, and political globalization, as well as de facto and de jure conditions, in explaining the proportion of women working in vulnerable jobs in SSA. Using the instrumental variable generalized method of moment approach with panel data from 37 SSA countries for the period 2000–2016, we found de facto/de jure globalization conditions to have positive/negative impacts on the proportion of women in vulnerable employment in SSA. Furthermore, estimates from disaggregated globalization indices indicate that both economic de facto and social de facto globalization conditions had negative impacts whereas political globalization had positive impacts on our subject matter. Developing inclusive socioeconomic policies that promote women's welfare in SSA would therefore necessitate political reforms as well as policies that support improvements in women's economic and social conditions.

This article investigates the impact of trade restrictions in European and sub-Saharan regions. The study employed annual time series for the period from 1980 to 2019. Based on augmented Philip curve framework, it was found that for the European Union, the trade-off is 4.31 per cent, while it is 2.66 per cent for the sub-Saharan African region. This suggests that the negative effect of globalisation due to trade restrictions is more in developed regions than in developing regions of the world. The implication of the finding is that whether in developed or developing countries, a trade-off exists between globalisation and restricted trade. This has significant bilateral and multilateral trade policy relevance.

This study examines the effect of remittances inflow to Nigeria on labour force participation in the country using the propensity score matching and Heckman two‐step benchmark model. With data sourced from Nigeria's 2015/16 General Household Survey, results reveal that receipt of remittances increased both labour force participation for non‐farm economic activities and labour force participation in urban areas, perhaps as a result of investing received remittances in new business ventures. In addition, remittance inflows raised economic activeness of the younger members of the labour force who constituted a greater percentage. The study recommends the proper functioning of institutions aimed at facilitating remittance inflows as well as enhancing the utilization of such remittances in industry‐based business start‐ups.

Purpose: The danger inherent in anchoring the growth prospects of an economy on a single product has long been established and for decades now, Nigeria has remained a mono-product economy with all her foreign exchange earning possibilities anchored only on oil revenue. The paper sought to investigate the imperatives of gender equality in expanding the economic base of Nigeria. Methodology: Based on the assumption of increasing returns to scale for the manufacturing sector and constant returns to scale for the primary sector, it apparently follows that a country’s manufacturing output will grow faster (or slower) than that of the rest of the world if it had an initial comparative advantage in manufacturing (or primary) sector as hypothesized by the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis. Employing Engel-Granger and Error Correction Model in an endogenous growth framework were used in this study. Main Findings: This study found that the existing gender inequality has negative effect on the drive to diversify the economy by reducing the potential pool of human capital and promoting gaps in opportunities. Applications: These programmes will help on female self-employment, increased ratio of female to male labour force participation rate and a reduction in the ratio of female to male in vulnerable employment should be included in policy formulations. Novelty/Originality: The efforts should be sustained that totally remove or reduce to their barest minimum all patriarchal tendencies that exploit the female gender and place them at unequal gender relations. It is also recommended that social institutions such as social protection mechanisms should be entrenched as an avenue to reduce the vulnerabilities faced by women.

In a bid to survive the hard times in the economy, some families have resorted to giving out their children as child labourers so as to earn income for subsistence. This phenomenon has scuttled efforts aimed at human capital development thereby increasing juvenile delinquency while perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty. This study has its theoretical framework on the theoretical model of child labour supply and examined the impact of child labour on human capital development in Nigeria with a specific focus on Onitsha Metropolis, Anambra state. It is a descriptive survey research. Non-probability sampling was employed and the sample was drawn using quota and purposive sampling techniques. The Interview schedule was used as the instrument for data collection and the data collected were analysed using the qualitative response regression model (binary probit). The study established, from the regression analysis, that child labour has a negative impact on school enrollment rate, mental well-being and physical fitness of children in Onitsha. The study recommended amongst other things, the enforcement of free compulsory education to children in Onitsha. Also, child labour education should be introduced in school curriculum to help create awareness on the rights of the child and consequences of child labour on the mental, physical and social development of children to reduce the menace of child labour.