CAPITAL BUDGETING DECISIONS AND THE MULTIPLE RATES OF RETURN CONTROVERSY – A REVIEW

Ayodele Thomas D.

Department of Accounting and Finance

Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo

e-mail:ayodeleconcept@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Capital budgeting as a decision area in finance establishes goals and criteria for investing resources in long term projects. It has a wide application in government as well as in private enterprises. There are various methods of capital budgeting. They are payback period, Accountancy rate of return, Net present value (NPV) Profitability Index (PI) and the Internal rate of return (IRR). Two of the techniques (NPV and IRR), will give the same ranking when two or more independent projects are evaluated. (i.e both will give the same accept- reject decision for independent projects). However, when two mutually exclusive projects are under consideration, a conflict usually occurs in the ranking by either of them. The paper therefore reviewed the various circumstances leading to contradictions between the NPV and IRR and the various bail outs by finance authors.  Notwithstanding the fact that the conflict between the NPV and the IRR can be resolved, it was discovered that there are still some grey areas that should be of great concern to authors and this has gone a long way to still confirm the superiority of NPV to IRR as project appraisal techniques.       

EXPORT BUSINESS: A STRATEGIC OPTION FOR MICRO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Nwankwo Cosmas A.¹; Obikeze Chinedum O.²; and Ngige Chigbo D.³

²Department of Marketing, Anambra State University, Igbariam

³Department of Business Administration, Anambra State University, Igbariam

E-mail: caokoro@yahoo.ie; obikezec@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Export business has attracted the attention of both the private and public sector in Nigeria. It is the type of business that integrates nations together, because no nation is said to be self-sufficient in her production and distribution of products and services. This paper examines the strategic options in export business in Nigeria. It went further to study some export problems that prevents the country from achieving its economic development. Such problems include; companies ability to finance export marketing expansion, ineffective government assistance programs, procuring exchange rates, interest rates, trade regulations, import restrictions, ability to read, speak and understand the language of potential markets, ability to locate reliable agent/distributor, deterioration of products during transportation, understanding price mechanism, ability to meet quality and quantity on continuous basis, competition from other domestic products and among others. The study went further to proffer some solutions that is believed to assist the country in achieving her vision.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF INTEREST RATES DEREGULATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA (1964-2009)

Obute  Christopher¹, Adyorough Asor², and Itodo Ahmed Idoko³

¹Department of Economics, Benue state university, Makurdi.

²Department of Business Management, Benue State University, Makurdi.

³Department of Economics, University of Mkar, Gboko, Benue State.

ABSTRACT

Nigeria’s financial sector reforms of 1986 which began with interest rates deregulation, was aimed at enhancing funds mobilization and disbursement to achieve economic growth and development. However, the deregulation exercise has been met with mix feelings. While some believe the exercise would help to promote investment and economic growth by enhancing savings, others are of the opinion that the exercise would push up real lending rates thereby discouraging investments, in view of the inverse relationship between investment and real lending rate.  It was against this backdrop that this research was carried out to assess the impact of interest rate deregulation on economic growth in Nigeria. The objectives of the research were to establish the relationship that exists between deregulated interest rates and economic growth through savings and investment in Nigeria, and also to make a comparative analysis between the impact of regulated and deregulated interest rates on economic growth in Nigeria. It was hypothesized that interest rates deregulation do not have significant influence on economic growth in Nigeria. The research used Time series data, sourced mainly from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bulletin and World Bank data base. Four separate models were estimated to capture the relationship between; Real Deposit Rate (RDR) and Total Savings (TS) (Model 1), Real Lending Rate (RLR) and investment (INV) (Model 2), INV and economic growth (Model 3), and, RLR and economic growth (RGDP) (Model 4) for both the deregulation era (1987-2009) and the regulation era (1964-1986). The research revealed that RDR does not have significant impact on total savings before and after the deregulation exercise, RLR also does not have significant impact on investment before and after the deregulation exercise, investment has a positive and significant impact on economic growth before and after the deregulation of interest rate, and, RLR does not have a significant impact on economic growth before and after the deregulation exercise. This may be due to the incomplete deregulation of interest rates as its value is still tied to the monetary policy rate even after the deregulation exercise. It is therefore recommended that interest rates should be effectively deregulated to allow the country reap the full benefits of the financial reforms introduced about 25 years ago with very little satisfactory results.

RISK PRICING AND PROFITABILITY OF NON-LIFE INSURANCE

COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

F M Epetimehin and Adeyemo D.L

Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji

E-mail: fessy51@yahoo.co.uk, dlaintec@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Insurance companies continue to face intense pressure to improve performance, increase profitability, deliver superior customer service and increase shareholder returns. This is primarily due to the fact that operating efficiency is of particular interest for managers whose aim is to improve the performance of their firm and, therefore safeguard the stability of the financial system by generating enough profit. The Nigeria Insurance Industry is facing a myriad of problems ranging from underwriting losses, high operating expenses and reduced income. It is the believe of the market that the emerging trend bothers on pricing of risk. The research investigates the impact of pricing of risk on the profitability of Nigeria Insurance market and also to find out the relationship between operation expenses and profitability of the non-life insurance market in Nigeria. Our results show that economy, competition and government regulation have effect on pricing of risk. These findings will have special significance for both the insurance industry policy makers and market competitors. Policy holders can use these findings to develop long term policy strategies for market development. Also, it was observed that operation expenses is strongly correlated to profitability and should be properly managed.            

HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANPOWER TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Ofobruku Sylvester Abomeh and Amagbakhen O. Roland

Tourism and Hospitality Services, Keffi, Nasarawa State Nigeria

Bureau of Public Procurement, State House Abuja

Email: ufomaeliz@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The Hospitality and Tourism industry is a large and complex industry and one that is of significant economic importance to Nigeria. Manpower Training and Education, enabled the hospitality and tourism industry to have the right sets of workers with the required skills, knowledge and attitude to manage the industry in the present while plan adequately and wisely to meet the challenges of manpower needs the industry might face in the future. This paper reviews manpower training and education in the hospitality and tourism sector; identify the challenges militating against manpower training in the hospitality industry in Nigeria. It evaluates the key government policy on tourism manpower training and development, how it can enhance the process of improving the standard of Nigeria hospitality and tourism sector. The Focus Group Discussion methodology was employed in this study, this enable the researcher to successfully gain greater insight on the subject and resolved unexpected issues encountered during the interview. Six parallel Focus Group Discussion sessions were held in the six geo-political region of Nigeria with the author acting as the facilitator. The study concludes that the Government of Nigeria as a matter of urgency should formulate policies that will enshrine the training of manpower in the tourism and hospitality industry, in order to check the present ugly situation.

HUMAN CAPITAL PLANNING AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN THE NIGERIA PUBLIC SECTOR

Wurim, Ben Pam

National Directorate of Employment, Plateau State

ABSTRACT

Human capital is one of the most critical of all resources at the disposal of any organisation, whether, public or private. The right quality and quantity of human capital (employed) is a measure of an organisation’s strength, health, success and security. The main thrust of this paper is to critically assess the prospects of human capital planning in the achievement of organizational performance. A hypothesis in line with this objective is drawn and tested based on the data generated through a questionnaire. The survey investigation method was used in collecting the primary data for the study. The sample consisted of 349 top, middle and low levels management staff of five public sector organisations in Nigeria. The result shows that adherence to human capital planning in Nigerian public sector organisations significantly impact organizational performance. Based on the aforementioned, the paper concluded that Human capital planning significantly accounts for improvements in organizational effectiveness in Nigerian public organisations. The paper recommends that human capital planners in the public sector of Nigeria should be properly educated and trained in scientific human capital planning if organizational performance must be increased; and advocacy should be adopted by public sector organisations to influence the enactment of detrimental laws and legislations that have direct bearing on the human capital planning processes of their organisations.