FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
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Item Promoting Export-Led Economic Growth in Nigeria –The Export Processing Zone Option(IJHSSI (International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention), 2016) Onwuka, I. O.; Nwafor, M. C.The volatility in crude oil production in Nigeria, which in recent times, have been heightened by militant attacks on critical oil installations in the Niger Delta area and the continued price spiral in international oil market has once again brought to the front burner anxieties about the future of the oil sector in the Nigerian economy. The unfolding scenario has again exposed the Nigerian economy to downside risks of volatility in oil prices with attendant Mconsequences and multiple effects on the economy and businesses as well. Since the third quarter of 2015, fallen prices of crude oil and fluctuations in crude oil production in Nigeria have conspired to put the country’s economy in dire straits. The oil price has fallen by more than 50 percent since June 2014, when it was $115 a barrel. It is now consistently below $50 and has been as low as $37. These developments have put the nation’s fiscal operations in quandary. The government has rightly responded by putting in place various fiscal and monetary measures to stem the tide. The federal government has adopted some austere measures to cushion the effect of the persistent drop in revenue. However, the implementation of these short-term measures to shore up revenue could be impeded by political exigencies which often times overrides economic rationality. Thus, a more comprehensive and alternative approach that will promote non-oil export will be a better option. To this end, the authors recommend the revitalization and retooling of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Scheme in order to effectively diversify the economy away from oil to an export-led economy.Item Tackling infrastructural gap in Nigeria: the pension fund option(Redfame Publishing, 2018) Onwuka, I. O.; Nwafor, M. C.The paper reviewed the prospect of using the hugely untapped pension funds to bridge infrastructural financing gap in Nigeria. Infrastructure financing is estimated to cost Nigeria a total investment of USD2.9 trillion over the next 30 years to bring it to the level that can be competitive and self-sustaining. This huge investment outlay is clearly beyond the yearly fiscal operations of government. However, there is a glimmer of hope by way of pension funds, which as at August, 2016, is in excess of N5.9 trillion. This phenomenal growth in pension funds presents a rare opportunity to bridge the nation's current infrastructure gap by leveraging part of the huge pension assets for developmental purposes. The authors argued that there is need to review the regulatory and institutional framework in pension funds administration to make way for a creative use of some of the pension funds to fund infrastructure-creating a veritable profitable investment outlay for the pension funds contributors and at the same time providing the needed funding for critical infrastructure financing in the country.