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The purpose of this paper is to explain why the high quality cassava flour (HQCF) value chain in Nigeria has not performed as well as expected. The specific objectives are to: analyse important sources of uncertainty influencing HQCF value chains; explore stakeholders’ strategies to respond to uncertainty; and highlight the implications of different adaptation strategies for equity and the environment in the development of the value chain.

The authors used a conceptual framework based on complex adaptive systems to analyse the slow development of the value chain for HQCF in Nigeria, with a specific focus on how key stakeholders have adapted to uncertainty. The paper is based on information from secondary sources and grey literature. In particular, the authors have drawn heavily on project documents of the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa project (2008 to present), which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and on the authors’ experience with this project.

Policy changes; demand and supply of HQCF; availability and price of cassava roots; supply and cost of energy are major sources of uncertainty in the chain. Researchers and government have shaped the chain through technology development and policy initiatives. Farmers adapted by selling cassava to rival chains, while processors adapted by switching to rival cassava products, reducing energy costs and vertical integration. However, with uncertainties in HQCF supply, the milling industry has reserved the right to play. Vertical integration offers millers a potential solution to uncertainty in HQCF supply, but raises questions about social and environmental outcomes in the chain.

The use of the framework of complex adaptive systems helped to explain the development of the HQCF value chain in Nigeria. The authors identified sources of uncertainty that have been pivotal in restricting value chain development, including changes in policy environment, the demand for and supply of HQCF, the availability and price of cassava roots, and the availability and cost of energy for flour processing. Value chain actors have responded to these uncertainties in different ways. Analysing these responses in terms of adaptation provides useful insights into why the value chain for HQCF in Nigeria has been so slow to develop.

Recent developments suggest that the most effective strategy for the milling industry to reduce uncertainty in the HQCF value chain is through vertical integration, producing their own cassava roots and flour. This raises concerns about equity. Until now, it has been assumed that the development of the value chain for HQCF can combine both growth and equity objectives. The validity of this assumption now seems to be open to question. The extent to which these developments of HQCF value chains can combine economic growth, equity and environmental objectives, as set out in the sustainable development goals, is an open question.

The originality lies in the analysis of the development of HQCF value chains in Nigeria through the lens of complex adaptive systems, with a particular focus on uncertainty and adaptation. In order to explore adaptation, the authors employ Courtney et al.’s (1997) conceptualization of business strategy under conditions of uncertainty. They argue that organisations can assume three strategic postures in response to uncertainty and three types of actions to implement that strategy. This combination of frameworks provides a fresh means of understanding the importance of uncertainty and different actors’ strategies in the development of value chains in a developing country context.

This study aims to examine the predictors of entrepreneurial intentions of real estate students in an emerging economy where there are significant odds against paid employment owing to the dwindling economic drivers.

Primary data was obtained using closed-ended questionnaire served on final-year real estate students in three tertiary institutions in Southwestern Nigeria. Out of a total of 231 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 160 (69.3%) were retrieved and found suitable for analysis. Using ordinal least square regression, the study examined the influence of the independent variables on the respondents’ entrepreneurial intention across two models. While the first model was without the moderators of prior entrepreneurial exposure (that is, parental occupation, relationship with a real estate entrepreneur, previous/current engagement in business and attendance at business/entrepreneurial seminars/workshops), the second included all the control variables. Other descriptive and inferential statistical methods were adopted.

The findings revealed that personal satisfaction/prestige, support system, university education, age, cumulative grade points and mothers’ education were statistically significant predictors, at p < 0.05, across the two models examined. Fathers’ education and occupation were only significant in the second model, that is, when controlled for prior entrepreneurial exposure. Also, the influence of faculties and barriers of registration/information were significant at 10% level only in the second model. Finally, the study found no statistically significant differencing across gender, family status, mothers’ occupation and relationship with a real estate entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is a significant factor influencing economic growth and increased market competitiveness, an examination of students entrepreneurial intentions appear important, especially in regions where there are low economic opportunities.

This study is among the first attempts at understanding the predictors of real estate students’ entrepreneurial intentions from an emerging market perspective.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many households to experience income shocks because of the unprecedented job loss, resulting in the demand for public and private food assistance programs and a surge in unemployment insurance filing in the USA. This study aims to investigate the association between social safety programs (e.g. supplementary nutritional assistance programs (SNAP), unemployment insurance and charitable food assistance) and household food sufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The authors used the Household Pulse Surveys (HPS) conducted by the US Census Bureau from August 2020 to March 2021. And, the authors used an ordered probit model for the empirical analysis because the indicator of food sufficiency constructed from the HPS is an ordinal variable with four categories. The indicator identifies four groups of households: severe food insufficiency, moderate food insufficiency, mild food sufficiency and food sufficiency.

The results show that food sufficiency is significantly higher among the SNAP, unemployment insurance and charitable food assistance recipients than non-recipients. Furthermore, the results indicate that food sufficiency is significantly lower among black, Asian, Hispanic and other races than white households. Concerning the intersectional effect of social safety net programs and race/ethnicity on household food sufficiency, the authors find that the household food sufficiency is significantly higher among white, black and Asian households who benefited from SNAP, compared with non-beneficiary households. On the other hand, the authors find no evidence that participation in SNAP increases food sufficiency significantly among Hispanics and other races. In addition, the likelihood of food sufficiency increases significantly among white, black, Asian, Hispanic and other races that received unemployment insurance and charitable food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with those who did not benefit from the programs.

These results underscore the critical role collective America’s social safety net programs played in increasing food sufficiency among Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the results suggest that families' basic needs (food sufficiency) would have been at risk if these safety net programs were not available to households during the pandemic. This, therefore, highlights the important role that government- and non-government-supported food emergency assistance programs can play in preventing people from facing food insufficiency problems in a tough time or during a crisis in the USA.

This study highlights the dynamic relationship between Americans’ social safety net programs and household food sufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to investigate the causal relationship between nutrition and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

A dynamic panel causality test based on the Blundell-Bond’s system generalized methods-of-moment was used. To make efficient inference for the estimates, the authors check for the panel unit root and co-integration relationship amongst the variables.

The variables were found to be non-stationary at level, stationary after first difference and co-integrated. The results of the causality tests reveal evidence of long and short-run bidirectional causality between nutrition and economic growth, which implies that nutritional improvement is a cause and consequence of economic growth and vice versa.

This is the first study to consider causality between nutrition and economic growth in the region.

Bambara groundnut is a hard-to-cook grain and this has limited its utilisation to some extent. However, the grain is a good source of phytochemicals with antioxidant properties. This study investigated the total phenol content, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial potentials of hot-water extract of four Bambara groundnuts differentiated by their seed coats (cream, black, maroon and brown).

Bambara grains were heated in water at a ratio 1:20 (w/v) and the grains brought to boiling in a controlled water bath. As soon as boiling started, the temperature was reduced to 90 °C to reduce the evaporation rate. The extracts were withdrawn within 30 min, which was chosen from a preliminary study where beyond this time, the extract was drying off and the amount of solution obtained was not sufficient for the initial run. Grain colour and composition and antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties of the extract were determined using standard methods.

Protein (20.57–26.31%) and carbohydrate (55.43–61.09%) were the major components of the grain. Grain type and boiling time generally affected the total phenolic content of the extract. Cream Bambara displayed substantially lower total phenolic content at all boiling times compared with the maroon, brown and black Bambara groundnuts. The total flavonoid contents and total phenolic contents of the Bambara groundnut extracts were dependent on the boiling time and type of grain. The extracts showed no activity against Candida albicans, but the maroon coat Bambara demonstrated a peak inhibition of 6.00 mm against Escherichia coli. The total phenolic, flavonoid contents and the antioxidant properties of the grains generally followed the order Maroon > Black > Brown.

This study has demonstrated the possibility of promoting the use of Bambara groundnut beyond the current level of usage by using simple processing method of boiling to extract phytochemicals with medicinal properties.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries by focusing on two indicators of environmental change (EC), namely rate of deforestation (RD) and all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (Agric_GHG) with aim of addressing two key objectives in the study. First, to investigate whether the EKC hypothesis exists for both indicators considered in the region. Second, to examine the effects of macroeconomic and institutional variables on both indicators in the study.

The authors employ a balanced panel data covering 43 countries from 1990-2009 in the study. Subsequently, the study uses serial correlation/autoregressive order one corrected cross-section time series model based on Feasible Generalized Least Square method.

The empirical results show that the EKC exists (i.e. as inverted U-shaped) only for all GHG emissions from agriculture. Agricultural production and trade openness increase significantly both indicators of EC considered in the study. Other results show that, population growth reduces significantly Agric_GHG, while economic growth increases significantly RD in SSA.

This is the very first study to investigate the applicability of EKC hypothesis to emissions from non-oil sector such as agriculture (i.e. all GHG emissions from agriculture) in the region.

This paper aims to examine issues of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in one of the most corrupt countries in Africa.

This is a single-country case study, drawing on material dating from the mid-1970s, including court cases.

The corruption is pervasive and systemic, showing severe problems with governance in general, in the sector and against corruption. Nonetheless, two operators, one South African and one Nigerian, have delivered extensive access to mobile networks.

The system of governance requires significant structural reforms, if the burden of corruption is to be reduced.

This paper sheds new and explicit light on the complex history of telecommunications in Nigeria. It adds to the small base of material on corruption in the telecommunications sector. It identifies issues that could usefully be taken up by institutions in Nigeria.

This study investigated demographic factors, attitude and knowledge of persons with special needs towards COVID-19 in Nigeria between 12 May and 25 May 2020. This cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 72 persons with special needs purposively selected from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. A questionnaire comprising questions on demographic information (three), knowledge (24) and attitude (28) towards COVID-19 was completed via Google forms by the participants (r=0.78). There were more males (51, 70.8%) than females (21, 29.2%) and the most common age group was 34-44 years (37.5%). The number of participants with a hearing impairment was 34 (47.2%) and the number with a visual impairment was 26 (36.1%). The results indicate adequate knowledge about the characteristics of COVID-19. It was found that 98.6% of the participants had heard about COVID-19; 94.4% were aware that COVID-19 is a contagious disease, 91.7% stated that COVID-19 is a virus and 88.9% reported correctly that the incubation period is 3-14 days. The knowledge about symptoms of COVID-19 among participants was high (x=2.63; participants obtained 87.8% of the total achievable score for these questions). The knowledge about prevention and control of COVID-19 among participants needs was very high (x=2.77; participants obtained 92.3% of the total achievable score for these questions). Attitude of participants towards the COVID-19 outbreak was positive and above average (x=2.84). However, participants reported that it is hard to get palliatives or financial support from others during COVID-19 lockdown (52.8%) and that they feel frustrated by the uncaring attitude of the government towards them during COVID-19 lockdown (55.6%). On this basis, counselling and social policy implications were suggested including the provision of palliatives by the government and the need for widespread enlightenment among individuals with special needs on prevention of COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to use cross-country data to investigate whether convergence process exists in per capital nutrient supply and also identify the determinants of change in per capita nutrient supply in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Annual time series data for 43 countries covering 1975-2009 that yields balanced panel were employed for the analysis. The convergence hypothesis is examined based on the neoclassical growth model using feasible generalized least square approach that is robust to autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence.

The empirical results lend support to existence of convergence process in nutrient supply in SSA. Evidence of convergence in nutrient supply may have contributed to observed reduction in incidence of food-poverty in the region, which aligns with the argument in literature that recent Africa food security gains are due to food imports. The results of the determinants of change in nutrient supply showed that, global food trade represented by trade openness consistently increased growth in nutrient supply across countries in SSA significantly. Meanwhile, the speed of convergence of per capita nutrient supply, which measures how quickly growth in nutrient supply increases over time is very low, as this calls for urgent policy attention in the region.

The very first study to investigate convergence in food consumption and nutritional supply in SSA.

The introduction of mobile telecommunication services in Nigeria led to the development of base transceiver stations (BTS) across the country. Inadequate power supply from the national grid has led to massive use of diesel-fueled back-up generators (BUGs). The purpose of this paper is to attempt to quantify and inform relevant stakeholders about air quality implications of BTS BUGs.

Seven major telecommunication network operators were identified. Emission factor approach was used to estimate the quantity of important air pollutants such as NO_x, CO, SO₂, PM₁₀, PM_2.5, PAH and TVOC that are emitted from the use of the BUGs based on fuel consumption rate and generators’ capacity. Fuel-based emission inventory and emission factor from the United States Environmental Protection Agency AP-42 and National Pollution Inventory were used to estimate pollutants emission from diesel-powered generators used in the BTS sites and amount of diesel consumed. Land distribution and per capita dose of the estimated pollutants load were calculated.

The study showed that the deployment of BUGs will lead to increase emissions of these air pollutants. The states that are most affected are Lagos, Kano and Oyo, Katsina and Akwa Ibom states with respective total air pollutants contribution of 9,539.61, 9,445.34, 8,276.46, 7,805.14 and 7,220.70 tonnes/yr.

This study has estimated pollutant emissions from the use of diesel-fueled BUGs in mobile telecommunications BTS sites in Nigeria. The data obtained could assist in policy making.