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The purpose of this study is to determine the proportion of the population that will be susceptible to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the proportions of infections, recoveries and fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The design was a longitudinal survey of COVID-19 infections, recoveries and fatalities in Nigeria using the data on the daily updates of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control for the period 1 May to 23 August 2020. Markov chain analysis was performed on the data.

The results showed that in the long run, 8.4% of the population will be susceptible to COVID-19 infections, 26.4% of them will be infected, 61.2% of the infected will recover and 4% will become fatal. Thus, if this pattern of infections and recoveries continue, the majority of the infected people in Nigeria will recover whilst a very small proportion of the infected people will die.

A dearth of the extant literature on the problem, especially from the management science perspective.

Results of the study will facilitate policymakers’ response to the curtailment of the pandemic in Nigeria.

Curtailing the pandemic through the results of this study will assist in easing the social consequences of the pandemic.

The proposed adjustment to the susceptibilities, infections and recoveries model through the introduction of a fourth state (fatality) to get the susceptibilities, infections, recoveries and fatalities model, signalling a point of departure from previous studies.

The purpose of the paper is to sought to know the implication of COVID-19 lockdown for food security in Nigeria

The study examined implication of COVID-19 lockdown for food security. The cross sectional survey research design was employed. Information was elicited from respondents through the social medium (Facebook). The question response format of the instrument was of the five-point Likert scale type. Research data were analysed using one sample t-test and least squares (regression).

The results show that COVID-19 lockdown can significantly constrain farm labour, transportation and security, while food security can be threatened by insufficient labour, transportation, farmers' morale and farm coordination

A major limitation was the restriction to only online data collection method owing to the researcher's inability to administer the instrument physically as a result of the lockdown. This had an implication on randomisation.

Long stay of people at home and away from farm activities will threaten food security on the long run and thus, precipitate social vices due to the attendant hunger and deprivation

In empirical examination of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on food security, thereby providing statistical evidence that will be useful in the sensitisation of stakeholders on the need to thread on the part of caution to avoid the possible consequences of restricting farmers' operations through the COVID-19 lockdown.

Emphasis of previous research on e-banking has been on factors that influence its adoption or constraints to the adoption or the extent to which customer awareness influences its adoption. This study investigated “Exposure to/usage of e-banking channels: Implications for customer awareness and attitude in Nigeria”. The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which consumers’ exposure to and usage of e-banking channels influence their awareness and attitude towards e-banking in Nigeria.

The study used the quantitative research design; specifically, the conclusive research design was used and data collection was done through the survey method. The population of the study consisted of the customers of EcoBank, First bank and Zenith bank in Edo, Kogi and Kwara states of Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit the desired data from 480 respondents selected from 30 branches of 3 banks in two states. One sample t test was used to test for significance of the usage of e-banking channels to customers’ awareness and attitude towards e-banking. Subsequently, regression analysis was performed to determine the predictive power of the e-banking channels.

Customers’ exposure to and usage of ATM, internet banking and mobile banking has significant influence on consumers’ attitude towards e-banking in Nigeria. In view of the findings, a modified model of customer usage and attitude towards e-banking in Nigeria is proposed.

The customer’s inability to exercise absolute right on the banking option to use at all times and the non-inclusion of other channels of e-banking whose usage can influence consumers’ awareness and attitude towards e-banking.

The need for financial institutions, especially banks, to expose their customers to e-banking channels to demystify their fears as well as increase their awareness and thus influence their attitude to e-banking.

Exposure of bank customers to e-banking will reduce cash transactions and thus help to significantly reduce social vices associated with physical cash, especially armed robbery.

The work is a departure from previous studies because it is the only one that has emphazised exposure to e-banking as a solution to awareness creation and positive attitude of customers. Its value lies in its potential to make e-banking user friendly in no distance time.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of the inequalities in the usage of the internet and inequalities in the growth rate in the usage of the internet, and thus ascertain the possibility of convergence of the digital divide between the major regions of the world.

The design was a longitudinal study of the usage of internet and growth rate in the usage of the internet in the different regions of the world for the period 2009–2019. The quantitative research method was used. Simple percentages and F-test were used in data analysis.

The usage of internet in Asia and Europe is higher than all the other regions in the world but there is no significant difference in usage between the other regions. The results further showed that some of the digitally disadvantaged regions had higher growth rates in the usage of the internet and these digitally disadvantage states are not disadvantaged in access to smartphones and the emerging 5G technology, thus suggesting the possibility of imminent convergence in access to the internet given the increasing usage of smartphones for the internet subscription.

The focus on internet usage in the major regions of the world without recourse to the variability of the usage and growth rate of internet usage within the regions. The dearth of the empirical literature on quantitative research on the research problem was another constraint. Finally, restriction in available statistics on digital divide constrained the use of 2009–2019 as the periodic scope of the study.

Inclusion of ICT in the school curricula of the component states to acquaint them with information and communication technology (ICT) usage at an early stage, as well as provision of the enabling environment for business to thrive and through a national culture that will encourage businesses to be vibrant, and thus lay a foundation for future convergence.

Enhancement in employment opportunities through the increased investment in the ICT facilities and the subsequent reduction in social vices.

Use of secondary data through a longitudinal design to categorically indicate the differences between the different regions of the world in terms of internet usage, as well as the empirical determination of the discrepancies between the growth rates in the access to internet and usage of internet by different regions of the world, especially as regard some of the digitally disadvantaged regions having higher growth rates in the usage of the internet than the perceived digitally advantaged regions.

The study examined policy improvement and cassava attractiveness. The purpose was to determine the optimum rewards using three strategies: selling of farm produce to harvesters, making wholesale of harvested outputs and retailing harvested outputs.

Three hundred and sixty (360) cassava farmers were surveyed in three local government areas in Edo South senatorial district of Nigeria. From their responses, probabilities were assigned to rewards for each strategy from each of the locations. Subsequently, dynamic programming was employed in data analysis. Specifically, Howard policy improvement technique was used to forecast expected rewards to cassava farmers in the three local government areas using the three strategies.

Cassava farmers in Edo South senatorial district of Edo state, Nigeria, can maximize their earnings from cassava by retailing at the local markets in Oredo and Egor local government areas and by making wholesales at Ikpoba Okha local government area. Using this policy, they will realize approximately N2360 per basin and approximately N33040 per plot of 100 × 100 ft. This will translate to N143724 per acre (4.35 plots of 100 ft²).

Availability of storage facilities as well as technical constraints to cassava production.

Provision of jobs to the unemployed, thereby reducing the level of unemployment in the country.

Suggestion of the sales strategy that will yield optimum returns to cassava farmers, using policy iteration technique, and the projected estimates of the likely turnover when the strategy is adopted. This is a point of departure from previous studies. Thus, the study used operations research methodology to model solutions, through involvement in agriculture, to Nigeria's economic/financial problems, thus making it unique. In broad terms the study demonstrates that investment in agriculture will help to reduce unemployment and enhance the country's national income.

The popularity and use of mobile marketing technologies or devices have led to significant interest from researchers and practitioners, particularly in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where these technologies offer significant benefits to SMEs given the poor human capital and financial constraints encountered. The use of mobile marketing devices assists SMEs to boost their sales promotion strategies which aim at increasing the sales of their products and services. However, there has been limited focus on developing a suitable framework that enables the evaluation and shared an understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of mobile marketing technology by service SMEs in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a theoretically grounded framework for exploring these factors and explaining their impact on mobile marketing technology adoption in SMEs in Nigeria.

The study is qualitative and used both unstructured and semi-structured interviews with a total of 26 participants drawn purposively from NIJA database in Nigeria. Thematic analysis was deployed in analysing the data.

The study developed an extended technology organisation environment (TOE) framework by incorporating the value anticipation context which helped to unveil 16 key factors influencing mobile marketing technology adoption in service SMEs in Nigeria. The finding revealed that factors associated with the extended TOE framework have an impact on SMEs mobile le marketing technology adoption but at different levels.

The limitation of this study emerged because of the use of qualitative methodologies about the research design, rigour in the collection and management of the large volume of the raw data, the data analysis and the credibility of the findings. This may lead to unforeseen respondent and research bias in the data analysis, which may lead to a limited understanding of alternatives and insights into the factors influencing the adoption of mobile marketing. Hence, other measures and approaches such as case study and mix-method could be deployed to validate the findings further. Also, one of the limitations of qualitative study has been the issue of theoretical generalizability of the framework. The generalizability of the formwork needs to be established across a broader range of the population. Future studies may apply confirmatory statistical techniques to test and ascertain the validity and reliability of the framework across a broader population of mobile marketing technology adopters in Nigeria. Such studies may be used as a benchmark for the theoretical constructs and the factors that may lead to the success or failure of mobile marketing technology adoption.

The study had further enriched TOE framework and provided an analytical dimension for exploring the adoption of mobile marketing technology. It also demonstrates the capacity to provide a reliable explanation of the factors and serves as a tool for evaluating the benefits or challenges of mobile marketing technology adoption in SMEs in Nigeria.

The issues of ineffective accountability have affected the performance of banks, which led the Nigerian government to introduce various reforms and policies. However, despite these attempts, the Nigerian banking sector experiences setbacks due to mismanagement of funds, fraudulent activities and lack of proper accountability, which negatively affects employment and income.

The dynamic least square was employed to investigate the selected indicators of Nigerian banks’ accountability, income and employment. Likewise, the study examined the causal effect using the Granger non-causality approach.

In the income equation, the total amount of fraud, deposit, total bank asset has a negative relationship with the income, while loan advance and operating expense depicted a positive relationship. In the employment equation, demand deposit, operating cost and bank total asset practices negatively affect employment. In contrast, loan advances and saving deposits have a positive relationship with employment in the long run.

Based on the findings, this study suggests, among others, the need for long-term systematic policies and reforms to improve the level of accountability in the Nigerian banking sector.

To the best of our knowledge, empirical studies examining the nexus between employment and accountability in the banking sector remain scarce in the literature. Therefore, this study examines the causality and long-run relationship between accountability and employment in Nigerian Banks.

The purpose of this research is to undertake a bibliometric analysis of digital marketing research in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The study examines papers over the last two decades and performed performance analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling and scientific mapping.

The study examines 247 documents retrieved from the Scopus database using bibliometric analysis, performance analysis and thematic clustering. The study looked at the scientific productivity of papers, prolific authors, most influencing papers, institutions and nations, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, co-citations and authorship and country collaborations. VOSviewer was employed as a tool in the research to conduct the performance analysis and thematic clustering.

The most productive year was 2021 with 56 publications and the most impactful institute and countries are the University of Birmingham, UK, and the country is United Kingdom, respectively. Similarly, the most influential journal is “Industrial Marketing Management”, and the most productive journal is “International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising”. Furthermore, the most cited article is “Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands”. The authors also identified five thematic clusters of digital marketing research in SMEs.

It informs and directs researchers on the current state of study in the field of digital marketing literature in SMEs. It also outlines future research directions in this field.

This is the first study which provides the performance analysis and scientific mapping of the digital marketing literature in SMEs.