https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/35 2026-04-21T11:21:30Z https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1539 Non-utilization of Primary Healthcare Centres for Skilled Pregnancy Care among Women in Rural Communities in Delta State, Southern Nigeria: Perspectives from Mothers, Fathers, and Healthcare Providers Ahuru, Rolle Remi; Okungbowa, Osaretin Godspower; Iseghohi, Judith Omon; Efegbere Henry, Akpojubaro The study examines the barriers to maternal care utilization in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in eight randomly-select rural communities in Delta State, Southern Nigeria using qualitative methods. The study is a qualitative exploratory research design. From July 2018 to February 2019, ten focus group discussions (FGDs) and five key informant interviews (KIIs) were held in different locations in the communities. FGDs were held among married women and men in the communities. KIIs were conducted among health services providers. Recorded voices were transcribed in full and analyzed using literary methods. It was observed that a greater number of deliveries were supervised by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), who use traditional techniques and herbs and are not trained in modern midwifery. Women explained that they did not utilize PHCs because of informal monetary charges, distance barriers, and inability to access health care at night. Consequently, women preferred delivery at home supervised by TBAs. Mothers, fathers, and PHC facility managers showed discontent with the quality of care rendered in PHCs. It is recommended that efforts should be made to upgrade the quality of care in order to foster maternal care utilization in PHCs. 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1538 Openness, Government Expenditure and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa Okungbowa, Osaretin Godspower; Ogbeide, Akomen Eseohe This study investigated the dynamic relationship among government spending, trade openness and economic growth in some selected sub-Saharan African countries; covering a period of 1980 to 2015 with an annual data. The specific objective examined the trend of government spending, trade openness and economic growth in some selected Sub-Saharan African countries. In particular, an attempt was made to test the existence of co-integration and nature of shock transmission processes. It employed descriptive and VAR methodology for the estimation of the model with impulse response function and variance deposition. The result revealed that: economic growth and government spending in Sub-Saharan Africa shows a similar relationship as the economic growth rises and falls, the government expenditure also follow the same pattern, trade openness, government spending and economic growth shows a long-run co-integration relationship. The findings of this research indicate that government expenditure has a significant negative relationship with economic growth in the sub-Saharan countries, the reason being that Governments of the Sub-Saharan countries focused resources on unproductive activities and expenditures on a deadweight project which lead to negative impact on economic growth. We, therefore, recommend that Africa countries should spend their resources on projects that have a direct bearing on growth parameters in order to have a positive impact on economic growth. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1536 International Development Assistance and Educational Development in ECOWAS Ogbebor, Timothy Ogieva; Okungbowa, Osaretin Godspower The World Bank puts the number of poor persons in Africa, based on the international poverty line of US$1.90 per person per day, 2013 at 389 million, a figure that is more than the number of poor persons in all other regions of the world combined (World Bank, 2016). Some researchers believe that international development assistance has a positive impact in reducing the high rate of poverty. Human capital development is seen as a key economic variable required in achieving the desired improvement in the standard of living of people living in developing countries. Consequently, this paper narrows the foreign-aid led growth discourse by investigating the relationship between international development assistance and educational development in countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) using panel data from 14 ECOWAS countries for the period 1974 to 2014 (a period of 41 years).The findings were that, though the average ratio of official development assistance (ODA) to GDP is 15.2 percent of the ECOWAS sub-region during the period, which is high, its impact on educational development was significant but negative. This may be attributed to the wrong application of ODA by the receiving countries or their non-application to the education sector of the economy or to the type of ODA received. 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1535 Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis Ogbebor, Timothy Ogieva; Okungbowa, Osaretin Godspower The importance of financial deepening in economic growth has long been recognised in economics literature. The financial sector is seen as the central nervous system of any economy, hence its importance in the economic development of any nation. The financial system plays a key role in the mobilisation and allocation of savings for productive purposes, provides the needed structures for monetary management and serves as the basis for managing liquidity in the economy. This paper examines the role of financial deepening in Nigeria’s economic growth using time series data. For the analysis, the unit root test was conducted using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron methods to test for stationarity of the variables. Thereafter, the co-integration test was performed and the Error Correction Model (ECM) estimated. The result shows that though there is a long-run relationship between the development of the financial sector and economic growth in Nigeria, the impact of financial development comes with a lag. The paper suggests that the central bank of Nigeria and government should consistently formulate and implement policies that would promote financial development in the country. Policy direction should emphasize financial inclusion and the provision of credits at affordable rates to the productive sector of the economy in order to increase the impact of the financial sector on economic development of the country. 2018-11-01T00:00:00Z