This chapter presents a retrospective and prospective reflections on university education in Nigeria in relation to national development. Retrospectively, the Nigerian university system was among the best in Africa and beyond, especially in the 1970s. The universities were top notch and attracted other Africans who flooded into Nigeria to study. Then the Nigerian university system possessed the four crucial elements of a universal and functional university system-quality teachers, quality students, an enabling environment for learning and international competitiveness. However, over the past three decades, the Nigerian university system has suffered benign neglect and lost its hallmark of quality, and thereby raising concerns about its role and relevance in contemporary national development. Nevertheless, this chapter expresses strong believe and conviction that the university system is still relevant for the socio-economic and political development of the country but there is the need to take necessary actions/steps to strengthen the system towards making it have the desired and comparative international quality and functionality required to meet the requirements of contemporary challenges and the future. Suggestions were offered accordingly.
The study has two principal objectives: (1) to examine the evolution and transformation of Igbo entrepreneurship since the Biafran war (Nigerian civil war of 1967(Nigerian civil war of -1970; (2) to determine what factors explain the phenomenal resurgence and growth of Igbo entrepreneurship. The essay uses a deterministic approach and the theories of entrepreneurship to explain the resurgence of Igbo entrepreneurship since Biafra. The study goes beyond the neoclassical explanation of entrepreneurship and adopts a more eclectic approach that considers economic, historical, political, sociocultural, and external factors. The essay concludes that Igbo entrepreneurship surged in the post-Biafra period because of factors inherent in the Igbo society and culture and because of the political and economic realities that the Igbos face in Nigeria. Because of the spontaneous nature of its emergence, Igbo entrepreneurship is less sensitive to shocks such as wars, economic downturns, and political instability. Despite its phenomenal resurgence since Biafra, Igbo entrepreneurship faces many problems and constraints.
This paper explores the relationship between the ease of doing business, as one of the investment climate indicators, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Africa. It uses instrumental variable estimation and the control function approach to correct for possible endogeneity between FDI and the ease of doing business as well as economic growth. The study uncovers evidence that the ease of doing business plays a positive role in attracting FDI. The findings support African countries’ attempts to invest in improving their business environment to attract favorable FDI.
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