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The relationship between oil price shocks and economic growth (GDP) examined in many studies is assumed to be linear. However, this may incorrectly specify if the relationship is nonlinear. The few existing studies that modelled the relationship in dynamic form focused on developed oil-exporting or importing countries leaving dearth of studies on developing oil-backed countries whose oil price fluctuations may be more pronounced. Thus, this study examines asymmetric effects of oil price shocks on economic growth, focusing on Angola and Nigeria. We applied Nonlinear ARDL method to capture both the long-and short-run asymmetric effects with nonlinear error correction in a single equation. GDP and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent (BRT) oil prices data of 1980-2015 were employed and analyzed. Our results revealed that oil price-growth nexus for Angola and Nigeria is asymmetric. We found that oil prices have significant impacts with positive and negative effects on Nigerian economy, while only negative impact turns to be significant for Angola. Nonetheless, application of expansionary monetary policy for stabilizing these economies to support oil revenue in the wake of oil price fall may have little effect.

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Globally, children of school age are bought, sold and transported away from their homes as commodities. Child trafficking is illegal and extremely harmful as trafficked children are exposed to diverse forms of abuse. The general objective of this study was to examine the socioeconomic implications of child trafficking in Borno State, Nigeria. Using purposive and simple random techniques, data for the study were obtained from 92 respondents representing the immigration, police officers, lawyers, road transport workers, journalists and civil servants who deal directly with child traffickers and trafficked children. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The data revealed that trafficked children were obtained from other states, their age range was between five and 10 years and mostly males. It was discovered that force/coercion, trickery and administration of oats were the commonest methods used in child trafficking. Forced labour, prostitution and child soldier were the major purposes for child trafficking while poverty, economic gains, ignorance and insufficient penalties against traffickers were factors enhancing child trafficking in the study area. The study recommended among others investment in human capital, massive public enlightenment campaigns, severe penalties and removal of constraints hindering prosecution of traffickers.