Neonatal thermal stabilisation can become challenging when uncontrollable factors result in excessive body temperature. Hyperthermia can rapidly slow down baby's progress and response to treatment. High sunlight intensity in tropical countries such as Nigeria manifests in incessant high neonatal temperatures towards early evenings. The ugly consequences of this neonatal evening-fever syndrome (EFS) can only be eradicated by the development of a controlled weatherproof nursery environment. Two laboratories and a ‘control ward' were applied. Lab-2 was a renovation of an existing room in a manner that could correct an existing nursery. Lab-1 was an entirely new building idea. The laboratories were assessed based on comparative ability to maintain environmental coolness and neonatal thermal stability during hot days. Data collection continued for 12 full calendar months. On average, at evaluated out-wind peak temperature of 43°C (range: 41°C–46°C), the control-ward peak was at 39°C, Lab-2 peak at 36°C, and Lab-1 peak at 33°C. All incubators in the control overheated during the hot periods but there was no overheating in Lab-1. Forty-four (86%) of sampled babies were fever-quenched by water sponging 131 times in the control whilst only one baby received same treatment in Lab-1. Nursery designs patterned after Lab-1 can significantly reduce EFS-induced neonatal morbidity.

This paper examines the impact of related party transactions, off balance sheet items on earnings quality of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria over the period of 4 years (2011 to 2014). Data were collected from annual reports of the sampled banks. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were employed and also Ordinary least square (OLS) robust regression technique was used as a tool of analysis using panel data. The study reveals that related party transactions are positively and significantly related to earnings quality. On the contrary, off balance sheet items were found to be negatively and insignificantly related to earnings quality. Based on the findings, the study concluded that related party transactions have significant impact on the earnings quality of the Nigeria deposit money bank. The study recommends that Management of the Nigeria money deposit banks should be more aggressive towards the number of genuine related party transactions that can add value to their firms when making financial decision because it is likely to have positive effects on the quality of their earnings.

The importance of debt financing to firms as a basis for decision-making cannot be over-emphasised. This implies that the maturity structure of debts becomes important for understanding the outcomes of firms’ decisions. There is a dearth of evidence from the Nigerian context in the current body of literature on factors that determine debt maturity structure of listed firms. We observed a persistent and steady decline in the average ratio of length of maturity period among non-financial firms among listed non-financial firms in Nigeria. This study examined the extent to which non-debt tax-shield, liquidity, assets intensity, diversification, investors’ confidence, growth opportunity, firm size, profitability and dividend policy determines the debt maturity structure of non-financial firms in Nigeria. The secondary data collected from the annual reports of a sample of 92 listed non-financial firms were analysed using the Two-stage Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression model for the period between 2010 and 2015. The results indicate that the non-debt tax-shield, liquidity, assets intensity, diversification, growth opportunity, firm size and the dividend policy significantly determine the debt maturity structure among the listed non-financial firms in Nigeria. However, the evidence is not enough to conclude that profitability and investors’ confidence determine the debt maturity structure among the non-financial firms in Nigeria. Firm diversification and liquidity appeared to have the most profound negative effect on the debt maturity structure in line with predictions of special use of debt hypothesis and the pecking order theory. Overall, it is concluded that the firm-specific factors determine the choice of debt maturity structure among Nigerian listed non-financial firms. Although the findings of the study are robust, future studies in the areas can extend the literature by identifying and investigating institutional and macroeconomic factors that drive debt maturity structure in Nigeria.

Objective – The Leasing industry in Nigeria is witnessing increased demand for assets under a given prevalence of rising domestic costs of purchase, shortage of foreign exchange for imports as well as persistent depreciation of the Naira. The objective of this paper is to analyze the current state of lease financing in Nigeria, the prospects and challenges with a view to assess the capacity of the industry to continue to provide this form of finance. Design/methodology –The paper adopts an exploratory research design with references to publications, websites and research articles relevant to the subject matter. A number of relevant publications on leasing in Nigeria were duly explored. Results – Our findings show that, the volume of lease finance has consistently grown over the last 14 years (2005-2018). Finance leases volume totaled 1.68 trillion naira in 2018 alone. Banks as market participants in the Nigerian lease industry finance other non-bank lessors while the non-bank lessors account for about 80% of lease transactions mostly to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs). Funding remains a major challenge restricting provision of leases to general supporting equipment and constraining leases of specialized assets (big-ticket leases). Prospects for lease finance obtain in terms of rising popularity of operating leases with lessors and lessees, attributable to the inherent mitigation against default risk. There is also potential for a growing customer base beyond MSMEs, with the influx of patronage by listed corporate firms especially those in the healthcare and education sectors. We identified financing partnerships, development of sound corporate governance practices, hastened inauguration of the Equipment Leasing Registration Authority and increased sensitization of potential leasehold product consumers on the benefits of lease finance, as critical success factors for the lease industry in Nigeria.

Financial leverage decision by firm continues to attract interest from managers, analysts, researchers, scholars as well as policymakers because of its implications for the firm and its stakeholders. This paper investigates how the complexity of business, firms’ dependence on external finance and growth opportunity affects the financial leverage decision among quoted diversified companies in Nigeria. The study took a census of six diversified firms quoted on the Nigerian capital market over the period of 10 years (2008-2017). Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix were employed with panel data analysis using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) robust model to analyse the data. The results from the study revealed that the complexity of business and growth opportunity is positive and significantly influencing the financial leverage of quoted diversified companies in Nigeria, while dependence on the external finance revealed a significantly negative effect on the financial leverage. It is recommended that the management of quoted diversified companies in Nigeria should target an optimal capital structure in line of businesses that their streams of revenue are not positively correlated. This can be achieved by taking advantage of growth opportunities in the industries where they can further diversify their businesses and enhance profit generation.