How important is trade openness as a vehicle for driving productivity in developing countries? We offer a sector-specific analysis with focus on the manufacturing sector for meaningful policy insights. Using a modern econometric technique—the autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration—this article attempts to establish the relationship between openness to trade and manufacturing performance in Nigeria for the period 1970–2008. The results suggest that trade openness has a significant positive impact on manufacturing productivity in Nigeria both in the short and long run. These coefficient estimates are robust and stable over the time. Therefore, the policy direction for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria should focus more on open policies through trade liberalisation as a long-term plan. Reduction in trade restrictions and implementation of appropriate incentives are vital for resuscitating the performance of the sector. In this aspect, policy-makers should leverage the benefits of openness to the comparative advantages in the liberalised sector. JEL Classification: F41, C22, O55

Those with dissenting view regarding the structure of monetary union arrangement in ECOWAS often argue that the macroeconomic convergence criteria have hampered the ability of countries in the region to stabilize their economies with appropriate counter-cyclical fiscal policy. We test the empirical merit of this assertion and found no support for this view. Instead, discretionary fiscal policy has actually become counter-cyclical in ECOWAS after the introduction of convergence criteria. In specifics, we found a switch from pro-cyclical fiscal policymaking in the pre-convergence era (1995–2002) to a counter-cyclical fiscal policymaking in the convergence era (2003–2018) in ECOWAS, and that policymakers in the region respond to initial conditions - apparently taking clue from past (initial) debt and past deficit. The policy import of our result is the need to: (i) introduce more flexibility in fiscal policymaking through discretionary fiscal policy that balances the budget (against the constraints imposed by the convergence rules) over the business cycle; and (ii) adopt ‘discretionary fiscal deficit’ to monitor compliance (rather than gross deficit) because it represents effort made to correct excess deficit.

The land is deteriorating. Now we’ll look at the oceans. With the continued loss of terrestrial resources and the need for major economic gains, littoral states have increased their efforts to achieve a “blue economy.” Nigeria, as a country with a large number of littoral component states and long waterways, has not been left out in this pursuit, making the creation of a Nigerian blue economy a need for the country’s benefit. The pursuit of a blue economy, on the other hand, goes beyond national borders and takes on an international dimension. The blue economy, also known as the marine economic system, is an ecosystem of economic activities centered on commerce and action in and around huge bodies of water, such as oceans, that are continued to survive ecological responsibility. Fishing, wastewater treatment, tourism, seaside hotels and restaurants, power (wind energy and tidal power), and transportation are all part of the economy (ships, bargers, rigs, and other floating vessels). In value terms added and employment, the “Blue Economy” might outperform the world economy as a whole. Around the world, blue economy activities and ideas are showing to be varied, vibrant, and broad. As a result, this debate emerges, with the goal of determining how this ideal of a Nigerian blue economy may become a reality.

This study examines the role of bank credits on poverty reduction in Nigeria. Despite different measures by the government in channelling bank credits to the private sector. Poverty is still one of the greatest challenges facing Nigeria today. The study adopts econometrics quantitative methods in analysing annual time series data to achieve the objectives of the study. From the results, the granger causality test shows that there is no causal relationship between bank credit and poverty level in Nigeria. There is a unidirectional causal relationship between agricultural loan and poverty flowing from poverty. The OLS result indicate that there is a significant positive impact of bank credit on poverty reduction and there is a significant negative impact of agricultural loan on poverty level in Nigeria. This study recommends that federal government should ensure agriculture loan is redirected to the proper farmers in the country to reduce poverty in the country.

Despite the various monetary regimes that have been adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria over the years, inflation remains a major threat to Nigeria’s economic growth. This study seeks to examine the relationship between monetary policy and economic growth in Nigeria. Starting from the nature and direction of causation, the Granger pair-wise causality model was used, while a multiple regression model was formulated based on the theoretical background of the study. The error correction mechanism (ECM) method was used to estimate the equation, to evaluate the inherent connectivity between monetary policy and economic growth and also the impact of money supply, interest rate, and exchange rate on the rate of economic growth in Nigeria. The result showed that there is a unidirectional causal relationship between money supply and economic growth in Nigeria. Secondly, interest rates and exchange rates have a negative effect on economic growth, while money supply has a positive effect on economic growth. As a result, the macroeconomic variables that policymakers should regulate in order to reduce inflation and ensure economic growth in Nigeria are the money supply, exchange rate, and interest rate.