PGD Project

This study examines the impact of capital structure on the financial performance of Nigerian oil and gas companies. Using an ex-post facto research methodology, the shortterm debt to total asset, long-term debt to total asset, total debt to total equity, and return on asset variables were investigated as proxies for capital structure and financial performance, respectively. Based on the data's availability at the time of the inquiry, the study used an easy sampling strategy to gather secondary data. These data covers the years 2014 to 2023 and were compiled from the annual financial reports of five Nigerian oil and gas companies. Descriptive statistics and panel regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The analysis' findings shows that while long-term debt to total assets has a negative significant influence on return on assets, short-term debt to total assets and total debt to total equity had positive insignificant impacts. According to the findings, managers of oil and gas companies should reduce the amount of long-term debt they have because doing so has a negative effect on their performance. They should also exercise caution when making capital structure decisions.

arty defection has become a defining feature of Nigeria Fourth Republic, but its impact on political stability at the local government level is still poorly understood. This study looks at how legislative and elite defection affects political stability in Delta State, focusing on Ethiope West and Ughelli North Local Government Areas. Both areas are in Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta, a region shaped by complex ethnic politics and struggles over resources. The research has three main goals: to find out what drives political actors to defect, to analyze how defection affects political stability, and to understand what it means for democracy at the local level. The study uses a mixed methods approach. It includes survey data from 384 randomly selected registered voters, semi structured interviews with 24 political party executives and community leaders, and six focus group discussions across the two LGAs. The research was quantitativelly analyzed data using descriptive statistics and qualitative data using thematic analysis. The results showed that defection happens mainly for two reasons: rational calculations like access to money, resources, and electoral wins, and institutional problems such as weak party structures and lack of ideological commitment. The consequences cut across multiple areas. Politically, defections spark conflicts within communities, worsen rivalries among elites, and disrupt governance over time. Institutionally, they damage public trust in political parties and elections, which leads to voter apathy and a backslide in democracy. The study also found that involuntary defection where politicians are intimidated and cohersed to leave through blackmail and witch hunting is a real but understudied issue in the Niger Delta. This research adds to the broader conversation on African party politics by focusing on the local government level, which researchers often ignore. The study concludes that unless party institutionalization is strengthened and the root causes of opportunistic defection are addressed, political stability and democratic progress in Delta State and other resource dependent regions like it will remain fragile. The study recommends, among other things, building internal party democracy and creating laws that reduce the disruptive effects of cross carpeting on local governance. vi

The recent challenges in financial accounting report requires the accounting profession to uphold transparency in the preparation of financial statements for users of such financial information. One of these challenges includes the application of unethical accounting in the presentation of financial report by management of an organization. Therefore, it is the responsibility of accountants in producing a standard, accurate, concise, and timely financial report applying accounting ethics in order to prevent frauds and misleading to the users of such information. The study’s main objective was to examine the role of ethics on the quality of financial report in commercial banks while the specific objective was to evaluate how integrity, objectivity, professional competence, confidentiality and professional behaviour relates with the quality of financial reports of commercial banks in Nigeria. The research design employed in this study was cross sectional survey. Target population received copies of questionnaire and 102 responses were subsequently collected. The findings highlight the significant role of ethical principles particularly integrity, objectivity, and professional competence in enhancing financial reporting quality. This finding underscores the crucial role of integrity in certifying correct and reliable financial report, aligning with prior studies that highlight integrity as a cornerstone of ethical financial management. The relationship between integrity and the quality of financial reports is significant. Objectivity and professional competence showed significant relationship with financial reporting quality. While confidentiality and professional behaviour showed negative associations with financial reporting quality, their effects were not statistically relevant. This indicates that although confidentiality is vital for protecting sensitive financial information, excessive secrecy may hinder transparency and accountability, ultimately affecting financial reporting quality. In light of the results, the study recommends the necessity for organisations to strengthen ethical governance and ensure that financial professionals adhere to good ethical principles to improve credibility of financial reporting.

This study investigated skill acquisition and job creation among women in Edo State. The specific objectives were to examine the relationship between technical skills, creative skills, vocational skills and entrepreneurial skills with job creation among women in Edo State. It was a field survey and a total of five hundred and sixteen (516) women constituted the population size and the same 516 as the sample size for the purpose robust results and generalisation. The main research instrument employed was questionnaire administration and data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and least square regression method. The study found that technical skills, creative skills, vocational skills and entrepreneurial skills all have significant positive relationship at p-value of 1%, 1%, 2%, and 3% respectively with job creation among women in Edo state. The study therefore recommended that government should provide the enabling environment and financial assistance to entrepreneurs especially to women with different creative, technical and entrepreneurial skills in order to promote job creation.

This study was carried out to examine the effect of farmers’ cooperatives on smallholder rice production in Edo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to: describe the socio- economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area; profile the rice farmers’ cooperatives; examine the roles performed and services rendered by the cooperatives; compare the costs and returns of cooperative and non-cooperative rice farmers production; determine the effect of cooperative membership on rice yield; and examine the constraints facing cooperatives in promoting rice production. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 260 rice farmers comprising 130 cooperative and 130 non-cooperative rice farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Relative Importance Index, cost and return analysis, t-test, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that the average age of cooperators was 45 years, while the average age of non-cooperators was 47 years. Additionally, the study revealed that majority of the cooperators (68.5%) and non-cooperators (75.4%) were males. Most rice farmers, cooperators (92.3%) and non-cooperators (80.0%) were married, with an average household size of seven persons for both cooperators and non-cooperators. Additionally, cooperators agreed to a high extent that cooperatives assisted members with farm implements (RII = 0.908), facilitated access to land (RII = 0.898), provided access to farm inputs (RII = 0.878), and supplied market information (RII = 0.863), among other services. Profitability analysis revealed that cooperative farmers recorded higher gross margins and net incomes of ₦519.68 and ₦499.23 per kg rice, respectively compared to ₦415.48 and ₦376.10 per kg rice for non-cooperative farmers, with a statistically significant difference (t = 4.8672) between both groups. Furthermore, regression analysis showed that cooperative membership, educational status, and farm size were positive and statistically significant at the 1% level, while age was negative and farming experience positive and were significant at the 10% level, indicating these variables as major determinants of rice yield. The major constraints affecting cooperatives included unfavourable government policies, inadequate support, and poor funding. The study concluded that cooperatives positively influenced rice farmers’ production and income. And recommended that Non-member farmers should be encouraged to voluntarily join or form cooperatives to access shared resources, economies of scale, and collective bargaining, thereby improving productivity and income and also strengthening institutional support to enhance the effectiveness of farmers’ cooperatives.This study was carried out to examine the effect of farmers’ cooperatives on smallholder rice production in Edo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to: describe the socio- economic characteristics of rice farmers in the study area; profile the rice farmers’ cooperatives; examine the roles performed and services rendered by the cooperatives; compare the costs and returns of cooperative and non-cooperative rice farmers production; determine the effect of cooperative membership on rice yield; and examine the constraints facing cooperatives in promoting rice production. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 260 rice farmers comprising 130 cooperative and 130 non-cooperative rice farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Relative Importance Index, cost and return analysis, t-test, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that the average age of cooperators was 45 years, while the average age of non-cooperators was 47 years. Additionally, the study revealed that majority of the cooperators (68.5%) and non-cooperators (75.4%) were males. Most rice farmers, cooperators (92.3%) and non-cooperators (80.0%) were married, with an average household size of seven persons for both cooperators and non-cooperators. Additionally, cooperators agreed to a high extent that cooperatives assisted members with farm implements (RII = 0.908), facilitated access to land (RII = 0.898), provided access to farm inputs (RII = 0.878), and supplied market information (RII = 0.863), among other services. Profitability analysis revealed that cooperative farmers recorded higher gross margins and net incomes of ₦519.68 and ₦499.23 per kg rice, respectively compared to ₦415.48 and ₦376.10 per kg rice for non-cooperative farmers, with a statistically significant difference (t = 4.8672) between both groups. Furthermore, regression analysis showed that cooperative membership, educational status, and farm size were positive and statistically significant at the 1% level, while age was negative and farming experience positive and were significant at the 10% level, indicating these variables as major determinants of rice yield. The major constraints affecting cooperatives included unfavourable government policies, inadequate support, and poor funding. The study concluded that cooperatives positively influenced rice farmers’ production and income. And recommended that Non-member farmers should be encouraged to voluntarily join or form cooperatives to access shared resources, economies of scale, and collective bargaining, thereby improving productivity and income and also strengthening institutional support to enhance the effectiveness of farmers’ cooperatives.

This study investigated the relationship between board attributes and financial reporting quality among listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The board attributes examined include board independence, board gender diversity, board meeting frequency, board size, and multiple committee membership. Discretionary accruals were employed as proxy for financial reporting quality, while firm-specific characteristics such as profitability, firm size, and audit fees were included as control variables. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The sample consists of a census of all twenty (20) consumer goods companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) over a 12-year period (2013–2024), resulting in a final sample of 232 unbalanced firm-year observations. The study adopted a fixed effect panel regression technique, with model selection justified using the Hausman specification test. The empirical results revealed that board independence, board gender diversity, and board meeting frequency have insignificant relationship with financial reporting quality. Bboard size exhibits a positive and significant relationship with discretionary accruals, suggesting that larger boards are associated with lower financial reporting quality. Multiple committee membership is found to have a negative and significant relationship with discretionary accruals, indicating that overlapping committee membership enhances financial reporting quality. Among the control variables, profitability and firm size are negatively and significantly related to discretionary accruals, while audit fees show a positive and significant relationship. The study suggests that board members serve on more than one committee to ensure effective oversight function, but caution should be exercised to avoid overwhelming a board member with work load.

This study examines the impact of fiscal and financial policies on industrial performance in Nigeria over the period 1981 to 2023, drawing on endogenous growth theory, which emphasises the role of policy-driven capital accumulation, technological progress, and productivity in sustaining long-term economic growth. Specifically, the study investigates the effects of government expenditure and financial depth on industrial output, recognising that effective government intervention and a well-functioning financial system can generate growth-enhancing externalities. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is employed to capture both short-run and long-run dynamics. The empirical results reveal that government expenditure exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on industrial performance in both the short run and long run, supporting the endogenous growth proposition that productive public investment stimulates sustained industrial growth. In contrast, credit to the private sector, used as a measure of financial depth, has a negative and statistically significant effect, suggesting inefficiencies in the allocation of financial resources to the industrial sector. Inflation is found to have an insignificant effect on industrial performance. The ARDL bounds test confirms the existence of a stable long-run relationship among fiscal policy, financial policy, inflation, and industrial performance. Based on these findings, the study recommends strengthening productivity-oriented government expenditure, particularly in industrial infrastructure, alongside reforms in the financial sector to improve the effectiveness of private sector credit in supporting industrial activities. It further emphasises the need for coordinated and long-term fiscal and financial policy frameworks to promote sustainable industrial growth in Nigeria.

Market places are visually dynamic spaces that offer a rich tapestry of colour, movement, and cultural interactions that have long inspired artists, especially painters. However, within the sub-genre of market scene painting, a field largely dominated by male artists, the portrayal of women has been problematic. Women have been frequently depicted according to prevailing artistic norms and objectified roles, while their economic agency and diverse market-related occupations have also been portrayed from a male-centered perspective. This study therefore, aimed to draw from the framework of Feminist Visual Culture interrogated the traditional ways of ‘seeing’ and challenged the male-dominated gaze that has historically shaped visual representation of women in market scene paintings. This study employed an exploratory design guided by critical theory and the MulveyHooks visual culture framework, which examined how women are represented in visual culture and how they can resist objectification. Combining visual analysis with contextual critique, the research examined stylistic paintings of women’s activities in market places in order to explore how gender roles and economic labour should be depicted and understood in the imagery of Benin City’s market places. The study revealed that it is possible to produce paintings that foreground women’s economic agency and depict them in dignified roles as human beings whose contributions cannot be trivialized. It also showed that the textured effects achieved through the palette knife technique can enhance the meaning and context of the artwork. The research advocates for more gender-balanced paintings that highlight women’s vital contributions to the economic and social development of the nation.

Background: Internal displacement can disrupt schooling through instability, resource constraints, and psychosocial stress, yet context-specific evidence on academic outcomes among adolescents living in camps in Edo State remains limited.

Objective: This study examines the effects of displacement on the academic performance of internally displaced adolescents in Uhogua IDP Camp, Benin City, Edo State, and identifies displacement-related factors associated with educational engagement and attainment.

Methods: A camp-based, cross-sectional mixed-methods design is proposed. Quantitative data will be gathered from internally displaced adolescents of secondary-school age using structured questionnaires covering displacement history, schooling continuity, learning conditions, and indicators of academic performance (e.g., recent grades or teacher-reported performance where available). Qualitative interviews or focus groups with adolescents, caregivers, and educators will explore perceived barriers and supports. Descriptive statistics and multivariable analyses will be used to assess associations between displacement-related exposures and academic performance, while thematic analysis will be applied to qualitative data to contextualize pathways and mechanisms.

Results: The study is expected to clarify how displacement experiences, interrupted schooling, access to learning materials, and psychosocial factors relate to academic performance within the camp setting, and to document key constraints and protective supports reported by stakeholders.

Conclusion: Findings will inform targeted educational and psychosocial interventions for internally displaced adolescents in Uhogua IDP Camp and guide policy responses to reduce displacement-related learning losses; causal inference will be limited by the cross-sectional design.

Expanding noncontact techniques for monitoring groundwater level variations to include laser based devices has been limited in the past by the low reflectivity of water to laser light The advances made in the realization of highly sensitive receivers has greatly enabled Laser devices with the prospect for effective noncontact monitoring of groundwater levels. In this work a real-time groundwater level monitoring devices was implemented using a LiDAR-lite v3HP laser-based sensor, an Arduino Uno rev 3 microcontroller, and an ESP8266 Wi-Fi module. Hardware implementation involved interfacing the microcontroller with the LiDAR-lite, the Wi-Fi module, a 16 x 2 liquid crystal display and other necessary basic electronic components. The software implementation involved writing, editing, compiling and uploading codes through the Arduino ide unto the microcontroller. The implemented prototype was powered by a 20,000mAH, 5V power bank and deployed on two artesian wells to collect depth to water surface data which were uploaded automatically to ThingSpeak platform. Measurements at various times taken with the device were compared with manual measurements from a calibrated tape. A correction factor was applied to correct measurement residuals. Results of the validation showed that measured values were uploaded to the ThingSpeak platform an average of 33 seconds which could be reconfigured to longer timeframes. The results were remotely accessed on the platform. A correlation graph of measurement before and after applying the correction revealed a near perfect correlation coefficient of 0.99995 for the LiDAR readings for both pre-correction and post correction measurements; confirming a strong linear relationship with tape measurements. The coefficient of variation, root mean square error and limits of agreement from the Bland Altman’s plots all ascertained the improvement in post-correction measurements.