Agricultural Financing: A Panacea to Unemployment Malady in Nigeria (2000-2017)
Downloads
The study investigated the effects of agricultural financing on unemployment in Nigeria within a time scope 1999-2017. With financial injection theorem as the anchor, the study represented the dependent variable, unemployment, by unemployment rate, and the independent variable, agricultural financing, by commercial banks credit to agriculture, micro finance banks credit to agriculture, and government allocation to agriculture. It employed gross domestic product and inflation as control variables. With respect to those proxies, annualized time-series data were sourced from Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and reports of National Bureau of Statistics, and estimated using Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The study found that, agricultural financing exhibited both significant short and long run relationship with unemployment in Nigeria. It, also, found that, while agricultural financing from commercial banks and microfinance banks exhibit negative relationship with unemployment in Nigeria, government allocation to agriculture exhibited positive relationship with it. The study, therefore, concluded that, agricultural financing makes both short and long run contributions to unemployment reduction; and that, agricultural financing from the private sector contributes to poverty reduction much more than government allocation to agriculture would do. The study recommended that, government should take agricultural development policy, through agricultural financing, as the key solution to unemployment problem in Nigeria, as the sector remains the largest employer of labour in the country. Also, microfinance banks should make agriculture a priority sector; and such, branches of state and national microfinance banks should be sited at rural and semi-urban areas so as to engender agricultural development, and unemployment reduction.
Adekoya, R.B., &Olanipekun, L.N. (2017). Assessment of effective delivery of skill acquisition centers towards managing graduate unemployment in Nigeria (A case study of Ekiti- State). International Journal of Banking, Finance & Development Studies, 3(1), 47-62
Aktuson, S., Messiah, A.J., &Araf, Y.D. (2018). The impact of unemployment on economic growth in Nigeria: An application of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing. Journal of Business Management and Marketing,1(2), 37-46
Adeleye, O., Ayodeji, E. A., Oso, P., &Ojo, D. (2005). Agricultural Science for Schools and Colleges. Ibadan: Kins Publishers Limited
Aminu, U., &Anono, A. Z. (2012). An empirical analysis of the relationship between unemployment and inflation in Nigeria from 1977-2009. Business Journal, Economics and Review, 1(12), 42-61
Asoluka, N., &Okezie, A. I. (2011). Unemployment and Nigeria economic growth: International Conference of Teaching, Learning and Change, Department of Economics, AlvanIkoku, Federal College of Education, Owerri Imo State.
Ayodeji, E. A. (2011). Introduction to Financial Management. Lagos: Emboss Publishers, Foyo Associates Limited
Ayodeji, E.A., &Oladokun, B.S. (2018). Small and medium enterprises and economic growth in Nigeria (1999-2017). The International Journal of Business & Management, 6(10), 249- 256
Bernard, O.A., &Adenuga, O. (2017). Agricultural sector development as a panacea for employment generation in Nigeria. International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research, 1(2), 243-259
Central Bank of Nigeria (2010). Statistical Bulletin 19, December, Abuja, Nigeria
Dul, S.F., &Evbuomwan, G.O. (2017). Financing agriculture as a tool for reduction of youth unemployment in Plateau State, Nigeria. E-governance Conference, Covenant University Nigeria, 741-759
Eze, O.M., Atuma, E., &Egbeoma, N.E. (2016). The relationship between unemployment and economic growthin Nigeria: Granger causality approach. Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 7(24), 153-162
Eze, C.,Lemchi, J., Ugochukwu, A., Eze, V., Awulonu, C., &Okon, A. (2010).Agricultural financing policies and rural development in Nigeria: the 84th Annual Conference of Agricultural Economics Society, Department of Agricultural Economics, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Golub, S., & Hayat, F. (2014). Employment, unemployment and underemployment in Africa. World Institute for Development Economics Research, Working Paper 2014/014, 1-26
Fapohunda, T.M. (2013). Reducing unemployment through the informal sector in Nigeria. International Journal of Management Sciences, 1(7), 232-243
Hauwa, B. J. (2016). Impact of unemployment on economic growth in Nigeria 1980 –2010. Pyrex Journal of Business and Finance Management Research, 2(10), 180-195
International Labour Organization (2009). Global employment trends- update, International Labour Office, Geneva. Available: www.ilo.org
Ishola, K. A. (2011). Macroeconomics, Ilorin: Lavgark Investment Limited
Jhingan, M. L. (2001). Macroeconomic theory. 12th edition, Delhi: Vrinda Publications (P) Ltd.
Mahmoud, A. A., & Mohammed, A. R. (2012). The relationship between unemployment and economic growth in Jordan and some Arab countries. World Applied Sciences Journal 18 (5), 673-680
Manggoel, W., Ajiji, I.,Damar, W., Damiyal, D.,Da’ar, J., &Zarmai,D. (2012). Agriculture as amitigating factor to unemployment in Nigeria: International Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Oil Science, 2(11),465-468,
Obansa, S.A. J., &Maduekwe, I.M.(2013). Agricultural financing and economic growth in Nigeria. European Scientific Journal, 9(1), 168-203
Ogbanga, A. (2018).Agricultural development and employment generation in Nigeria. International Journal of Advanced Studies in Ecology, Development and Sustainability, 5(1), 1-22
Ogboru, I., Abdulmalik, F.A., & Park, I.O. (2018). Government expenditure on agriculture and its impact on unemployment reduction in Nigeria: 1999 – 2015. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 6(3), 1-25
Okuneye, B. (2001). The rising cost of food/food insecurity in Nigeria and its implications for poverty reduction: CBN Economic and Financial Review, 39(4), 92-94
Okun, A. M. (1962). Potential GNP: Its measurement and significance. Proceedings of the Business and Economics Section of the American Statistical Association, Washington, DC, American Statistical Association, 98-104.
Olukayode, E.M., &Olorunfemi, Y.A. (2018). Fiscal policy tools, employment generation and sustainable development in Nigeria. Acta Universitatis Danubius, 14(3), 186-199
Onipede, D., &Ayodeji, E. A. (2005). Economics (A Complete Text on ‘O’ & ‘A’ Level Economics).Ibadan: Kins Publishers Limited
Osman, A., Ladhani, S., Findlater, E., &Mckay, V. (2017). Curriculum Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals, First Edition. London: Commonwealth Secretariat
Ugwu, D. S., &Kanu, I. O. (2012). Effects of agricultural reforms on the agricultural sector in Nigeria. Journal of African Studies and Development, 4(2), (51-59).
