Nigeria combines substantial natural and human resources with persistently high poverty. The 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index shows that 133 million people (63 per cent of the population) are multidimensionally poor. Recent World Bank and IMF assessments confirm that monetary poverty and food insecurity remain elevated despite post-2023 macroeconomic reforms. This paper argues that weak institutional capacity is the critical missing link between reform and household welfare. Drawing on institutional economics, state-capacity theory and the capability approach, it conceptualises institutional capacity in five dimensions: administrative, technical, political, fiscal and coordination capacity. Using a structured integrative review of official statistics, multilateral reports, governance indicators and peer-reviewed studies, the analysis shows how capacity shortfalls sustain the poverty trap through implementation failures, leakages, weak service delivery and low public trust. Stronger capacity can convert stabilisation gains into improved human capabilities, productivity and resilience. The paper contributes an institutional-capacity transmission framework and concludes that macroeconomic stabilisation is necessary but insufficient. Sustained poverty reduction requires professional public administration, institutionalised social protection, stronger fiscal institutions and sequenced reforms that protect sub-national delivery capacity. Read more

This study examines the profitability, asset quality and capital resilience in Nigerian banking sector between June 2023 and June 2025. It is a descriptive policy analysis on a sector basis. The secondary data sources relied were official Nigerian banking reports and CBN-reported financial soundness indicators and verified peer-reviewed studies which were analysed with descriptive statistical tools. The results show that in December 2024, the percentage of bad debts ranged from 3.90 to 5.76, while the company's return on assets rose quite a bit - first, from 1.61% in February 2023 to 3.44% by the end of the year 2024, then slightly declined to 3.20% in June 2025. Capital reserves reached an impressive level of 15.25% at the end of 2024 while the extension of credit eased in the spring of 2024. The data presented is mainly for illustration, not for establishing causal linkages. It indicates that stronger nominal profitability coexisted with asset-quality pressure because earnings were also supported by repricing, trading and other non-interest income, recoveries, balance-sheet expansion and inflation. The study recommends joint supervision of asset quality, capital adequacy, IFRS 9 provisioning, credit deployment and sectoral concentration risk. Read more

Human greed leads them to pursue worldly material blessings at the expense of moral and spiritual values. There is a wrong philosophy of money in society, which holds that money answers everything in society, and is polluting some Christians to compromise the biblical standard. The paper is analytical: the author employs content analysis from a Christian ethical perspective to draw moral lessons from the text, combining a literature review and biblical analysis to carry out the study. Matthew 6:24 serves as a reminder to evaluate one’s loyalties, urging individuals to serve God with their whole hearts rather than allowing material wealth to dominate their lives. The paper identifies three major ethical issues in the text: conflict between material authority and the divine, ultimate loyalty, and the consequences of choice. The menace of Materialism among Christians in Nigeria is worldly-minded Christianity; seeking prosperity over salvation; honouring Mammon more than God, and the decline of Christian moral values. The paper proposes an ethical response to the menace of materialism from a Christian perspective, which includes: ultimate loyalty to God; vibrant spiritual devotion; true Christianity produces true spiritual wealth; and serving God, not money. The paper concludes that the authority of the Bible should be maintained on all matters related to the acquisition of material possessions. Read more

Transformative character formation is an essential instrument of preparing young Gospel ministers for sustainable ministry in Nigeria. The pressures of contemporary Nigerian society, including materialism, leadership crises, moral compromise, competition, and the pursuit of personal success, can adversely affect young ministers if character formation is neglected. Transformative character formation is a systematic process of reshaping, adjusting, and forming values, behaviours, and perspectives through genuine encounters with Jesus Christ, daily life experiences, and mentoring. Indices of transformative character formation include genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, depending on the Holy Spirit as the Enabler, the transformation process, the manifestation state, and moral discernment and responsible decision-making. The paper argues that good character is indispensable in effective pastoral ministry because, without character, there is no ministry. The call of God can take a minister of God to greater heights in ministry, but character will sustain him or her in that place. Thus, character manifests itself in relationships and determines how the minister performs in ministry. The paper concludes that equipping young gospel ministers for sustainable ministry in Nigeria must be intentional and relational. Read more

Domestic violence remains a major social problem in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West, with consequences for families and community development. This study examined its influence on youth delinquency, substance abuse, and criminal behaviour. A quantitative survey design was adopted, and data were collected from 487 respondents using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, Friedman Chi-square, and linear regression at the 0.05 significance level were employed to run the analysis. Findings revealed that domestic violence significantly contributes to family instability and increases young people’s involvement in delinquency, substance abuse, and criminal behaviour. Socio-economic difficulties and harmful social practices were also found to intensify its occurrence and consequences. The study concludes that domestic violence undermines social cohesion and community well-being. It recommends strengthening family support systems, enforcing protective laws, and sustaining public awareness campaigns to prevent domestic violence and promote healthy family relationships. Read more

This study investigates the impact of money supply on economic growth in Nigeria using the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and data from the National Bureau of Statistics spanning 2001 to 2021. The ARDL model was used to assess the long-term and short-term dynamics between money supply and economic growth. Stationarity tests using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test revealed that Total GDP was stationary both at level and first differencing (p-value: 0.01), while Money Supply M1 and M2 became stationary after first differencing (p-values < 0.05. Descriptive statistics revealed significant variability in economic indicators over the period, with Total GDP showing a mean of ₦44,032.99 billion and a standard deviation of ₦19,487.82 billion, Money Supply M1 a mean of ₦4,525.89 billion and a standard deviation of ₦4,891.06 billion, and Money Supply M2 a mean of ₦10,474.06 billion and a standard deviation of ₦12,258.55 billion. The ARDL (2,3,0) model, selected based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), demonstrates significant relationships between lagged values of money supply and economic growth, with an R-squared value of 0.9987 indicating a strong fit. The Johansen Co-integration Test indicates the presence of one long-term equilibrium relationship among the variables, as confirmed by the Trace test at the 5% significance level. Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) coefficients further confirm these findings, showing that deviations from equilibrium are corrected by adjusting Money Supply M1 and M2 negatively (e.g., -0.0322 and -0.0142 units for second lags) and Total GDP positively (e.g., 0.0015 unit for its second lag), suggesting a robust long-term association between money supply and economic growth. Results also indicated that changes in money supply significantly affect Nigeria’s economic growth, with both short-term and long-term implications. Specifically, the regression coefficients reveal significant effects, such as a negative effect of M1 (-0.64, p-value: 0.003) and a positive effect of M2 (0.83, p-value: 0.001) on GDP, indicating complex dynamics. Read more

New discoveries and revolutionary ideologies normally produce fascinating sentiments among the people. When the content of such ideologies strikes a contemporary note, vast reception is assured. However, while in some cases such ideologies provide amicable environment for positive transformation, it can also create problematic situations or radiate unpleasant tendencies targeted at cultural values and norms. During the enlightenment period, Europe excitedly embraced the message of rationality as the key to progress. The reception was impressive but somewhat unchecked. Long standing moral, religious and cultural values fell victims to the suspicions of reason. The Nigerian society, especially the younger generation is gradually but daily confronted with contemporary tenets especially the ‘woke culture’. Woke in this sense refers to the growing trend of secular progressivism that tends to confront and create awareness towards cultural and social systems that are considered oppressive, while offering alternatives that are intended to promote equality, individual freedom and happiness. Through a comparative historical analysis, whereby the European encounter with the enlightenment culture will be juxtaposed to the gradual infiltration of woke culture in contemporary Nigeria, this article proposes a tenacious and systematic caution on unchecked reception of the tenets of the wokeness in order to reduce or possibly avert the risk of a corrosive loss of genuine socio-cultural and religious values. Read more

Climate change poses serious environmental and socio-economic challenges in Nigeria, requiring effective government intervention to promote sustainable development. This study examined government strategies for managing climate change in Nigeria using annual data from 1990 to 2024. Data were obtained from the World Development Indicators and Climate Watch Database and analyzed using time-series econometric techniques. EViews 10 was employed because of its suitability for estimating and testing time-series models and conducting the required dynamic analyses. The findings indicate a stable long-run relationship among the variables. In the short run, government climate footprint strategy, renewable energy strategy, and GDP per capita significantly influence climate change. In the long run, GDP per capita, trade openness, and urbanization significantly mitigate climate change, while government climate footprint worsens climate conditions. The study concludes that effective climate management requires stronger environmental regulation, increased renewable energy investment, and climate-responsive development planning. Read more

Buruli ulcer (BU) remains a neglected tropical disease that disproportionately affects populations living in rural communities with frequent exposure to aquatic environments. Despite its debilitating physical, social, and economic consequences, evidence on the health-seeking behaviour of affected individuals remains limited in many endemic areas of Nigeria. This study assessed the health-seeking behaviour of Buruli ulcer patients in rural communities with water bodies in Rivers State, Nigeria, and identified factors associated with poor health-seeking behaviour. The study employed a community-based cross-sectional design among residents of selected rural Local Government Areas with water bodies. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 405 participants, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire adapted from World Health Organization (WHO) Buruli ulcer assessment tools and the WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and modified Poisson regression, with adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) used to identify factors associated with poor health-seeking behaviour. The mean age of the respondents was 38.74 ± 17.20 years. Most respondents were currently unmarried (70.86%), had secondary education (47.04%), lived in households with seven or more members (54.07%), and resided in inland communities (62.47%). Overall, 96.6% of respondents demonstrated poor health-seeking behaviour, while only 3.4% exhibited good health-seeking behaviour. Respondents who were unsure of the distance to their water source were significantly more likely to have poor health-seeking behaviour compared with those living 100–500 m from their water source (APR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.01–1.34; p = 0.04). Furthermore, respondents who practiced Christianity were significantly less likely to have Buruli ulcer than those practicing Islam (AOR = 0.21; 95% CI: 0.09–0.49; p < 0.001), while civil servants were less likely to have Buruli ulcer than students (AOR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.10–1.00; p = 0.05). Conversely, respondents with fair knowledge were more likely to have Buruli ulcer than those with good knowledge (AOR = 4.04; 95% CI: 1.07–15.29; p < 0.05). Residence was significantly associated with poor health-seeking behaviour, as respondents living in riverside or swamp areas were less likely (APR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.79–0.98, p = 0.02) to demonstrate poor health-seeking behaviour than those living inland. Respondents unsure about the distance to their water source were more likely (APR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.01–1.34, p = 0.04) to have poor health-seeking behaviour than those living 100–500 m from their water source. Additionally, contact with saltwater bodies was associated with an increased likelihood of poor health-seeking behaviour (APR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.00–1.14, p = 0.05). The study demonstrates that poor health-seeking behaviour remains widespread among Buruli ulcer patients in rural communities of Rivers State, with delayed presentation and reliance on non-formal treatment pathways contributing to the burden of the disease. Strengthening community awareness, improving access to affordable healthcare services, and addressing financial and geographical barriers to care are essential for promoting early diagnosis and treatment of Buruli ulcer in endemic communities. Read more

Background: Adolescent motherhood disrupts the developmental pursuit of personally meaningful life goals, making goal adjustment, the capacity to disengage from unattainable goals and reengage with alternative ones, an important adaptive resource. However, little is known about the contextual factors that shape goal adjustment among young mothers in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: This study examined the contributions of childhood trauma, father presence, religious commitment, attachment dimensions, and parent–adolescent relationship quality to goal disengagement and goal reengagement among young mothers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 266 young mothers aged 14–20 years (M = 18.09, SD = 1.62) purposively recruited from health facilities in Ondo West Local Government Area. Participants completed self-report measures of goal adjustment and the study predictors. Multiple regression analyses with HC3 heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors were performed. Results: The predictors explained 14.6% of the variance in goal disengagement and 43.4% of the variance in goal reengagement. Religious commitment emerged as the strongest positive predictor of goal reengagement, followed by father presence, secure attachment, and parent–adolescent relationship quality, whereas childhood trauma and dismissing attachment independently predicted lower reengagement. Dismissing attachment positively predicted goal disengagement, while father presence, religious commitment, and secure attachment were associated with lower disengagement, indicating greater persistence in attainable goals rather than premature withdrawal. Conclusion: Goal reengagement appears substantially more responsive to relational and spiritual resources than goal disengagement. The findings suggest that strengthening secure attachment, paternal involvement, supportive parent–adolescent relationships, and engagement with faith communities, while addressing childhood trauma, may enhance young mothers' capacity to reconstruct meaningful life goals following early motherhood. Read more