R4D Nigeria

Evaluation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) germplasm lines for tolerance to drought

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:08 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Fatokin, C.A.; Boukar, O.; Muranaka, S. Evaluation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) germplasm lines for tolerance to drought. Plant Genetic Resources (2012) 10 (03) 171-176. [DOI: 10.1017/S1479262112000214]

Summary: Cowpea is an important grain legume crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where, on a worldwide basis, the bulk is produced and consumed. The dry savanna area of SSA is where cowpea is mostly grown under rain-fed conditions. The crop is therefore prone to drought which may occur early, mid and/or late in the cropping season. Compared with many other crops, cowpea is drought tolerant, even though drought is still a major constraint limiting its productivity in SSA. Increasing the level of drought tolerance in existing cowpea varieties grown by farmers would enable them to obtain more and stable yield from their cowpea fields. As a first step towards enhancing drought tolerance in existing cowpea varieties, 1288 lines were selected randomly from cowpea germplasm collections maintained at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and evaluated for their drought tolerance at Ibadan. Drought was imposed by withdrawal of irrigation from 5 weeks after sowing. On average, drought reduced the number of days to flower by 12 d, and the mean grain yield per plant was also reduced by 67.28%. A few of the cowpea lines stayed green for up to 6 weeks after irrigation was stopped, even though some of these produced no pods when the study was terminated. Further evaluation in the screenhouse of 142 selected drought-tolerant lines helped to identify six lines that could be potential parents for developing breeding lines with enhanced drought tolerance.

Variations in incidence out of pocket spending for illness amongst households of different socio-economic groups: an investigation using expenditure diaries

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:46 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Onoka, C.A.; Onwujekwe, O.E.; Uguru, N.; Anochie, C.; Ewelukwa, O. Variations in incidence out of pocket spending for illness amongst households of different socio-economic groups: an investigation using expenditure diaries. African Journal of Health Economics (2012) 1 (1) 77-88.

Summary: Where out-of-pocket payment (OOP) serves as the major means of financing health care, the cost of health care might differentially influence health seeking behavior of households of different socio-economic status (SES) groups. This study examined the variations in health care seeking and incidence and level of OOP across households of various SES groups.The study which was carried out in south-east Nigeria found that the poorest households had the least incidence of spending on health care. The most common reason among the poorest households for not spending on health care when they should have was the cost of health services while for the richest households, it was because the illness was not considered serious enough. Households in the richest quintile representing 19.7% of the entire population accounted for 50.6% of the total expenditure on health while those in the second quintile and the poorest quintile accounted for 9.9% and 6.4% of total health care expenditure respectively. As such there is a wide gap between what poor and rich households spend on health and with no financial protection mechanism, poor households could be forgoing much needed health care. Policy makers need to be persuaded that a shift away from out-of-pocket payment for health care which is inequitable and inefficient is necessary and requires urgent attention.

Helpdesk Report: Evidence Base for Local Block Grants in Health

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:27 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Bolton, L. Helpdesk Report: Evidence Base for Local Block Grants in Health. Human Development Resource Centre, UK (2012) 20 pp.

Summary: Query: Provide a literature / evidence review of the effectiveness or otherwise of sub-national flexible block grants in health in delivering public health or health system objectives in developing countries.

Summary: It was difficult to find examples that met the criteria of sub-national flexible block grants in health. Sections 2 and 3 cover the main two that were identified. These are the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP) and Generasi, Indonesia.

TEHIP aims to bring health spending more in line with cost-effective approaches to the local disease burden. Information from Demographic Surveillance Systems allows planners to determine spending priorities. A series of simple management tools enable those district planners to allot funds to interventions that will have a greater impact on local causes of mortality.

PNPM Generasi is an incentivised community block grant program that builds on the architecture of the Government of Indonesia’s (GOI’s) community driven development programme. It uses a facilitated community decision-making process to allocate block grant funds to target 12 health and education indicators. Communities work with facilitators and health and education service providers to improve access to and use of health and education services. To give communities incentives to focus on the most effective polities to target program indicators, the GOI determines the size of the village’s PNPM Generasi block grant for the subsequent year partly on the village’s performance on each of the 12 targeted health and education indicators.

Section 4 covers other examples in Nigeria, Pakistan, Brazil and Kenya.

Signature and Compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:24 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Sumedh Rao. Signature and Compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, (2012) 10 pp.

Summary: Query: What explanations does the published and grey literature on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) provide in relation to: national governments' decisions to sign up to the EITI, or not; and the non-compliance of existing signatories?

Key findings: There is an abundant literature which documents the process of signing and complying with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), as well as the benefits of doing so. However, with the exception of a detailed case study on Nigeria, few studies examine the political, economic and social factors that have led governments to sign and comply with the EITI. Expert comments confirm the lack of literature on key motivators but suggest factors that motivate signature and compliance with the EITI. Furthermore, from the existing literature it is possible to identify factors which may have contributed towards signature and compliance and factors which may have undermined support for the EITI.

The key contributory factors seem to have been reform-minded politicians; international and domestic kudos; gaining international support through multilateral programmes or debt restructuring; and national healing. The ability to build capacity and local ownership has been crucial for continued success. Supportive factors may have been an increasingly widespread recognition of the importance of regulating the extractive industries and of the importance of transparency as a positive value in itself and the degree to which implementation of the EITI left mainstream politics untouched.

West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:04 GMT

Production Year: 2013

Citation: Jalloh, A.; Nelson, G.C.; Thomas, T.S.; Zougmoré, R.; Roy-Macauley, H. West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC, USA (2013) 408 pp. ISBN 978-0-89629-204-8 [DOI: 10.2499/9780896292048]

Summary: The first of three books in IFPRI’s climate change in Africa series, West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 11 of the countries that make up West Africa - Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo - and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region.

West Africa’s population is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth. Both will put increased pressure on the natural resources needed to produce food, and climate change makes the challenges greater. West Africa is already experiencing rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasing extreme events. Without attention to adaptation, the poor will suffer.

Through the use of hundreds of scenario maps, models, figures, and detailed analysis, the editors and contributors of West African Agriculture and Climate Change present plausible future scenarios that combine economic and biophysical characteristics to explore the possible consequences for agriculture, food security, and resources management to 2050. They also offer recommendations to national governments and regional economic agencies already dealing with the vulnerabilities of climate change and deviations in environment.

Linking Rural Communities with Health Services: Assessing the effectiveness of the Ghana Ambulance Service in meeting the needs of rural communities. Quarterly Report 4

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:05 GMT

Production Year: 2013

Citation: TRANSAID. Linking Rural Communities with Health Services: Assessing the effectiveness of the Ghana Ambulance Service in meeting the needs of rural communities. Quarterly Report 4. (2013) 25 pp.

Summary: This is the last quarterly report for this project, prior to completion of the project and production of the final reports and deliverables. Following on from the previous quarterly report, it became clear that there were significant issues in the partnership with the Ghana Ambulance Service that made going forward with the data collection as planned, not a possible option. Substantial work has been undertaken since the last quarterly report to amend the project in order to manage these challenges. The fieldwork phase has had to be moved to Nigeria, another country within the region. In consultation with Crown Agents mid-project milestones have been re-negotiated to accommodate this change and still to ensure the meeting of project completion milestones and deliverables.

Examining inequities in incidence of catastrophic health expenditures on different healthcare services and health facilities in Nigeria

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:11 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Onwujekwe, O.; Hanson, K.; Uzochukwu, B. Examining Inequities in Incidence of Catastrophic Health Expenditures on Different Healthcare Services and Health Facilities in Nigeria. PLoS ONE (2012) 7 (7) e40811. [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040811]

Summary: There is limited evidence about levels of socio-economic and other differences in catastrophic health spending in Nigeria and in many sub-Saharan African countries. The study estimated the level of catastrophic healthcare expenditures for different healthcare services and facilities and their distribution across socioeconomic status (SES) groups. It took place in four Local Government Areas in southeast Nigeria. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires administered to 4873 households. Catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) were measured as expenditures which exceeded 40% of monthly non-food expenditure. We examined both total monthly health expenditure and disaggregated expenditure by source and type of care. The average total household health expenditure per month was 2354 Naira ($19.6). For outpatient services, average monthly expenditure was 1809 Naira ($15.1), whilst for inpatient services it was 610 Naira ($5.1). Higher health expenditures were incurred by urban residents and the better-off SES groups. Overall, 27% of households incurred CHE, higher for poorer socioeconomic groups and for rural residents. Only 1.0% of households had a member that was enrolled in a health insurance scheme. The worse-off households (the poorest SES and rural dwellers) experienced the highest burden of health expenditure. There was almost a complete lack of financial risk protection. Health reform mechanisms are needed to ensure universal coverage with financial risk protection mechanisms.

Are the poor differentially benefiting from provision of priority public health services? A benefit incidence analysis in Nigeria

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:59 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Onwujekwe, O.; Hanson, K.; Uzochukwu, B. Are the poor differentially benefiting from provision of priority public health services? A benefit incidence analysis in Nigeria. International Journal for Equity in Health (2012) 11 (1) 70. [DOI: 10.1186/1475-9276-11-70]

Summary: The paper presents evidence about the distribution of the benefits of public expenditures on a set of priority public health services that are supposed to be provided free of charge in the public sector, using the framework of benefit incidence analysis. The study took place in 2 rural and 2 urban Local Government Areas from Enugu and Anambra states, southeast Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to collect data on use of the priority public health services by all individuals in the households (n=22,169). The level of use was disaggregated by socio-economic status (SES), rural-urban location and gender. Benefits were valued using the cost of providing the service. Net benefit incidence was calculated by subtracting payments made for services from the value of benefits. The results showed that 3,281 (14.8%) individuals consumed wholly free services. Most free services were disproportionately consumed by rural residents, women, and those from poorer SES quintiles; those in the poorer quintiles were less likely to access insecticide-treated nets and antenatal care services. High levels of payment were observed for immunisation services, insecticide-treated nets, antimalarial medicines, antenatal care and childbirth services, all of which are supposed to be provided for free. The net benefits were significantly higher for the rural residents, males and the poor compared to the urban residents, females and better-off quintiles. Coverage of all of these priority public health services fell well below target levels. Payments for services that are supposed to be delivered free of charge suggests that there may have been illegal payments which probably hindered access to the public health services

iiG Briefing Paper 22. Attitudes towards citizenship in Nigeria

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:34 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Alemika, E. iiG Briefing Paper 22. Attitudes towards citizenship in Nigeria. CSAE Economics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2012) 2 pp.

Summary: Nigerians who live in states other than their states of ancestral origin are referred to as non-indigenes, no matter how long they and their parents have lived in the state. This is important, because non-indigenes are often prevented from exercising the full citizenship rights enjoyed by indigenes. One of the most significant implications of this ‘two-tier’ system of citizenship is the exclusion of non-indigenes from access to services provided by state and local governments, in spite of a constitutional provision prohibiting discrimination on grounds of belonging to ‘a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion’. A recent study investigates the attitudes of Nigerians resident in eleven cities towards non-indigenes being granted equal access to government services and elective public offices.

iiG Briefing Paper 21. Do the Nigerian public trust their police?

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:27 GMT

Production Year: 2012

Citation: Alemika, E. iiG Briefing Paper 21. Do the Nigerian public trust their police? CSAE Economics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2012) 2 pp.

Summary: Police are important officials of the state charged with the responsibilities of preventing crime, apprehending offenders, and preserving public order. There are commonly held perceptions that incidences of violent political, personal and property crimes are on the increase in Nigeria, and that the police response has been ineffective and unsatisfactory. In a recent study, we investigated public confidence in the Nigerian police and satisfaction with their service.