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In a sweeping survey of African economies, leading scholars offer the latest research into the biggest current influences on African growth and development, taking account of relevant institutional contexts as well as significant or unique problems that have slowed Africa's progress.

Nigeria is a highly complex and ethnically diverse country, with over 400 ethnic groups. This diversity is played out in the way the country is bifurcated along the lines of religion, language, culture, ethnicity and regional identity. The population of about 178.5 million people in 2014 is made up of Christians and Muslims in equal measures of about 50% each, but including many who embrace traditional religions as well. The country has continued to experience serious and violent ethno-communal conflicts since independence in 1960, including the bloody and deadly thirty month fratricidal Civil War (also known as the Nigerian-Biafran war, 1967-1970) when the eastern region of Biafra declared its secession and which claimed more than one million lives. The latest among these violent and decimating sectarian grievances is the Boko Haram insurgency. Boko Haram, a violent but diffuse Islamist sect, has grown increasingly active and deadly in its attacks against state and civilian targets in recent years.

Nigeria is currently ranked as the 12th largest producer of oil in the world and Africa's biggest oil producer, with daily production estimated at about 2.4 million barrels. Nigeria also has the second largest proven oil reserves in Africa and the 10th largest in the world.

In the last three decades the Nigerian environment has experienced rapid degradation. A major contributory factor of this phenomenon is the pattern of socioeconomic development in the country that gives little or no consideration to environmental outcomes. An aspect of this development is the economic policy of removal of subsidies on petroleum products initiated in 1986 as a result of the worsening economic situation in the country which begun in the early 1980s. The result of this is that prices of commercial fuels inclusive of kerosene and LPG (cooking gas) have continued to rise beyond the reach of majority of the Nigerian population. The paper examines the effect of increasing prices of petroleum-derived energy sources on the pattern of energy use for cooking in low and middle-income households and the environmental implication in Ibadan, the largest truly indigenous urban centre in sub-Saharan Africa. Results show that prior to the further subsidy removal of 1993, majority of households sampled used kerosene for cooking. Thereafter, a complete or partial switch in the pattern of domestic energy consumption ensued with more households using fuel wood and other more polluting and less efficient energy sources for cooking. The paper recommends a transition towards more environmental friendly energy sources for household use. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Despite an impressive level of privatization activity across Africa and the upsurge in research on the operating performance of privatized firms in both developed and developing economies, our empirical knowledge of the privatization programme in Africa is limited. This study appraises the post-privatization performance of some privatized enterprises in Nigeria. The specific indicators examined are profitability, productive efficiency, employment, capital investment, output, prices and taxes. The study measures the change in any given indicator of performance by comparing its average value five years before and five years after privatization. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is also deployed to assess changes in the level of technical efficiency in the selected enterprises. The results, albeit mixed, show significant increases in these indicators. Privatization is also associated with increase in technical efficiency in the affected enterprises. Reduction of politically motivated resource allocation has unquestionably been the principal benefit of privatization in Nigeria.