International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences

Rural areas in Kogi State Nigeria are facing neglect with attendant rise in the rates of poverty, unemployment and general underdevelopment thereby aggravating rural-urban migration. The underdevelopment of rural areas in the State calls for modern day innovations that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers. This study investigated the impact of ICT on rural development in Kogi State from the perspectives of poverty reduction. The study was based on the neoclassical theory of poverty. Multi-stage sampling method was adopted to select 10 households each from 120 rural communities that were earlier randomly selected from the 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State. This makes a total sample of 1,200 households used in the survey. Three models of regression were estimated in the study using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. The results show that access to, ownership and utilization of ICT by households have had positive and statistically significant impact on poverty reduction in rural areas of Kogi State at 5% significance level. The study concluded that access, ownership and utilization of ICT have positively impacted the people in rural areas of Kogi State. The study recommended that Kogi State government, Non- Governmental Organizations and individual philanthropists should establish more ICT training centers and Community Internet Service Centers (CISC) in rural areas. Also, rural dwellers in Kogi State should make themselves available for ICT training.

In the machine learning technique, the knowledge graph is advancing swiftly; however, the basic models are not able to grasp all the affluence of the script that comes from the different personal web graphics, social media, ads, and diaries, etc., ignoring the semantic of the basic text identification. The knowledge graph provides a real way to extract structured knowledge from the texts and desire images of neural network, to expedite their semantics examination. In this study, we propose a new hybrid analytic approach for sentiment evaluation based on knowledge graphs, to identify the polarity of sentiment with positive and negative attitudes in short documents, particularly in 4 chirps. We used the tweets graphs, then the similarity of graph highlighted metrics and algorithm classification pertain sentimentality pre-dictions. This technique facilitates the explicability and clarifies the results in the knowledge graph. Also, we compare our differentiate the embedding’s n-gram based on sentiment analysis and the result is indicated that our study can outperform classical n-gram models, with an F1-score of 89% and recall up to 90%.

The main objective of this study is to determine mobile banking effects on commercial banks’ operational efficiency. The study looked at mobile banking loans concerning commercial banks operational efficiencies in Kenya. The study was guided by the financial deepening theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design targeting 41 commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted a census survey, using secondary data from Kenya's central bank and the commercial banks' annual financial reports in Kenya. Data on the number of loans and advances issued by the banks. The study covered nine years from 2010-2018. STATA software was used in data analysis, descriptive and statistical inferential. The independent variable was measured against the dependent variable to examine if they affected commercial banks' operational efficiency. Regression equations estimated the relationship between the variables. Hausman test was used to specify the adoption of random effect or fixed effect models in panel data. The Hausman tested and fixed effect model was selected. The diagnostic tests covering heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, multicollinearity, and normality tests were also conducted. The findings were presented using graphs and tables. The results were as follows: Mobile loans (β=0.474, p<0.05). The study concluded that mobile banking loans had a significant effect on commercial banks' operational efficiency in Kenya. The study recommended that commercial banks invest more in mobile loans since it had a positive relationship with commercial banks' operational efficiency in Kenya. The study results would enhance the adoption of more financial innovation in the banking industry that would contribute to the economy's overall grow.

Shelter is one of the main desires of mankind and it is by far very important for the physical survival of man. The adequacy and excellence of housing is a testament to productivity, happiness and satisfaction. However, in Ethiopia, it is very difficult to build a house of your own or buy or even rent one. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to examine the determinants of urban housing choice in the town of Debre Berhan, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. This study shows that socioeconomic and institutional factors are the determinants of urban housing choice. The paper recommends future studies focusing on the challenges and prospects of urban housing. Increase the ability to provide quality and quantity housing at low prices.

Like East and Central African sub-regions, West Africa performs modestly both in terms of productivity and governance. Low labour productivity in West Africa as well as the resulting lack of competitiveness, poverty and insecurity, increases the probability for this sub-region to not achieve the SDGs by 2030. It is therefore necessary to find ways to improve this. This study is part of this perspective. Beyond the traditional determinants of labour productivity, such as, physical capital stock, human capital and technical progress, it examines whether the quality of public policies and the institutional environment are likely to explain the performances recorded in terms of productivity in ECOWAS countries. Relying upon a neoclassical framework of reference, an econometric analysis is used for this purpose. The results confirm that improvement in the quality of public policies and institutions are overall associated with higher levels of productivity in these countries. However, some specificity is observed at the sectorial levels. Furthermore, the econometric analysis highlights a positive effect of investment and human capital on this productivity. The study recommends that the ECOWAS member states should improve their institutional quality and public policies. This could enable them to derive greater benefit from the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (ACFTA).