SALEM JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in Nigeria represents a major reform aimed at addressing the inefficiencies of the erstwhile Defined Benefit Scheme. This study examines CPS as a strategic tool for economic development, focusing on its contributions to capital formation, financial market development, savings mobilization, and social security. Using descriptive and analytical approaches and drawing on existing literature, the study finds that CPS has significantly enhanced long-term fund availability and contributed to economic growth in Nigeria. However, challenges such as limited coverage, compliance issues, and investment constraints persist. The study concludes that while CPS is not a complete solution, it remains a critical driver of sustainable economic development in Nigeria.

With the growing recognition of human capital as a strategic asset, there is increasing concern about the extent to which investments in human resources translate into improved financial outcomes, particularly within the oil and gas sector. Despite this importance, empirical evidence on the relationship between human resource accounting (HRA) practices and financial performance in Nigeria remains limited and inconclusive. This study examined the effect of human resources accounting (HRA) practices on the financial performance of quoted oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex post facto research design and relied on secondary data sourced from the published annual reports and accounts of selected quoted oil and gas companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group for the period 2015–2024. HRA practices are proxied by recruitment cost, training and development cost, and employee welfare cost, while financial performance is measured using Earnings per Share (EPS) and Net Profit. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and panel data regression techniques, including fixed and random effects models. Relevant post-estimation and diagnostic tests were conducted to ensure the robustness and reliability of the results. The findings revealed that HRA practices have a significant effect on the financial performance of quoted oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The study concluded that effective investment in human resources enhances firm profitability and market valuation. It therefore recommended that there should be a budgetary allocation for training and development programs, oil and gas companies strengthen human capital investment strategies and adopt improved human resources accounting and disclosure practices to enhance financial performance and stakeholder confidence.

This study evaluates the influence of corporate social responsibility reporting on firm performance as captured via their net profit margin and return on assets over the study period of 2012 to 2022. The study employed the stationarity test because of its statical properties, the panel regression test in its pooled random and fixed effects variants, followed by the co-integration test, error correction model and stacked granger causality test that analyzed causal relationship between relevant variables. The research employed secondary data which were  obtained from annual report of quoted oil and gas companies to test seven hypotheses related to community development costs, human capacity development costs, employee benefit costs, and firm size. The findings reveal a significant positive relationship between community development costs and net profit margin, emphasizing the impact of strategic investments in community development on profitability. However, no significant relationship is found between community development costs and return on asset. Human capacity development costs did not exhibit a significant relationship with either net profit margin or return on asset. Notably, a negative relationship is identified between employee benefit costs and net profit margin, prompting recommendations for careful management of benefit programs. Firm size positively moderates the relationship in the net profit margin model, indicating potential advantages for larger companies, while its impact on return on asset is not statistically significant. Therefore, the study advises decision-makers to act towards optimizing resource allocation, fostering sustainable community development, and maintaining a balanced approach to employee benefits.

National development planning has long been regarded as a critical instrument for achieving sustained economic growth and structural transformation, particularly in developing economies such as Nigeria. This study examines the role of development planning in Nigeria with specific emphasis on the First (1962–1968) and Fourth (1981–1985) National Development Plans. Drawing on descriptive and comparative analysis, the study highlights the objectives, sectoral allocations, implementation strategies, and outcomes of both plans within the broader context of Nigeria’s development experience. The findings reveal that while the First National Development Plan recorded relatively strong economic performance, marked by infrastructural expansion and moderate GDP growth, the Fourth National Development Plan was largely undermined by poor implementation, fiscal constraints arising from oil price shocks, rising external debt, and frequent changes in government. The study further underscores that Nigeria’s development challenges are less attributable to poor planning frameworks than to weak implementation mechanisms, inadequate project monitoring, cost overruns, and pervasive corruption. In addition, the paper situates subsequent initiatives such as Vision 20:2020, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), and State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) as efforts to address past shortcomings through improved coordination and accountability. The study concludes that effective national development in Nigeria requires strengthened institutional capacity, enhanced project management culture, reduced corruption, and greater emphasis on implementation and monitoring.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance has become a central determinant of corporate legitimacy, particularly in the post-2020 era when global disruptions and sustainability imperatives reshaped stakeholder expectations. This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of 23 peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and 2025 to critically examine the relationship between ESG performance and corporate reputation, with an emphasis on emerging economies such as Nigeria. The findings reveal persistent conceptual ambiguities in defining and measuring reputation, with approaches ranging from stakeholder surveys to disclosure indices and market proxies. Empirical evidence generally supports a positive ESG–reputation linkage, though the strength and persistence of this relationship are contingent on mediating factors (e.g., transparency, stakeholder engagement, legitimacy) and moderating conditions (e.g., regulatory enforcement, industry visibility, firm size, governance quality). Sectoral and contextual differences are especially pronounced in Nigeria, where community-level pressures and weak regulatory enforcement shape reputation formation differently from developed markets. The review highlights gaps in methodological diversity, with quantitative approaches dominating while qualitative and mixed methods remain underutilized. Theoretically, stakeholder and legitimacy perspectives dominate, but recent contributions point to the need for integrating institutional and reputation capital theories to account for emerging market dynamics. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda that emphasizes multi-method triangulation, context-sensitive theoretical refinement, and hybrid measurement approaches capable of capturing both relational and market-based dimensions of reputation.

Persistent growth performance disparities among African economies despite increased trade openness put into question the effectiveness of trade openness in driving sustainable development. This study explores the influence of trade openness on economic growth in South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, and Egypt (SANE) using data from annual data spanning 1986-2023 obtained from World Development Indicators. The study is based on the endogenous growth theory with trade openness, inflation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) as explanatory variables. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing method, long-run as well as short-run dynamics are estimated. The results indicate that trade openness is a strong supporter of long-run economic growth in South Africa and Algeria, whereas FDI and GFCF are the main drivers in Egypt. By contrast, none of the macroeconomic determinants have a persistent influence on growth in Nigeria with far-reaching implications for structural and institutional issues. Inflation always represents a negative contribution to growth in the majority of countries, which underscores the importance of macroeconomic stability. The study highlights the country-specificity of the macroeconomic variables' influence on growth. Based on this result, the paper recommends that certain policies encouraging greater trade integration, investment efficiency, and inflation control are required to guarantee long-term growth in the SANE region.

The study investigated liquidity management Measures of banks and capital formations in Nigeria covering the periods 1981 to 2023. Liquidity management was captured using liquidity ratio, loan-to-deposit ratio; treasury bills subscriptions by Deposit Money Banks and savings/deposit rate. Capital formations on the other hand was proxied by gross fixed capital formations (GFCF). Data on these variables were collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ardl) approach to cointegration analysis was used to analyse the data. Results from statistical estimations revealed the existence of long run association between liquidity management measures of Deposit Money Banks and capital formations in Nigeria. The study further revealed that, short-run distortions can be significantly corrected in the long-run at the speed of 37.96 %. Based on results, it was advised that existing liquidity management measures adopted by banks should be sustained given its significant effects on capital formations in Nigeria. The said measures should further be deepened for optimum results viz-a-viz capital formations in Nigeria.

This paper examined the impact of Digital marketing on the performance of a few logistics companies in Osogbo. Specifically, the study examined how electronic marketing has affected the business over the years. The population of the study covered three logistics companies in Osogbo. The study used primary data obtained from the questionnaire that was administered. Convenience Sampling Technique was used and the data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics analysis. Thereafter, regression analysis was conducted. The results reveal that The Performance of Logistics company in Osogbo are based on their ability to manage and make use of online space as much as possible as they can and also that Social media marketing plays a lot of influence on the performance of Logistics company than any other medium that was researched in this research so far. The study recommended that the logistics company should try to keep on managing their online platforms and also looks for a more ways to capture more online space, Future researcher should try as much as possible to reach out to the logistics company through google form as majority of them are always busy during work time and lastly Logistics company should monitor the space at which their customer is forth coming and seek a way to maintain them and improve in other aspects of service delivery

This paper examined the impact of Digital marketing on the performance of a few logistics companies in Osogbo. Specifically, the study examined how electronic marketing has affected the business over the years. The population of the study covered three logistics companies in Osogbo. The study used primary data obtained from the questionnaire that was administered. Convenience Sampling Technique was used and the data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics analysis. Thereafter, regression analysis was conducted. The results reveal that The Performance of Logistics company in Osogbo are based on their ability to manage and make use of online space as much as possible as they can and also that Social media marketing plays a lot of influence on the performance of Logistics company than any other medium that was researched in this research so far. The study recommended that the logistics company should try to keep on managing their online platforms and also looks for a more ways to capture more online space, Future researcher should try as much as possible to reach out to the logistics company through google form as majority of them are always busy during work time and lastly Logistics company should monitor the space at which their customer is forth coming and seek a way to maintain them and improve in other aspects of service delivery.