RESEARCH TOPICS (The materials are available, be a member)

• Impact of Training and Development on Organizational Performance.
• Productivity as a Driving Force for Investment in Training and Management Development in the Banking Industry.
• COMMON FACTORS IN PRODUCTIVE FIRMS: LESSONS FROM FOUR CASE STUDIES
• Relationship between capacity building and employee productivity on performance of commercial banks in Kenya
• The Relationship Between Employee Morale And Employee Productivity
• Industry training and Productivity – a literature review.
• The Impact of Organizational Efforts towards Employee Productivity: New Evidence from Government Service Department in Malaysia.
• Modeling link between internal service quality in human resources management and employees retention: A case of Pakistani privatized and public sector banks.
• Measuring the Impact of Training and Development
• Concept and Measurement of Productivity
• The Systematic Approach to Training: Main Phases of the Training Cycle.
•  Theories of Entrepreneurship: A Critical Overview

How to Write a Research Paper

Research papers are generally longer pieces of written work than essays. Writing a research paper involves all of the steps for writing an essay plus some additional ones.

To write a research paper you must first do some research, that is, investigate your topic by reading about it in many different sources, including books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet. In some cases you may also conduct interviews. The information you gather from these sources is then used to support the points you make in your paper.

Writing a research paper also involves documenting your sources of information in footnotes or endnotes. This way the reader knows where you got your information and can judge whether it is reliable.

Here are the steps to follow when writing a research paper:-

1. Try to pick a topic that's fun and interesting. Choose a topic that is broad enough to be interesting but narrow enough to be manageable. If your topic genuinely interests you, chances are you'll enjoy spending time working on it and it won't seem like a chore.
2. Finding a topic can be difficult. Give yourself plenty of time to read and think about what you'd like to do. Trying to answer questions you have about a particular subject may lead you to a good paper idea.

• What subject(s) are you interested in?
• What interests you most about a particular subject?
• Is there anything you wonder about or are puzzled about with regard to that subject?

3. Once you have a topic, you will probably need to narrow it down to something more manageable. For example-

Too general:
Training and Development

Revised:
Effect of Manpower Training on Organization’s Performance

4. One method for coming up with a more specific focus is called brainstorming (or free writing). Brainstorming is a useful way to let ideas you didn't know you had come to the surface.

• Sit down with a pencil and paper, or at your computer, and write whatever comes into your head about your topic.
• Keep writing for a short but specific amount of time, say 3–5 minutes. Don't stop to change what you've written or to correct spelling or grammar errors.
• After a few minutes, read through what you've written. You will probably throw out most of it, but some of what you've written may give you an idea that can be developed.
• Do some more brainstorming and see what else you can come up with

5.      Look for Sources

Ø  Take a trip to the library. Use the electronic catalog or browse the shelves to look for books on your topic. If you find a book that is useful, check the bibliography (list of sources) in the back of that book for other books or articles on that topic. Also check indexes of periodicals and newspapers. Check with a librarian if you need help finding sources.

Ø  Try to use as many different types of sources as you can, including books, magazine articles, and internet articles. Don't rely on just one source for all your information.

Ø  Keep a list of all the sources that you use. Include the title of the source, the author, publisher, and place and date of publication. This is your preliminary, or draft, bibliography

6.     Read Your Sources and Take Notes

After you've gathered your sources, begin reading and taking notes.

1.      Use 3 x 5 index cards, one fact or idea per card. This way related ideas from different sources can be easily grouped together or rearranged.

2.      On each index card, be sure to note the source, including the volume number (if there is one) and the page number. If you wind up using that idea in your paper, you will have the information about the source ready to put in your footnote or endnote.

3.      If you copy something directly from a book without putting it in your own words, put quotation marks around it so that you know it is an exact quotation. This will help you to avoid plagiarism. (For more, see What is Plagiarism?).

4.     Before you sit down to write your rough draft, organize your note cards by subtopic (you can write headings on the cards) and make an outline.

7.      Organize Your Ideas

Using the information collected on the note cards, develop an outline to organize your ideas. An outline shows your main ideas and the order in which you are going to write about them. It's the bare bones of what will later become a fleshed-out written report.

1.      Write down all the main ideas.

2.      List the subordinate ideas below the main ideas.

3.      Avoid any repetition of ideas.

- FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL IN NIGERIA: - PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS AND A WAY FORWARD

INTRODUCTION

Although it certainly cannot be seen nor be described as the best New Year gift to citizens, on January 1, 2012, Nigerians ceased to enjoy all forms of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit (popularly called Petrol) courtesy of the new policy announced by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). The question of removing or sustaining the subsidy regime had featured as a dominant topic – of public debate – in the last three months, but any keen observer would have noticed the government had already made up its mind to do away with the policy (i.e. Fuel Subsidy) which it said costs about N1.3 trillion – N1.5 trillion at the end of 2011 to keep afloat. The PPPRA regulates he downstream Oil and Gas Industry on behalf of the Federal Government and in a statement mid-Sunday (January 1, 2012) said, “By the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol), the downstream sub-sector of the Petroleum Industry is deregulated for Petrol”. Deregulation leaves market forces as the sole determinant of product prices. While over the years, many Nigerians have opposed the implementation of the policy in the Oil and Gas Industry, international finance and donor agencies like the World Bank and IMF have been very harsh in their criticisms of the successive governments that have sustained the policy for a single inherent flaw they condemned as harmful to the growth of the Nigerian economy – Subsidy (Iba, 2012).

Furthermore, the issue of fuel subsidy removal has torn this nation into two factions. The government and economic experts such as the Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; the Federal Minister of Finance, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonji – Iweala; Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke (among others) on one hand, and the masses led by the NLC, TUCN and CLO on the other hand. Being a new issue in Nigeria, it is therefore necessary that research works with holistic views such as this can be carried out to enlighten and educate both factions so that the rift can be closed. It is therefore the objective of this study to analyze the impacts of Fuel subsidy removal on the economy and as well make recommendations as to how the government can manage the revenue from fuel subsidy.

WHAT IS FUEL SUBSIDY?

A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector mainly by the government to prevent the decline of that industry (Todaro et al, 2009). On the other hand, the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2001) defined a subsidy as money that is paid by a government or an organization to reduce the cost of services or of producing goods so that their prices can be kept low. In addition, Bakare (2012) points out that to subsidize is to sell a product below the cost of production. Within the Nigerian context, fuel subsidy means to sell petrol below the cost of importation.

HISTORY OF FUEL SUBSIDY IN NIGERIA

The history of issues on fuel subsidy in Nigeria dates back to April 1992 when Ibrahim Babangida’s government raised the price of a liter of fuel from 15.3kobo to 20kobo. He did it again on March 31, 1986, from 20k to 39.5k; on April 10, 1988, from 39.5k to 42k. On January 1, 1989, he increased the price from 42k to 60k (although the regime said it was for private vehicles only, but the price remained 42k for commercial vehicles). On December 19, 1989, it moved to a uniform price of 60k. On March 6, 1991, the price of a liter of fuel was increased from 60k to 70k and that was the price when he stepped aside in August 1993. Chief Ernest Shonekan increased the price of a liter of fuel from 70k to N5 on November 8, 1993 but a hectic mass protest, saw Abacha take over power. The incoming Abacha regime reduced the increment to N3.25 on November 22, 1993. On October 2^nd 1994, the Abacha junta increased the price of fuel to N15, from N3.25 but after massive street protests, the regime reduced the increment to N11 on October 4, 1994. That was the price till Abacha passed on, and the Abdulsalami Abubakar caretaker regime raised the price from N11 to N25 on December 20, 1998 and after days of sustained protests, it was forced to reduce the increment to N20 on January 6, 1999. The Obasanjo’s presidency adopted fuel subsidy as the bedrock of its economic policy, for no sooner than it was sworn in that it effected an increment to N30 on June 1, 2000 but protests and mass rejection forced it to reduce the increment to N25 on June 8, 2000 and further down to N22 on June 13, 2000. The regime was again to increase the price to N26 on January 1, 2002 and again to N40 on June 23, 2003. He was to raise it up to N70 by the time he left in May 2009 but the incoming Yar’Adua regime reduced it to N65, after general protest against the new price regime. Although the Yar’Adua government made efforts to increase the price of petroleum products it could not scale through following increased mass disapproval for such act (retrieved from http://www.themaceonline.com/hous-of-reps-news/241-fuel-subsidy-removal-the-challenge-befor-house-committee-on-petroleum-downstream).

Presently, the Goodluck Jonathan administration has removed fuel subsidy which the administration claims will save it N1.3trillion to N1.5trillion annually which it will channel into infrastructural development (Lawson, 2012).

MANAGEMENT OF FUEL SUBSIDY BEFORE ITS REMOVAL (01/01/12)

The idea of fuel subsidy was a good one as it was intended to give the average Nigerians access to cheap petroleum products, reduced transport and production costs. The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) headed by the Executive Secretary Mr. Reginand Stanley and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources headed by the Minister Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke are responsible for the regulation, enforcement and management of fuel subsidy  (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/oil-subsidy-removal-and-a-way-forward/). However it should be noted that there were obvious flaws in the policy at inception and up to January 1, 2012 when it was removed (Iyobhebhe, 2012): -

1)   There were more private retailers of petroleum products than the state owned NNPC stations.

2)   The regulatory framework (PPPRA) used to enforce the subsidy was weak, under resourced and suffered from the Nigerian disease. The secrecy and lack of transparency by the administrator of the subsidy (the NNPC) did not help matters either.

3)   Nigeria still could not make her refineries efficient. This means that Nigeria could not produce enough refined products for local consumption.

Finally, due to the weak regulation by the PPPRA, some economic saboteurs/cabal were able to misappropriate the fuel subsidy money and channel it to their own personal pockets instead of using it for what it was intended for. Those who benefitted from the fuel subsidy largesse included: -

1)   Folawiyo Oil, N113.3billion

2)   Oando Nigeria Plc., N228.506billion

3)   IPMAN Investment Limited, N10.9 billion

4)   MRS, N224.818 billion

5)   ACON, N24.1 billion

6)   Atio Oil, N64.4 billion