Industrial Clusters, Institutions and Poverty in Nigeria

The Otigba Information and Communications Technology Cluster

verfasst von: Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book provides a systematic examination of the relationship between industrial clusters and poverty, which is analyzed using a multidimensional framework. It examines the often-neglected concept of social protection as a means of mitigating the risks and vulnerabilities faced by workers and citizens in poor countries. By analyzing the case of the Otigba Information and Communications Technology cluster in Lagos, Nigeria, the author shows under which conditions firms in productive clusters can pass on benefits to workers in ways that improve their living standards in the wider socio-economic and spatial context of the region. The results presented provide substantial evidence of opportunities for economic development, helping planners to explore different avenues for integrating firm-driven social protection into social policy.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Industrial Clusters, Institutions, and Poverty in Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter gives an introduction to the book. It provides the background to the study, including the main themes touched upon—the collective efficiency framework; the organizational structure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the relationships between owners and employees in informal business environments; human development and poverty, analyzed in a multidimensional perspective; the institutional environment within which labor in developing countries work and improve their living conditions; and the rationale for the study. It further sheds light on the political economy of Nigeria where the research takes place and introduces the case study—the Otigba Information and Communication Technology cluster—used in the book. This chapter also provides insight into the research design used, the key research questions, and the rationale for the use of a single case study and the Otigba cluster in particular. Finally, it gives the reader a road map for the rest of the book.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 2. The Nexus of Industrial Clusters and Poverty

Abstract

This chapter is the literature review of the book, which locates it within the existing theoretical literature. It begins by demonstrating the links between industrial manufacturing pathway, employment, and living standards. It provides key stylized facts supporting industrial manufacturing as a source of economic growth, followed by manufacturing’s impact on employment and poverty. After that, it touches on the nature and pattern of employment, whether formal or informal and its importance to labor’s well-being. It further provides insights on institutions in cluster development. Finally, it narrows down on clusters as a unique form of industrial organization and an entryway to linking industrial dynamism, social protection, and labor’s welfare outcomes. It highlights actors, mechanisms, and institutions considered in impacting productivity and human development in the industrial cluster literature and the likely role this can play from a social protection frame. Importantly, the chapter provides the justification for this work and presents the explanation for a focus on the nexus of clusters and poverty and why the gaps that currently exist in the cluster and poverty literature merit scholarly and policy attention.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 3. Living Standards and Industrial Clusters in Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter gives a descriptive historic portrait and evolution of the case study, and its position within the political economy and urban context of Nigeria. It reviews and analyzes background information on poverty, unemployment, inequality, living standards, and planning issues in Nigeria, while also benchmarking it within the broader industrial/manufacturing milieu, and the African ICT industry in a comparative continental analysis. The chapter also reviews the core actors and institutions that are necessary for dynamic socially inclusive growth of this cluster. From the analysis, the impact of the cluster in employment and income generation is clear. For the hypothesis therefore, this chapter is important in establishing the case study as a productive and dynamic cluster, which is functioning in a labor market, which does not have or enforce formal social protection policies.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 4. Industrial Cluster Impact on Employment and Poverty: Analysis of Living Standards

Abstract

This chapter considers the relationship between work and standard of living. First, it pays close attention to the nature and quality of employment, drawing attention to the discourse on informal versus formal employment, given that the Otigba cluster sits on an informal to formal continuum. Second, drawing on secondary literature, and analysis from surveys and interviews, it highlights the living standards of employees within the cluster, using both self-reported (subjective) and objective measurements, the latter being reflective of multidimensional poverty and slum household indicators. Findings showed that Otigba employees fare comparatively better than national urban averages on sanitation, drinking water, and assets but tend to live in more crowded rooms and use less electricity for cooking and energy sources. On most indicators—cooking fuel, drinking water, sanitation, and assets (except cars), a larger percentage of employees are using/have access to the more improved sources. Finally, the chapter showed that the subjective and objective measurements corroborated each other.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 5. Social Protection and Living Standards in Informal Industrial Clusters

Abstract

This chapter takes a close look at the debate on social protection generally and within the Nigerian context. It shows that formal social protection in Nigeria is small and not far reaching particularly to informal workers and enterprises. This chapter shows that although the cluster ranks high in terms of the educational level of owners and management, it faces a hostile institutional milieu due to the weak support received from both national and municipal governments, the latter, for the most part, being more interested in extracting rent through multiple taxation rather than supporting the enterprises. In part, due to the embryonic nature of social policy and its enforcement in Nigeria, no formal practice of social protection among all sizes of firms that is backed by the law was found. Notwithstanding, employees identified certain benefits that they received, while CEOs/managerial staff indicated what they gave, and through discriminant analysis a differentiation of the peculiar features that characterized firms that provided such benefits was made.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 6. The State, Institutions, and Policy Support for Clusters

Abstract

This chapter discusses the particular role of the state and its agencies and other institutions in leveraging industrial clusters as means of employment and poverty eradication in existing literature. It specifically focuses on the past and current roles of government, its agencies, policies, and institutions in poverty eradication in Nigeria, and how these have impacted industrial clusters and Otigba. It showed that positive political institutions have, for the most part, been conspicuous by their absence; when they manifest, their impact on the vulnerable has been seen to be negative. Second, it shows that failed political institutions have spawned diverse governing social institutions and networks that organize human relationships along ethnic and professional lines in order to assist firms and workers to attain benefits related to social security, health, and education, ordinarily available through formal social protection. Third, the chapter reveals clearly the pervasiveness of informal institutions that emerged to fill the vacuum left by weak, absent, or unenforced formal institutions (embodied by state agencies and enforcement rules) and highlights the role of government in creating a conducive environment for firms and workers in clusters through the provision of adequate infrastructure and institutions.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Chapter 7. Conclusion: Industrial Clusters and Poverty

Abstract

This chapter highlights the key findings of this book and recounts the main lessons from the previous six chapters. It revisits the main hypotheses of the book: first, firms in clusters influence the living standards of workers by passing on workplace benefits, which they build upon and impart to workers because it is in their interest to raise the productivity of these workers; second, firms in clusters might choose not to provide other work-based and place-based benefits like health, transportation, or housing in the workplace though it would impact the living standards of the workers because social policies do not compel them to do so, and they do not see the direct benefit to the firm of doing so; and third, firms in clusters might pass on one or more of these work-based and place-based benefits to workers because it is at a low cost to the firm, and/or they seek to gain and/or deepen the loyalty of the workers to the firm. It then shows how, if at all, these hypotheses were met. It recaps the main themes that were covered in the book and sets forth implications for theory, policy, and planning, while providing recommendations for future research.

Oyebanke Oyeyinka

Titel: Industrial Clusters, Institutions and Poverty in Nigeria
verfasst von: Oyebanke Oyeyinka
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-41151-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41149-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41151-4