Migrant Remittances, Growth and Poverty Reduction: ARDL- Bounds Test and Granger Causality Approach

This study examined the impact of human capital development on poverty reduction in Nigeria covering the period 1981-20222. Data for the research were annual times series data on total education expenditures, total health expenditures, and inflation extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2020 and poverty rate, out-of-pocket expenditures, and human development index collected from World Development indicators. The methodology adopted in the study is linear regression with the application of the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) technique. Other diagnostic tests which include unit-root test, autocorrelation, and normality test were carried out in the study. The major findings of the study were that total education expenditures (TOEDXP) have a positive and insignificant contribution to poverty reduction in Nigeria, total health expenditures (TOHEXP) have a positive and insignificant contribution to poverty reduction in Nigeria, and out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) have a positive and insignificant contribution to poverty reduction in Nigeria. It is therefore the recommendation of the study that the government should also increase its expenditure on health and education. It is a fact that health is wealth and therefore, there is a need to provide a good environment, health facilities, an increased rate of doctor to patient ratio, health workers motivation and increased remuneration amongst others and also government should increase its expenditure on education as this would improve the standard of living of the citizens.

Poverty and insecurity are pressing concerns in Nigeria, where a significant portion of the population live below the poverty line and face threats to their personal safety. This study investigated the potential of community entrepreneurship development as a strategy for reducing poverty and enhancing security in Nigeria. The study reviewed extant literature and analysed secondary data from reputable sources such as government reports, academic journals, and international organisations, to explore the relationship between community entrepreneurship development, poverty reduction, and security outcomes in Nigeria. The results indicate that existing initiatives that are aimed at developing community entrepreneurship can significantly contribute to poverty reduction in Nigeria, especially in rural regions where economic opportunities are limited. It found that entrepreneurial activities can increase household incomes, improve food security, and enhance access to basic services, thereby reducing poverty rates. Furthermore, the findings indicate that community entrepreneurship development can contribute to improved security outcomes by reducing youth unemployment, a key driver of social unrest and crime. Keywords: Community Entrepreneurship, Community Development, Poverty, Security.

The study examined the impact of international trade on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: Determine the impact of total import value on the poverty reduction in Nigeria; ascertain the impact of total export value on the poverty reduction in Nigeria and evaluate the impact of foreign direct investment on the poverty reduction in Nigeria. This study made use of ex post-facto research design, which enables us to measure the impact or relation between dependent variable and explanatory variables using time-series secondary data. These variables consist of Poverty Rate (POVERTY), Total Export Value (TEV), Total Import Value (TIV), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), TRADE OPENNESS (TRAOPEN) and Trade Tariff (TRADE) for a period of 1980 to 2019. Poverty rate (POVERTY) was sourced from World Bank Data Indicators. Total Export Value (TEV), Total Import Value (TIV), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Trade Tariff (TRADE) were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Statistical Bulletin 2019. The method of data analysis was Error Correction Model while Augmented Dickey-Fuller Unit Root test statistic, Johansen co-integration test, Heteroscedasticity White Test, Ramsey Reset, Jarque Bera, Breuch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test were test used in the study. The results of the study reveal that: Total Export Value (TEV) has positive significant impact on poverty reduction since (t-statistics (6.0593) > critical value (1.684); Total Import Value (TIV) has negative significant impact on poverty reduction since (t-statistics (-3.3968) > critical value (1.684); total import value has 79% positive significant impact on poverty reduction in Nigeria and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has positive insignificant impact on poverty reduction since (t-statistics (0.2781) < critical value (1.684). The study recommends that the Nigeria government should sustain export diversification. Non-oil exports, especially agricultural sector, should be encouraged and concentration on oil sector export should be minimized.

This paper examines the impact of foreign aid on economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique for regression analysis. The study employs time series data from 1986 to 2020 to analyze the long-run and short-run relationship between foreign aid, economic growth in Nigeria. The study adopted the combined theories of economic growth of the Harrod-Domar Model, the Two-Gap Model and the Three- Gap Model in theoretical outlook. The data set is used to test the long-term relationship as well as the short-term relationship. The results show that foreign aid has a positive and significant impact on economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria in both the long-run and short run. The study concludes that foreign aid can be an effective tool for promoting economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study recommended that in targeting aid towards infrastructure development, foreign aid can be used to fund infrastructure projects like building and upgrading roads, ports, and power plants to create jobs and increase economic activity. It also recommended investing in education and healthcare, foreign aid can be used to support education and healthcare initiatives, to improve the overall health and well-being of the population and increase productivity Economic-growth, Foreign aid, Poverty, Nigeria, Population, Three-Gap Model Two-Gap Model

This paper examined “The Moderating Roles of Government in Poverty Reduction in Nigerian” The paper critically evaluated the impact of government intervention in alleviating poverty in Nigeria.. It further addresses the issues of how these interventions programmes have proved to have been successful or have failed over time. The objective was to determine if there is statistically significant relationship between government expenditure on various poverty reduction programmes and economic growth in Nigeria. This we based our theoretical foundation on the Kuznet’s U Curve Hypothesis and the general income distribution theory to evaluate the link between inequality, poverty reduction and economic growth in Nigeria. In the methodology, our Model Specification was anchored on whether government programs has any significant influence on poverty reduction following the framework of Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) and Grootaert, Kanbbdur and Oh (1995) methods of analysis that uses a time subscript (t). We therefore modeled the relationship between poverty reduction and government programs through government expenditure on social intervention programs. The finding shows that there is no statistical significance between government expenditure and poverty reduction programs in Nigeria.

<p><em>This research investigates the relevance of government expenditure on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The main objective is thus to investigate whether the poverty reduction efforts through government spending has actually translated into a reduction in the poverty level. The study covered the period between 1980 and 2016. The ECM model and cointegration models of the OLS as well as the granger causality techniques were used to analyze the data. The result of the ADF unit root test indicates that all the variables are I(1). The result of the Johansen cointegration indicates the existence of a long run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The result of the parsimonious ECM indicates that though the one period lag government expenditure on health has a significant and positive impact on the per capita income, it has a low elasticity. The result indicates further that government expenditure on education has a significant and positive impact on the per capita income. The result indicates further that government expenditure on building and construction has a significant and positive impact on the per capita income, the elasticity is however very low. The granger causality test result indicates no causality between government expenditure on health and education. A bicausal relationship however exists between government expenditure on education and per capita income. The result shows no causality between government expenditure on building and construction and the per capita income. The result recommends amongst others an increment and proper monitoring of government spending which could be enhanced through public private partnership.</em></p>

Water is one of the most important resources on earth and a basic life need; all human activities towards social-economic developments depend on the availability of water. Groundwater accounts for about 0.06% of Earth’s available water and represents about 98% of the fresh water readily available to humans. Harnessing this important resource for productive uses such as irrigation, domestic and industrial water supplies would help to reduce poverty and vulnerability to water borne disease particularly in rural settlements. Groundwater development, exploitation, and supply chain in Nigeria is relatively low and needs a major transformation. Groundwater resource is required to meet the need of the rapid growth in population, urbanization, industrialization and competition for economic development. Although the management of groundwater in Nigeria is lagging behind the pace of development, and often, very little control is exercised in its exploitation, groundwater has gainfully impact on the rate and level of poverty and has transformed rural economies in most parts of the country, thereby alleviating poverty, reduce the rate of water related diseases and enhance economic growth. This paper emphasizes the impacts of groundwater developments on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The opportunities and economic sustainability presented by groundwater resource development are presented. Integrated approaches/strategies for sustainable management of groundwater resources with relevant recommendations for groundwater resource management are advocated.

The paper examines fiscal policy regulations as a tool for enhancing economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria using data covering the period 1981-2014 obtained from Central bank of Nigeria and World Development Indicators. The study employed econometric methods of Ordinary Least Square (OLS), Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) Unit Root test, Johansen Co-integration test and Vector auto-regression (VAR) to analyze data empirically. Results from data analyzed suggest that tax revenue, external borrowings, government domestic debt and government capital expenditure have not contributed significantly to economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. However, government recurrent expenditure was found to be statistically significant and impacted on the gross domestic product per capita during the study period. This may be attributed to the reason that recurrent expenditure has a deep rooted and faster influence on growth than capital expenditure. Capital expenditure, which is a long-term expenditure, is more prone to misappropriation and theft, and also could be less growth enhancing. The empirical result is consistent with and strongly upheld the Keynesian’s view that government expenditure causes economic growth.

Fishery and forestry ventures are sub-sectors of agriculture with the potential for poverty reduction through employment creation, value addition, and improvement in export earnings. Nevertheless, they have received relatively less attention from all levels of government in Nigeria. This paper examined the effect of fishery and forestry ventures on poverty reduction in Nigeria between 1976 and 2022. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. Data were sourced from CBN annual statistical bulletin, the National Bureau of Statistics, publications of the World Bank, as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. NARDL was adopted for data analysis. Phillip-Peron Unit root tests revealed a uniform order of integration, while Co-integration Bounds test revealed no existence of long-run relationship between the fishery and forestry ventures and poverty reduction. Findings revealed that agricultural production in fishery and forestry has no significant long-run nexus with poverty reduction in Nigeria. The paper recommended that the Federal Department of Fisheries should engage reputable research institutes and colleges in the fishery industry in Nigeria to train and retrain participants in the sub-sectors to provide skilled workforce in the development of sustainable fishery production towards poverty reduction in Nigeria. The paper also recommended that regulatory agencies in the forestry sub-sector in Nigeria appoint more supervisors and enforcement officers to ensure adequate regulation of the industry towards adding maximum economic value to the exploration and exploitation of the forestry resources in Nigeria by reducing leakages and ensuring that adequate taxes and levies are paid including collection of relevant penalties from defaulters in order to attain sustainable income generation and poverty reduction among the accredited participants.

The study examined the impact of government social spending on poverty reduction in Nigeria for the period 1981-2020 with time series data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. Poverty (household consumption expenditure) was specified as a function of social capital Spending, social recurrent Spending, Inflation rate, and Unemployment. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test shows that all the time series data were stationary at first difference (I(1)). The result of the Johansen cointegration proves evidence of long run relationship among the variables. The result of the Fully Modified OLS indicates that: government capital spending on social goods and services has significant impact on poverty reduction in Nigeria; government recurrent spending on social goods and services has significant impact on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The Granger causality result shows that there is a uni-directional causality relationship running from government capital spending on social goods to poverty reduction. There is a uni-directional causality relationship running from government recurrent spending on social goods to poverty reduction. This implies that social government spendings has the potency of reducing poverty if resources are effectively monitored and productively spent for the purpose they are meant for. Based on these findings, the study recommends that government should establish an agency that should ensure adequate monitoring and implementation of government social expenditure in Nigeria.

This paper examines the impact of foreign aid on economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique for regression analysis. The study employs time series data from 1986 to 2020 to analyze the long-run and short-run relationship between foreign aid, economic growth in Nigeria. The study adopted the combined theories of economic growth of the Harrod-Domar Model, the Two-Gap Model and the Three- Gap Model in theoretical outlook. The data set is used to test the long-term relationship as well as the short-term relationship. The results show that foreign aid has a positive and significant impact on economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria in both the long-run and short run. The study concludes that foreign aid can be an effective tool for promoting economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study recommended that in targeting aid towards infrastructure development, foreign aid can be used to fund infrastructure projects like building and upgrading roads, ports, and power plants to create jobs and increase economic activity. It also recommended investing in education and healthcare, foreign aid can be used to support education and healthcare initiatives, to improve the overall health and well-being of the population and increase productivity.

The contributions of human capital development in achieving the sustainable development cannot be overemphasized in any economy, this is because investment in education and health has been argued as the strategic impetus for improving the quality of human resources. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the impact of human capital development on the sustainable development goal one (1) – poverty reduction. The study utilizes the Nigerian data combining Johansen Cointegration test, Granger causality test and Fully Modified Least Squares to establish how public investments in both education and health affect poverty reduction in the country between 1981 and 2019. Originating from the findings of this study, both government expenditure on health and capital formation Granger caused poverty reduction in Nigeria. This is a vital signal that human capital development in the form of investment in health of human resources is an important condition for the achievement of the sustainable development goal one (1) – poverty eradication in Nigeria. Similarly, all the selected components of human capital development have positive contributions to poverty reduction in Nigeria. However, the contributions of health expenditures and capital formation are statistically significant. This implies that health expenditures and capital formation have a trickle-down effect on poverty reduction in Nigeria. Therefore, this study recommends the following: any time the Nigerian policymakers want to achieve the sustainable development goal one (1) – poverty reduction, the Nigerian budgetary allocations to education and health sectors should be in tandem with the global benchmark; this would ensure material and human resources that could drive the country towards the sustainable development. The enhancement of educational and health facilities by the policymakers would also bring about improvement in the living standard of the Nigerians.

This study investigates the impact of agricultural financing on poverty reduction in Nigeria, applying the Development Finance Theory to examine the relationship between financial systems and economic development. Agricultural financing, which includes loans, credit, insurance, and investment tailored to the needs of farmers and agribusinesses, is critical for enhancing productivity, improving livelihoods, and promoting sustainable development. Using secondary data from 2000 to 2023 sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), UNDP, and World Bank, this study employs a quasi-experimental research design and econometric models to analyze the influence of deposit money bank loans (DMBL), government expenditure (GEX), foreign direct investment (FDI), and other key financial variables on poverty levels. The findings reveal that increases in agricultural financing, particularly through DMBL and GEX, have a significant but complex relationship with poverty, suggesting that ineffective financial allocations may exacerbate poverty. In the long run, stable exchange rates and improved access to agricultural finance are essential for poverty alleviation. This study concludes that targeted reforms in agricultural financing policies and the optimization of financial resources are crucial for achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

This paper investigated how an open economy impacted poverty reduction in Nigeria during the period between 1985 and 2022. To analyze the effect of open economy through trade openness, export, import, foreign direct investment (FDI), and external borrowings on poverty level in Nigeria, this work used the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, and data were sourced from the CBN Statistical Bulletin, the World Bank’s PovcalNet database, and World Development Indicators. The analysis indicated a long-run cointegration relationship in the model. Empirical results showed that trade openness, FDI, and imports positively affected poverty levels in Nigeria. Contrary to this, the effect of export had a negative relationship but statistically significantly impacted the poverty level in the long-run period. However, external borrowing had a negative relationship with poverty level, as increasing external borrowing was associated with decreased poverty and was statistically significant in the short-term period. The study concluded that export growth and external borrowing helped reduce poverty in Nigeria. Based on the findings and conclusion, the study recommended, among others, that Nigerian policymakers should encourage and subsidize export industries to produce their long-term effect in reducing poverty and transparently direct external borrowings to productive investments, especially in infrastructure, human capital development (education and health), and real sectors (agriculture and manufacturing), in order to maximize short-term effects of poverty reduction.

Public sector investment in any economy is often shown in the level of government spending, which is revealed in the welfare level of her populace as part of her fiscal obligation. This study examines the effect of government expenditure and poverty reduction in Nigeria using secondary data sourced from the publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and World Development Indicators from 1981 to 2022. The study employed the Auto-regressive Distributive Lag Model (ARDL) to achieve its objectives. The results of the findings revealed that government spending in building and construction, health have a positive and significant effect on per capita income used as a proxy for welfare of Nigeria’s populace. While government investment in education has a negative and insignificant effect on per capita income in Nigeria. Moreover, interest rate and inflation rate as contributory variables have a positive effect on per capita income in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that government should prioritize investment in infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, energy facilities, and public transportation systems. This will not only stimulate economic growth but also create employment opportunities and improve connectivity across regions. Also, prioritize targeted investments in quality education through teachers training, curriculum development, and infrastructure to enhance the learning environment and ensure that students acquire the necessary skills for economic productivity.