Environmental Quality In Nigeria Research Articles

Renewable energy consumption, financial development and environmental quality in Nigeria

The paper investigates the renewable energy consumption-environmental quality nexus using the FMOLS time-series analysis for Nigeria from 1981 to 2021. The findings indicated that nonrenewable energy consumption had an inverse and significant effect on environmental quality, while renewable energy consumption had a positive and significant impact on envi- ronmental quality. Financial development, on the other hand, had no significant effect on en- vironmental quality. As a result, the study suggests an appropriate policy-mix approach to ensure environmental quality in Nigeria. Furthermore, Nigeria should broaden its energy sources, specifically diversify to cleaner energy sources to guarantee environmental quality.

Low Carbon Development in Support of Improving Environmental Quality in Nigeria

The importance of technology advancements in Low Carbon Development (LCD) and their significant effects on both environmental sustainability and economic growth are highlighted in this abstract. The transformational role of innovations is highlighted by examining them in several sectors, such as waste management, carbon capture, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, these inventions support the development of a green economy, job creation, and economic resilience. According to the abstract, as countries—including Nigeria—adopt technological solutions, they are paving the way for a peaceful coexistence of environmental sustainability and economic growth.

Potency of some economic variables affecting environmental quality in Nigeria

Environmental quality (EQ) is germane to achieving sustainable living on earth. To evaluate a related stimulus of EQ on area basis, a comparative analyses of economic factors that influence pollution in Iwo and Ibadan metropolis was carried out. Data for the study was generated through the administration of 700 structured questionnaires in total at both locations, out of which 165 and 473 were retrieved from Iwo and Ibadan respectively. The distribution of respondents in form of male gender, married status, tertiary education and household size of not more than 5 were 51.5%, 78.2%, 24.9% and 46.1% respectively for Iwo, while it was 38.5%, 81.0%, 28.6% and 48.8% in the same order for Ibadan. Economic factors analyzed were (1) Income (2) living standard indexed by the form of accommodation occupied (3) waste/noise management regimen (4) energy utilization (5) orthodox versus green economy adoption and (6) waste sorting capacity. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity admitted the data as factorable at p < 0.005. Results showed that three of the economic variables significantly explained the pollution status in Iwo and Ibadan. The variables in Iwo explained 59.3% of the factors and these are waste/noise management strategies (22.5%), living standard (18.7%) and green economy adoption (18.3%). 60.2% of economic impacts on pollution in Ibadan were explained by living standard (24.4%), green economy adoption (18.8%) and waste/noise management strategies (17.0%). Only two of the variables namely living standard, and green economy adoption were common to the two study locations, although, their importance and ordering varied. While waste and noise management were most significant in Iwo, the same variable had the least effect in Ibadan. Green economy adoption was least in Iwo but most significant in Ibadan. Thus, the economic factors influencing pollution in Iwo and Ibadan metropolis, though similar, may not be given a generalized weighting. In other words, analyses of pollution-related matters from the economic viewpoint should be location specific.

Does environmental quality respond (a)symmetrically to (in)formal economies? Evidence from Nigeria

PurposeSeveral studies have examined the effect of formal economy (usually proxy by economic growth) on environmental quality; however, the symmetric and asymmetric impact of the informal economy on environmental quality has not been examined in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to explore the short- and long-run (a)symmetric effect of formal and informal economies and financial development on Nigeria’s environmental quality between 1984 and 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses ecological footprint to measure environmental quality. An increase in ecological footprint suggests a fall in environmental quality. Informal economy is calculated as a percentage of GDP using the currency demand approach. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), nonlinear ARDL cointegration framework and vector error correction granger causality are used as estimation techniques.FindingsThe study’s outcomes establish the existence of asymmetric structure in the link between economic activities and the environment both in the short and long run. The asymmetric results reveal that positive and negative changes in the formal economy increase the ecological footprint in both periods. Hence, activities in the formal economy reduce environmental quality. On the other hand, positive and negative changes in the informal economy only positively influence the ecological footprint in the long run. In contrast, it negatively impacts the ecological footprint in the short run. This suggests that activities in the informal economy worsen the long-run environmental quality. Financial development has a positive influence on the ecological footprint, thus degrading the environmental quality. Furthermore, in the short run, a unidirectional relationship from the formal economy to the ecological footprint, while a bidirectional causality exists between informal and formal economies. Meanwhile, a unidirectional causality from the (in)formal economies and financial development to the ecological footprint was found in the long run.Practical implicationsThe outcome of this study shows that both informal and formal economies contribute to ecological footprint; therefore, mainstreaming the informal economy into the formal economy will further increase the problem of environmental degradation and worsen environmental quality.Originality/valueThe study investigates the symmetric and asymmetric effect of formal and informal economies on environmental quality in Nigeria, which is largely missing in the empirical literature.

Mining association rules between lichens and air quality to support urban air quality monitoring in Nigeria

Urban environments represent the most intense human-environment interaction. This interaction can result in negative outcomes like air pollution and its health implications. There is a significant data deficit in air quality monitoring across many developing nations, which prevents effective policies and measures from being taken to promote the accomplishment of sustainable development. Around the world, lichens have been used to track environmental changes due to their sensitivity to changes and concentration of atmospheric pollutants. This study investigated the relationships between lichen and air quality across some Nigerian cities. Lichen surveys were conducted in four cities. At various periods during the day, NO2, SO2, PM2.5, and PM10 levels were measured. Association rule mining was carried out to investigate the relationship between lichen found and air quality categories. Results showed that the most prevalent lichen Genera are Pyxine in Abuja and Kano, Diorygma in Lagos, and Dirinaria in Port Harcourt. Out of the 40 rules found from the rule mining, 17 are important (lift values ≥ 1.1), capturing six of the fourteen lichen genera identified in the field. The findings indicated that there are important relationships between lichens and air quality indices, suggesting that some lichen species in Nigeria may serve as indicators of long-term air quality. To develop a network of urban environmental quality bioindicators across Nigerian cities, surveying and transplanting are advised. The use of lichen for air quality monitoring can provide information for sustainable management of air quality and environmental quality in Nigeria.

Linking shadow economy and CO2 emissions in Nigeria: Exploring the role of financial development and stock market performance. Fresh insight from the novel dynamic ARDL simulation and spectral causality approach

First and foremost, the present study seeks to traverse the informal sector characterized by a shadow economy in the presence of financial development, economic growth, and stock market performance on environmental pollution in Nigeria from 1981 to 2019. The dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) approach was used to measure the short- and long-run elasticities, while spectral causality is applied to categorize the causal directions. Findings from the study revealed that the structural break unit root test revealed that all variables are stationary at first difference. The ARDL bound test confirmed the existence of long-run association among the used variables. The ARDL long-run results reveal that economic growth, financial development, and stock market performance are significantly responsible for carbon emission in Nigeria, while the shadow economy significantly improves environmental quality in Nigeria. Findings from the spectral causality results show a unidirectional causal relationship between financial development, economic growth, trade, stock market performance, and shadow economy to carbon emission in Nigeria. The empirical findings of this study provide some perceptive policy recommendations to overcome the adverse effect of carbon emissions in the environment.

IMPACT OF OPTIMAL ENERGY MIX ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IN NIGERIA

The paper aims at giving insight on the energy mix that is suitable for Nigeria environment between 1981 and 2021 using a technique of Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS)The results show that the level of renewable energy consumption that is environmentally friendly is higher than that of non-renewable energy consumption. Also, the two energy consumption components (renewable and non-renewable energy consumptions) had significant effect on environmental quality in Nigeria. It is recommended that greater effort should be made in enhancing environmental quality towards reducing global warming. This is as a result of the fact that renewable energy is portrayed as cleaner energy source, which could be used as alternative to non-renewable energy to curb the problem of environmental hazard arising from carbon emission in the environment.

Modelling the economic and social issues related to environmental quality in Nigeria: the role of economic growth and internal conflict.

Over the past decades, environmental quality-related issues have occupied a central place in the global discourse with greater concerns to the risk of civil war, terrorism/political violence, civil disorders, and corruption which alter economic sustenance and social structures in the world. This study presents and analyses an empirical model of economic and social issues related to environmental qualitywithin the context of the environment Kuznets curve (EKC) in Nigeria between 1990 and 2016. The empirical results based on the standard ARDL model show that increases in internal conflict and corruption are environmentally deteriorative while increases in renewable energy consumption are found to be a major driver behind environmental quality improvement. The results also show that economic growth stimulates environmental degradation and hence validates the EKC hypothesis in Nigeria. These results are robust across the estimates of the dynamic ARDL simulations with deviation only in the responses ofshocks to internal conflict and corruption which significantly dampen environmental degradation in the short run--and the predicted values remain large over the long run. Furthermore, a unidirectional causal relationship flows from economic growth to ecological footprint, renewable energy, and corruption. Also, renewable energy has a predictive power for ecological footprint. In addition, internal conflict predicts renewable energy, while a change in internal conflict is caused by corruption. These findings, therefore, provide insightful policy implications for stimulating the consumption of renewable energy as a tool for sustainable cleaner environment.

The impact of renewable energy consumption on sectoral environmental quality in Nigeria

This paper examines the impact of renewable energy consumption on sectoral environmental quality in the presence of government effectiveness in Nigeria. A regression analysis was used to estimate a dataset for the period of 1989–2019. Sectoral environmental quality indicators and sectoral output were considered from the agricultural sector, manufacturing and construction sector, transportation sector, oil sector, residential buildings and commercial and public services sector, other sectors and per capita indicator. The result shows that renewable energy consumption does not have a favourable impact on the environmental quality of the agricultural sector, manufacturing and construction sector and oil sector. However, renewable energy consumption has a favourable impact on the environmental quality of the transportation sector, residential buildings, commercial and public services sector. Nevertheless, renewable energy consumption has a neutral impact on the environmental quality of other sectors. Policy implications were drawn after considering the expected value of sectoral environmental quality indicators with significant elasticities.

Financial Instability and the State of Environmental Quality in Nigeria

The study aims to look at the relationship between environmental quality and financial instability in Nigerian over the period of 1970 to 2019 respectively. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used in estimating the short-run as well as the long-run relationship between financial instability and the quality of the environment. The results of the study reveal that financial instability has a significant and positive impact on CO2 emissions, implying that financial instability is lowering the quality of environment in Nigeria. In addition, consistency and strength are verified by the application of numerous tests of diagnostic. The research introduces new insights that would not only be of benefit in advancing prevailing research but may also be of specific concern to policymakers in the financial sector of the country and its starring role in enhancing the quality of the environment. The results recommend that to prevent financial instability and its effect on environmental degradation in the light of policy consequences, financial sector reforms should be implemented with great caution.

Material and Substance Flow Analysis of Used Lead Acid Batteries in Nigeria: Implications for Recovery and Environmental Quality.

Background.As resources become scarce, information from material and substance flow analysis can help to improve material recovery policy. The flow of toxic substances such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) can be used as a basis for appropriate risk management decisions for optimum environmental quality.Objectives.The present study examined a material and substance flow analysis of used lead acid batteries (ULAB) from motor vehicles and implications for environmental quality in Nigeria.Methods.Information on motor vehicle imports was obtained from the literature. Mathematical models were constructed and used for the material and substance flow analysis. Samples of 50 brands of ULAB pastes were digested using a microwave digestion system followed by elemental determination (Pb, Cd, silver (Ag), As, cobalt (Co), calcium (Ca), Cr, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), Sb, selenium (Se), and tellurium (Te)) with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy.Results.Approximately 4.8 million tons (Mt) lead acid batteries (LAB) from vehicles was used in Nigeria between 1980 and 2014, out of which approximately 2.6 Mt had reached end-of-life (EoL) stages. From the total amount in EoL, approximately 2.3 Mt was recycled, and 0.3 Mt was landfilled. Among the toxic elements, Pb, Cd and As were the most abundant in ULAB; and of the valuable elements, Fe and Cu had the highest levels. Approximately 3.5 Mt of Pb was used in the past (1980–2014) in ULAB for motor vehicles, out of which approximately 1.9 Mt tons was in EoL stages.Discussion.The results revealed that the battery pastes were heterogeneous. Only Pb exceeded the total threshold limit concentration (TTLC) of 1000 mg/kg. The TTLC describes the safe levels or concentration of heavy metals in the environment. The levels observed for other metals in this study were below the TTLC values. The present study estimated an average life span for lead acid batteries in motor vehicles in Nigeria of 5 years, suggesting an additional 2.2 Mt at EoL by 2019. High concentrations of Pb in air, water and soil carry the potential for contamination of food products, especially in Nigeria, where food is traditionally prepared and sold in open air markets in an unregulated manner.Conclusions.High amounts of toxic elements present in the various life cycle stages signal potential environmental and human health hazards.Competing Interests.The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Testing the nexus between renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Nigeria: The role of broad‐based financial development

AbstractThis study investigates the nexus between renewable energy consumption and environmental quality in Nigeria, accounting for the role of financial development, and re‐examines the validity of the environmental Kuznet curve (EKC) hypothesis for Nigeria covering the period 1990 to 2016. To cover financial development more adequately, the current study uses the broad‐based financial development index constructed by the International Monetary Fund. The study employs second generation econometric approaches of Lee and Strazicich, and Bayer and Hanck combined cointegration tests to check for stationarity and cointegration among the variables, and then applies autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and vector error correction model (VECM) Granger causality tests to explore the effect and causal relationship respectively. The results divulge that renewable energy consumption improves environmental quality, while financial development hurts the environment. Further, the results validate an inverted U‐shaped association between economic growth and environmental degradation in Nigeria. The VECM Granger causality results indicate a long‐run effect of the independent variables on CO2 emission, while the short‐run causality reveals a mixture of unidirectional and bidirectional causality among the variables. This study therefore recommends that policy makers consider the important roles of renewable energy and financial development in reforming energy policies to achieve environmental sustainability.

CO2 EMISSIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS IN NIGERIA

Since the discovery of oil in 1956, the Nigerian economy has been dependent on fossil fuel as a means of energy generation, hence causing excessive emission of carbon dioxide in the environment. Given this background, this study investigates the effect of fossil fuel consumption on environmental quality in Nigeria. The study used secondary data from 1970- 2017 obtained from World Development Index (WDI) and employs the Johansen co-integration analysis. The result reveals that about 80% of carbon emissions in Nigeria are directly consequence of fossil fuel combustion. Also, within the period observed, pollution was found to be a rising function of income and pollution rises as communities becomes more densely populated. The study recommends an urgent design of sustainable energy framework and national sensitization on the multidimensional adverse consequences of the use of dirty fuels.Keywords: CO2 emissions, Fossil fuel, Environment, Climate ChangeJEL Classifications: Q53, L71, P28, Q54DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8050

Determinants of Environmental Quality in Nigeria: Assessing the Role of Financial Development

In this study, we analyze the determinants of environmental quality in Nigeria, focusing on the role of financial development. It is a time series analysis covering the period from 1981 to 2016. The study uses the ARDL bounds testing approach to analyze data on urbanization, per capita income, environmental degradation, energy consumption, trade intensity, and capital investment. We generate the environmental degradation index using principal component analysis (PCA). Empirical results suggest that income, financial development, energy consumption, and trade are significant in explaining environmental quality, whereas investment and urbanization are insignificant in the model. Moreover, we find no causality between the capital investment, financial development, and environmental quality, although urbanization and income unidirectionally cause environmental degradation. Also, there exists a bidirectional causality between energy consumption and environmental degradation. Therefore, to ensure efficient credit allocation to low carbon emitting firms, financial sector operators should adequately screen investment proposals before committing funds to them.

The relationship between income, energy consumption, population and deforestation for environmental quality in Nigeria

This research paper evaluates the effect of income, energy consumption and population on deforestation for environmental degradation in Nigeria. To achieve this objective, a cointegration analysis was used to verify the long-run relationship among the variables, with a dataset spanning from 1981 to 2011. The estimates of income provide evidence of a negative and important relationship with deforestation in both long- and short-run periods. This suggests that higher income can reduce deforestation and improve environmental quality. Furthermore, the coefficient of the population consistently provides evidence of a positive and important relationship with deforestation in the long- and short-run periods. Therefore, the population has been identified as the major cause of deforestation and environmental degradation in the model. Conversely, the estimates of energy consumption in both periods did not provide any evidence of a statistical relationship with deforestation. Therefore, policies of enhancing growth and curtailing deforestation were suggested.

The relationship between income, energy consumption, population and deforestation for environmental quality in Nigeria

The relationship between income, energy consumption, population and deforestation for environmental quality in Nigeria

The link between trade openness and deforestation for environmental quality in Nigeria

This paper examines the effect of trade openness on deforestation for environmental quality in Nigeria. Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach to cointegration was used to achieved the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Economic growth, energy consumption and population were used as control variable. The long-run result shows that the coefficients of trade openness and economic growth are significant and inversely related to deforestation. This suggests that trade openness and growth reduce deforestation and improves environmental quality. Conversely, the long-run coefficient of population is significant and positively related to deforestation, meaning that population increases deforestation and environmental degradation. However, the long-run result for energy consumption did not produce statistical significance. Furthermore, all the short-run results were consistent with their long-run result.

Fuel Subsidy Reform and Environmental Quality in Nigeria

The study examines the existence of a long run effect of fuel subsidy reforms on environmental quality in Nigeria for the period 1970 to 2012 using the Johansen and the Engle-Granger two step co-integration procedure techniques. Findings from the study supported evidence of a long run sustainable equilibrium model. The study developed a three case scenarios including i) a case of subsidy payment, ii) a case of effective subsidy and, iii) a case of no subsidy payment. Our estimation results showed that the first and the last case scenario do not significantly influence environment quality while an interaction of sound regulatory framework with subsidy payment (the case of effective subsidy) significantly exerts a responsive influence on environmental quality.

Does the Level of Economic Growth Influence Environmental Quality in Nigeria: A Test of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Hypothesis?

Does the Level of Economic Growth Influence Environmental Quality in Nigeria: A Test of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Hypothesis?