THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION ON SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA
Keywords:
Environmental Degradation, Economic Growth, Sustainability, Industrial Sector Carbon Emissions, Electricity Generation Carbon EmissionsAbstract
Nigeria faces complex and interrelated environmental issues that have a significant impact on the country’s population, biodiversity, and economy. This study uses annual secondary data from the World Bank Development Indicators (WDI) covering the period 1991–2022 to investigate the relationship between environmental degradation and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. The main objective of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of environmental degradation on sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. The specific objectives are; (i) to investigate the impact of environmental degradation on sustainable economic growth in Nigeria; (ii) to determine the long-term relationship between environmental degradation and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. The study used the real gross domestic product growth rate (RGDPGR) as the dependent variable, and the independent variables were renewable energy consumption (REC), deforestation (FOREST), industrial sector carbon emissions (ISC), electricity generation carbon emissions (EGC), residential building carbon emissions (RBC), and urban population size (UPS). The autoregressive distributed lag, or ARDL, modeling was the main estimation technique. The findings of this study reveal that all variables show evidence of positive skewness, except industrial sector carbon emissions (ISC). On the basis of kurtosis, the table shows that all variables are normally distributed. The bounds test cointegration result indicates that the F-statistic ( 15.43515) lies above the upper bound (3.5) and lower bound (2.32) values of the Pesaran test statistic. This indicates that there is a long-run relationship among the variables. The result further indicates that REC, FDI, and UPS have a negative and insignificant relationship with RGDPGR in the short run, whereas the relationship between FOREST and RGDPGR is negative but significant in the short run. In addition, the results reveal that EGC and RBC have a positive and significant relationship with RGDPGR in the short term, whereas the relationship between ISC and RGDPGR is positive but insignificant. The study recommends that the Nigerian government promote environmental education as well as raise awareness about sustainable environmental practices and foster a culture of conservation among the public. The government should also embark on massive rural electrification and encourage rural dwellers to upgrade their homes to be more energy efficient to discourage the use of wood as a source of energy.
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