Opeyemi Akinyemi

Fuel Subsidy Reform and Environmental Quality in Nigeria

The study examines the existence of a long run effect of fuel subsidy reform on environmental quality in Nigeria for the period of 1970-2012 using the Johansen and the Engle–Granger two step co-integration procedure techniques. 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. Findings from the study supported evidence of a long run sustainable equilibrium model. Also, our estimation results showed that the first and the last case scenario do not significantly influence environmental quality. This implies that subsidy payment in Nigeria does not enhance access and consumption of liquid fuel. On the other hand, the interaction of sound regulatory framework with subsidy payment (the case of effective subsidy) significantly exerts a responsive influence on environmental quality.

Electricity Consumption and Economic Development in Nigeria

The study examines the relationship between electricity consumption and economic development using an extended neoclassical model for the period 1970-2013. The study incorporates the uniqueness of the Nigerian economy by controlling for the role of institutions, technology, emissions, and economic structure in the electricity consumption-development argument. The study adopted a cointegration analysis based on the Johansen and Juselius (1981) maximum Likelihood approach and a vector error correction model. In order to ensure robustness, the study adopted the wald block endogeneity causality test to ascertain the direction of causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic development. The study found an existence of long-run cointegration equation with electricity consumption inversely related to economic development. Likewise, the vector error correction model failed to reject the null hypothesis of non-convergence in the long-run. Finally, the study found evidence supporting unidirectional causal relationship running from economic development to electricity consumption

Energy Supply and Climate Change in Nigeria

The energy industry has been identified as one of the sectors most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. In the past years, government had been making a lot of effort at reforming the energy sector and this study attempted to investigate the extent to which the energy sector will be affected in the face of the threats presented by a changing climate. The study seeks to examine the impact of climate change on energy supply in Nigeria for the period 1971-2011 using the vector error correction procedure. We adopted the Johansen and Juselius, and Engle-Granger co-integration analysis to determine the rank of the series long run co-integration. Also the error correction model was used to obtain the long-run estimates and the speed of error adjustment. We corroborate our findings by adopting the Wald exogeneity test to examine the direction of causal relationship between climate change and energy production. The study found a positive relationship between climate change and energy supply, as well as no evidence of causal relationship between climate change and energy supply. The study developed an interaction of climate change and measure of institutional quality, though less responsive to energy supply, but exhibits similar pattern with the actual climate change. Also, the indicators of power losses, technology and investment impacts a significant negative influence on energy supply, while GDP per capita and economy structure exerts though positive but the indicator of economic structure was statistically insignificant in explaining dynamism in energy supply. The findings from our empirical investigation puts caution on economic advisers and policy makers on the level of adherence to the Kyoto protocol in order not to jeopardize productivity activities and economic gains. Also,adaptation efforts should however follow careful scenario analysis with a strengthened institutional framework and injection of funds for technological improvement. This could be done in partnership with international organizations and the private sector

Human capital development and inclusive growth: Implications for achieving SDG-4 in Nigeria

Background: This paper examines the relationship between human capital and inclusive growth and how it can be a viable tool for driving the achievement of the Goal-4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additionally, the study show that the attainment of SDG Goal-4 can generate more inclusive type of growth through quality education (human capital development). Methods: The study employed annual data from 1981-2015 from the National Statistical Bulletin (2015) and the World Development Indicators (2015). It uses the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) and Johansen co-integration estimation techniques. Findings: The result shows that human capital is statistically significant and has a long run relationship with the measure of inclusive growth. Conclusion: The paper concluded that the tools indicated under the SDG-4 can help government produce a more inclusive growth through the channel of quality education, skill acquisition and human capital development.

Twin Deficit in Nigeria: A Re-Examination

This study re-examines the long run relationship between the budget and current account deficits in an oil-dependent open economy like Nigeria using a multivariate Granger causality test within the VECM framework. This result confirmed the existence of a long run relationship between the budget and current account deficit in Nigeria, thus supporting the Mudell-Fleming theory and refuting the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis (REH). The causality result indicates no causality between budget deficit and current account while the current account deficit causes budget account deficit. This implies that reduction in the current account deficits will help reduce the “twin deficit” dilemma.