Balancing the Scales: Does Public Debt and Energy Poverty Mitigate or Exacerbate Ecological Distortions in Nigeria?

Uju Ezenekwe (), Kingsley Okere (), Stephen Dimnwobi () and Chukwunonso Ekesiobi
Additional contact information
Kingsley Okere: Gregory University, Uturu, Nigeria
Stephen Dimnwobi: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

No 23/062, Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. from African Governance and Development Institute.

Abstract: Amid Nigeria’s economic growth and energy challenges, the escalating public debt levels and persistent energy poverty raise critical questions about their potential impacts on the environment. Given the potential conflict between economic development, energy poverty alleviation, and ecological conservation, it becomes pertinent to understand whether increased public debt and efforts to address energy poverty inadvertently contribute to or alleviate ecological imbalances within the country. Hence, this research investigates the effect of public debt and energy poverty on the load capacity factor (LCF) in Nigeria. Using the STIRPAT model and annual data from 1990 to 2021, the study explores the relationships among total public debt, energy poverty, gross domestic product per capita, urbanization, and LCF. Descriptive analysis, correlation assessments, and unit-root tests precede the data analysis conducted with the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and dynamic ARDL (DARDL) technique. Key findings reveal significant negative effects of urbanization and energy poverty on LCF. Additionally, the ARDL and DARDL procedure highlights a positive long-term relationship between public debt and LCF. Both ARDL and DARDL analyses show a negative short-term relationship between GDP growth per capita and LCF, signaling the need for sustainable economic practices. The study concludes with policy recommendations that aim to promote sustainable development and address ecological imbalances by tackling energy poverty and public debt challenges in Nigeria.

Keywords: Public Debt; Energy Poverty; Load Capacity Factor; STIRPAT Model; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Forthcoming: International Social Science Journal

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/Balanc ... tions-in-Nigeria.pdf Revised version, 2023 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Balancing the Scales: Does Public Debt and Energy Poverty Mitigate or Exacerbate Ecological Distortions in Nigeria? (2023)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/062

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. from African Governance and Development Institute. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Asongu Simplice ().