Attainment of universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is one of the goals for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Existing data and statistic suggest that high proportion of households in less developed countries heavily rely on solid fuels for domestic requirements. Also, recent data revealed that in Nigeria over 70 percent of households depend on fuel wood for cooking which indicate the task ahead of policy makers in the country for ensuring access to efficient sources of energy before the expiration of sustainable development goals. In this study we empirically examined socio-economic factors that influence households’ likelihood of energy consumption in Nigeria. In order to achieve our specific objectives, we adopt 2013 demographic health survey dataset for Nigeria and multinomial logistic regression was conducted in analyzing the factors affecting households’ decision for energy demand. Evidence from the study revealed that demographic characteristics, economic status, public awareness and social variables are strong determinants of households’ energy choice in the country and conformed to the propositions of “Energy Ladder Hypothesis”. We concluded by presenting concluding remarks and policy implications for decision making toward ensuring access to affordable, sustainable and efficient energy in Nigeria.

Article History JEL Classification:F33, F34, F35, O11.After about a decade of exiting sovereign debt havoc; there is now another panic that a new sovereign-debt problem may loom in Nigeria given the current rising debt profile in the country. In this light ,this paper sought to enhance the existing literature on the debt growth-nexus by analyzing the relationship between debt variables and economic growth within Solow (1956) growth framework. The study adopted econometric technique of Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model and applied on time-series data for Nigeria spanning between 1981 and 2016. The results show that external debt is negatively related with economic growth in both short and long runs. The evidence suggests that increase in external debt will lead to decline in economic growth. Based on the findings, the study suggests that debt service obligation should not be allowed to rise more than foreign exchange earnings and that the loan contracted should be invested in profitable and productive ventures, which will generate a reasonable amount of money for debt repayment. Contribution/ Originality:This study contributes to the existing literature on debt-growth nexus by incorporating various debt components and adopting one of the advanced methodological approaches in analysing the effect of external debt on economic growth.

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Poverty reduction is one of the greatest challenges facing international community and it is an invaluable requirement for sustainable development. This study was conducted to empirically examine the influence of socioeconomic as well as demographic variables on households' vulnerability to social exclusion or deprivation with more emphasis on gender inequality. The study employed binary probit regression analysis of poverty as well as Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to examine factors responsible for inequality with respect to socio-economic fortunes among Nigerian households. Evidence from the study revealed that socio-demographic variables as well as labor characteristics are strong determinants of poverty in the country, and the findings confirmed to the theoretical propositions on causes of poverty. However, empirical results from the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition show that female headed households are more disadvantaged in terms of socioeconomic deprivation than the male headed households. The study concluded by presenting concluding remarks and policy implications for policymakers toward poverty reduction in Nigeria.

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The strategy of Inclusive growth is a newly introduced concept in Development economics that emerged in late 2000s out of the gross failure of traditional growth models to deal with the contemporaneity of high economic growth on one hand, and soaring poverty, inequality and unemployment on the other hand particularly in the developing world. Ever since, it has dominated policy-making framework in the world. This study sets out to examine the inclusiveness of growth in Nigeria and the role of macroeconomic stability to spur inclusive growth and development in Nigeria using the data for the period of 1960-2012. Due to lack of a standard measure of inclusive growth, an index of inclusive growth has been constructed using 23 agricultural, economic, education, environmental and health variables while applying Principal Component Analysis and Human Development Index formula. Econometric approaches of Johansen Cointegration testing and Vector Error Correction Model have been employed further to test the long run relationship between macroeconomic stability and inclusive growth in Nigeria. Our findings come up with three stylized facts: firstly, there is a long run relationship between all the regressors and inclusive growth; secondly macroeconomic stability has a significant impact on inclusive growth as GDPV and INV revealed an inverse relationship between them and inclusive growth. Lastly, TOP, FDI, C-GDP and GFC have negative impacts on inclusive growth. Hence the recommendation that there should be committed and sincere efforts towards diversifying the economy so as to contain the volatility by reducing the dominance of oil sector in the economy. Moreover, a macroeconomic policy targeting moderate inflation should be formulated just to make the economy stable and favorable for inclusive growth.

We examine the effects of broken-home and sexual harassment on the educational performance of undergraduate students of some selected universities in northern Nigeria. Data for the study was collected using an online survey form (google form) which was distributed to the targeted participants through email, WhatsApp, and Facebook respectively. Relevant information on variables of interest for the study was collected from 6 tertiary institutions consisting of one Federal and one State University each from the 3 geopolitical zones of northern Nigeria. Overall, 178 undergraduate students who are in the final year of their program voluntarily participated in the survey and the data was analysed using ordered logistic regression analysis. We find a negative effect between broken home and educational performance whereas, though there exists a negative effect between sexual harassment and educational performance but it is found to be not statistically different from zero. We control for parental socioeconomic status and the demographic characteristics of the students. Based on empirical findings from the study we conclude that broken home has serious negative effects on students’ academic performance. Evidence from the study have both short-run and long-run implications on the Nigerian economy; the long-run implications also have two negative broad dimensions in form of labor market participation and gross reward for labor which may impede growth and development in the long run. Hence, the need for strategic interventions by relevant stakeholders.

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