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.

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Financial inclusion has been acclaimed to play a significant role in combating the three evils of poverty, unemployment and poverty, which have been a serious hindrance to the growth path of developing countries like Africa. It was against this that, this paper examined the drivers of financial inclusion in the top ten African economies in terms of gross domestic product growth rate. These include Angola,

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 debate on the role of Foreign Direct Investment in promoting rapid growth and development of the developing economies remain inconclusive. This paper examined whether FDI still matters in African Countries over the period of 1990 to 2017, with the proper utilization of panel data estimation technique on the annual country data that were sourced from world Governance and Development Indicators. Using random and fixed effect model, the results reveal that some important variables such as coefficient of trade openness, rule of law, political stability, capital formation and population positively determined economic growth in Africa countries, account for about 2, 1, 65, 170, and 396.7 percent increase in economic growth. While, FDI and inflation were found to have negative impact on economic growth accounting for 21.4 and 2 percent fall in economic growth over the study period. The study then recommends amongst others formulation and implementation of policies that encourage domestic investment in the continents.

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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.