The relationship between environmental factors and human health has long been a concern among academic researchers. We use two indicators of environmental pollution, namely particulate matter (PM) and carbon dioxide (CO) to examine the effects of poor air quality on human mortality. This study explores an issue that has largely been ignored, particularly in the African literature, where the effect of air pollution on human mortality could be influenced by gender specification. We analyse a panel data from 35 African countries and our result suggests that the elevated levels of PM and CO have a significant effect on the increasing mortality rates in infants, under-five children and adults. Although the effect of poor air quality on adults is found to differ between genders, such difference is not statistically significant. We conclude that the air pollution effects, on average, are similar between genders in the African countries.

This paper empirically examines the long-run pass through of the official exchange rates into trade balance in Nigeria by means of threshold cointegration and asymmetric error correction modeling. The study provides evidence for non-linear cointegration between our variables of interest. The estimated asymmetric error correction models provide new evidence for slower transmission of exchange rate depreciations into the country's trade balance, which in turn appears to offer partial support for the Dutch disease hypothesis. This finding suggests that policy-makers cannot hope to use currency devaluation to improve the trade balance. It is recommended that policy-makers focus attention on diversification of the economy away from dependence on crude oil exports into productive manufacturing and non-oil exports, which will be vital in making the economy more competitive.

This paper empirically examines the interest rate pass-through in Nigeria using the cointegration and threshold adjustment suggested by Enders and Siklos. The focus is on the pass-through of the central bank policy rates to the commercial banks' lending rates during the pre-and post-bank consolidation in the country. The estimated results indicate that, changes in the policy rate are transmitted completely to loans rate in the long run during the pre-cosolidation but incomplete during the post-consolidation period. The results also show evidence for asymmetric momentum threshold autoregression models during the both the preand post-consolidation periods. However, while the estimated nonlinear error correction models exhibit downward rigidity in lending rates during the pre-consolidation, a contrary finding was obtained during the post-consolidation period, which indicates upward rigidity of loans rates. Finally, the study discusses the potential implication of these findings on the banking sector and offers direction for future policy.

Abstract:The sustainability of the Nigerian fiscal deficit along with the role of the dynamics of government revenues and spending in adjusting the size of the deficit is examined using annual data from 1961 to 2014. After allowing for structural breaks, the study finds evidence of a cointegration relation between the government revenues and spending. The results did not indicate the presence of asymmetries in either the threshold autoregression or momentum threshold autoregression specifications of the country's budgetary adjustment process. Interestingly, the size of the long run slope parameter appears to be significantly less than one, thus offering support for the soft budget strategy, which also suggests that the government might face difficulties in financing its debts in the long run. Lastly, the short run and long run Granger causality results, while providing evidence in support of the fiscal synchronization hypothesis, also raise some important issues, particularly on the strength of budget deficit sustainability in the country.

Jada local government Area (LGA) holds the potential to reap substantial benefits in the path of socioeconomic development, both in increasing the income level of households engaged in the cattle business and by improving the internally generated revenue of the government. This study evaluates the economic benefits of cattle trade in the LGA. Using descriptive statistics to analyze the data obtained via questionnaires and face-to-face interviews, results from the study indicate that cattle trade increases the income level of households engaged in the business and the internally generated revenue of the government improved through cattle transaction levies. The results also revealed, however, that some of the cattle traders tend to evade tax. Meanwhile, the results also show that participants in the cattle market face stern challenges, which raise some important policy issues.