Purpose -This paper aims to investigate the impact of huge external debt with its servicing requirements on economic growth of the Nigerian economy so as to make meaningful inference on the impact of the debt relief which was granted to the country in 2006. Design/methodology/approach -The neoclassical growth model which incorporates external sector, debt indicators and some macroeconomic variables was employed in this study. The paper investigates the linear and nonlinear effect of debt on growth and investment utilizing the ordinary least squares and the generalized least squares. Findings -Among other things, the negative impact of debt (and its servicing requirements) on growth is confirmed in Nigeria. In addition, external debt contributes positively to growth up to a point after which its contributions become negative reflecting the presence of nonlinearity in effects. Originality/value -Nigeria's external debt is analyzed in a new context utilizing a different but innovative model and econometric techniques. It is of tremendous value to researchers on related topic and an effective policy guide to policymakers in Nigeria and other countries with similar characteristics.

This article aims at investigating the impact of trade openness on pollution and resource depletion in Nigeria. Results indicate that pollution is positively related to trade intensity and real GDP per square kilometer, while capital to labor ratio and GNP are negatively related to pollution. In addition, strong evidence suggests that trade intensity, real GDP per square kilometer and GNP are positively related to environmental degradation indicating that the technique, scale, and total effects of liberalization are detrimental to the environment. The composition effect of trade liberalization on natural resource utilization, on the other hand, is beneficial. A number of policy implications emerge from the study for Nigeria as well as other developing economies.

The study investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment flows and economic growth in Nigeria. The study became necessary because as never before, the civilian governments since 1999 have employed several strategies to ensure increased flow of FDI into Nigeria because of its perceived benefits as lauded in the theoretical literature as the panacea for economic underdevelopment. The study utilized simple OLS regression analysis and conducted various econometrics tests on our model so as to obtain the best linear unbiased estimators. The study confirmed the beneficial role of FDI in growth. However, the role of FDI on growth could be limited by human capital. The study concluded that indeed, FDI promotes economic growth, and hence the need for more infrastructural development, ensuring sound macroeconomic environment as well as ensuring human capital development is essential to boosting FDI productivity and flow into the country.

This study set out to investigate the reality or otherwise of the pollution haven hypothesis in Nigeria using data from 1970 to 2017 and using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models both in the short and long run. The study used FDI inflows as measure of economic activity and carbon dioxide emission as a measure of regulatory stringency. The study finds the previous FDI inflows as a significant determinant of current FDI both in the short and long run. This implies that the more FDI an economy attracts, the more potentials it has to further attract more FDI. Population, a measure of demand condition of the host economy is positively and significantly related to FDI inflows both in the short run and in the long run. Trade openness has a positively significant impact on FDI inflows in the long run, meaning that globalization encourages FDI inflows. A year lag of the FDI has a positively significant impact on FDI inflows in the long run. This suggest that pollution haven hypothesis which states that industries with polluting technologies tend to relocate to countries or areas (pollution havens) with lax or less stringent environmental regulations is a reality for Nigeria. The implication of this is that government of Nigeria must weigh the beneficial impact of FDI inflows against the pollution impact of ‘dirty’ FDI before deciding or setting its environmental policy.

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This study examines the role of institutions in reducing a presumably negative impact of poor environmental quality on health outcomes, using a panel of 45 sub-Saharan African countries over the period, 1996-2016. The empirical estimation is based on the panel quantile regression estimator. The study established inter alia: first, the declining health status occasioned by environmental degradation resulted in low life expectancy, high child mortality and increasing health expenditure. Second, strong institutional settings are needed to reverse the adverse effects of poor environmental quality on health outcomes. Thus, the minimum thresholds of control of corruption, government effectiveness, regulatory quality and overall institutions that restore human age expectancy are −0.37, −0.59, −0.40 and −0.40, respectively. In the same order, 0.08, −0.18, −0.41 and −0.15 are needed for health spending, whereas 0.24 of control of corruption and −0.21 of regulatory quality are needed to minimise child mortality. Third, the net effects of interactions do not align with the hypothesised relationships. Finally, we acknowledged the importance of some auxiliary indicators specific to each measure of health outcomes. On the policy front, settingup an innovative and sustainable agenda of green environment and clean growth seems critical to realising improved health conditions.

Liquid liabilities are required to develop key sectors that drive the Nigerian economy by ensuring that loans are available for investment purposes. However, controversies concerning the effectiveness of growth finance in fostering liquid liabilities in Nigeria exist. Thus, this study examines the relationship between growth finance and liquid liabilities in Nigeria, with insight into Nigeria’s real sector. In achieving its objective, the study utilizes secondary data from the annual reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (1980–2018). The study finds that gross domestic savings significantly drive liquid liabilities in the long run compared to other growth finance indicators, which include stock market development and remittance inflows. Therefore, the study recommends that to improve liquid liability, gross domestic savings, among other growth finance indicators, should be harnessed as a tool to efficiently influence liquid liabilities in the Nigerian economy. The study concludes that attention should be paid to development policies that drive all stakeholders’ gross domestic savings.