AN EVALUATION OF SOLID FUEL CONSUMPTION AND HEALTH EFFECTS IN NIGERIA
Idakwoji, Ojochogwu Blessing , Bernard O.A. , Saheed Zakaree and Dampome Moses
Volume 4 Issue 1
Abstract
The study examines the implication of household solid fuel consumption on health in Nigeria covering the period of 1971-2022. Data for the analysis were sourced from the World Bank’s database while Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Granger causality test approaches were employed for the analysis. The dependent variable was life expectancy which proxied the health of users. The explanatory variables include solid fuel consumption (% of total energy) (SFC) proxied for household energy while complementary variables include; gaseous fuel consumption (GFC) (% of total energy), gross domestic product per capita (GDP), and rural population (RPOP). The bound test result reveals a long-run relationship among the variables captured in the model. The findings reveal that household energy consumption proxied by solid fuel consumption accounts for a decrease in life expectancy both in the long-run and short-run. The findings of the second objective show that there is unidirectional causation running from household solid fuel consumption to life expectancy. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the Nigerian government embark on a serious sensitization campaign about the importance of adopting health-friendly energy for household use. In collaboration with relevant stakeholders, the government must provide subsidized household cooking apparatus with no negative health implications. Keywords: Household Energy, Solid Fuel Consumption, Health, Life Expectancy, ARDL Model
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