GREEN GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN NIGERIA: AUTO-REGRESSIVE DISTRIBUTIVE LAG APPRAOCH

This study examines the interaction of green growth and environmental sustainability in Nigeria, solar-energy, hydroelectric power, bio-fuel and natural gas were used as proxy for green growth while carbon dioxide emission captured environmental sustainability. The study covers the period, 1990 to 2021. Data was obtained from World Banks World Development Indicators (WDI), and International Energy Agency (IEA) 2021. Philip perron Unit Root approach was used to test stationarity of the time series data. Results from the Unit Root indicated mixed order of integration. This means that some of the variables were stationary at levels I(0), while others became stationary after first difference I(1). As a result, the study utilized the Auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL), which indicated existence of long-run correlation between green growth and environmental sustainability in Nigeria. Further findings showed that solar energy and hydroelectric power had a negative correlation with carbon dioxide emission in the short run. Bio-fuel showed negative but unsubstantial correlation with carbon dioxide in the long-run likewise current year period of shortrun, finally, natural gas is positively related to carbon dioxide in the long-run. Hence, it was concluded that green growth has a substantial influence on environmental sustainability in Nigeria. It is recommended amongst others that federal government through the ministry of environment should mandate the electricity regulatory commission to increase the coverage of hydroelectric power as leading energy source.