Economic development and environmental quality in Nigeria: is there an environmental Kuznets curve?

This study utilizes standard- and nested-EKC models to investigate the income-environment relation for Nigeria, between 1960 and 2008. The results from the standard-EKC model provides weak evidence of an inverted-U shaped relationship with turning point (T.P) around $280.84, while the nested model presents strong evidence of an N-shaped relationship between income and emissions in Nigeria, with a T.P around $237.23. Tests for structural breaks caused by the 1973 oil price shocks and 1986 Structural Adjustment are not rejected, implying that these factors have not significantly affected the income-environment relationship in Nigeria. Further, results from the rolling interdecadal analysis shows that the observed relationship is stable and insensitive to the sample interval chosen. Overall, our findings imply that economic development is compatible with environmental improvements in Nigeria. However, tighter and concentrated environmental policy regimes will be required to ensure that the relationship is maintained around the first two-strands of the N-shape