Determinants of Poverty and Economic Growth Nexus in Nigeria

Abstract

 This study examined the relationship between poverty determinants and economic growth in Nigeria, addressing the persistent challenge of sluggish growth despite various policy interventions. The key objectives were to assess the impacts of consumer price index (CPI), unemployment (UNE), capital formation (CFO), industrial progress (IPR) and per capita income (PCI) on Nigeria’s GDP growth from 1981 to 2023. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach was used to analyse the long- and short-run relationships between the poverty rate and economic growth in Nigeria. The findings reveal that per capita income and capital formation have a positive and significant influence on GDP growth, while unemployment has a negative long-term impact. Conversely, inflation and industrial progress showed no significant effect on economic growth within the study period. Based on these findings, the study recommends policies to enhance income generation, job creation and investment promotion while emphasising the need for effective inflation management to ensure economic stability and sustained growth.