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This study investigates the relationship between trade, poverty and sustainable development in Nigeria for the period 1980-2013. The paper uses Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique for examining the long-run equilibrium condition and a re-parameterized framework to capture the short-run dynamics. The results show that long-run equilibrium condition exists between trade and sustainable development, on the one hand, and trade and poverty, on the other. Interestingly, the results also indicate that the relationship between trade, poverty and sustainable development is more of a dynamic nature than static as the lagged dependent variables are significant. It is observed that though development is highly sustainable and poverty is fairly alleviating as the recovery back to equilibrium when affected by shock is fast. But a striking result shows that trade only matters for sustainable development and not for poverty reduction in Nigeria. The growth process of the Nigerian economy is the major driver for poverty reduction, as it significantly increases the per capita income. Again, the results obtained indicate that only optimum levels of government involvement, exchange rate and economic growth that will not aggravate poverty and at the same time will also stimulate sustainable development, are desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality and poverty in Nigeria are closely related. This study decomposed change in poverty in Nigeria into the growth and redistribution components using income and expenditure. Household survey data collected by the National Bureau of Statistics in 1998 and 2004 were used. Results show that in 2004, income inequality was higher in rural areas than urban areas. Income poverty head count in 1998 was 40.51%, and this increased to 51.59% in 2004. However, expenditure poverty head count decreased from 62.22% in 1998 to 54.37% in 2004. Within the limit of possible poverty lines, rural poverty was significantly higher than urban poverty during the two periods. Income growth reduced poverty where positive growth was obtained and redistribution reduced poverty where the Gini coefficient declined and vice versa. It was asserted that expenditure data are by far better than income for poverty assessment and recommended that welfare enhancing programs that will benefit urban/rural poor should be identified, while better economic opportunities should be created for those in rural areas in the process of the on-going economic reforms in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the consistent growth in GDP in Nigeria over the past two decades, and given the fact that the country is the richest in Africa in terms of its natural resources and the second richest in terms of GDP, the country still battles with chronic unemployment. This study investigates both descriptively and empirically the role of GDP and population in determining the level of unemployment in Nigeria between 1970 and 2010. The variables employed in the study are GDP, inflation, labor force, employment and public debt to GDP ratio. Employing an error correction model, the study finds that output growth in Nigeria did not have as high an influence on unemployment growth as labor force growth had on it. Considering the high adjustment rate of unemployment disequilibrium (72% per year), this study shows that unemployment in Nigeria adjusts fast and has a consistent path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]