Attainment of universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is one of the goals for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Existing data and statistic suggest that high proportion of households in less developed countries heavily rely on solid fuels for domestic requirements. Also, recent data revealed that in Nigeria over 70 percent of households depend on fuel wood for cooking which indicate the task ahead of policy makers in the country for ensuring access to efficient sources of energy before the expiration of sustainable development goals. In this study we empirically examined socio-economic factors that influence households’ likelihood of energy consumption in Nigeria. In order to achieve our specific objectives, we adopt 2013 demographic health survey dataset for Nigeria and multinomial logistic regression was conducted in analyzing the factors affecting households’ decision for energy demand. Evidence from the study revealed that demographic characteristics, economic status, public awareness and social variables are strong determinants of households’ energy choice in the country and conformed to the propositions of “Energy Ladder Hypothesis”. We concluded by presenting concluding remarks and policy implications for decision making toward ensuring access to affordable, sustainable and efficient energy in Nigeria.

Article History JEL Classification:F33, F34, F35, O11.After about a decade of exiting sovereign debt havoc; there is now another panic that a new sovereign-debt problem may loom in Nigeria given the current rising debt profile in the country. In this light ,this paper sought to enhance the existing literature on the debt growth-nexus by analyzing the relationship between debt variables and economic growth within Solow (1956) growth framework. The study adopted econometric technique of Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model and applied on time-series data for Nigeria spanning between 1981 and 2016. The results show that external debt is negatively related with economic growth in both short and long runs. The evidence suggests that increase in external debt will lead to decline in economic growth. Based on the findings, the study suggests that debt service obligation should not be allowed to rise more than foreign exchange earnings and that the loan contracted should be invested in profitable and productive ventures, which will generate a reasonable amount of money for debt repayment. Contribution/ Originality:This study contributes to the existing literature on debt-growth nexus by incorporating various debt components and adopting one of the advanced methodological approaches in analysing the effect of external debt on economic growth.

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Poverty reduction is one of the greatest challenges facing international community and it is an invaluable requirement for sustainable development. This study was conducted to empirically examine the influence of socioeconomic as well as demographic variables on households' vulnerability to social exclusion or deprivation with more emphasis on gender inequality. The study employed binary probit regression analysis of poverty as well as Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to examine factors responsible for inequality with respect to socio-economic fortunes among Nigerian households. Evidence from the study revealed that socio-demographic variables as well as labor characteristics are strong determinants of poverty in the country, and the findings confirmed to the theoretical propositions on causes of poverty. However, empirical results from the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition show that female headed households are more disadvantaged in terms of socioeconomic deprivation than the male headed households. The study concluded by presenting concluding remarks and policy implications for policymakers toward poverty reduction in Nigeria.

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