This study reassesses the causal relationships between energy consumption and economic growth in 18 Sub-Saharan Africa  countries over the period 1980-2011. The Panel Unit Root Test results show that variables (both exogenous and endogenous) are stationary at their first difference with individual effects and individual linear trends, while the results of panel co-integration tests show that energy consumption and economic growth do have a stable long-run equilibrium relationship. There is unidirectional causality from energy consumption to economic growth in East and the Southern Africa Sub-region, which supports the growth hypothesis. As a result, the related authorities in the regions should take a special interest in different sources of energy and invest more in this sector, make suitable policies in this regard and find new alternative and cheap sources of energy. But, there is no causality between energy consumption and economic growth in Central and the West Africa Sub-region, which is in line with the neutrality hypothesis. In other words, both energy consumption and economic growth are neutral with respect to each other. Our results confirm the inconclusive nature of a causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.

In this paper, we reassess the traditional import demand function and an augmented version that includes volatility of external reserves and oil revenue inflows as explanatory variables. In each version, we examine the role of regime shifts on the stability of Nigeria's import demand function which has been ignored in previous studies. Our findings suggest the existence of a long-run relationship between import demand and its determinants. We also present evidence of one-way causality running from changes in relative prices, oil revenue inflows and volatility of international reserves to import demand in Nigeria. However, when structural breaks were introduced, bi-directional causality is observed; indicating the critical role of regime shifts in determining the stability of Nigeria's import demand. The results make a case for diversifying Nigeria's revenue inflows in a bid to dampen the effect of contemporaneous shocks that affect external reserve accumulation thereby weakening its import financing capacity.

Electricity is one of the components of energy composition. In fact, it is a secondary source of energy as it is convertible to other sources of energy for the use of industry and homes and for nuclear powers. Access to electricity is a sine-quanon to industrial revolution all over the world. It is a precondition to the massive industrialisation progress witnessed by the Asian Tigers and evidence is not in doubt about any individual country or regional bloc that desire to replicate this development success stories, following the same route. These tremendous industrialisation achievements drastically reduced poverty, in these countries and specifically, in South Korea to an appreciable level of 4.6 per cent in 1984 from 40.9 per cent in 1965. This indicates that industrialisation of the Asian Tigers was growth enhancing and poverty reducing; altogether culminating into the development experienced today by those Asian countries. Interestingly, population grew moderately in these countries during the period of industrial revolution and for all periods. Precisely, the population growth rates of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were 0.82, 0.79, 0.09 and 0.18, respectively. Put together, the population growth rate for these countries was less than 2.0 per cent. However, the proponents of the population dividend, without prejudice to the population burden thesis, presuppose that population growth is not a problem for development, provided it is qualitative enough to contributive to the development process.