Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of crude oil prices on the Nigerian exchange rate with emphasis on discriminating between the effects of positive and negative changes in oil price on exchange rate. Design/methodology/approach The authors used monthly time series data from 1996:1 to 2019:6 and adopted two oil price measures, namely, Brent crude and West Texas Intermediary prices. For analysis, the authors used stepwise least squares to estimate a non-linear ARDL (NARDL) model and Wald tests to determine cointegration and the presence of asymmetric effects. Findings The findings showed that positive and negative Brent crude price changes significantly affect exchange rates differently in nominal terms, both in the long-run and short-run. However, the differences were purely in terms of effect size because the exchange rate decreased for both negative and positive oil price changes. Originality/value Whilst empirical research on asymmetries in the effect of oil price on exchange rate abounds, little evidence exists in Nigeria’s case. Although some studies previously tested for asymmetric oil price effects on the Nigerian currency, the approach used did not estimate long and short-run effects or test of long-run and short-run asymmetries. This paper fills this methodological gap using monthly using the NARDL approach. The NARDL approach provided the advantage of estimating effects for the long-run and short-run and testing for asymmetries in both time spans.

The article investigates factors that may be responsible for observed instability in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector performance. Based on growing concerns regarding early deindustrialisation observed for many developing countries, the study examines how a menu of fiscal and monetary policies can be applied to revitalise the Nigerian manufacturing sector. Consequently, we construct an index of manufacturing sector instability and examine how it responds to a mixture of fiscal and monetary policy variables. We use annual time series data from 1981–2018 and apply the ARDL bounds test technique. Our findings show that budget deficits induce instability in the performance of the Nigerian manufacturing sector, while government infrastructural investments stabilise it. The monetary policy instruments were found to have inconsistent short-run and long-run influences but mostly conform with theory. JEL Codes: F63, L20, L25, L60, O10, O14

The economic and social desirability of marital stability is shown by its promotion of di-vision of labor, risk pooling, and encouragement of healthy behavior, while unstable mar-riages are linked to negative outcomes such as psychological and financial distress, im-paired child development, and long-term health challenges. It is worth noting that, while previously high divorce rates in developed countries appear to be slowing down, the op-posite might occur in developing countries. However, few studies have empirically ex-amined the causes of marital instability in developing countries. This study sought to em-pirically investigate marital instability in Nigeria by focusing on its key influencing fac-tors. The study collected data from 186 individuals in the urban and rural areas of Ibadan, the third most populous city in Nigeria, and used multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate three marital states: divorce, separation, and widowhood. The results show that marriage duration, number of children, and marriage entry age have a substantial in-fluence on marital instability. The risk of divorce follows a U-shaped pattern, with the risk falling from age 26 to 30 and rising again until age 46. Thus, addressing the causes of ear-ly and late marriage entry could improve marital stability in Nigeria. Keywords: Household economics; Marital instability; Marriage market