Background: The problem of poverty eradication has been limited to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, which accounts for more than 40% of the world's poor population. The majority of these people are rural farmers who depend solely on agriculture for livelihood. Agriculture in West Africa remains the largest means of employment in which more than 60% of the sub-region’s active labour force is involved. Objective: This study examined the potentials of agriculture to generate employment for the people, thereby reducing the level of poverty in West Africa. Methods: The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) econometric technique was employed in this study for the panel data covering the period of 17 years (2000 to 2016). Results: Results from the study showed that agriculture provides the opportunity for the poor to increase their earnings to escape the poverty trap, whether the poor can seize these agricultural opportunities depends on their human capital development. Conclusion: The study, therefore, concluded that effective policies (e.g. social protection) should be formulated in the agricultural development plans that will prioritize sustainable land and water management, access to markets, and the food security. To achieve this, the use of modern methods should be encouraged through farm incentives to boost agricultural production and increase farmer’s income which is earned through the sale of agricultural commodities, and thus; in the long run, increase the revenue accruing to the government and reduce the rate of poverty.

The government incurs both capital and recurrent expenditures so as to bring about the development of the Nigerian economy. Coupled with this is the fact that electricity power plays an important role in ensuring that aggregate output increases and the welfare of the people is affected positively. This study sets out to examine the long run relationship between electricity consumption, government expenditure and sustainable development in Nigeria employing the Johansen co-integration, vector error correction mechanism and Granger causality estimation techniques. Secondary data were obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Development Indicators from 1980 to 2017. The results obtained from the study showed that government recurrent expenditure, gross fixed capital formation have a positive and significant relationship with gross domestic product per capita (GDPC) in the long run. However, electricity consumption, government capital expenditure and total labour force had a negative but significant effect on GDPC in the long run. Hence, this study recommended that the government and relevant agencies should ensure that projects undertaken are profitable and people oriented. Also, strategies to improve electricity supply, government expenditure on capital and labour productivity should be encouraged.

Poverty in Nigeria is at extremely high levels and represents one of the many economic hardships faced by the Nigeria population. One of the factors potentially contributing to present high poverty levels is poor environment quality which is prevalent in Nigeria and which may result in increased poverty levels as efforts are undertaken to address adverse environment quality. This paper explored the effect of environment quality on poverty reduction in Nigeria using data from the World Bank World Development indicators over the period of 1990 to 2015. The study employed Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test, and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation in analyzing data and the findings of the study revealed that improved environment quality as measured by improved access to sanitation and access to electricity positively and significantly increase poverty level in Nigeria, possibly on account of the increased financial and social costs of gaining access to sanitation and electricity. It is recommended that policy makers ensure that policies aimed at improving environment quality in Nigeria take into account the adverse implications of improving environment quality for poverty so as to ensure that a balance is achieved between improved environment quality and reduced poverty so that a cleaner environment is achieved at lower financial and welfare cost to citizens.

This study based on a panel of 37 Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period of 2000 -2018 explores the effect of a number of ICT variables namely Fixed broad band, fixed line telephone, ICT imports, internet, mobile, and secure internet servers, and financial development measured by private sector domestic credit to GDP on economic diversification as measured by a computed Herfindahl Hirschman Index of Economic diversification. All data except rule of law were sourced from World Bank World Development Indicators, while rule of law was sourced from World Bank World Governance indicators. Model estimation was performed using pooled ordinary least squares regression, panel data fixed effects regression, and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression. The results from findings indicated that the ICT variables, fixed line telephone, and ICT imports significantly reduced economic diversification, while internet use and mobile use were insignificant for boosting economic diversification, and fixed broadband and secure internet servers were insignificant in adversely affecting economic diversification. As regards financial development, it was insignificant in boosting economic diversification of SSA countries. The study recommended amongst others that Individuals in SSA countries should have improved access to ICT devices and governments’ should ensure adequate provision of quality ICT infrastructureJEL classification: C23, G10, G21, O11, O33, O55

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