ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND LIFE EXPECTANCY IN NIGERIA: EVIDENCE FROM ARDL

Abstract

The quality of the environment measured through air quality, water quality, waste generation and 
climate variability directly enhances public health, disease burden and life expectancy. Investigation 
of the nexus between environmental quality and life expectancy in Nigeria has produced divergent 
opinions. Thus, this paper examined the effect of environmental quality indicators on life expectancy 
in Nigeria from 1988 to 2024. Pertinent secondary data were obtained from the World Development 
Indicator (WDI), the National Environmental Standards Regulations and Enforcement Agency 
(NESREA), Macro-trend data base, and the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN). 
The data's stationary qualities were established using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root 
test, while the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL)/Bound co-integration technique was 
employed to estimate the model. Findings indicated a significant long-term effect of environmental 
quality indicators on life expectancy in Nigeria. Specifically, municipal solid waste and population 
growth had a negative and statistically significant effect on life expectancy; water quality index had a 
positive and statistically significant effect on life expectancy, while poor air quality and climate 
change index had a negative insignificant effect life expectancy in Nigeria within the sample period. 
The paper among others, recommended increasing access to safe drinking water for the population 
by the federal ministry of water resources in collaboration with the states counterpart through a 
public-private decentralized water supply strategy with focus on community-managed boreholes and 
small-scale water treatment plants.