PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, SUICIDAL IDEATION AND SELF-IMAGE AMONG UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATES

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.