Electricity Consumption and Quality of Life in Nigeria

Inadequate and unreliable electricity supply continues to affect productivity, employment, and environmental sustainability in Nigeria. This study examined the impact of electricity consumption on quality of life in Nigeria from 1986 to 2023, with quality of life measured through per capita income, employment, and environmental quality. Data were obtained from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, National Bureau of Statistics, and the International Energy Agency. The study was anchored on Sirgy’s Quality of Life Theory and applied the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model after conducting unit root and bounds cointegration tests. The findings showed that electricity consumption had a positive but statistically insignificant long-term effect on per capita income, while its short-term effect was negative and significant, suggesting that electricity use may support income growth over time but is constrained in the short term by infrastructure inefficiencies. In the employment model, the interaction between electricity consumption and agricultural output had a positive and significant effect, indicating that electricity use in agriculture promotes productivity and job creation. However, in the environmental model, the interaction between electricity consumption and industrial output had a negative and significant effect, implying that industrial electricity use contributes to environmental degradation. Carbon emissions and population growth also reduced environmental quality, while institutional quality produced mixed effects across the models. The study recommends increased investment in clean, reliable, and sector focused electricity infrastructure, especially in agriculture and industry, alongside stronger institutional reforms to improve energy efficiency, employment creation, income growth, and environmental sustainability in Nigeria.