Exposure to Particulate Matter Air Pollution in Nigeria: Empirical Investigation
Emmanuel Okokondem Okon *
Department of Economics, Kogi State University, Kogi State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In a bid to empirically examines the dynamic relationship among population growth, urbanization, ruralization and PM2.5 air pollution exposure in Nigeria during the period 1970-2018, Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test was conducted on the series in order to detect the presence of unit root and Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Models was deployed for the analysis. Surprisingly, the results from both short run and long run estimates show that the coefficient for logarithm of ruralization (LOG(RUR)) is higher than logarithm of urbanization (LOG(URB)). This could be due to the fact that though urban areas are known to generate particulate matter because of the level of economic activities but a large volume of the particulate matter are transported and can thus adversely impact far away in rural areas. The reduction of outdoor air pollutants in general, and particulate matter in particular, requires concerted action by public authorities, industry and individuals at state and federal levels in Nigeria.
Keywords: Laser, ARDL, biostimulation, particulate matter, photoreceptors grains, ruralization, agriculture, urbanization, unit root.