Carbon dioxide emission and health outcomes: is there really a nexus for the Nigerian case?

Health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa are characteristically poor and Nigeria is no exception. Despite the recorded decline in infant and under five mortality rates in Nigeria, they still remain relatively high showing a poor status of the population's health. Carbon dioxide emission continues to fluctuate at high levels probably due to the increasing use of non renewable energy forms for economic activities mostly requiring energy consumption. This study examines the health consequences of environmental quality due to carbon dioxide emission in Nigeria for the period 1980 to 2016. Using two health outcome measures and decomposing carbon dioxide emission by sector and type of fuel consumed, a bound cointegration approach and an autoregressive distributed lag model were also employed. The results and a sensitivity analysis revealed that aggregate carbon dioxide emission significantly explained both infant mortality and under five mortality rates. However, when disaggregated, carbon dioxide emission from solid fuel had the greatest contribution to poor health outcomes.