Empirical analysis of agricultural and non-agricultural exports’ impact on infrastructural investment in Nigeria

The purpose of the article is to estimate the impact of agricultural and non-agricultural exports on infrastructural investment in Nigeria. Research methods. In the research process, the following scientific methods have been used: The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag – Unrestricted Error Correction Model (ARDL-UECM) to estimate the impact of agricultural and non-agricultural exports on infrastructural investment in Nigeria. The ARDL model was estimated using Eviews 9. Research results. The regression results showed that agricultural export has a significant positive relationship with infrastructural investment while non-agricultural export was found to have an insignificant relationship with the dependent variable. Scientific novelty. This paper adds to the body of literature on this subject for the economy of Nigeria and other related economies because this is the first paper investigating the joint impact of agricultural and non-agricultural exports on infrastructural investment in Nigeria. The study makes some innovative findings and recommendations that the government should invest more in mechanised farming and as well ensure that the agricultural sector is made more viable and productive since the country has a comparative advantage in agriculture. Practical significance. Practically, this study is significant in many ways. Following the empirical results it has become practically clear that agricultural produce should not only be exported in its primary form but there should be value added in order to make Nigeria’s exports more competitive in the international market. Income generated from agricultural and non-agricultural exports by government should be properly accounted for and invested into more capital projects to boost the level of infrastructure in the Nigerian economy. Tabl.: 4. Figs.: 2. Refs.: 15.