This study investigated the export-led growth hypothesis in Nigeria using quarterly time series data from 196q1 to 2013q4 making the sample of 112 observations. The long run and short run equilibrium relationships between exports, imports and economic growth have also been examined over the study period. The study employed Johansen cointegration technique, granger causality, and vector error correction mechanism. Impulse response function and variance decomposition have also been employed in this study. The variables are integrated of the same order and the empirical evidence strongly suggested the existence of long run cointegration relations among imports, exports and economic growth. The study also found causality running from exports to imports and from economic growth to imports. However, the study finds no empirical evidence in support of the export-led growth hypothesis. The error term was incorrectly signed and there was no short run causality from both imports and exports to economic growth. The impulse response function and the variance decomposition results showed that the shocks of the variables to each other are negative in most of the periods. The study recommended that Nigerian export base should be expanded by given more attention to non-oil sector of the economy to augment the oil sector.
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