International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation www.allmultidisciplinaryjournal.com 222 | P age Impact of Non-Renewable energy on economic growth in Nigeria: Autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) Azike Lawrence Chike 1* , Ngwu Jerome Chukwuemeka 2 , Chidera Godson Eze 3 1-3 Ph.D., Department of Economics, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria * Corresponding Author: Azike Lawrence Chike Article Info ISSN (online): 2582-7138 Volume: 04 Issue: 02 March-April 2023 Received: 16-02-2023; Accepted: 10-03-2023 Page No: 222-231 Abstract The study examined the impact of non-renewable energy on economic growth in Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to: investigate the impact of coal energy on economic growth in Nigeria; examine the impact of natural gas energy on economic growth in Nigeria and determine the impact of petroleum/crude oil energy on economic growth in Nigeria. This study made use of ex post-facto research design. These variables of the study consist of economic growth (RGDP); natural gas energy (GAS), petroleum/crude oil energy (CRUDE), coal energy (COAL), exchange rate (EXCHR) and inflation rate (INFLA) for a period of 1992 to 2022 as defined in our model specification. The pre-estimation and post-estimation tests were descriptive statistics, correlation matrix, ADF-Unit Root test statistic, Bound co-integration test, Ramsey Reset test, Breuch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test respectively while the data analytical technique was Autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) technique. The empirical results show that petroleum/crude oil energy has 28% positive and significant impact on economic growth in short run (Probability value of 0.0051 < 0.05) but it was 20% positive and significant impact on economic growth in long run (Probability value of 0.0039 > 0.05); natural gas energy has 12 % positive and significant impact on economic growth in short run (Probability value of 0.0130 < 0.05) but it was 47 % positive and significant impact on economic growth in long run (Probability value of 0.0051 < 0.05) and coal energy has 5 % positive and insignificant impact on economic growth in short run (Probability value of 0.0130 > 0.05) but it was 26 % positive and significant impact on economic growth in long run (Probability value of 0.0078 < 0.05). The study recommends that government of Nigeria should encourage entrepreneurs to invest and/or facilitate human capital accumulation to promote the use of coal energy sources in producing goods and services. Keywords: Natural gas energy, Petroleum/crude oil energy; Coal energy Introduction Energy is a vital element for economic growth and is generally viewed as the stimulus for most economic activities. The role of energy is equally important in income generation and employment. Non-renewable energy largely dominates energy supply in Nigeria. The growing concern is that they are exhaustible and adverse to the climate. In the country’s electricity sector, natural gas (82 percent) and big hydro (18 percent) remain the major sources of electricity generation (IEA, 2021). No records of renewable energy exist, partly due to the fact that they are negligible in a size that will allow integration into the existing central grid system. Ojonugwa and Obi (2016) argued that the consumption of energy is proportional with the national product. Hence, the scale of energy consumption per capita is an important indicator of economic modernization. In general countries that have higher energy consumption are more developed than those with low level of consumption (IAE, 2021).