IJPSS Volume 3, Issue 12 ISSN: 2249-5894 __________________________________________________________ A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage, India as well as in Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A. International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences http://www.ijmra.us 99 December 2013 AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF GLOBALIZATION AND NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH (1981-2011) Samson Adeniyi Aladejare  Gisaor, Vincent Iorja* Ojiya, Emmanuel Ameh* ABSTRACT The research investigated the impact of globalization proxied by the degree of openness on economic growth in Nigeria proxied by the growth rate of GDP between 1981 and 2011. Using Nigerian data and OLS simple regression analysis complemented by unit root stationarity test, Johansen cointegration and Vector Autoregression test, the coefficient of the openness indicator was negative hence violated the a priori expectation. This was because; the level of trade in Nigeria was below the minimum threshold needed for the coefficient to be positive. Based on this premise, the H o was accepted that globalization has had no serious impact on Nigeria’s economic growth. Recommendations made include improvement in the productive capacity of the country, tackling the security challenges to pave way for FDI inflows into the country and diversification of the mono-cultural nature of the Nigerian economy. KEYWORDS: Globalization, Cointegration, Economic Growth, Development, Nigeria  Department of Economics, Federal University, Wukari