The sustainable use of clean and safe sources of energy is indeed a global challenge. Traditional and unsafe forms of energy use is predominant among households in sub-Saharan Africa. This is not only a threat to the environment, but also constitutes health risk to the population. In the Nigeria context, this study provides the first attempt to estimate household energy poverty status and also investigate the driving factors of household energy poverty status using the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) dataset. The analytical techniques adopted in this study are based on Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) and Tobit regression model. Our results show that national average MEPI was 0.38, suggesting that majority of the households are energy poor. Energy poverty is however found to be higher in rural areas than in urban areas. We also found that male-headed households, age, rural sector and northeast residents are found to be the energy poverty enhancing factors, while household income and credit access are energy poverty inhibiting factors. The study concludes that income smoothening among other energy poverty reduction interventions should be prioritized, especially among rural households in order to help them exit energy poverty trap.

Poverty, maternal literacy and child mortality has been a policy issue in Nigeria, most especially in rural areas.Studies have established their individual effects on households. However, the need to establish the link between the three welfare indicators is of great economic and social importance. The study aimed at investigating the linkage and effect of maternal education and household wealth on incidence of child mortality in rural Nigeria. The study made use of data obtained from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS2013). Logit, probit and Principal Component Analysis models were the analytical techniques adopted. The findings revealed that mothers residing in the north-west recorded the highest percentage of no formal education (54%). Also, asset deprivation (poverty rate) is 63%, though higher in the northern divide than in the south. About 44 percent of the rural households recorded child mortality, with north-west households having the highest. The results revealed that maternal education improves households’ wealth; also, households with low level of maternal education and wealth index have the likelihood of recording higher child mortality rate in rural Nigeria. If the Sustainable Development Goals of ending extreme poverty, achieving good health, and ensuring gender equality in relation to female education are to be achieved, maternal human capital development and households’ welfare improvement should be the areas of focus in rural Nigeria.