Extended Abstract Introduction The agricultural sector is a crucial segment of the economy, producing food and raw materials essential for industrialisation. This economic sector makes a significant contribution to inclusive growth and sustainable economic development (Chiogor, Gylych & Alabi, 2023; Koko, Hassan, & Sani, 2018). A large number of recent empirical studies have observed a positive long-run relationship between agricultural financing and economic growth in Nigeria (e.g Chiogor et al., 2023; Ezu, 2023; Cookey & Akidi, 2024); however, evidence of the nature of such a relationship is relatively less explored between commercial bank-specific loans to the agricultural sector and Nigeria's real gross domestic product. This study explicitly uses the Engle-Granger (EG) single equation technique to estimate the relationship between commercial bank credit to agriculture and the gross domestic product in Nigeria using data from the start of the current millennium (2000) to the most recent period (2024). Materials and Methods An ex-post facto research design, which allows a causal relationship test between two or more economic series, is employed in this study. The simplest mathematical form of the Cobb-Douglas production function which underpins the study is given thus: Y=AC^π L^(1-π)…(1) The study’s Engle-Granger test model is parameterised in equation (2) as: 〖LNGDP〗_t= β_1 〖LNCBA〗_t+ε_t…(2) From equation (2), β_1 is analysed by OLS and the test for unit of residual is obtained with equation (3) as: (ε_t ) ̂= 〖LNGDP〗_t-β ̂_2 〖LNCBA〗_t…(3) Financial data on the two economic series were obtained from the national statistical offices databases including Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin (Financial Statistics, 2023) and National Bureau of Statistics (2024) from 2000 to 2024. The employed Engle-Granger cointegration method in EViews 9 statistical software at a 5% significance level. Results and Discussion Table 1: Engle-Granger Cointegration Test Value Prob. Engle-Granger tau-statistic -1.74 0.661 Engle-Granger z-statistic -8.96 0.353 H_0: Series are not cointegrated Source: Authors’ Computations from EViews 9 Outputs (2025) In Table 1, the critical values of Engle-Granger tau-statistic and z-statistics are outside the ranges of ADF Table critical values at all significance levels (1%, 5% and 10%). The results imply non-rejection of the null hypothesis that the series are not cointegrated. Thus, there is no long-run equilibrium between agricultural financing by commercial banks and economic growth in Nigeria. Conclusion Based on the observed evidence, this study affirms that there is no link between bank financing and Nigeria’s economic growth in the long run. Future research is required to offer direction on the short-run impact of bank agricultural financing on economic growth in Nigeria. Keywords Agriculture, Financing, Engle-Granger Test, Cointegration
Kamilu A. Saka, Dr. Mukail A. Akinde, Yusuf K. Ibrahim