Political Economy of Climate Governance, Environmental Quality and Sustainable Development in Nigeria:

Role of Institutional Quality as a Moderator

Abstract

This paper explores the complex nexus between climate governance, environmental quality and sustainable development in Nigeria from a political economy perspective. The study specifically includes the moderating effect of the institutional quality. The research used a mixed-method design, combining structured survey data (N = 450) from six geopolitical representative states with thematic qualitative insights. Descriptive statistics, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and thematic synthesis were used to analyse these dynamics. Empirical findings investigate that current climate governance initiatives have a positive but weak direct impact on environmental quality and sustainable development, structural bottlenecks, including rent-seeking behaviours, institutional fragmentation, and regulatory capture, severely undermine climate governance policies. Crucially, the moderation analysis demonstrates that institutional quality is a critical facilitator; the interaction between climate governance and institutional quality has a strongly significant positive effect on both environmental quality and measures of long-term sustainable development. The findings underline the fact that any technical or financial solutions to climate change in Nigeria are likely to remain largely sub-optimal without a systematic overhaul of governance structures. The study calls for the institutional divorce of environmental regulatory bodies from political interference, the formal inclusion of subnational actors into the national climate architecture, and the establishment of a clear and protected management frameworks for green assets.