Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Nigeria: Does Process Innovation Matter?

The prioritization of innovation can be considered a key driver of economic growth which is a mainstream tool for fostering economic change and sustainable development. Focusing on how innovation is expected to bring about poverty alleviation is crucial given that the academic community has been concerned about which type of innovation will accelerate the achievement of sustainable socio-economic development. The study therefore examines how poverty rate can be impacted by process innovation in Nigeria over the period 2000–2021, using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Pairwise Granger Causality Test. The findings indicate that reduced poverty rate is linked to process innovation propensity. Results back up the hypothesis that process innovation can significantly influence poverty reduction in the short-term as well as in the long-term. It is also discovered that increased poverty level could engender the drive towards process innovation. This is because poverty rate rise is likely to stimulate the propensity to innovate, thereby enhancing innovation capacities across economic institutions and sectors. The evidence established through the empirical analysis reflects the need to create favorable framework conditions for process innovation to thrive. This rests on the view that innovation-enhancing governance ideology aimed at improving economy performance is central for facilitating the pro-poor agenda.