In this paper we assess the impact of rural electrification on child labour in Nigeria using panel data provided by the General Household Survey. This relationship is theoretically ambiguous and the few existing empirical results do not converge. Given unreliability of the power grid and heterogeneous equipment rates, electrification cannot be only captured using access to the grid. We investigate in particular how child labour varies depending on the nature of electricity supply and the electrical appliances used in the household. When controlling for a large set of individual characteristics and for selection on unobservables, we find that the employment probability of children from electrified households is lower than that of children living in non-electrified households only when the household combines grid access and a generator as sources of electricity. In a country with poor quality electricity, this combination allows households to be able to use appliances that allow them to save time and reallocate it among their members.
Keywords: rural electrification, child labour, developing countries
update: Feb.2025
