The role of governance in remittances-access to electricity nexus in sub-Saharan Africa? A rural-urban comparative analysis

Purpose This study examines the influences of remittances and governance in enhancing access to electricity in 40 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Design/methodology/approach Using 5 years of non-overlapping from 1990 to 2022 using the system-generalised method of moment (System-GMM), with a particular focus on the rural-urban divide. Findings Evidence from the unconditional regression indicates that an additional migrant remittance received results in 8.7% and 23.4% increase in rural and urban access to electricity respectively. Second, the interactive regressions also indicate that corruption control, voice and accountability and government effectiveness exhibit negative synergies with remittances to influence rural access to electricity. In urban SSA, corruption control has positive synergies with remittances to enhance access to electricity. Voice and accountability interact with remittance, yielding a governance threshold of 1.76, for complementary policies. Originality/value The current empirical research bridges the research gap in the context of exploring the role that governance plays in influencing the effect of remittances on rural and urban access to electricity based on both conditional and unconditional analysis.