Public Education Expenditure, Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study theoretically and empirically investigates the public education expenditure, human capital
development and economic growth in Nigeria between 1981 and 2020. The study looked at the
education and health sector of the economy as determinant of revolutionary and productive
economic growth in Nigeria with the aim of ascertaining the relationship between government
educational expenditure, human capital development and economic growth in Nigeria. The data was
analyzed using the post-estimation econometric methodologies with the use of EViews9 statistical
software. Therefore, the results reveled that there exist a short-run and long-run relationship
between public educational expenditure, human capital development and economic growth in
Nigeria. Given the context of the study, recommendations were made that in order to maintain longterm economic growth, the government should first create specific agencies with the mandate to
enhance the skills and talents of graduate, also that the government should focus on enhancing the
health and education sectors of Nigeria through higher government financial allocation and
incentive programs for sustained continuous growth in order to boost the nation’s productivity
capacity.