Government Spending on Human Capital: A Pivotal for Economic Development in Nigeria

The study investigate government human capital spending and its effect on the development of the Nigerian economy. The study used an ex-post facto design, which is useful for establishing cause-and-effect linkages when they cannot influence or change the relevant factors. The study’s population will be the aggregated variables of human capital spending and economic development in Nigeria, spanning the years 1986 to 2023. The data for the variable was sourced from CBN Bulletin and World Bank Data between 1986-2023. To find out if there is a long-run link between two or more variables in a time series environment, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound test is a statistical approach. Since it can handle models with both stationary (I(0)) and non-stationary (I(1)) variables, this approach is very helpful for dealing with non-stationary data. To study the connection between multiple time series variables, econometricians use the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) Short-Run Error Correction Model. This model is particularly useful when working with non-stationary data, where statistical properties like variance and mean can change over time. The found out show that despite a lack of statistical significance, public health spending has a favorable effect on Nigeria’s economic development. Also, Spending on public education in Nigeria improves economic performance, while the effect is not statistically significant. Conclusively, the study revealed that government spending on human capital has significant impact on economic development in Nigeria The study recommends that policymakers should prioritize the effective distribution and administration of health resources due to the substantial beneficial effect of public health spending on economic performance. To achieve this goal, investments should be made in healthcare infrastructure, medical personnel training, and the implementation of robust health policies to ensure effective service delivery across Nigeria.

  Keywords: Government Spending, Human Capital, Economic Development, Nigeria