Education Sector and Economic Growth in Nigeria: an Impact Analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on the empirical examination of the impact of education sector on economic growth in Nigeria. Time series data were used and the study employed ordinary least squares (OLS) tools of analysis in the investigation of the impact and relationships among the economic variables, multiple regression model was also used and the data was estimated using e-views 9.0 software. The results revealed that the education sector has a positive impact on economic growth in Nigeria. This implies that economic growth can be improved by increasing education investment in Nigeria. But Government Expenditure on Education is negatively related to Real Gross Domestic Product in Nigeria and statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance in explaining variation in the Real Gross Domestic Product in Nigeria, this may be due to the fact that education funds are not fully or properly utilized in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends that the government through budget planning, implementation and monitoring should ensure that education funds are properly and fully utilized in Nigeria to improve the impact of education sector on economic growth in Nigeria.