Education and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

Experts opined that education affects the society both at the micro and macro levels. However, the place of education has not been given its right place in Nigeria as reflected in the nation’s budgetary allocations. Hence, this study examined the impact of different levels of education on different components of growth in Nigeria. Data were sourced from the CBN Statistical Bulletin (see http://www.cbn.gov.ng/documents/statbulletin.asp), the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (see http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng) and The World Bank (see http://www.worldbank.org) from 1970–2015. The Fully Modified ols estimator was used and the results revealed that different levels of education impact at varying magnitude on each of the components of growth positively in Nigeria but the magnitude of the impact is much higher from completion rate. By implication completion rate explains growth at a higher magnitude than enrolment rates in Nigeria, therefore government should endeavour to provide modalities to curtail school dropout rate in the schooling system as a measure to boost completion rates that will facilitate growth.