Social Expenditure on Human Capital Formation and Economic Growth Nexus in Nigeria
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Date
2026-04
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Sokoto Journal of Management Studies
Abstract
High rates of unemployment, poverty, and income inequality are just a few of the ongoing
socioeconomic issues that Nigeria has to deal with. The government has poured a lot of money
into social spending programs to address these problems, but socioeconomic problems still
exist. It is against this background that this paper aims to examine the social expenditure on
human capital formation and economic growth nexus in Nigeria. The paper investigated this
relationship for the period 1989 to 2024 as Nigeria is in state of downturn effects, and
adopted the robust generalized OLS regression model. This paper used real domestic product
as dependent variable, while education, defence, communication, technology and physical
capital formation. The empirical outcomes obtained in this paper indicate that education and
defence expenditure have negative insignificant effects on the economic growth, while
communication and technology and physical capital formation have positive significant nexus
with economic growth. The paper's findings highlight the vital role that government spending
on social protection plays in promoting Nigeria sustained economic expansion. To better
match the educational system, and security with the goals of economic growth, specific
reforms or increased efficiency may be necessary, as evidenced by the insignificance of
government spending on education and defence. For policymakers looking to maximize the
effect of social investment on Nigerian economic growth, this paper offers insightful
information overall.
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Social expenditure, Real gross domestic product, Education, Defence, Communication and Technology, Economic growth, Nigeria