Bridging the productivity gap: The role of human capital development on national development in Nigeria

Amos Ayeni; Hilary Eshidenang Ushie

doi:10.65453/ajbmr.153.1511

Authors

Amos Ayeni Department of Economics, Federal College of Education, Obudu, Nigeria.
Hilary Eshidenang Ushie Department of Economics, Federal College of Education, Obudu, Nigeria.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.65453/ajbmr.153.1511

Keywords:

Human Capital Development, productivity gap, national development, ARDL, Nigeria

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of Human Capital Development (HCD) on Nigeria’s national progress between 1996 and 2025, utilizing secondary data sourced from the World Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Preliminary diagnostics via stationarity tests indicated a mixed order of integration among the variables, justifying the adoption of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework. The empirical results demonstrate that in the long run, government capital expenditure on education significantly drives economic development. Conversely, in the short run, recurrent educational spending serves as a primary catalyst for growth. Consequently, the study recommends a substantial increase in budgetary provisions for the education sector and advocates for the institutionalization of qualitative and affordable healthcare services

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