Abstract
Education is seen as a veritable tool for the socio-political and economic emancipation of any country from the shackles of ignorance, poverty, unemployment and low economic growth. But despite the enormous increase in education expenditure and literacy rate in Nigeria in the past two decades, noninclusive growth and high poverty rate still permeate all facets of human endeavour. In this light, the paper examines the interrelationships among education, economic growth and poverty in Nigeria. The study adopts econometrics methodology as the analytical tool using secondary data from 1980-2012. Evidence from the study suggests that though a long-run relationship exists among education, economic growth and poverty rate in Nigeria, but neither total education expenditure nor literacy rate cause changes in poverty rate in Nigeria. While government expenditure on education was found to have a positive and significant impact on economic growth (both in the short-run and in the long-run), literacy rate has positive but insignificant impact on growth. This could be due to high rate of unemployed school leavers, weak institutional mechanism, obsolete school curricula, shortage of critical infrastructure, and brain drain syndrome which characterize the country. The paper therefore recommended an increase in budgetary allocation to education as well as a review of the school curricula with a view to making the educational system more responsive to growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. Government should also create the enabling environment for the creation of jobs through the provision of critical infrastructure which accelerate the development of small scale enterprises. This will provide gainful employment for school leavers and make them contribute more to inclusive growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria.
Highlights
The symbolic relationship between education and economy rests on the belief that economic criteria are the basic considerations for investment in education
The hypotheses that state there are no long-run relationship among education, economic growth and poverty rate are rejected at 5% significance level
This implies that there exists a long-run relationship among education, economic growth and poverty rate in Nigeria
Summary
The symbolic relationship between education and economy rests on the belief that economic criteria are the basic considerations for investment in education. Enyi (1999) noted that investment in education rests on the logic that the educated earns more than the uneducated in most countries, and that the earning power of individual reflects their productivity level, which in turns is promoted by education. Economic development is related to individual’s productivity level which means that more education leads to more economic development. According to Dauda (2009), the crucial role education plays in the overall development of a nation cannot be overemphasized because education is seen as a key to poverty reduction and vehicle for promoting equity, fairness and social justice and helps to supply the essential human capital which is a necessary condition for sustained economic growth. Enhancing effective investment on education has been a tenet of growth and development strategies of most countries
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