Four Major Service Industries and Economic Growth in Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This study has investigated the influence of four major service industries in Nigeria on the economic growth. Data for the study composed of value gross domestic product (GDP), value added of trade, value added of information and communication, value added of financial and insurance, value added of real estate, and indicators of financial deepening. Data were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. All the series were subjected to Unit root test and cointegration test. The results of the Augmented Dickey Fuller showed that all the series were stationary at first difference and there was existence of long run relationship among the series as confirmed by the results of the Johansen’ cointegration test. The estimations were carried out using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (Dynamic OLS). The findings of the study showed that trade and real estates were the movers of economic growth in the period under study. Also, the findings showed that pairwise intersections of trade and financial and insurance; financial and insurance, and real estate; and trade and real estate contributed significantly to economic growth during the period under study. The authors recommended that there should be concrete policies on diversification as to ensure that the impact of trade and real estate is spilled- over to other sectors.