Government Expenditure and Sustainable Industrial Development in Nigeria

Abstract

The development of the industrial sector remains a contentious issue in Nigeria’s economy.This research examines the impact of Government expenditure on sustainable industrial developmentin Nigeria. The research adopted Johansen co-integration and vector error correction analysis via EViews statistical software (version 10.0) for period between 1981 and 2018, to determine long-runimpact of public finance on industrial growth in Nigeria. It used time series data extracted from CBNstatistical bulletin (2018) and WDI (2018). This research adopts Wagner’s Law named after the Germanpolitical economist Adolph Wagner (1835-1917), which best explains government expenditure andindustrialization. This research study found out that government revenue is statistically insignificantbut has a positive effect on industrial development; Manufacturing Value added as a proxy (MVA), a100% change in GREV will bring about 28% changes in manufacturing output, capital expenditure ishowever statistically significant and negatively impacts industrial output, a change in CEXP will yieldless than a proportional change in MVA by about 52%, recurrent expenditure positively affectsindustrial growth, although its influence is statistically insignificant, a 100% rise in REXP will causeabout 41% increase in manufacturing sector’s growth. Also, a change in capital stock i.e. Gross FixedCapital Formation (GFCF) will lead to a significant but inelastic and less than proportional change inMVA, thereby depicting inverse relationship. Based on the findings the following conclusions weremade: Effective allocations of government revenue as well as the early release and approval of budgetproposals will have a meaningful effect on the economy, increase in sustainable investment levelalongside required equipment coupled with qualified personnel to properly manage these amenities willensure improvement of the industrial sector and finally, working incentives in form of tax incentives,promotion and salary increment should be regularly encouraged in the industrial sector in Nigeria