ANALYSES OF NIGERIA’S KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: DOES PUBLIC EXPENSES ON EDUCATION MATTER IN EDUCATION OUTCOME?

Abstract

Following the critical role of education in the development of human capital base of a nation, the quest to building a knowledge economy is largely hinged on the efforts of the government in guaranteeing the provision of educational opportunities. Initially, education in Africa was of high quality and standard during the time of our colonial masters and their early successors, then following the corruption in the 20th century and this millennium period, African leaders twisted education system into an unimaginable condition in their quest to achieve their selfish political interest which made education to dwindle in both political transition and economic development of Africa. Therefore, it is expected that finance to the education sector would translate to improvement in educational outcome in the country. Motivated by this, the study re-examined the public sector financing on education and educational outcome in Nigeria from 1981 to 2022. The study was hinged on human capital theory. The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach in estimating the relevant relationship while the ECM captured the speed of adjustment to long run. The result of the study showed a positive, but insignificant relationship between public education expenditure and educational outcome in Nigeria. Arising from the findings, the study recommends for an adequate and prudent financial policy for the educational sector as it will guarantee increased educational outcome in the country.