Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Nigeria (1982-2022)

The study examined the impact of human capital development and economic growth in Nigeria. Time series data range between 1982-2022 were used. The study employs ordinary least square (OLS) method of estimation and the stationarity properties of the model were also explored. The study carried out by means of secondary data and used gross domestic product (GDP) as the Dependent Variable while government expenditure on education (GEE), government expenditure on health (GEH), primary school enrolment (PSE), secondary school enrolment (SSE), tertiary school enrolment (TSE) and life expectancy rate (LER), as proxies for human capital development as independent variables. The results revealed from the empirical analysis showed that that human capital development has a positive and significant relationship with economic growth over the study period 1982-2022. Based on these findings, this study recommends that efforts should be made by every entity of the economy to harmonize the activities in the educational and health sectors of the economy. This will have a long run effect on the economy. Nigerian government should also increase its allocation to education in its future annual budgets in order to set standards in the education sector. Keywords; Gross domestic product, Government expenditure on education, government expenditure on health, Life expectancy rate and (OLS).