Education Expenditure and Economic Growth in Nigeria Essay

Education is a process in which knowledge and social capabilities demanded, are acquired. It is to a nation, what the mind is to the body, just as a deceased mind is handicapped in the co-ordination and direction of the bodily activities setbacks in the education system would act as a hindrance to economic development. Thus, the single most significant complex of social-control tools for national development is found in the educational system; be it formal or informal. (Uwadia , 2010). It is also accepted that the development of any nation depends largely on the development of the human population in that nation which can majorly be improved through education. Smith (1937) stressed the significance of education in human capital formation. Therefore it follows that a reduction in the investment in education would affect the stock of the overall human capital base and productivity. Thus investment on education is considered to be a critical element to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and increase economic growth (Chukwu, 2011). It is with this knowledge that The UNESCO recommended that 26% of the annual budget be allocated to the Education sector and the agreement between the Federal Government and Staff unions on October 22, 2009 was also aimed at the improvement of the education sector. However in our study we would realize that a country like Nigeria has been operating below the percentage recommended by UNESCO as our expenditure on education usually lies around 5.3%. According to the Federal Ministry of Education (2003), the educational system in Nigeria faced ill periods between 1979-1995 due to resurgence of instability and financial inadequacies in the management, and was affected by the general economic downturn of the 1980s. In response to this, the Federal Government subsequently increased the budget allocation to education in the following years. These increments can be observed from 1995-2004 whereby education expenditure increased from N12,816,400,000 in 1995 to N93,767,886,839 in 2004. A total increase in expenditure by 631.63%. Such a huge increase in education expenditure should initiate a relatively large increase in the Nigerian education system. It is however apparent that the growth of the Nigerian economy has led to an increase in the National budget allocation to education over the years but how this in turn has played a role in the development of the Education sector, remains a puzzle unsolved. All these provoked the conduct of this study. In this vain, it is expected that in a developing country like Nigeria that seeks to achieve economic development, the increasing amounts pumped into the education sector will be utilized effectively and in turn will result to the development of Education in Nigeria. However, this is not the case. A cursory glance at the quality of our education reveals that Nigeria is a long way from reaching neither the promised land of Education for all by 2015 nor its wide dream of being one of the 20 best world economies by 2020. With more money driven into the sector and nothing to show for it, one can then infer that the cause of our torpid education system is not financial inadequacy. On the other hand, it may be a contributing factor. Hence the need for our study arises. In the light of this, this study is carried out with the aim of highlighting the relationship between education expenditure and the development of the education sector. Also, we shall show how the education standard is deteriorating despite the increment in budgetary allocations from 1995 to 2004. Explicitly, the objectives are as follows; a.To determine and assess the pattern of Government expenditure on education. b.To ascertain the performance of the education sector in comparison to Government expenditure in the sector. This study is carried out on the Nigerian education sector with emphasis on Nigeria’s budget allocation to Education and so all resources and observations to be made are restricted to Nigeria. Data and information to be used in this research are secondary data obtained. These data are to be gathered between May 30th and June 17th, 2011. This research on the Nigerian Education sector shall be based on data from 1995 to 2004 (ten years). It was in this period that a steady increase in the budget allocation to the education sector was observed. Data required to carry out this research shall be extracted from; †¢The National Bureau of Statistics publications: Federal budgetary allocations. †¢Ministry of Education, Awka Zonal Office †¢The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) Zonal Office †¢The National Examination Council (NECO) – zonal office †¢The West Examination Council (WAEC). †¢The Central Bank of Nigeria –Annual publications on the National budget. In this research paper, the ordinary least squared method will be employed using annual time series data (1995-2004), in order to assess the impact of education expenditure on the development of the sector. This work will be done in the form of a research paper because it is an expanded essay that presents out own interpretation, evaluation and argument. We have succeeded in building upon what we know about the statement of the problem at hand.