MACROEONOMIC ENVIRONMENT AND SCHOOLING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The paper investigated into the relationship between macroeconomic environment and schooling in Nigeria using the annual time series data spanning from 1981 to 2018 by employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) Model application to cointegration and Error Correction Model techniques known as Bounds Testing.   Unit root test was conducted on all the variables of interest in the study. The study finds evidence that public education expenditure, public health expenditure, government revenue and urbanization have strong and significant impact on schooling in Nigerian economy. The analysis of the study also confirms a long run relationship existing among schooling, public education expenditure, public health expenditure, government revenue and urbanization in Nigeria which implies that the macroeconomic environment provides a useful information about schooling in Nigeria. The policy implication of the findings of this paper is that as a matter of priority, government should encourage stability in macroeconomic variables capturing macroeconomic environment and be more focused on growth oriented, urbanization and stabilization policies especially at macro level which can stimulate schooling in Nigeria. In addition, there is need for government to sustain its revenue generating drive through tax and her education sector funding like Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and the Universal Basic Education (UBE) counterpart-funding initiatives channeled towards educational development as this step will enhance schooling in Nigeria.