HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIAL SECTOR GROWTH IN NIGERIA

IHENSEKHIEN, Orobosa A.
Department of Economics, Banking and Finance
Benson Idahosa University Benin City, Nigeria
oihensekhien@biu.edu.ng
SORIWEI, Eniebiju
Department of Economics, Banking and Finance
Benson Idahosa University Benin City, Nigeria
eniebijusoriwei@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the influence of human capital on industrial sector growth in Nigeria from 1986 to 2020. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag co-integration method of estimation was applied in the
empirical analyses to determine the influence of human capital variables on industrial sector growth. The
empirical observations revealed that government’s recurrent investment in education had significantly
negative short-run impact on industrial sector growth while in the long run, there was a significant positive
influence. Government recurrent expenditure on health revealed short-run significant impact on industrial
sector growth while in the long run, it was observed to be negative. The implication of this on the industrial
sector is that for the desired level of industrial sector growth to be achieved, investment in education should
be increased by government policy. The study suggests that there should be a premeditated government
investment in education and health to achieve the desired level of industrial sector growth in Nigeria in
the nearest future.
Keywords: Human capital development, industrial sector, Autoregressive Distributed Lag cointegration
JEL Classification: C01, C13, L6