Analyzing the Effects of Sectoral Public Spending On Human Development in Nigeria Evidence from Panel Data

This paper analyzed the effects sectoral public spending on human development in Nigeria using data from 20 states for the period1999-2012. Data on each state were generated from various issues of the Accountant-Generals’ Reports, Central Bank of Nigeria Annual Report and Statement of Accounts and United Nations Development Programme Reports. For robustness of the analysis, total, recurrent and capital public spending on education, health, agriculture, rural development, energy, housing, environmental protection and portable water resources are employed as predictors of human development. The result depicted that there is a positive functional relationship between education, health, agriculture, rural development, energy, housing, environmental protection and portable water resources expenditure and human development; an indication that expenditure on these sectors fosters human development. Beside, the efficacy of education, health, agriculture, rural development and portable water in improving human development is greater than that of energy, housing and environmental protection. A further analysis of recurrent and capital expenditures reveals that recurrent and capital expenditure has both positive and negative effects on human development across states and period under consideration. However, the relative effect of capital expenditure in improving human development was greater than that of recurrent expenditure.