Sustaining Human Capital Development in Nigeria : An Exposition

Abstract

Over the years, the primary focus of the Nigerian government has been infrastructure, and little attention has been paid to the development and sustenance of human capital, especially on education and health. This negligence by the government is evident in the Human Development Index of the country over time, which has remained low for a long period. This paper, therefore, investigated the
determinants ofhuman capitaldevelopment inNigeria using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag modelling approach to co-integration. The study employed time series data of life expectancy, average income, environmental conditions, access to infrastructure, public expenditure on health and education from 1987 to 2017 and found long-run relationship among the variables. The results showed that in the long run, average income significantly improved life expectancy, and indeed, human capital development, with a sluggish speed
in the adjustment to transitory shocks. In the short run, previous expenditures on education and health are important factors.  Adequate attention should be paid to improving the average income of citizens while ensuring unfettered allocation to the education and health sectors in a bid to develop and sustain human capital in Nigeria.

Keywords: Human capital, government spending, education, health, income, Nigeria