Labour migration and human capital development in Nigeria: Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) regression

The study examined effect of labour Migration on human capital development in Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to: ascertain the impact of net migration value on human capital development in Nigeria and determine the impact of international migration stock on human capital development in Nigeria. This study made use of ex post-facto research design. The data analytical technique was divided into three phases namely: pre-estimation, estimation and post-estimation. The pre-estimation statistics includes descriptive statistics, Correlation Matrix of the Variables, Augmented Dickey-Fuller Unit Root test statistic, Johansen Co-integration test. The estimation technique includes Dynamic least square (DOLS) while post-estimation techniques involves and Histogram Normality Test. These variables consist of government expenditure on health and education (GEHE), net migration value rate (NMG), international migration stock (IMG), rural-urban migration (RBM), trade openness (TRADE) and exchange rate (EXCH) for the period of 1990 to 2024 as defined in our model specification. The empirical results showed that net migration value value (NMG) has negative and significant impact on human capital development in Nigeria (t-statistics; -5.3335; p-value; 0.0007 < Sig-value: 0.005) and international migration stock (IMG) has negative and significant impact on human capital development in Nigeria (t-statistics; -6.5826; p-value; 0.0009 < Sig-value: 0.005). This study concludes that labour migration has negative and significant impact on human capital development in Nigeria. The study recommended that Nigerian government should continue to expand its investment in human capital development. Enhanced education, healthcare, and skill-building programs are evidently making the country more appealing to immigrants.