EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT BORROWING ON HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

This paper investigates the impact of government borrowing on human capital development in Nigeria, using annual time series data from 1996 to 2022. Human capital was measured by secondary school enrolment rates and average life expectancy at birth, while government borrowing was gauged through domestic and external public debts. Institutional quality was assessed using control of corruption as an explanatory variable. The data were analysed through the error correction model. The findings revealed that domestic and external debts, along with their interaction with control of corruption, had no significant effect on secondary school enrolment rates, while control of corruption notably reduced enrolment. Conversely, public debt servicing and total public expenditure on social and community services significantly boosted secondary school enrolment. The study also showed that while domestic and external public debt, public debt servicing, and their interaction with control of corruption had the potential to increase life expectancy, the effects were not statistically significant. Moreover, total public expenditure on social and community services, and control of corruption were found to decrease life expectancy. These results imply that while increasing social service expenditure enhances school enrolment, achieving improvements in life expectancy requires more comprehensive, long-term strategies that delve deeper into the interaction between economic and governance factors.