ECONOMIC DEREGULATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH NIGERIA (1980-2025)

This paper was focused on the effect of economic deregulation on economic growth and development in Nigeria in the period 1980-2025 with real GDP and level of employment respectively as the relevant proxies for growth and development. The methodology for this study was econometrics. The study made use of secondary data such as total government expenditures, inflation rate, GDP and ratio of total government expenditures to GDP pooled from various sources such as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Annual Reports and Accounts, National Bureau of Statistic (NBS), Economics texts, various journals of Economics etc. To test the hypotheses, the author made use of Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag models. The result of the analysis indicated that transition to market economy in Nigeria especially in the reviewed period was inflationary due to failure of fiscal policies resulting in poor growth and worsening unemployment. Again, public sector was excessively large in the reviewed period. Implications of the findings: inflationary pressure implied rising costs of investment and poor growth implied financial crisis and rising poverty. Excessively large public sector implies huge government expenditure, government deficits/debt financing and debt burden in Nigeria. Hence, the author recommended as follows: i. Nigeria requires a well-articulated planning program over time for growth and development. ii. Unless Nigeria devises means of managing resources efficiently, inflation would be difficult to control and growth development would remain a mirage. For instance surrounding proceeds from fuel subsidy withdrawal is the main source of inflation in Nigeria, among other recommendations.