The Nexus of Basic Education and Economic Development in Nigeria

This study examines the relationship between basic education and human development in Nigeria using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework and annual data for 1990–2023. The estimated baseline specification considers primary, junior-secondary and senior-secondary enrolment alongside poverty, government expenditure and inflation. The results reported in the baseline model indicate a long-run relationship with the Human Development Index (HDI), with junior-secondary enrolment positively associated with HDI, primary enrolment showing a weaker positive association, and senior-secondary enrolment exhibiting a negative coefficient. Entrepreneurship Education (EE) is statistically significant and associated with economics development, Science, Technical and Vocational Education (STVE) remains insignificant in the long-run. The paper treats vocational enrolment as a potential STVE proxy and tertiary enrolment in business-related fields as a possible.