Browsing by Author "Agu, Victor Nnamdi"

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    Demand for tertiary education and the performance Nigerian economy (1985 – 2013)
    (Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2016) Agu, Victor Nnamdi
    The study examined the relationship between the demand for higher education in Nigeria and the performance of the country’s economy. It specifically examined the trend and patterns of tertiary enrolment and economic growth in Nigeria; the causal relationship between the tertiary enrolment and productivity of the Nigerian economy; and the relative contributions of the disaggregated components of higher education and physical capital on the Nigerian economy. Secondary data were used for the study. Annual data on university enrolment, polytechnic enrolment, gross fixed capital formation and real gross domestic product covering the period from 1985 to 2013 were sourced from World Bank Development Indicator, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin, Nigeria Bureau of statistics (NBS) Annual Abstract of Statistics, and Factsheets of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive analysis (graphs, and tables) and econometric technique; Granger Causality test and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). The result showed that university enrolment and polytechnic enrolment over the period was positively trended. University enrolment from a stock of 135,670 in 1985 to 402,312 in 2000. The figure reached a peak of 724,856 in 2004. Similarly, polytechnic enrolment increased from 51,458 in 1985 to 201,220 in 2000 and a maximum of 272,038 in 2004. Furthermore, the multivariate Granger causality test revealed that there is a unidirectional causality from university enrolment to real gross domestic product., and a bidirectional causality between polytechnic enrolment and real gross domestic product (χ2 =11.8076; p < 0.05). In addition, the ARDL estimates indicated a long run equilibrium relationship among polytechnic enrolment, university enrolment, gross fixed capital formation and real gross domestic product in Nigeria (F-statistic = 24.2617; p = 5%). Polytechnic enrolment has a significant negative impact on the real gross domestic product in both the short run and the long run (t = -2.508, p < 0.050.) while university enrolment has a negative impact on the real gross domestic product in the short run but a significant positive relationship in the long run (t = 6.725, p < 0.05). similarly, gross fixed capital formation significantly contributed more to the real gross domestic product than the components of tertiary education put together in both the short run and the long run (t = 2.882, p < 0.05). The study therefore concludes that there is a significant long run relationship between the demand for higher education and the performance of Nigerian economy.