Abstract

Education, generally believed, contributes to the growth of an economy through acquisition of training and skills. For over 160 years, Nigeria had embarked on implementation of education policies affecting primary school, secondary school and tertiary institutions. This study used an econometric model to examine the contributions of primary education, secondary education and tertiary education to economic growth of Nigeria. These variables were proxied by school enrolments at various levels. Other variables included physical capital formation, health measured through total expenditure on health.  In all primary school input, physical capital formation and health were found to contribute to growth. Secondary school input and tertiary institutions were found to dampen growth.  Among others, this paper recommends that there should be adjustment in admission process in favour of core science and technical oriented course. The paper also recommends that schools should be adequately funded.

Key words: Education, econometric model, economic growth, Nigeria.