The impact of infrastructure investment on real growth in Nigeria

• Main Author: Igbokwe, Okezie
• Other Authors: Marwa, Nyankomo
• Format: Others
• Language: en_ZA
• Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2015
• Subjects: Infrastructure (Economics) > Nigeria; Gross domestic product > Nigeria; Economic development > Nigeria; Nigeria > Economic conditions; UCTD
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/97461

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. === ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Nigerian economy has suffered huge infrastructure deficits since her independence in 1960, thereby limiting economic growth potential of the country considerably. This research conducted a Granger causality test between Real Gross Domestic Product, infrastructure investment and productivity across manufacturing, agriculture and industrial sectors in Nigeria for the period 1981 – 2012 using multivariate vector error correction model. The co integration test shows that there is a long run relationship between infrastructure investment and economic growth at both at 1 percent and 5 percent levels of significance. Further, the granger causality test indicated a one way causal relationship between infrastructure investments and economic growth in Nigeria running from infrastructure investment to Real Gross Domestic Product growth. We equally established a one way causality relationship between agriculture sector productivity and gross domestic product growth, a one way causal relationship between manufacturing sector productivity and Real Gross Domestic Product growth and a very significant one way causal relationship that runs from infrastructural investment to agriculture sector productivity, all running from the former to the latter. The economic implication of this is that the existing level of infrastructure investment in Nigeria is a significant contributing factor to growth in the level of rea gross domestic product. However, despite the sustained real gross domestic product growth, the Nigerian government has been unable to translate this growth to physical infrastructure development. We conclude that in order to achieve the double digit economic growth needed for a comprehensive economic transformation of Nigeria, the Nigerian government needs to accord greater priority to infrastructure development, particularly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.