¹Chaku Shammah Emmanuel Ph.D.,²Timnan Bindap Ndam,³Azi Istifanus Madaki,⁴Jeremiah Nshe Manomi,⁵Ajang Janet Daniel,⁶Diemsan Attah Ambrose

¹Department of Statistics, Nasarawa State University Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

^2,3,4Department of Economics, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

³Jinhe Center for Economic Research (JCER), Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

⁵Department of Economics, Plateau State University Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria

⁶Department of Economics, Federal University Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Human capital development holds the key to the growth and development of any economy in the world as it drives the efficiency of other factors of production. This scenario is not the same when viewed in terms of Nigeria's growth trajectory. It is against this backdrop that the paper investigates the effect of human capital development on Nigeria's economic growth. Time series data were used and the data spanning from the period of 1986 – 2020. The variables employed in the study are GDP proxy for Economic growth, while GEE, GEH, and ALR as explanatory variables. ARDL bound testing Model was used to estimate the relationship between the variables and the result uncovered the GEE had a negative and insignificant impact on economic growth in Nigeria, while GEH and ALR had a positive and significant impact on economic progress within the study period and it was recommended that Government should promote practice-oriented training for students, particularly in technical disciplines and matching education system in line with market demand. The government should increase budgetary allocation to meet up with the United Nations' specifications of 26% for the edifice of successful human capacity development in Nigeria.

ARDL, Development, Economic Growth, Human Capital, and Nigeria.

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VOLUME 06 ISSUE 05 MAY 2023

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