BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION (1970-2018)

Abstract

The study evaluates empirically budget implementation and Nigerian socio-economic performance, using annual time series data obtained from the budget office of the federation website, Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical bulletin of various issues, World Bank database and Journals with the aid of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound test methodology of Narayan (2004). The coefficient of budget implementation and total government expenditure were found to be positive and statistically significant at the 1 percent level, confirming the notion that improved budget implementation and increased in total government spending are socio-economic (RGDP and ALR) performance enablers. Other findings suggest the importance of government capital stock, poverty rate and school duration on growth. These findings certify that a high degree of budget implementation and total government expenditure would enhance and accelerate socio-economic performance in Nigeria both in the short run and long run. Based on findings, the study recommends the need to speak loud to the financial activities of government concerning revenue, expenditure, and debt operation and properly manage the impact of these measures to enhance the socio-economic environment of Nigeria leveraging on the human factor in the growth process.