SECURITY EXPENDITURE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA

Purpose of study: This study examines security expenditure as an economically contributive or a non-contributive expenditure on human capital development and economic growth in Nigeria. Methodology: Adopting the ARDL bounds test and Error Correction Model (ECM) on quarterly time-series data from January 2010-December 2018. Result: The findings and results indicate that security expenditure is economically a contributive expenditure. In the long-run a positive and significant impact on economic growth and human capital development, in the shot-run a negative relationship. The ECM model conveyed the speed of convergence from disequilibrium in the short-run back to long-run equilibrium by 86% quarterly. Implication/Application: The finding and results have critical implications for the government and policymakers, protection of life, properties, economic, and business assets positively stimulate economic growth. A unit increase in government expenditure on human capital development decreases insecurity and increase economic growth. Novelty/Originality of this study: Previous studies conducted globally and in Nigeria reported diverse results on the co-integrating relationship between security expenditure and economic growth, using diverse variables and annualized time series data predominantly. This study differs from the previous studies to adopt quarterly time-series data, the ARDL, and the ECM models as the major techniques of analysis along with a battery of pre-test and diagnostic tests.