Government Revenue, Public Debt and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria during 2014 - 2023

Abstract

The essence of infrastructural development and its implications on Nigerian economy are no longer contentious but its adequacy has become an issue of concern especially in the emerging economies like Nigeria. On this note, this study evaluated the effect of government revenue on infrastructural development. Furthermore, it examined the influence of public debts on infrastructural development in Nigeria. All these are to provide insight as to the relationship between government revenue; public debts and infrastructural development in Nigeria.

Longitudinal research design was employed. The population was the Nigerian economy which was infinite in nature. The source of data was secondary. Capital expenditures were measured as infrastructures while oil revenue and non-oil revenue were employed to proxy government revenue. Domestic and external debts were the proxies of public debts. The data were collected from statistical bulletins. The data were estimated descriptively and inferentially.

This study showed that the trend of infrastructural development in Nigeria was ups and downs. In addition, the study revealed that government revenue has no statistically significant effect on infrastructural development in Nigeria (?² = 1.98; p > 0.05). Furthermore, it was found that public debts significantly affected infrastructural development in Nigeria (?² = 14.91; p < 0.05).

This research work concluded that while the development of infrastructures in Nigeria was influenced by the public debts, the government revenue did not affect it within the stated periods. So, it is recommended that the government should block all the leakages to revenue generation.