National Assembly Expenditure and Economic Growth in Nigeria: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The persistent public outcry in recent times over the perceived unnecessarily large expenditure on the Nigerian national assembly, and the question of the extent of their contribution to the overall growth of the nation is worrisome. This study is set out to investigate, the relationship between expenditure on the National Assembly and the level of economic growth in Nigeria. The methodology for achieving the objective of this research is the ordinary least square (OLS) estimation technique. The data set to support this objective is the time series data from 1999 to 2012. Our findings revealed that expenditure on the national assembly had a significant impact on level of economic growth (proxied by GDP), while a significant relationship exist between the contribution of National Assembly (proxied by number of bills passed) on economic growth. This calls for passage of more meaningful bills to drive the Nigerian economy higher.