Industrial Development and Poverty Reduction: An Empirical Assessment of the Nigerian Human Capital Development

Abstract

Nigeria's high poverty rate might be linked to the country's failure to develop its industrial sector over the past years. Against this background, this study examined the influence of industrial expansion on poverty reduction in Nigeria.  Data from, 1990 to 2021 were estimated using a completely modified ordinary least squares method and Pairwise Granger causality respectively. According to the study's findings, manufacturing value added and human capital development are inversely related in Nigeria but statistically not significant. This is an indication that industrial development has less capacity to reduce poverty in Nigeria, which is contrary to the aprori expectation. The deficiency in industrial development in Nigeria might account for this result. Furthermore, there is no causal link between industrial value added and the human development index. This implies that the current level of industrial development in Nigeria could not reduce poverty in the country. Based on these findings, the study recommends for the Nigerian policymakers, among other things, that policies and programmes that would drive industrial expansion should be embarked upon in the country, this would boost job creation, and output growth, and eventually eliminate poverty in the country.