Secondary School Enrollment in Nigeria: The Role of Remittances from Abroad

Abstract

Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method, the study looked at how remittances affected secondary school enrollment in Nigeria. The research uses annual data from 1981 to 2022. Remittances from overseas, GDP per capita, gross fixed capital formation, inflation, and the ratio of tertiary school enrollment are the five channels that are taken into consideration. The findings show that the remittances coefficient indicates a one-unit increase in remittances leads to a -0.0168-unit decrease in the secondary school enrollment rate, although not statistically significant. This suggests that when remittances are used for basic needs like housing, healthcare, and daily expenses, there is less money available for schooling. Families may feel that the high fees are excessive and that income dynamics cannot support the costs of secondary education. The findings also show that the log of GDP per capita is associated with a 0.0626-unit increase in the log of secondary school enrollment rate. Tertiary school enrollment is associated with an increase in the current log of secondary school enrollment rates because higher secondary school enrollment rates are driven by increased education desires, tertiary opportunities, and better access. The study concludes that while remittances have the potential to impact educational decisions and outcomes in general, they had no effect on secondary school enrollment rates in Nigeria or during the study period, and it suggests that the government look into the challenges faced by families that rely on remittances for education. Pay careful attention to the outcomes of implemented policies and programmes so that you can assess their effectiveness and adjust as needed in response to community input.