Fiscal Decentralisation, Public Expenditure Management and Human Capital Development in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper focuses on fiscal decentralization, public expenditure management and human capital development in Nigeria. It presents a synergical relationship/nexus between fiscal decentralization, public expenditure management and human capital development and sees fiscal decentralization as an imperative necessity of empowering levels of government with financial resources to bring government closer to the people by the rendition of social services to people within their jurisdictions. The paper further argues that assigned fiscal responsibilities of governmental agencies must be backed up with prudent management of public expenditure (recurrent and capital) which should be aptly targeted at developing the human resources considered as the kingpin of true developmental efforts in any society. Nigeria, a social formation with an estimated population of 180 million persons and the largest economy in Africa has consistently failed in fostering the development of its human capital through budgetary allocations and implementation, fiscal decentralization and public expenditure management. To arrest the trend, the paper calls for a sustained commitment on the part of government in the development of the nation’s resources through sustained budgetary allocations in education, health, agriculture, infrastructural development, training and retraining of workers, power, science and technology and execution of people oriented public programmes/projects.