Unemployment in Nigeria and Edeh’s Philosophy of Thought and Action: Expanding the Frontier of the Endogenous Growth Theory

Abstract

The study empirically examined unemployment in Nigeria and Edeh’s philosophy of Thought and Action with special reference to the endogenous growth theory. Time series data were sourced from the statistical Bulletin of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), International Monetary Fund (IMF), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), International Labour
Organisation (ILO), World Development Indicator (WDI) and Catholic Social Teachings (CST). In this paper, Unemployment (UNEM) is the dependent variable while Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate (GDPG), Inflation Rate
(INFR), Human Development Index (HDI) represent the human capital development, Government Expenditure (GOVE) and Population Growth Rate (POPGR) are the explanatory variables. The econometric technique employed in the study is the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound approach. Some of the major findings of the study revealed that GDP growth rate, inflation rate and population growth rate both in the long and short-runs have insignificant negative relationship with unemployment in Nigeria. The study also revealed that human capital development exerts a positive impact on unemployment in Nigeria. Based on these findings, the paper recommended that government should encourage private sectors through grants and subsidies to establish small and medium scale enterprises through which many citizens could be gainfully employed as exemplified by Edeh in his various establishments. The paper adopted empirical method of data analysis.