ABSTRACT

For some years now in Nigeria, there has been a serious debate to ascertain the government expenditure on tertiary education sector but unfortunately, Nigerian education system has been plagued by frequent problems and the situation has recently been made worse by frequent strikes by lecturers in tertiary institutions in the country. The study examined relationship between government expenditure and performance of tertiary education sector in Nigeria in post covid 19. The specific objectives were to determine the relationship between capital expenditure to education and tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria in post covid 19, to examine the relationship between recurrent expenditure to education and tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria  in post covid 19 and to ascertain relationship between government total  expenditure to education and tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria  in post covid 19. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The data for the study was sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin. The stated hypotheses were analysed with multiple regression. The findings of this study revealed that  Capital expenditure to education has positive and  insignificant  effect on tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria in post covid 19. Recurrent expenditure to education has positive and insignificant effect on tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria in post covid 19 and government total expenditure to education (GTX) has positive and insignificant effect on tertiary institution enrolments in Nigeria in post covid 19. It was recommended that The Federal government of Nigeria should as a matter of urgency increase the allocation of funds to the education sector in particularly the tertiary institution This should be extended beyond the 12% which has been the highest over the years to between 18% and 22%. Though this recommendation is not in consonance with UNESCO 26% recommendation of total expenditure to education sector, it could trigger huge improvement in the sector.