ABSTRACT

 The study examined the impact ofpublic expenditure on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The main objective of the study is to find out the significant effect of public expenditure on poverty reduction in Nigeria. The specific objectives ofthe study are; to ascertain the impact ofpublic expenditure on poverty reduction in Nigeria and to ascertain ifthere is any significant long-run relationship between public expenditure and poverty reduction in Nigeria. However, the hypotheses used are; there is no significant impact ofpublic expenditure on poverty reduction in Nigeria, and There is no significant long-run relationship between public expenditure and poverty reduction In Nigeria. Moreover, thefindings made use ofa large percentage ofNigeria's population estimated to be 182.2 Million according to World Bank, (2016) remain at rather below the poverty line and often with insufficient access to education and health care. With this, it becomes an issue to worry what impact the public expenditures have on poverty reduction in Nigeria. Also, data was obtained from the statistical bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ofvarious issue. We analyzed the time series datafrom 1981 to 2018 using the ordinary least square econometric technique andfound that government capital expenditure contributes to poverty reduction in Nigeria. We saw that there is no long run relationship between the poverty rate, foreign direct investment, government capital expenditure, and government recurrent expenditure in Nigeria for the period under consideration. Finally, based on the findings ofour study, we proffer the following policy recommendations: more funding to capital items in the national budget so that they can contribute more towards poverty reduction, efforts should be made to end the incessant strike actions by the labour unions and other unions so that productivity should be geared towards reducing poverty and the public sector needs to be restructured to eradicate inefficiencies that hinder positive contribution to poverty reduction.