Pattern of government spending in Nigeria: a time series analysis

This paper aims to appraise the pattern of government spending in Nigeria using a time series analysis to compare the nature of government spending between the Pre-Democratic era (between 1984 to 1998) and Democratic era (between 1999 to 2013), with a comprehensive approach and analytical outlook. The study employs secondary data and the data were analysed using the T-test model to test the statistical significance of the hypothesis. The analyses however revealed that public spending in Nigeria is significantly to a particular spectrum of activity, that isrecurrent expenditure, under both eras, this, of course is not good for economic growth. In the area of sectoral allocation of recurrent expenditure, emphasis has been on transfer payment and general administration. The neglect sectors are social and community services and economic services.The study, however, suggests that they should be paradigm shift from the current pattern of government spending(where recurrent spending had been favoured) to capital spending, and that, the on-going fiscal reforms should be made more effective to establish a prudent government sector with enhanced efficiency and productivity.