Mediating effect of Access to Finance in the relationship between Entrepreneurial Fuel Subsidy and Education Sector Financing in Nigeria: A Short-run Adjustment to Equilibrium Approach

Abstract

This study examined the impact of fuel subsidy on education sector financing in Nigeria from 1990 through 2023. Annual data were obtained from the Nigeria Petroleum Corporation and World Development Indicators, (WDI) on variables such as fuel subsidy, government expenditure on education sector, Oil Revenue, pump price of Premium Motor Spirit and secondary school enrolment in Nigeria. A bound cointegration test and ECM were employed. Granger test for causality was also used to ascertain the direction of causation in the series. The estimated error correction term, ECT (-1) is significant. There is no causal relationship from fuel subsidy to education sector financing. However, education sector financing granger causes fuel subsidy. Premium Motor Spirit and education sector financing were found to granger-cause each other. The study recommends that government should ensure that fuel subsidy is not allowed to deprive education of its fair share of government spending, given that current spending on the sector has been established to have implication for the sectors growth in the future years.