Appendix presents further data description and robustness checks.

# **2 Institutional Background**

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a population of 160 million people, or 20 percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa. United Nations (2017) predicts that Nigeria’s population will be larger than that of the United States by 2050. Nigeria represents a leading setting in which to understand the determinants of public sector productivity.

Nigeria shares important features of its economy and polity with other developing countries. Its income per capita is roughly equivalent to that of India, or to that of Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole (World Bank, 2012). Its government makes up a similar proportion of economic activity as those of many other developing countries, representing 26 percent of gross domestic product.<sup>6</sup> Its political history is marked by colonial origins preceding a string of military dictatorships, much like other developing nations. Thus, Nigeria presents a window into the workings of government in the developing world.

The country returned to civilian rule with Presidential elections and a new constitution in 1999. Its constitution has many similarities to the United States, and its Congress shares many of the functional components of the United States Congress. Nigeria is a Federal Republic, with an elected two-chamber National Assembly composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Its three branches are the legislative, executive, and judiciary, and its three tiers are the federal, state, and local government levels. This study will focus on the House of Representatives and on public organizations at the federal government level only.

The House of Representatives is made up of 360 representatives, each with their own constituency. Each politician can therefore be associated with public projects implemented in their constituency. Representatives serve four-year terms, and there are no limits on re-election. I study the representatives of the 5th National Assembly which was elected in 2003 and lasted until 2007.

## **2.1 Role and composition of standing committees**

A core feature of the House of Representatives is the use of standing committees to consider policies relevant to their sector of expertise (such as water, health, etc.). For each sector, the relevant standing committee defines the public projects to be implemented in the coming year and monitors the bureaucratic organization implementing each one. For example, the House Committee on Health will consider all issues relevant to health in Nigeria, including monitoring the building of new health centers by healthrelated agencies in the Federal Government. Note that we will focus on the sectoral committees that have influence within their sector only, and exclude analysis of the finance and appropriation committee, which have broader The standing committees play a crucial role in the implementation of the federal budget. The projects I study were all established in law by budget appropriation bills passed in 2006 or 2007. The committees are designated to hold hearings with relevant parties to discuss the bills, scrutinize the proposals, and monitor the implementation of the approved projects. Membership of a sectoral standing committee provides a congressperson with significantly greater capacity to influence the implementation of that sector’s

> 6According to the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database (October 2012), government expenditures as a percentage of GDP are 21 percent in China, 27 percent in Kenya, 28 percent in India and 30 percent in South Africa.

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