Impact Evaluation of the Free Primary Education Program in Nigeria and in Neighboring Beninese Communities.

The study looks at a Free Primary Education (FPE) program in the Western Region of Nigeriafrom in 1955 - 1965 that included building new schools, hiring teachers, and mandating that children attend primary school. The study assess whether this program could have positively impacted educational and life outcomes in western Nigerian communities as well as in eastern Beninese communities with connections to Nigeria, even if children in those communities did not themselves attend Nigerian primary schools. There is evidence that the program led to increased school attendance and primary school completion for the cohort of individuals exposed to the FPE in the former Western Region. These effects are significantly larger for females. Evidence of spillovers to neighbouring communities in Nigeria particularly for the next generation was also found. However, there is no evidence that the FPE program improved educational outcomes in indirectly treated Beninese communities for those who were of school age at the time of the FPE.