The growth and development of Third World economies is usually hampered primarily by the extractive nature of their production base. This development challenge is pervasive across the African continent.
Take Nigeria for example. The highest annual crude oil export revenue the country ever recorded was $35 billion in 2011. In absolute terms, this amount may seem impressive, but when compared to the country’s per capita productivity, it is significantly reduced.
Nigeria is often referred to in the very highest terms, as a land rich in natural and human resources. Nigerians speak about their country with great pride. Of course they have bragging rights. Nigeria is a rich country with very happy people. It is claimed that one in four black people in the world is Nigerian. Nigeria’s GDP is $474.5 billion as of 2019, and will grow at 3.19% in 2024, making it the largest economy in Africa.
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Unfortunately, Nigeria’s economy is largely dependent on the export of oil and other natural products. In other words, development efforts focused on Nigeria’s limited resources for decades have not yielded significant results. Therefore, although successive federal governments have promised to diversify the productive base of the Nigerian economy, most, if not all, have failed to deliver on their promises.
The most landmark decision to promote the economic potential of the Nigerian economy on a sustainable basis was in 2018 when the National Economic Council (NEC) announced the The decision was taken when we started our human capital development program. This decision stems from the recognition that the most strategic growth plans are those targeted at individuals as economic agents, or engine rooms that drive much-needed growth and development on a sustainable basis. Maybe.
According to the NEC, “The HCD program is an initiative to accelerate investments in human capital more effectively for fair and economic growth in Nigeria.”At this point, it is timely to address the subject of human capital development. It happened.
The World Bank Human Development Project defines human capital as “the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate throughout their lives and that enable them to fulfill their potential as productive members of society.” In other words, HCD is the painstaking task of transforming a society’s population from a liability to an economic asset, which is necessary to transform a society along a positive growth trajectory.
According to the HCD document of the National Economic Council (NEC), “Over the past decade, many of the key indicators related to Nigeria’s human capital development (HCD) have trended in the wrong direction; It is not only below the global average across all major global HCD indices, including the United Nations Human Capital Index, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Expected Human Capital Index, and the World Bank Human Capital Index. , which is also below the world average for developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
The reasons for this high rate of underdevelopment of human capital are not far-fetched given the low level of education budgets, aging infrastructure, widespread insecurity, and headwinds from the global economy.
Japan’s lifeline
Although the race to develop Nigeria’s human capital assets may seem slow, the next best time is now. This is the basis for aligning the building blocks of the post-COVID-19 Nigerian economy to support the realization of the overarching goal of establishing a knowledge-based economy.
According to NEC Chairman and Vice President Senator Kasim Shettima, who is driving human capital development projects, “this program is the lifeblood of our country and is built on the collective recognition that enough is enough.”
We’ve had enough of the cycles that have held us back. The legacy of unplanned high birth rates and alarming maternal mortality and under-five mortality rates is long gone. ”
Speaking at the launch of Nasarawa State Human Capital Development in Lafia, Senator Shettima said HCD is a treasure trove that includes solutions to Nigeria’s human capital “challenges by focusing on education, health and workforce development”. It was declared that.
Nigeria’s human capital development project is currently in its second phase (HCD 2.0), with a focus on gender and equal opportunities, climate change and sustainability, digital economy and financial inclusion, and food and nutrition .
Steady progress towards achieving the goals set in three thematic areas: health, education and skills, workforce participation and livelihoods, coupled with the public commitment of the Vice President and the HCD Secretariat towards achieving these goals. is being watched. , this time, the president is determined to go beyond his words and exceed his goals. This is clear from the Vice President’s declaration that “unemployment, the growth of the informal sector, and low labor force participation must be reversed”. This is the dystopia that our human capital development programs are designed to alleviate, under the orders of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. The National Economic Council has long debated the ideal nation we would like to build and the path to achieving it. ”
Ali wrote a letter from Abuja.
