NEC, NGF To Accelerate Human Capital Development In Nigeria

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says it would in conjunction with that Core Working Group (CWG) of the Human Capital Development project of the National Economic Council (NEC) to accelerate Human Capital Development (HCD) indicators of the country

The forum in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by by Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Head of Media and Public Affairs, NGF Secretariat, said that the forun and the CWG would by this week engage with the North Central and North East geo-political zones of the country.

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It noted that the CWG Coordinator, Ms Yosola Akinbi, gave the indication while addressing the States’ Focal Persons of the programme in two different virtual conferences, involving the North west and South-south geo-political zones held on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

The statement quoted Akanbi as saying the decision became imperative because of the rating of the country on the HCD indicators when compared to other countries.

“The Nigerian Government recognizes the critical role that HCD plays in driving sustained economic growth, boosting productivity and reducing poverty.

“This strongly supports the need to invest in people through healthcare, education and the labour force, which led to the setting up of the Core Working Group with the view to accelerating human capital and development in Nigeria,” Akanbi said.

It noted that since the project was set up, the HCD drivers had emphasised three thematic areas and six outcome areas, including healthcare and nutrition, education and the labour force.

“They would each respectively provide equitable access to decent healthcare to every Nigerian, a quality, inclusive and functional education system and empower the nation’s youth with the capacity and skills to create or seek employment anywhere,” the statement said.

It noted that the CWG in collaboration with state focal persons, development partners and other key stakeholders have articulated a long-term vision for HCD in the Country.

“In similar vein the states are expected to develop a vision that is tailor-made for their peculiar environments.
It said: “However, all the various aspirations would eventually align with the national vision of improving nutrition and reducing childhood stunting by half.

It added that under education the objective was to double school enrolment, double girl-child enrolment as well as double secondary school completion from 42 per cent to 80 per cent by 2030.

“The cumulative effect of this is to drop the number of out of school children by at least 70 per cent while raising the number of those who obtain good grades in reading and mathematics substantially.

“The last thematic outcome is expectedly the result of the first two.

“By this the CWG envisions that the rate of youth employment would have risen from 23 per cent to 46 per cent and the female labour force would have doubled from 21per cent to 41per cent.

“Once vigorously pursued and meticulously calibrated between the federal and subnational governments and down to the local government structures, it is expected that the nation would have produced 24 million healthy educated and employable people by 2030.

“The target of the year 2030 is also deliberate, the coordinator of the CWG explained because it corresponds with the year in which all global development aspirations would terminate. Nigeria wouldn’t be an exception,” it said.

It recalled that the state governors had fully bought into the HCD agenda and had thrown their weight behind the transformation of the human capital capacity of all Nigerians from an unemployable citizenry to a healthy and competitive one.

It noted that before the Covid19 challenge, the CWG conducted visits to some states including Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Ekiti, towards ensuring a nationwide buy-in by state governments and key stakeholders in every state.

It added that in the light of the Covid19 challenge, the CWG reverted to conducting online regional HCD engagement sessions to facilitate peer learning, experience sharing among states and provide implementation support to state teams towards driving the HCD agenda.