…Advocates for a responsible nationally managed economy
By Nosakhare Agbonigiarhuoyi
The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, reiterated that any society’s development is tied to its people’s capacity development.
He made this remark on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, during a 2-day South-South Regional Conference on Human Capital Development (HCD) in Nigeria held in Benin City, the State capital; with the theme: “Accelerating HCD in the South-South.”
The National Human Capital Development Program was launched in March 2018 by the National Economic Council in recognition that human capital development plays a critical role in addressing poverty while ensuring participatory and sustainable economic growth.
The program focuses on three (3) thematic areas (Health, Education, and Workforce participation); and six (6) critical development outcome areas; namely, Under-five mortality rate; Malnutrition (under-five stunting); Adult mortality; Expected years of school (primary and secondary school completion); Quality of learning; and Labour force participation rate (particularly female and youth).
In his remarks, Mr Obaseki said: “This session is about collaborating and improving our zone; human capacity in our zone. It is not a competition.
“It’s about us learning from each other’s best practices, what we have done right, and how to improve in those areas where we have not done as well as we are expected to.
“We are in politics because of our people. We cannot develop without developing the capacity of our people to produce.
“If our people are not helping, they cannot be economic agents. They will not be productive. They will not be able to contribute their quota to the state. They will not be able to pay taxes. So we will not develop. So it’s about people.”
Addressing the need to prioritize primary healthcare, Mr. Obaseki recommended proper documentation of patients, particularly pregnant women, to ensure the proper nutrition and immunization of children.
“The bulk of our spend should now be prioritized where we can reach out to people; because if you take care of your community health workers, your nurses who are providing services at that level, then you will be able to reach more people before they get ailments that now require secondary, tertiary attention”, he said.
Speaking on the educational challenges in the South-South region of the country, the governor advised that there should be a much deeper examination into the reasons for the challenges the region is facing in the educational sector.
He also commented on the prioritization of skills and knowledge above educational certificates, which he said is of no use if it cannot provide a job.
Consequently, the governor spoke on the need for a responsible nationally managed economy in order to have a healthy work population.
“If you have a healthy population, you train them right, you give them the foundational skills, and then you have prepared them for the workplace.
“We need a responsible nationally managed economy; because our national economic policies create the work.
“Unless we begin to think and seriously change our economic policy, the issue of jobs will be a big problem.”
On her part, the National Coordinator of the National Human Capital Development Program, Yosola Akinbi, was optimistic about the progress that Nigeria is set to make in terms of Human Capital Development by 2030, and called on all stakeholders to make it a reality.
She said: “We are all here today to be part of this history. I say with all seriousness that this is really history indeed; and that Nigeria is moving to another phase; and that phase, I want us to look forward like 7 years, and look at 2030 to where we really want Nigeria to be.
“We said we want Nigeria to move forward in terms of human capital development. This is part of history. We are setting the tone today. I want you to congratulate yourselves that you are part of history today.”
“I like to especially thank the Governor of Edo state for being part of that great vision to move Nigeria forward. I would like to also thank the team of Edo State, you are just so wonderful”, she added.
The two-day event had representatives from the national, subnational and regional governments, brainstorming on areas to improve the human capacity development of the South-South and by extension the whole country.
