Vice President Kashim Shettima on Saturday pledged that the growing informal sector and low labour force participation occasioned by the staggering unemployment rate in Nigeria will be reversed.
This, he said, is the impression of an unfavourable society the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme is designed to avert under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Shettima made the vow at the launch of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Strategy Document & Gender Transformative Human Capital Development Policy Framework held in Lafia, the state capital.
The Vice President emphasised that the administration’s goal is to empower Nigerians with globally competitive skills. This strategy, he noted, would enable Nigerian workers to excel both domestically and in the international job market.
According to him: “Nasarawa State’s commitment to the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme, a lifeline for our nation, is built on the collective realisation that enough is enough. Enough of the cycles that have held us back. Enough of the legacies of unplanned high fertility rates and alarming maternal and under-five mortality rates. Enough of our vulnerable populations facing low life expectancy.
“Enough of the distressing data on our education system—whether it is the mean years of schooling, the high pupil-to-teacher ratios, or the staggering number of youths not in employment, education, or training. The unemployment rates, the growing informal sector, and low labour force participation must be reversed.
“This is the dystopia our Human Capital Development Programme is designed to avert, under the mandate of President Bola Tinubu. For so long, at the National Economic Council, we have debated the ideal nation we wish to build and the pathways to achieve it.”
Shettima noted that the quest for a reversal of the nation’s human capital challenges is at the heart of the HCD programme, which focuses on workforce development, education, and health – critical work he said the Tinubu administration has undertaken at the national level.
The unveiling of a blueprint for Nasarawa’s future, he maintained, is a reaffirmation of the administration’s shared belief that the way forward for the nation lies in solutions fashioned to suit the unique realities of each state.
The Vice President regretted the tragic reality of the ECOWAS region being ranked the lowest in the global Human Capital Development Index, assuring however that it should not be something to feel disheartened about.
“Rather, it is an invitation for every country, and indeed sub-national entities, to rise to the challenge,” he added, pointing out emphatically that “every child must have access to quality education, equitable healthcare, even as the nation’s workforce must be equipped with the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st-century economy.”
Explaining that the government is not just committed to ensuring Nigerian youths acquire employable skills, the VP said the ambition transcends mere local success to empowering them to “export the acquired skills globally, competing at the highest levels of the international marketplace.”
“Our partnerships with the private sector are critical in achieving this. By facilitating access to resources, expertise, and innovation, we aim to make human capital development the cornerstone of a more prosperous and competitive Nigeria,” he added.
Shettima attributed the launch of the strategy document and policy framework in Nasarawa State to the leadership and vision of Governor Abdullahi Sule, describing it as a forward-thinking approach that makes a difference.
Announcing that the government at the centre has already moved beyond the first phase of the HCD by adapting strategies to current realities and shifting from theory to implementation, he said Nasarawa’s entry at this pivotal stage is a promising sign of progress.
Earlier in his speech, Governor Sule, thanked stakeholders for supporting the Human Capital Development programme, noting that Nasarawa State Investment and Development Agency was established to help improve the economy of the state.
He said the youths in the state would be engaged positively in agriculture, health, and entrepreneurship, just as he assured that the state’s strategic document on Human Capital Development would be strictly implemented to guide its interventions in various sectors.
Also speaking, Special Adviser to the President on NEC and Climate Change, Rukaiya El-Rufai, said the National Human Capital Development programme was unveiled in 2018 with the aim of addressing poverty, fostering socio-economic growth, and improving human capital across the country.
She thanked the Vice President for leading the National Economic Council (NEC) and the National Human Capital Development programme.
Also, the Senator representing Nasarawa West constituency, Ahmed Wadada, said Nasarawa State is leading in laying the structure for Human Capital Development in Nigeria.
He added that the most important creatures are humans and, therefore, they must be equipped in order to carry out their endeavours successfully, adding that education is the cornerstone of human development and as such, it must be given to all citizens.
On her part, Director-General of Nasarawa Human Capital Development Agency, Hajiya Habiba Suleiman, noted that the HCD strategy document for Nasarawa State presented during the event contains the direction for the development of human capital in the state.
“Human Capital is the most valued asset any government can provide for its people,” she said.
Earlier on arrival, the Vice President proceeded to the palace of the Emir of Lafia and Chairman of Nasarawa State Traditional Council, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I (rtd), where he paid homage to the royal father and inaugurated a palace Museum named after the Shehu of Borno.
Deji Elumoye
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