Vice President Kashim Shettima has said the unemployment rates, the growing informal sector, and low labour force participation must be reversed.
Assuring the commitment of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reverse the staggering number of youths not in employment, education, or training, Shettima affirmed it is the impression of an unfavourable society the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme is designed to avert under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Shettima made the promise on Saturday during the launch of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Strategy Document & Gender Transformative Human Capital Development Policy Framework 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.
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In a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, Shettima said: “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 His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed 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 what he described as 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.
The VP 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.