Presentation Of The Strategy Documents On The Human Capital Development Programmes For ECOWAS & Nigeria On 23/06/2022

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SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE STRATEGY DOCUMENTS ON THE HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES FOR ECOWAS AND NIGERIA ON THURSDAY JUNE 23, 2022 AT THE TRANSCORP HILTON, ABUJA.

PROTOCOLS

Let me begin by thanking you all for honouring our invitation to be part of this momentous event—The presentation of the strategy documents of the Human Capital Development Programmes for both ECOWAS  and Nigeria.

The sum and substance of what has been said here today are that people, our people are central to all that governments and their private sector or civil society partners do. The most important pieces of work that we can do are planning and investing in human capital development,  healthcare, nutrition, quality education, skills, and jobs.

Our most important targets and objectives, nationally and regionally must be on the improvement of the quality of life, living standards and livelihoods of our people—The happiness, security and general welfare of our populations. Clearly, nothing else is as important.

Now we have our strategy documents. But we are in a race against time,  we are locked in a mortal battle with difficult local and global macroeconomic and fiscal circumstances even as States and regions face deadly civil conflicts and terrorism.

Our continent is the youngest and growing at the double the rate of the rest of the world, and the youngest country Niger is in our subregion with an average age of 15.4 years. By 2050 West Africa will have 650 million people. Almost 400m will be young people.  And we will have to provide quality basic education and healthcare for them, nutrition.

This is because inadequate nourishment results in suboptimal learning outcomes and a lifetime of disadvantage, especially in what is becoming a fiercely competitive knowledge economy. And also because idle, youthful populations portend an increased risk of social instability, we must invest in relevant skills as we provide good-paying jobs and opportunities.

All these mean that Governments face huge public expenditures, and this expenditure grows as our populations increase daily.

But in these massive challenges lie the incredible opportunities of being the most profitable investment frontier in the world, of becoming the global food basket, of becoming the greatest source of highly trained  Human Resources in technology, engineering, sciences and the creative sector among others.

But all of these great hopes and aspirations stand or fall around governments and governance. It is the commitment of national and subnational leaders that will determine whether these strategy documents will gather dust or gather momentum. Political will and action are what stand between rising poverty and misery of our people, on the one hand, and good governance and judicious use, effective judicious use of scarce resources on the other. It is the thin line between a demographic dividend and a demographic disaster. Whether we use those resources judiciously, whether we use them in a manner that best benefits our people or whether those resources are squandered is what will mean the difference in the dividends we expect for our population or just misery and disaster.

I think the Federal Government of Nigeria and the National Economic Council have started very well. (NEC as you know is the body comprising the governors of the 36 States and the Minister of the FCT, the Minister of Finance, the CBN Governor and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning which I have the privilege of chairing).

President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018  initiated the National Human Capital Development Programme charging NEC with the task of addressing the critical issues of citizens’ well-being holistically and in an enduring manner. NEC then set up the HCD Steering Committee as well as the Core Working Group on Human Capital Development.

The  Core Working Group conducted the landscape analysis and baseline studies. Perhaps one of the best development in the journey was the complete buy-in and commitment of the 36 States to the process and the implementation of the strategy, so the future looks good.

Let me conclude by commending and thanking you all. First, our development partners including the ECOWAS, World Bank,  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation,  the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK, the United Nations Children’s Fund, African Development Bank, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, and the Nigeria Governors Forum who are members of the Core Working Group for their generous donation of time and resources towards the crafting and finalisation of this report.

The core line Ministries of Health, Education and Labour and Productivity who have oversight functions for the Human Capital Development Programme’s thematic areas as well as the National Bureau of Statistics also deserve utmost commendation for their support.

My brothers, the Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau and the Vice Presidents of Sierra Leone and Senegal and some others who sent in representations, thank you for your invaluable support and presence here.

Also thanks to my dear sister and our faithful and diligent collaborator in this work, the Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Finda Koroma.

Thank you all for listening, thank you very much.